<p>Thanks Skie, I try :). </p>
<p>She will be able to visit all four of the campuses for accepted students’ days, actually. We’re hoping that things will work themselves out there, but we shall see. Thanks for the replies everyone, they’ve been really helpful!</p>
<p>Ha, I have Wesleyan, Tufts, and Brandeis to choose between, too.</p>
<p>I’m leaning toward Wesleyan though. :)</p>
<p>dooon’t let her go to Johns Hopkins. I am there right now and might be transferring to Wesleyan next year, actually. I am an introvert too. I used to do music too (not at the level where I’d major in it, but to some degree.) Hopkins does have Peabody but it is not close to campus, making the challenge of this double major even greater. And it just isn’t easy to find the time to practice, etc, although of course some do. If she really wants to work hard hard hard in academics, become a leader in the chemistry field, and possibly go into medicine, sure, come to Hopkins. I like academics too… or used to. And prepare to be disgusted by the many sorority girls, the sporty girls, and the super-well-dressed-probably-super-rich girls. of course, there are good, even great people here. I’m finding them, slowly. but a lot of people are just career-obsessed tools. if she is at all creative or interesting or interested in having a good undergraduate experience, she really won’t fit in at hopkins.</p>
<p>Do let us know what impressions your sister takes away from her visits. Hopkins and Wes are very different,for example; will be interested to hear what she thinks. Good luck to her, she has enviable choices.</p>
<p>Don’t forget, Brandeis took a hit in the Madoff scandal. If it’s a real possibility, then find out where they’re planning to make cuts.</p>
<p>As someone else mentioned, Tufts has recently poured major resources into its music department. At this point, it’s one of the unappreciated gems on the East Coast. They have an enormous range of music groups open to all students, instruction in a full range of Western and Eastern instruments, superb practice spaces, the finest small performance space in the region, and access to the music scene of Boston. Some very serious musicians attend Tufts.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine attending Hopkins for music. They don’t have a music department. They are affiliated with the Peabody Institute, but that’s a very serious conservatory and they only share their resources to a limited extent. If she didn’t get in to Peabody then she can’t count on that happening on the second go round.</p>
<p>With Wesleyan, she’ll need to see how she feels about the social environment. It is pretty distinctive. They have excellent science departments, no argument there. And they do have a famed music program, but more for ethnomusicology than traditional Western based music.</p>
<p>Brandeis does not draw the calibre students of the other three, but if she likes it, then that would be the right place for her.</p>
<p>midatl_dd, your statement “Brandeis does not draw the calibre students of the other three” is absolutely absurd. Tufts is ranked 28 and Brandeis is ranked 31. How can schools so similar have such a difference in student quality? Brandeis’ music program was shaped by Leonard Bernstein and its Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra concerts are well-attended by many in the Boston area.</p>
<p>Your s may be interested to read this journal article about Bernstein’s long affiliation with Brandeis <a href=“http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=3400472&jid=SAM&volumeId=3&issueId=01&aid=3400464[/url]”>All in the Family: Brandeis University and Leonard Bernstein's “Jewish Boston” | Journal of the Society for American Music | Cambridge Core;
<p>Sulsk - since when did U.S. News and World Report rankings provide a window into student quality? You’ve fallen into that all too common trap. According to that esteemed magazine, Tufts SAT range is 1340-1490 (25% to 75%) and Brandeis is 1280-1460. That’s a significant spread so I’m comfortable standing by my statement.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on the Brandeis music program. That’s fascinating and definitely a plus for Brandeis.</p>
<p>Another NJ Mom’s information is not accurate. Brandeis did not have any of its endowment invested with Madoff, unlike Tufts and some others that lost tens of millions of dollars with him–although a major Brandeis supporter did lose funds. Brandeis is suffering from the same economic downturn that all major universites are experiencing–even the wealthiest like Harvard have been forced to make budget cuts. In fact, Brandeis has pledged to maintain financial aid and maintain, or improve, its world-class education by resisting the type of budget cuts that could undermine its core mission. The well-pubicized proposal to sell some paintings from Brandeis’ world-renowned Rose Art Museum is just one way it is considering to fund that pledge. In other words, it’s prioritizing students over things.</p>
<p>As for Music and Science, the Brandeis music program is historically and currently first-rate. Tufts’ is recently improved but cannot compare. The sciences at Brandeis, not to mention graduate/med school placement in that area also is first rate (and the brand new science center is fabulous). </p>
<p>These distinctions about quality of student body are meaningless. Each of these four schools have excellent students. The outsized accomplishments of Brandeis’ student body after graduation certainly speaks to the awsome quality of the students who attend–to name just a few: Nobel Prize winner for chemistry Rod Mackinnon, Fields Medal winning physicist Edward Witten (often called “Einstein’s successor”), 3-time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman of the NY Times, The Earth is Flat etc; Mitch Albom of Tuesday’s with Morrie (about his Brandeis professor), Editor of The New Republic, Martin Peretz; the Creators/Producers of Friends; actress Debra Messing; Robert FX Sillerman (billionaire businessman–currently owner of American Idol and Graceland), activists Angela Davis and Abbie Hoffman and Christy Hefner, former CEO of Playboy).</p>
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<p>What? Students at Tufts are NOT jocks… it’s a DIII school. Athletics aren’t very emphasized.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it is a very active campus - most people are in shape and do go to the gym.</p>
<p>And, no one, including Tufts, considers it an LAC.</p>
<p>^ But it’s still in the NESCAC…</p>
<p>And besides, it’s more in the LAC realm and has somewhat of an LAC feel to it. Some of the kids at Tufts were saying how it’s somewhat in the middle. The fact that it’s in the NESCAC says something in and of itself IMHO…</p>
<p>The anomalies among the schools in the NESCAC division are Wesleyan and Tufts. Neither one has the rural, LAC culture that you associate with Bowdoin, Williams, Middlebury, etc. </p>
<p>At this point it is pretty anachronistic that Tufts remains in NESCAC. There was a time a generation ago, when Tufts applicants overlapped with NESCAC schools but that day is past. These days, Tufts main overlap is with Georgetown, Brown, Wash U, etc. All smaller, private universities. It still overlaps as well is Wesleyan – the other anomaly among the NESCACs.</p>
<p>I don’t think Wesleyan is nearly as much an anomaly as Tufts. It’s still an LAC, for sure. Bigger than most, yes, but Tufts has 9000+ students pretty evenly split between undergrads and grad students (who teach classes/sections), while Wes has around 3000 students, only 1/3 the size of Tufts, and only 200 or so are grad students (who don’t teach).
And while Wes is a more urban campus than some arboretum-like LACs, it’s still not in a city like Tufts is in Boston.
Wesleyan still overlaps with LACs, for the most part (more than Tufts, certainly) and in general doesn’t have the same pre-professional feel that Tufts and other universities often have.</p>
<p>Yeah - I do agree that it’s a bit of an anomaly, but I’d still argue that it has an LAC feel though it’s a big uni.</p>
<p>Wes is different than A/W/M/B only in the sense that it has more of a hippie, activitist, liberal feel which I think is really cool. I think Wes is similar to Oberlin/Brown/Bard/Vassar in this regard.</p>
<p>Ah, the bucolic Hartford ([Trinity</a> College](<a href=“http://www.trincoll.edu/]Trinity”>http://www.trincoll.edu/))</p>
<p>WesDad - Touch</p>
<p>Williams: 2,000 undergrads & 50 grads
Middlebury: 2,400 undergrads & 50 grads
Wesleyan: 2,800 undergrads & 200 grads</p>
<p>Tufts: 5,000 undergrads & 4,700 grads</p>
<p>Tufts is the only outlier here… Wes may be a university, but it is one in “name only”… it’s an LAC with some grad students…</p>
<p>I would go with Wesleyan. The undergraduate chemistry and music programs are both INCREDIBLY strong. Some of the smartest chemists I know did their undergraduate work at Wesleyan, and went on to the top graduate schools. Also, Wesleyan has a more thoughtful, engaging and intellectual vibe to it than the others, in my opinion. Maybe it has to do with the small class sizes and arts/humanities strengths.</p>