UPenn vs. Tufts vs. Hamilton

College Search & Selection
21

<p>The Daily Beast did a story recently ranking college campus with the worst crime rate. Tufts is #1 and Penn is #16.</p>

22

<p>Sigh . . . maybe I’ll keep her home and home-school her . . . only problem is she is 10x smarter than me.</p>

23

<p>“expensive private schools and those are the kind of places you are going to see Chanel sunglasses.”</p>

<p>I disagree. Oberlin is an expensive private school, and you are not going to see Chanel sunglasses there, except perhaps as part of an art installation. A female student going to class in heels and makeup would be greeted with shock. The kids may be just as rich as at Penn, but the culture is different. Tufts is in between Penn and Oberlin in terms of material culture.</p>

<p>Sunglasses that can only be recognized as Chanel due to the design are different in my book from sunglasses (or anything else) with a giant logo on the front. IMHO wearing a billboard for an expensive brand is indeed flaunting the brand. I can see why that would be a turnoff to a young woman who expects to wear pajamas to class.</p>

24

<p>let’s face it no school is going to be a “bubble” where everything is perfect your D has to pick and choose what is important to her; there are pros and cons to every school some have more of a dressed up culture than others but the fact is that private colleges and universities are predominantly populated by a privileged class so she’ll need to get used to that one way or another.</p>

25

<p>I just don’t see Penn as “dressed up culture” at all. As I said, I saw PLENTY of pajama pants, hoodies, jeans, tshirts etc. My son had to dress up a little several days a week because he worked at a law firm. That meant khakis and a button down. Also, during job interview season there is more dressing up, but the culture at Penn is NOT one that promotes a lot of makeup and fancy clothes for class. I consider my son somewhat of an elitist (not his best trait), and he walked around with lime green plastic sunglasses. It was pretty awful. The “brand” I saw the most at Penn was Northface.</p>

<p>It sounds to me like your daughter should have looked at Rice. It doesn’t seem to have any of the negatives we are discussing on this thread.</p>

26

<p>My daughter probably doesn’t have as many issues as I do. I just mentioned the Penn tour guide and she rolled her eyes and said, “Mom, she was nice; you were the one who had a problem with her.”</p>

27

<p>Tough call but I am going to say Hamilton. It seems to be a hidden gem and I don’t know if it worth incurring the debt load for Penn and certainly not for Tufts. Don’t get me wrong, all three are solid schools.</p>

28

<p>You realize that the dailybeast statistics has Harvard at 3? They group all the off-campuses. Thus, for Tufts, they include the medical center in downtown Boston. The medford campus is very safe.</p>

<p>Penn is also safe too. Seriously, go visit there. It’s not like people are always living in fear.</p>

<p>And by the way, the Princeton Review ranked Tufts #14 for happiest students this year.</p>

<p>But personally, I don’t think you should listen to any of these rankings. Just go with what feels best.</p>

<p>Penn has nice kids. Yet Wharton kids (the undergrads) tend to be very uptight and cutthroat. I have heard plenty of complaints from students. But that’s just one school. The rest of the school doesn’t seem to be like that (from what i hear). But that’s just anecdotal, so take it for what it’s worth.</p>

29

<p>how can you NOT send your daughter here?</p>

<p><a href=“http://puka.cs.waikato.ac.nz/custom/cic/collect/cic-hcap/index/assoc/p757.dir/Campus%20(aerial%20view),%20Hamilton%20College-large.jpg[/url]”>http://puka.cs.waikato.ac.nz/custom/cic/collect/cic-hcap/index/assoc/p757.dir/Campus%20(aerial%20view),%20Hamilton%20College-large.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

30

<p>Did you see “Chanel” or “Channel” on those sunglasses?</p>

31

<p>

</p>

<p>10x smarter than I :D</p>

32

<p>Exactly. :)</p>

33

<p>There seems to be a strong sense of community at Hamilton. We could sense it when we visited. She will know what is right for her you visit.</p>

34

<p>Where did your daughter end up?</p>

35

<p>Oh, hey, I forgot about this thread.</p>

<p>She goes to Penn, loves it, couldn’t be happier. She found her niche there and is absolutely delighted. Still doesn’t own a pair of Chanel sunglasses. :wink: Tufts seemed like the better fit on paper, and I think she would have been happy there, but it just didn’t click for her. It was probably kind of random and could have gone the other way. She met some kids at Penn’s accepted students day that she really liked, while her overnight host at Tufts stood her up. Hamilton is lovely, but she didn’t feel like it was right for her after a second visit.</p>

36

<p>I was SO surprised to see your post, because your daughter sounds exactly like me. I LOVE languages, I want to study abroad, and I want to study International Relations. Finding students that are smart and down-to-earth is also a big concern for me, and I’m worried about schools that are too pre-professional. Right now I’m deciding between Tufts and UPenn, after being rejected from Yale (also my dream school, this is freaky, right?) and I found this thread really helpful. My question is, does your daughter have any complaints about Penn? Or does she say anything specific about the International Relations program, or languages and study abroad? Any info in helping me make my decision would be great. I’m very conflicted! You can see my own thread here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1482028-tufts-v-upenn.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1482028-tufts-v-upenn.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

37

<p>Hi eveiveneg! My daughter loves Penn, I don’t think she has any complaints. The funny thing is that she took one International Relations class and decided that it wasn’t for her. However, she has continued with Spanish and will be studying abroad next semester. I don’t think the “too pre-professional” thing is a real issue, at least not in the College of Arts & Sciences. She has found a nice circle of friends; it’s a big enough school that there are all kinds of kids there. So, no regrets! Have you visited both Penn and Tufts? I would definitely recommend going to accepted students days at both if you can; my daughter liked Penn when she first visited but really fell in love with it at the accepted students day.</p>