<p>Any thoughts? I know these schools are all pretty different but I'd appreciate any insights! I love both of these schools and have been in the Boston/New York-Hudson areas but I probably won't get a chance to visit the schools because its too expensive.</p>
<p>I've been to Tufts, but Vassar sounds better to me. Vassar has the open curriculum, high ranking, beautiful campus, happiest students, etc. For some reason, I didn't like the location or the hill layout at Tufts, even though I love Boston, and the library seemed pretty small (just reaching 1 million volumes). I talked to a student there and she liked it, but I guess it depends what you prefer. It's way closer to Boston than Vassar is to NYC.</p>
<p>I wrote a whole post about this, but someone closed the page when I left the room. Oops. </p>
<p>Basically, the schools are extremely different places. My brother goes to Tufts and I love Vassar even though I was waitlisted, and the two of us are complete opposites in a lot of ways. Both schools are excellent and you could get a great education at either one of them, so your decision at this point is basically based on which is a better fit, academically and personally. It would help if you could post some things about yourself and what you're interested in, as well as what kinds of things are important to you in a school. </p>
<p>What subjects most interest you in school? Is it important to you to have tons of people around to meet all the time (Tufts is close to a lot of other schools as well) or would you rather have a small community? Do you like modern buildings or old ones? Do you want to be in a city or is it enough to have one a train ride away? Is it important to you to have small classes and get to know your professors well? Would you prefer an enclosed, picturesque campus with most of the activity on campus or a disconnected one with modern buildings and more exposure to off-campus activity? </p>
<p>Good luck. :)</p>
<p>"disconnected one with modern buildings and more exposure to off-campus activity? "</p>
<p>This is quite skewed. Not only does Tufts lack a good portion of "modern buildings", but it's still quite small, the smallest University in the country, and has a tight-knit community, it's not HS, but do you want to know everyone?</p>
<p>I just felt that was an unfair jab...</p>
<p>I'm not personally invested in whether the OP chooses Vassar or TuftsI mean, I'm on the Vassar waitlist! I have no reason to bash Tufts!so Im very sorry if I sounded negative about either school. I didn't realize how that sentence sounded when I wrote it, though. The 'disconnected' comment was unfair, you're right, and I just want to clarify that that was the feeling I got from the layout (definitely not the people) and was just my own opinion based on visiting my brother. As for the modern buildings, I apologize for my error; I saw some very nice, pretty, new-feeling buildings there that I would describe as modern relative to other campuses Ive seen, although I dont know what the overall sense is for people who know it. I didnt mean that modern buildings were bad, though (maybe I should have said new buildings?), and I didnt see everything either. My original post (ie the one that got deleted) was clearer about the fact that I have only visited Tufts as a sister, not a prospective student. </p>
<p>In terms of the campus having more exposure to the outside....it's really important to my brother that there's off-campus activity (concerts, restaurants, shows, etc) even though he's extremely involved with in-campus stuff. He goes out into Boston with friends a lot and loves that. He would probably feel stifled in a different environment. I meant that Vassar felt like sort of a bubble, which you might love or hate, and Tufts, in comparison, seemed more open to the surrounding area to me, which you might also love or hate. Thats not at all to say that theres nothing to do at Vassar or that Tufts has no campus community! </p>
<p>In terms of our impressions of the campus, though, keep in mind that based on what I've read on these forums, most people tend to have strong feelings about the Tufts campus--they love it or just know they wouldn't want to go to school there. I had the latter feeling, although I didn't dislike it, and that might have influenced my writing (I stuck to questions for that reason). </p>
<p>I hope that clarifies a bit... :)</p>
<p>I know of people who have transferred to Vassar from Tufts, but never the other way around. People get to Vassar, love it, and never look back. </p>
<p>But setting aside student satisfaction, you should look specifically at the programs each college offers. If you are interested in liberal arts like art history or english, Vassar is outstanding, but I have heard that Tufts is great in certain sciences. Don't get me wrong, I think that the sciences are wonderful at Vassar, but I can't deny that Tufts might have a better reputation for their sciences. </p>
<p>Above all else, do what feels right. My advice is to flip a coin, see what comes up, and if you are dissappointed with the result, then you know which school it was that you really wanted to win the toss. Sounds like odd advice, but it works. I used the coin toss method to choose my boarding school as well as my college. The toss came up in favor of Barnard, and I was dissappointed with the result, and I knew because of that I was rooting for Vassar to win. I chose Vassar, and am positive it was the right decision.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>