@hardworking99 she is a Sophomore at Tufts, that’s what the D19 refers to at the end. I tried hard to get her to look at U Rochester but she would not- a little too “nerdy” for her but mostly not ok with the location despite having family there (a UR dept chair even). As I’ve said before she was unduly influenced by her AP Calc teacher who really disliked WashU and found it too competitive. Sample size of 1 here, so don’t anyone freak out.
Having a sophomore at Wash U, our experience is that you will find a good mix of folks at any institution. I would caution folks not to paint a school with too broad a brush – for even quirky find their way to St. Louis. Just check the pictures out from the LouFest two weekends ago! And recent Wash U WILDs. Best way for a prospective student to get a feel for the climate is to spend time at the schools they have the greatest interest in during the school year.
Good luck!
@ormdad so do you and your daughter get the impression that Tufts is a more collaborative atmosphere than Wash U?
@homerdog I can just say that Tufts seems more collaborative and less competitive than her big urban public high school (in the top 10% at least). Not sure if that is normal or not, but she has 3 classmates at Harvard who say it’s worse than high school.
And like I said before we never looked at WashU; very few students from our school even apply there so I can’t really compare. The only impression she got was from her Calc teacher who said it was “awful”, hardly an extensive evaluation.
Tufts is full of very, very, smart people, and I think it can feel a little overwhelming at times. But what she tells me is that there was almost no talk of grades, SAT scores, how many APs you took, etc, and that she has been in classes where everyone sort of bands together, to the extent that they are allowed to work together. People only talk about grades to commiserate about how hard they are working for a B. Again, pretty different than H in her friends’ experience.
So sorry I can’t compare those two except to say that she is happy with this aspect of the Tufts culture.
Our student is quite happy at Wash U as well. Very collaborative with lots of help available for Freshman especially in Chem and Calculus. A solid sense of “we are all in it together”. Not as formally organized in Sophomore classes but students work together and profs are very accessible. In fact, our student had a prof-led problem session at 5:30 Friday (tonight). Loves classmates. Lots of upper class help to lower classes. Sorry about the bad experience your daughters teacher had but that definitely has not been our student’s experience. Agree with @ormdad that grades are really not discussed. Student is really enjoying research as well as broad range of other academic and other opportunities. Made good friends - already planning to keep same suite mates - much to our surprise! All I can say is, if you csn, take a visit during the school year. This weekend will be fun with the hot air balloon races in Forest Park!
Good luck!
@Parche Thanks for your reply. Glad to hear your student has been having a great experience!! Is he/she involved in Greek life? Club sports?
I have two kids who have gone to URochester and they both have had wonderful experiences there.
@EllieMom said
Not sure how recently you’ve been to UR campus, but last year they opened College Town which is a nice group of resataurants, bars, bookstore, amenities, etc. just about two blocks from River Campus.
http://www.collegetownrochester.com/shop-dine/
@pickpocket Unfortunately, College Town is having a lot of growing pains, with several businesses closing in the past year. 
Everyone is hoping that it finds its feet soon. I think, also, that it’s such a new area that it’s not really part of the “campus culture” the way Davis Square is at Tufts or even Delmar Loop at WashU. Time will tell.
I didn’t want to imply that there’s no fun to be had at UR. Only that it tends to be more campus-centered rather than integrated with the larger urban scene, especially for freshmen and sophomores. There’s also a subtle difference that might be reflected in @ormdad’s daughter’s impression that UR was “nerdy” compared to Tufts. While a lot of schools cultivate a “work hard/play hard” image, I get less of that sense at Rochester, which seems more laid back in general and with a social scene that is a tad less bipolar (in a descriptive, not a DSM-5, kind of way). 