<p>I don’t know he knows about those clubs Mastodon. He doesn’t have as much spare time as he’d like. Especially freshman year between Arabic and EPIIC he had all he could do to keep his head above water. His main EC as far as I could tell was ALLIES. [url=<a href=“Programs | Tufts Global Leadership”>ALLIES | Tufts Global Leadership]ALLIES</a> | Tuftsgloballeadership<a href=“Personally%20I%20think%20my%20kid%20is%20just%20like%20the%20ones%20he%20complains%20about!”>/url</a></p>
<p>Tufts’ tuition is one of the most expensive ones though. Top 2 are much lower. </p>
<p>I don’t know the culture in East coast. Why students go to MIT instead of Harvard for parties? I thought MIT has all those engineering geniuses, they party hard?</p>
<p>^^I’d be surprised if Tufts’ tuition is really “much” higher than other top schools. My impression has always been that the total costs of attendance tend to be within a $2K range or so; it’s just that different schools use different terminology to describe what is included within"tuition" as opposed to other mandatory “fees” and anticipated expenses.</p>
<p>There’s something about engineering and parties. Here on the west coast, it’s Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>Caltech had amazing parties. We used to host the biology Halloween party and one Nobel scientist used to come in the most incredible costumes. (Magritte painting, fish tank with real fish were two particularly memorable ones.)</p>
<p>mathmom, a few years back a Caltech party got closed down for rowdiness…turned out that the troublemakers were guests from Mudd. ;)</p>
<p>I should add something substantive given how far we’re drifting off-topic 
so I’ll put in a vote for [EPIIC</a> |](<a href=“http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/program/epiic-0]EPIIC”>http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/program/epiic-0) as an example of what’s available to serious students. It’s a one-year course on a topic of global import. The first semester is spent doing intensive reading and hearing from a roster of top names in the topic of the year; second semester is spent setting up a student-run symposium on the topic. As mathmom noted, it’s an enormous time commitment. Many of the students end up doing research or internships abroad funded by grants from the Institute of Global Leadership (which oversees EPIIC). D1 took EPIIC last year–it gave her some pretty astounding opportunities.</p>
<p>My son really really wanted to take EPIIC again this year. Unfortunately he just doesn’t have room in his schedule.</p>
<p>This has some interesting perspectives:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/390170-tufts-reputation.html?highlight=tufts+reputation[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/390170-tufts-reputation.html?highlight=tufts+reputation</a></p>
<p>Tufts is known for the following (correctly or not):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A place to go medical school</p></li>
<li><p>A place you end up going if you can’t get into the Ivy League</p></li>
<li><p>Tufts Syndrome</p></li>
<li><p>The “Bloomingdale’s of higher education”</p></li>
<li><p>As a school unable to elevate its USN &WR rankings </p></li>
<li><p>A school with lackluster support from its alumni</p></li>
<li><p>Good food, mediocre dorms</p></li>
<li><p>The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (graduate school)</p></li>
<li><p>A place where a lot of kids from Long Island go (who can’t get into the Ivy League)</p></li>
<li><p>For being in Boston, but actually being inconveniently located in “Meffud”.</p></li>
<li><p>Its strange supplemental application</p></li>
<li><p>The pre-professional quality of its undergraduate, everyone is pre-</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here is the latest (2014) college popularity ranking, using the Harvard+Wharton developed method designed to make it difficult to cheat. Tufts continues to rise, although less dramatically</p>
<p>[Parchment</a> Student Choice College Rankings 2014 | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=“http://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php?thisYear=2013&thisCategory=National]Parchment”>Parchment Student Choice College Rankings 2014 | Parchment - College admissions predictions.)</p>
<p>GreenIndian</p>
<p>What makes Tufts so popular is that you can get an amazing education without having to deal with all the socially competitive “ Ivy League types” that like to use terms like “Meffud” ( that demeans the population of an entire city) in an attempt to raise their social standing. </p>
<p>The “strange” supplement actually helps to weed out “ivy trolls” like you.</p>
<p>My apologies to friends and family that have attended Ivy League schools, but do not fit the stereotype.</p>
<p>tsk, tsk Mastadon!</p>
<p>You wrote: The “strange” supplement actually helps to weed out “ivy trolls” like you. </p>
<p>That is called the “Tufts Syndrome”.</p>
<p>A poster who joined CC 5 years ago and has posted a total of 3 times, all about perceptions of Tufts…well, OK, whatever, dude/dudette. </p>
<p>The big news is that Pinkberry is going to be opening in Davis Square. D1 says that now Tufts is perfect. 
;)</p>
<p>What’s Pinkberry?</p>
<p>[Pinkberry</a> Handcrafted Yogurt Bar | Home](<a href=“http://www.pinkberry.com/]Pinkberry”>http://www.pinkberry.com/)</p>
<p>It’s a very distinctive tart flavored frozen yogurt. Started here in SoCal, became a HUGE thing, very addictive, franchises spread out everywhere. There’s one at Harvard Square but add on train fare to the cost and it becomes quite expensive for a typical student budget. </p>
<p>Between that and J.P. Licks, Davis Square now covers all of a student’s frozen dessert needs. :D</p>
<p>There are just that many IVY schools. They admit ~15K students each year. There are ~1.6 million high school graduates each year. Where do the rest go? I don’t see what’s wrong and such a big deal with Tufts is ‘A place you end up going if you can’t get into the Ivy League’. Who cares about ‘Tufts Syndrome’! What matter are education quality, student body and location. If you could get in Tufts, it proves you are in top 3% already. The students should be proud of themselves. Being a mom, I am proud of my son’s achievement!</p>
<p>By the end of day, are the IVY graduates always better than others? I don’t think so. My company (35K employee)'s current CEO/Chairman was from Union College. The previous CEO was from Iowa State University. Previous chairman was from Purdue. My current VP was 2002 BS from San Jose State University. How many VPs, directors, managers got BS from IVYs? I really don’t know any so far. One marketing director who was from Brown and Stanford was let go after only one year. One guy who was from Harvard and Stanford was hopping jobs inside the company, now he is just so so somewhere.</p>
<p>IVYs are great schools to go to. But please don’t be obsessed with the names. There are tons of great schools out there besides IVYs. And please don’t think IVYs are your ultimate goal. 4 year school is just a blink of eye in your life and your career. How far do you think your IVY’s name can bring you down the roads?! Only the first job interview opportunities. It is eye catching, no doubt. Afterwards, noone cares where you graduated. They are only interested in your skill sets, what you had done, your work habit and your personality. Do you think only IVY graduates have those qualities?</p>
<p>GreenIndian,</p>
<p>Based on the content of your post, I agree that you would be a good example for explaining the perception of Tufts Syndrome. </p>
<p>It is important to note that the Tufts culture tends to believe that standardized tests alone are not a complete measure of intelligence, and that the application supplement is designed to complement standardized testing by quantifying those additional elements of intelligence that Tufts thinks are important for success. </p>
<p>Here is an article describing an experiment that captures the spirit of theTufts supplement:
[‘College</a> Admissions for the 21st Century’ | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/28/sternberg]'College”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/28/sternberg)</p>
<p>It is also important to note that unlike the Ivies (with the exception of Brown), Tufts weights application essays more heavily than standardized test scores in admissions decisions. </p>
<p>Here is a source that reports admissions criteria for colleges based on the CDS:
[Tufts</a> University Admissions Information - CollegeData College Profile](<a href=“Tufts University Acceptance Rate | CollegeData”>Tufts University Acceptance Rate | CollegeData)</p>
<p>It is also important to note that there is about a 5% difference between the SAT scores of the admitted class at Tufts and the admitted class of the Ivy with the highest test scores.</p>
<p>Based on the overall condescending tone and the use of the term Meffud, if GreenIndians post were evaluated as a Tufts supplemental essay , the result would be that he would be assigned a very, very low social/emotional intelligence score. Given the fact that essays are weighted more heavily than standardized test scores at Tufts, it is unlikely that the difference between GreenIndians standardized test scores and those of the students accepted by Tufts would be large enough to offset his low social/emotional intelligence score. This would result in GreenIndian being rejected from Tufts.</p>
<p>Since the Ivies do not have similar supplements, and they weight standardized test scores more heavily than essays in admissions decisions, it is entirely possible that GreenIndian would be accepted by an Ivy. </p>
<p>If GreenIndian views college admission as a competition with a uniform set of evaluation criteria and weights, then he is likely to cry foul upon receiving Tufts rejection. It is also likely that he will try to explain the admission result by accusing Tufts of cheating (i.e. Tufts Syndrome) rather than realizing that Tufts simply chooses to use a different set of rules than the Ivies.</p>
<p>If GreenIndian were to realize that Tufts just uses different set of rules than the Ivies, then he would simply shrug off the rejection and recognize the fact that an Ivy is probably a better fit for him than Tufts.</p>
<p>Note that this would also explain why there is a much lower concentration of people like GreenIndian at Tufts than the Ivies. So if you like being around people like GreenIndian, then you should go to an Ivy. If you dont, then you should go to Tufts. It is just a matter of finding the best fit.</p>
<p>Pinkberry will actually be the third frozen yogurt place in Davis Square, but it is my daughters favorite as well. </p>
<p>For us old timers, the return of Steve’s ice cream to Davis Square would make it perfect.</p>
<p>Ice cream is the only aspect of Davis Square that is not as good as the old days…</p>
<p>Too late to edit my last reply - here is the story behind Pinkberry</p>
<p>[Pinkberry</a> opens Davis Square location - News - Tufts Daily - Tufts University](<a href=“http://www.tuftsdaily.com/news/pinkberry-opens-davis-square-location-1.2835367#.UjkUsdwo5dg]Pinkberry”>http://www.tuftsdaily.com/news/pinkberry-opens-davis-square-location-1.2835367#.UjkUsdwo5dg)</p>
<p>Tufts comes in at #21 on this one, above Brown and Cornell (not on list):</p>
<p>[Smartest</a> Colleges In America - Business Insider](<a href=“Smartest Colleges in America”>Smartest Colleges in America)</p>