<p>I thought tufts was a sick school, like top 10-15....but usnews has it at 27 or something (it's the same as michigan). I'm not saying 27 is bad (nor is michigan)...but i thought tufts was considered pretty "elite"</p>
<p>what's the deal with these rankings?</p>
<p>(i'm not even that interested in tufts...im just curious because now im not sure about the validity of these rankings)</p>
<p>Tufts is an elite school...and, based upon the caliber of entering students and the quality of the students, it should be ranked in the top 10-15. However, USNews relies heavily upon peer assessment rankings, which (apparently) Tufts suffers in -- namely, administrators know a lot about schools like UCal Berkeley, for example, but relatively little about Tufts. Hence, it receives a lower ranking. Also, the school's history comes into play, as it was a LAC until the ascendance of Jean Mayer to the Tufts Presidency in the 1970's, who transformed Tufts into a Research University. This late transformation has made it difficult for Tufts on the USNews ranking. But yes, Tufts is extremely good, and the USNews rankings are very bias, skewed, and media-pandering (it's a magazine-ranking, after all :) ).</p>
<p>Rumors say that Vanderbilt makes a tumble to 27 this year, probably pushing Tufts up (hopefully not down; regardless it sucks for Vanderbilt). This statement, however, lacks little credibility until August when the rankings are out.</p>
<p>Tufts is a university, but it's more LAC-like than others...if it were a LAC it would probably definately be in the top 5. It just suffers because people in Texas, Florida, and Minnesota have never heard of it. Tufts should, in my opioion, be in the top 5-15, but it has a low endowment and a low yield because it doesn't grant merit aid (it doesn't feel it has to, and it probably couldn't afford to) So in conclusion Tufts is far superior to the schools which share its US News ranking, and anyone who matters knows this.</p>
<p>btw, I predict Tufts will be in the top 10-15 within the next 10 years, but at present it's held back by stereotypes that are a generation out of date.</p>
<p>dont worry about the usnews rankings; they are definitely not perfect. for those in the know, tufts is just about as good as you can get.</p>
<p>It's difficult to share in your optimism as in order for one school to go up so dramatically, others must go down :) Realistically the top 30 won't shift much, I think. We wouldn't want to set ourselves up for disappointment like Maximus predicting northeastern's top 50 status! Then again, if it does happen one day, at least we will be pleasantly surprised as it is truly unprecedented.</p>
<p>lol! I think Northeastern has a way to go too before it hits top 50. </p>
<p>Anyway, I agree with all of you guys wholeheartedly :)</p>
<p>Can you explain the Northeastern reference?</p>
<p>Search the forums for the user "Maxiumus." Once you search the post history it will be self explanatory.</p>
<p>I'll save you the trouble. My problem with the U.S. News survey is that it assumes that all schools are following a traditional academic curriculum (comparing apples to apples). Schools that do things differently get penalized (i.e. innovation is punished). Northeastern is basically an orange among apples. It should be ranked in the top 60 right now. But NEU is still rising regardless of its nontraditional academic curriculum because it is making significant gains in other areas such as selectivity and research expenditures.</p>
<p>Thanks Maximus - I'm somewhat new to CC and the whole U.S. News ranking system. Does anyone really pay attention to it though? I've heard there are many flaws in the criteria they use, in addition to the one you mention above. My D is interested in NEU and we are planning to visit sometime in early August. I've heard only wonderful things about the school, engineering in particular.</p>
<p>To assist the OP, this link for an archive CC discussion might prove to be of some benefit: <a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?8/662%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?8/662</a> . Also, use the blue links at the top of that archived thread to navigate to others (2004~ish).</p>
<p>... and how to deal with it:</p>
<p>hmmm...stalking the Tufts forums again, Byerly? Let me explain a little something to you, something that is understood as fact off the CC forum (and by large numbers of people on the CC forum, as well): Tufts may not hold the endowment that Harvard has, it may not be 400 years old, but it is a superb institution. Rather than trolls like you harrassing school forums, let me give you a new perspective: Rather than comparing Tufts to Harvard (which, if you notice, people on the Tufts forum rarely, if ever, actually do), view Tufts in its proper perspective, as one of a selective group of highly-competitive, highly selective institutions that offer their own merits and unique qualities. This should provide an interesting analysis of top American institutions, including Tufts, and how ultra-competitive they really are. And yes, it was published by the school that you love to suck up to most, Harvard: <a href="http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:cytvu-tMTQkJ:post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/hoxby/counselorreport.pdf+Tufts+is+extremely+selective&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=33%5B/url%5D">http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:cytvu-tMTQkJ:post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/hoxby/counselorreport.pdf+Tufts+is+extremely+selective&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=33</a></p>
<p>And, while your perusing that, you might like to take a look at a 2001 British report that stated that Tufts was the world leader in social science research dissemination. It's linked under the forum sub-heading "A very interesting..." </p>
<p>With an overall admit rate (2010) of 26% (lower if you look at RD), a SAT middle avg (2010) of 1350-1520, and cut-throat competition amongst top students to get into the University (need I reference many of AriesAthena's remarks?), by constantly criticizing and snipping at Tufts University you are simply ignoring too many positive facts.</p>
<p>lol Ivy Envy. Some of what Margot Rapoport has to say is true: many people arrive at Tufts as bitter or semi-bitter ivy league rejects. However, by the end of their first semester, most have gotten over it and moved on. Tufts has a very low transfer rate, so even if students are disappointed at not getting into the Ivy of their choice, they're not disappointed enough to transfer. </p>
<p>However, I vehemently disagree with her statement that, "I don’t mind when my friends tell me that Tufts 'basically is an Ivy.' But the truth is, Tufts is not an Ivy and it is never going to be one. Not to be harsh, but if you look at the college ratings there are quite a few schools with ratings closer to the ivies than Tufts." Undergraduate education at Tufts is at least on par with Brown and Cornell regardless of what US News says. The ivies are just better known because they have been around longer. Tufts suffers from it's low peer assessment score, but I think it's absurd to give the opinion of the dean of North Dakota State University, UT Arlington, Truman State University, or University of Northern Iowa the same weight as the opinions of administrators at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Rice, or Duke. Tufts suffers becuase people in the South and Midwest have never heard of it. This in my opinion is one of the school's greatest weaknesses, not its envy of the ivies. </p>
<p>Harvard envy is a part of Tufts culture, but given that Tufts is only 2 or 3 miles from Harvard, it's hard to see how it couldn't be. Tufts does have an inferiority complex with regard to Harvard, but so does Yale. Does that make Yale a bad school? Does it make Tufts a bad school?</p>
<p>The "harvard: because not everyone can go to tufts" t-shirt is indeed sold in the tufts bookstore. I think it's funny, but not funny enough to spend $15 on. However, I've seen similar T-shirts from UT, A&M, UC Boulder, and Cornell,
and I would suspect that other schools have them as well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
** WrathofAchilles said: **Undergraduate education at Tufts is at least on par with Brown and Cornell regardless of what US News says. The ivies are just better known because they have been around longer. Tufts suffers from it's low peer assessment score, but I think it's absurd to give the opinion of the dean of North Dakota State University, UT Arlington, Truman State University, or University of Northern Iowa the same weight as the opinions of administrators at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Rice, or Duke. Tufts suffers becuase people in the South and Midwest have never heard of it. This in my opinion is one of the school's greatest weaknesses, not its envy of the ivies.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Do you have access to information that the general public doesn't??</p>
<p>How do you know that administrators at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Rice, and Duke rate Tufts highly and administrators at North Dakota State University, UT Arlington, Truman State University, and the University of Northern Iowa are ignorant of Tufts and therefore rate it lowly and bring its PA score down. I might very well be wrong but my interpretation of your post is that it's what you are suggesting. Pretty large assumption on your part, no?</p>
<p>It's a conjecture on my part, but one I made based upon known facts. Where do you live? In Texas, Missouri, ND, and Iowa, most ppl haven't heard of Tufts, and I assume that many university administrators there either haven't heard of it, don't know enough about it to rate it, or think it's Tulsa, Tass, Taft, or some other school with a similar-sounding name. Harvard and Yale on the other hand, have better name recognition than many whole states.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's a conjecture on my part, but one I made based upon known facts. Where do you live? In Texas, Missouri, ND, and Iowa, most ppl haven't heard of Tufts, and I assume that many university administrators there either haven't heard of it, don't know enough about it to rate it, or think it's Tulsa, Tass, Taft, or some other school with a similar-sounding name.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>LOL. The hole you are digging for yourself grows ever deeper. Perhaps those sorry folks in the midwest and south haven't heard of the benefits of fire or the wheel, either?</p>
<p>dude, most ppl in the south haven't heard of Tufts. Believe what you want but it's true. I'm from Houston, TX and many of my friends think I go to Tass or Tulsa (no joke, though I think it's pretty funny) I'm the only person from my large hypercompetitive public high school of 3300 students to go to Tufts in the past four years. Also, dont underestimate the influence of southern sports culture: many ppl in the south rate schools according to football, and football is something Tufts just doesn't do well in.</p>
<p>Eng<em>dude: Are you aware at how highly selective Tufts University is? Are you aware that in RD, roughly 75-80% of students are turned away? Let me state this again -- Tufts is on par w/ other schools right under the ivies, precisly b/c it offers an ivy-level education. Go to the PR book for that one. Do you think that no one has heard of Tufts, eng</em>dude? Do you think that the school is generic place with no credentials? look at this: <a href="http://education.guardian.co.uk/citationanalysis/story/0,,620154,00.html%5B/url%5D">http://education.guardian.co.uk/citationanalysis/story/0,,620154,00.html</a> Hmmm...looks like Tufts has an international reputation...
Don't think that Tufts is in the "Highly selective" group? You don't believe that academically superb students want to go there? Let me direct you to this: <a href="http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:cytvu-tMTQkJ:post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/hoxby/counselorreport.pdf+Tufts+is+extremely+selective&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=33%5B/url%5D">http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:cytvu-tMTQkJ:post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/hoxby/counselorreport.pdf+Tufts+is+extremely+selective&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=33</a>
Or maybe you'd like to peruse "Barron's Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges, 4th Edition" ? Or the latest "Guide to the Colleges 2006" from the Yale Daily Press, that praises Tufts "high achieving student body" and "renowned professors." </p>
<p>But, you know, of course, that no one's heard of Tufts, nor comprehends how top-quality it actually is, which is why NPR Washington in 2001 broadcast 5 of America's best college essays to the Nation - 2 of which were from students who were going to matriculate at Tufts. </p>
<p>Or, how 2 strong contenders for the position of Secretary-General of the UN are Tufts graduates.</p>
<p>Ah, yes...here's some more...<a href="http://www.tuftsobserver.org/editors_corner/20050422/what_a_difference_a_year_.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.tuftsobserver.org/editors_corner/20050422/what_a_difference_a_year_.html</a></p>
<p>Or, this from 2001 -- note the positive reply from the author of the NYT article in the Daily Article: <a href="http://www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2001/04/01/391620/Tufts.Reputation.Strong.Despite.Wall.Street.Journal.Snub-1484899.shtml?norewrite200607272358&sourcedomain=www.tuftsdaily.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2001/04/01/391620/Tufts.Reputation.Strong.Despite.Wall.Street.Journal.Snub-1484899.shtml?norewrite200607272358&sourcedomain=www.tuftsdaily.com</a></p>
<p>P.S. Sports DO have a large effect on national perception of universities -- i.e. everyone knows Purdue; but that doesn't mean it's a superb school.</p>