<p>I was wondering, purely on repuation, which school should I ED at? I love them both equally so I'm just wondering.</p>
<p>What is appealing to you about each school?<br>
Do you need financial aid? Have you run the Net Price Calculators on both websites?<br>
How do your admissions odds look at each school, based on the Naviance for your high school?</p>
<p>Hi, thanks for your reply. I know those are very important questions, but I was just wondering about the reputation of both schools when applying for jobs, etc. Which would be more impressive, if one even is more than the other.</p>
<p>Both have equal reputation for employers.</p>
<p>For random people walking in the street, Tufts might have the slight edge.</p>
<p>Really? See, I would have thought Barnard had the edge because of affiliation with Columbia. I’m glad I asked this question then!</p>
<p>Both are highly respected among academics and employers, but among the general public, neither is particularly well known outside the Northeast. I think Barnard might have a slight edge in that regard, not so much because of its relationship with Columbia but because of its historic role as one of the Seven Sisters, which made it one of the super-elite women’s colleges in the era before the Ivy League went coed. In short, over the generations Barnard earned a reputation in its own right, not as a Columbia tag-along.</p>
<p>Tufts is most famous for the “Tufts syndrome.”</p>
<p>Current Tufts sophomore here. I will say that all of the people I’ve met who haven’t gone to college or who haven’t had much reason to research colleges extensively usually haven’t heard of Tufts, for the most part. I think the same could be said of any smaller liberal arts school. We don’t have the same recognition among the general populace that would come with a) having a strong sports legacy or b) being an Ivy league school. That being said, I think the same holds true for Barnard–which not many outside the academic sphere readily associate with Columbia. I’ve found, however–and I think that this is probably more important to you–that the people who matter (grad schools, employers etc.) know and respect Tufts. In my experience, “Tufts syndrome,” which the commenter above me mentioned, only persists in these College Confidential forums. I hesitate to spend too much effort discussing the idea of “tufts syndrome”, because a) it’s an idea that should be put to rest and b) because people will think what they want and no amount of protest on my part can change that. But I will say that it doesn’t exist, plenty of brilliant people have been accepted into Tufts (including my school’s valedictorian). The admissions staff at Tufts are incredibly passionate about putting together a cohesive and unique class each year. Sometimes, that involves passing up on someone with slightly higher test scores for someone with brilliant essays or a really interesting list of ECs. I view that more as indicative of Tufts’ culture of thinking outside the box instead of following the status quo.
Do I react too defensively? Maybe. But it is tiring to have my incredible experience at Tufts cheapened with every utterance of that phrase here on CC. </p>
<p>Now that I’ve said that, I hope I can add something more positive by saying that I absolutely loved my first year at Tufts, and that it truly is an amazing community of students. No college is right for everyone but it ended up being the perfect place for me. If there’s any questions I could answer to make your decision clearer, feel free to let me know! And good luck with whatever school you do end up choosing!</p>
<p>Both have equal reputations. Both have very good reputations. The only difference in reputation would maybe be in a specific field/major, or if someone isn’t familiar with one school or the other.</p>
<p>Don’t base your decision for which school to apply ED to based on difference in rep.</p>
<p>Don’t ED based upon reputation. These schools are very different - one has boys and the other doesn’t - which do you want. (Also, although both are technically in cities -Tufts is not actually in Boston and Barnard is in NYC).</p>