WSJ ranks Babson #2, with Stanford #3 |
Mine (a soph) picked it over Wash U and Rice, and his roommate opted to stick with his Tufts acceptance versus attending Harvard which he got into off the wait list in August. I’m not saying Tufts is perfect or that those other schools aren’t “higher ranked” or terrific, but there are many excellent reasons kids pick Tufts. I’m not sure why some posters are intent on trashing it (along with BC and certain other private colleges). |
| Tufts is ranked #52 by Forbes. |
Love this - can’t wait for the poster to join in and say that Babson and Stanford are peers! |
| Tufts, William and Mary, Villanova, Boston College, Tulane are all ranking droppers and schools of the past. VT is the future. Get with the times. |
| Can’t think of many reasons to pay 90-100 thousand a year for Tufts. |
Especially when you can get a commensurate ranking for less. #GoRU |
This is an impressive ranking for Babson, validating the strength of their program. WSJ rankings are primarily outcome-based, and Babson clearly excels in this metric, even outperforming Stanford. Nevertheless, Stanford consistently ranks near the top across all ranking systems, demonstrating its universal excellence. The highest ranking I can find for Tufts is #37 in U.S. News & World Report, and it's lower in other rankings. While respectable and comparable to many Big Ten schools, Tufts sits 22 spots below the lowest-ranked Ivy. Though Tufts may not compete with the best private and public colleges, it remains a solid option for those seeking some measure of prestige. |
It speaks well to the students that choose fit over prestige. Turning down Harvard would be a difficult proposition even if coming off the waitlist so late in the game. Rice and Washington U? I'm sure that location played not part in that decision. |
| It's been interesting to see which kids from our large public have chosen Tufts over the past few years. We usually send one or two annually, and it's always been top kids academically (NMSF, top rigor), well-rounded, kind kids who are strong leaders. Not necessarily kids with huge spikes, but certainly kids who will contribute a lot. And my DD tells me that many more strong students applied from her class this year but did not get in - it seems to be gaining in popularity recently here. |
| At my kid's top public we see very little applications to Tufts or similar schools. There are lots top 20 private acceptances, but after that the kids tend to go public. Tufts probably isn't attractive when you can go UVA, W&M or even VT for engineering or go a OOS flagship for less money. |
Maybe 5 years ago, Tufts was 29. It was around there for years. See, e.g. https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/u-s-news-world-report-posts-2019-college-rankings |
And Penn State was ranked 38 in 2014 ranging from 40-45 for years and is now 63. Times change. It's only a matter of time before Northeastern passes Tufts and the other colleges with Boston in their name. |
The same prestige? What planet are you on? |
The Tufts bashing really is puzzling. When looking at schools as a high school senior, my kid loved Tufts and decided he wanted to be there, applied ED and never looked back. We toured a number of the schools that have been mentioned in this thread. None of them appealed in the same way that Tufts did. Then current Tufts students my kid spoke to before applying were a happy bunch. A lot of the college experience depends on your peers, and Tufts attracts a very bright, motivated, outgoing group of students with a range of interests. Our kid has benefited tremendously from his peer group. When going up to drop off or pick up, we have been struck by how other students and their parents have routinely come up and engaged us in conversation. This hasn't happened anywhere near as frequently at our other kids' schools. My kid has loved his time at Tufts. It's not perfect. If you are in a popular major, classes will be large, and interactions with faculty will be limited unless you make a real effort to engage with them. But you will get an excellent education among a great group of kids. No doubt this is true at many other schools too. |