Tell me about Tufts?

[Anonymous]

Back in my day, it was a well thought, but still clearly, a safety school.

What about these days?

For those who went or who have kids there, what's the experience like?

[Anonymous]

Tufts is a great school, especially for international relations. It also has Boston close by. I went to college in Massachusetts and Tufts was considered second tier back in the day, but it's really risen in status since.

That said, much the same way that Cornell is derided for being the bottom Ivy, Tufts is known as a place for ambitious kids who didn't get into their first choice Ivy. I do know a few kids for whom Tufts was their first choice, however, so this may be unfair. I'd be happy if DS wanted to go there.

[Anonymous]

I know a lot of people who liked Tufts, but Medford is a dump. I don't find the campus and the surrounding neighborhood very appealing but, no doubt, you can get a touch notch education there.

Don't agree that Tufts was second tier back in the day, but I think I've already had this conversation with that poster. I always saw it as a school at the bottom of the top tier. When I went to college all the kids from my honors classes in high school (Massachusetts) went to an Ivy, a seven sister school, a NESCAC school (Tufts is a NESCAC school) or somewhere "exotic" like Pomona, Berkeley or Northwestern (these kids were originally from CA or Chicago). A school like Holy Cross or Kenyon was what I would have considered great schools but definitely second tier.I guess that's why I don't put it in the second tier category then or now.

[Anonymous]

I'm 10:13 and I saw your discussion with the other poster, but that wasn't me. I wonder if, back in the day, Tufts was perceived differently from outside Mass (me) vs. from inside Mass (you).

[Anonymous]

We have had a lot of contact with Tufts over the last decade and know many students who attend(ed) and it is a wonderful school, with a great group of socially conscious students. Its profile has risen substantially and it now fairly tough to get into. While the school is in Medford, it is a short walk to Somerville where there are cheap restaurants, coffee houses and a T stop. Our kids are not yet college age but we would be delighted if they ended up at Tufts.

[Anonymous]

It's expensive for the quality of education. Why would you pay $55k a year for a school that everyone knows is a safest school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's expensive for the quality of education. Why would you pay $55k a year for a school that everyone knows is a safest school.

A 21% admission rate is not a "safest" school for most kids (and certainly not for the 79% of applicants who were not admitted). Tufts did not appeal to either of my kids but they have lots of friends there who love it.

[Anonymous]

New Poster here. We toured Tufts a few weeks ago. Very well put together. But I think with the waive of apps I heard this year's admission rate dropped to 17%. I don't think it's a safety school except for the very small number of kids who have any realistic reason to believe they will be accepted to a school with a 6-7% admissions rate, which is probably only 1-2 percent of those applicants. And in the crazy world of elite colleges today, I've heard of the occassional student who gets into an Ivy and rejected at Tufts, so go figure.

[Anonymous]

Almost top 25. I think the academics are top25, but the alum network is not as strong as some schools near it in the rankings.

[Anonymous]

I went to grad school at Tufts. I didn't love the undergrad student body - they were mostly privileged (Tufts used to be notoriously stingy with FA, very low endowment) and snotty - one of the people in my program who had gone to Tufts undergrad had literally never been to Boston during her entire 4 years at Tufts (it's just a few subway stops, inconceivable to me.) Many thought they should have been accepted to an Ivy League school. But obviously it's much more competitive now, although still not in the same league as a highly competitive liberal arts school like Amherst. And despite the digs at Medford (Mehfuh in the local accent) the area is pretty nice - Somerville got hip awhile ago, and the towns surrounding Medford like Arlington are lovely.

[Anonymous]

If Tufts is DC's first choice, and you can pay full tuition, then apply ED and the acceptance rate will be much higher than 17%. If you need FA, then check to see if Tufts has early action - I don't know if it does - which would give you better acceptance odds and also the opportunity to compare FA offers from multiple schools. (This is basically my advice for anyone applying to a selective college these days!)

[Anonymous]

The Davis Square neighborhood near Tufts (where the T stop is located) is actually great. They have a candlepin bowling alley, an old restored movie theater with reasonable prices and cheap concessions that also has live performances, a bunch of coffee houses, pubs and restaurants (some of which are reasonably priced). The used bookstore unfortunately closed a few years back.

I lived in Davis Square for 3 years and miss it sorely. Anyone who says Medford is a dump hasn't tried to buy a single family or two-family home there in the last 15 years. I wouldn't pay those prices to live in a dump.

Can't speak to the educational experience at Tufts, but I certainly wouldn't avoid it because of location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Tufts is DC's first choice, and you can pay full tuition, then apply ED and the acceptance rate will be much higher than 17%. If you need FA, then check to see if Tufts has early action - I don't know if it does - which would give you better acceptance odds and also the opportunity to compare FA offers from multiple schools. (This is basically my advice for anyone applying to a selective college these days!)

Non binding early action at selective schools typically does not give an admissions bump. There is a bump for ED but sometime not as great as it looks since recruited athletes, even at a D3 school like Tufts, are more likely to be in that pool. Dartmouth, for example, has lower stats for its ED pool which they publicly say is due to recruited athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Davis Square neighborhood near Tufts (where the T stop is located) is actually great. They have a candlepin bowling alley, an old restored movie theater with reasonable prices and cheap concessions that also has live performances, a bunch of coffee houses, pubs and restaurants (some of which are reasonably priced). The used bookstore unfortunately closed a few years back.

I lived in Davis Square for 3 years and miss it sorely. Anyone who says Medford is a dump hasn't tried to buy a single family or two-family home there in the last 15 years. I wouldn't pay those prices to live in a dump.

Can't speak to the educational experience at Tufts, but I certainly wouldn't avoid it because of location.

I am the person who thinks the area around Tufts is a dump. I think your post actually supports my claim. I don't think my kid would be too excited by the proximity of candlepin bowling. One doesn't go to college in Boston or Cambridge to have the amenities of LAC in New Hampshire or Maine. And face it most college kids don't have the time to take a bus then the subway (the T in Boston) to amenities - if they go to college in the city they want the amenities to be outside their dorm door. I just don't think the setting is great relative to the other colleges in the area. But to each his/her own of course.

[Anonymous]

^^^ sorry meant to say "a LAC..."