Tufts - questions (ranking, low acceptance rate, comparable schools - why?)

[Anonymous]

OP, it makes more sense to rephrase your question: why is Tufts so popular with applicants that its admissions rate is so low compared to similarly ranked schools?

(admissions rate is not a factor in rank)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always thought highly of Tufts and still do. Love Boston as a college town. One thing I noticed on our tour was how rundown many of the buildings and campus appeared compared to other Boston schools, especially BC. BC is also far more accessible to T to get into town and more social (but admittedly, not everyone is a social butterfly).

OP - why does this matter? Visit and if DC likes it, apply. If not, don't.

Boston sucks as a college town

The only reason Boston has this reputation is because of the number of schools that started up in Boston and and continue to operate

But as a college town it has huge drawbacks:

- not fun
- bad weather during school year
- earth shatteringly expensive (rent, living expenses etc)
- poor public transportation
- no happy hour
- not social

The only positive thing about Boston is there is a large number of college students in the area and it is safe

But on almost every other metric, it is not college student friendly or a “great college town”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought highly of Tufts and still do. Love Boston as a college town. One thing I noticed on our tour was how rundown many of the buildings and campus appeared compared to other Boston schools, especially BC. BC is also far more accessible to T to get into town and more social (but admittedly, not everyone is a social butterfly).

OP - why does this matter? Visit and if DC likes it, apply. If not, don't.

Boston sucks as a college town

The only reason Boston has this reputation is because of the number of schools that started up in Boston and and continue to operate

But as a college town it has huge drawbacks:

- not fun
- bad weather during school year
- earth shatteringly expensive (rent, living expenses etc)
- poor public transportation
- no happy hour
- not social

The only positive thing about Boston is there is a large number of college students in the area and it is safe

But on almost every other metric, it is not college student friendly or a “great college town”

General public doesn't agree with your personal taste, so those Boston colleges are insanely popular with low acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought highly of Tufts and still do. Love Boston as a college town. One thing I noticed on our tour was how rundown many of the buildings and campus appeared compared to other Boston schools, especially BC. BC is also far more accessible to T to get into town and more social (but admittedly, not everyone is a social butterfly).

OP - why does this matter? Visit and if DC likes it, apply. If not, don't.

Boston sucks as a college town

The only reason Boston has this reputation is because of the number of schools that started up in Boston and and continue to operate

But as a college town it has huge drawbacks:

- not fun
- bad weather during school year
- earth shatteringly expensive (rent, living expenses etc)
- poor public transportation
- no happy hour
- not social

The only positive thing about Boston is there is a large number of college students in the area and it is safe

But on almost every other metric, it is not college student friendly or a “great college town”

General public doesn't agree with your personal taste, so those Boston colleges are insanely popular with low acceptance rate.

+1

[Anonymous]

One thing that puzzles me in this whole thread: Why is the general consensus that the (excellent) Boston-area schools are Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, and Northeastern? Is there a reason no one has mentioned Brandeis?

Please hold your fire--I am not a Brandeis booster. In fact I know very little about the school. I was just wondering!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that puzzles me in this whole thread: Why is the general consensus that the (excellent) Boston-area schools are Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, and Northeastern? Is there a reason no one has mentioned Brandeis?

Please hold your fire--I am not a Brandeis booster. In fact I know very little about the school. I was just wondering!

Brandeis is a great school but it isn’t in Boston and it isn’t on the T. I think you would have to take the commuter rail to get into the city right?

[Anonymous]

The kids and culture at BU, BC, Tufts, NE, and Brandeis are NOT like the kids and culture at Vanderbilt, Emory, Georgetown, or WUSTL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that puzzles me in this whole thread: Why is the general consensus that the (excellent) Boston-area schools are Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, and Northeastern? Is there a reason no one has mentioned Brandeis?

Please hold your fire--I am not a Brandeis booster. In fact I know very little about the school. I was just wondering!

There's also Emerson, Simmons, Suffolk, and MaasArt. No one talks about those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that puzzles me in this whole thread: Why is the general consensus that the (excellent) Boston-area schools are Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, and Northeastern? Is there a reason no one has mentioned Brandeis?

Please hold your fire--I am not a Brandeis booster. In fact I know very little about the school. I was just wondering!

Brandeis is a great school but it isn’t in Boston and it isn’t on the T. I think you would have to take the commuter rail to get into the city right?

I agree with this. Visited with both my kids and the main thing that felt different was how remote Brandeis felt- it's in Waltham, about 15-20 miles outside of Boston and there is nothing there. You can take commuter train to get to Boston and I think the University may run shuttles too but it definitely does feel isolated.

Brandeis is very pretty and is a great school. We were impressed by the student tour guide. However, it does have a religious vibe with a lot of discussion/references to religion/interfaith dialogues than at other places. I imagine it is a big draw for some kids (not for mine).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids and culture at BU, BC, Tufts, NE, and Brandeis are NOT like the kids and culture at Vanderbilt, Emory, Georgetown, or WUSTL.

Explain the difference? The former schools are traditionally considered a stop below the latternset of schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that puzzles me in this whole thread: Why is the general consensus that the (excellent) Boston-area schools are Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, and Northeastern? Is there a reason no one has mentioned Brandeis?

Please hold your fire--I am not a Brandeis booster. In fact I know very little about the school. I was just wondering!

Brandeis is a great school but it isn’t in Boston and it isn’t on the T. I think you would have to take the commuter rail to get into the city right?

I agree with this. Visited with both my kids and the main thing that felt different was how remote Brandeis felt- it's in Waltham, about 15-20 miles outside of Boston and there is nothing there. You can take commuter train to get to Boston and I think the University may run shuttles too but it definitely does feel isolated.

Brandeis is very pretty and is a great school. We were impressed by the student tour guide. However, it does have a religious vibe with a lot of discussion/references to religion/interfaith dialogues than at other places. I imagine it is a big draw for some kids (not for mine).

I agree with all of this, except that Brandeis is 12 miles from Boston, not 15-20 miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids and culture at BU, BC, Tufts, NE, and Brandeis are NOT like the kids and culture at Vanderbilt, Emory, Georgetown, or WUSTL.

What does this even mean?

From what I can tell, the kids and culture at Brandeis, BC, and NU are extremely different from each other. And that the student/culture at Tufts and Wash U are more similar than they are between Wash U and Vanderbilt or Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids and culture at BU, BC, Tufts, NE, and Brandeis are NOT like the kids and culture at Vanderbilt, Emory, Georgetown, or WUSTL.

Indeed they are not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tufts is also a “Goldilocks” school for many kids…not too small, not too big. I know that finding schools in the 3000-8000 student range was a priority for my kids. BC, BU, and NU were all too big.

You forgot “not too interesting.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BU's campus is peculiar because of it length. Hard to have a cohesive campus when its one long road. We didn't see Tufts as being run down. Obviously not like our Virginia schools, but not run down.

It’s the Chile of college campuses.