Tufts
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
This thread continues to intrigue. In many ways it’s as if folks are shouting at the top of their lungs, wanting to be heard - yet no one else really cares what they have to say because their are unaware that what they offer is only relevant to themselves and not to others.
For those desperately trying to compare/rank Tufts as if rankings are objective in any way - news for you, they are not. Rankings are used or ignored based on whether they support someone’s existing perceptions. No one looks to rankings to identify schools. They use them to validate opinions. Not unlike how participants in this thread have used the exchanhes to assert their favorite school is superior to Tufts. In the end, unless someone shares your affinity for a school, no one cares about your assertions. Those who think BC is a peer or Tulane is a peer think that because those schools are their frame of reference. However, those who I know to choose Tufts in recent years share one thing in common - they are there because that is where they want to be. Contrary to what many here assert - that Tufts is somehow a backup school because of its ranking(s), Tufts is most often a first choice for those who attend. That is why so many at Tufts apply ED. Those students could care less what folks think about Tufts compared to Tulane, Vanderbilt, UofR, Emory, Carnegie Melon, or Washington University. They have little interest to attend those schools. Nor do most Tufts students wish they were at some Ivy or other often cited aspirational school, because they know those schools not to be the best fit. Students who attend Tufts do so because they have identified the school as the best combination of all they seek. Here’s hoping this is all helpful to OP in deciding to support their niece and encouraging they explore Tufts further. |
Anonymous
I know several recent Tufts alumni and that is not at all my experience. Very odd to be sneering at schools that have higher acceptance rates than Tufts, and then change tack when shown that Tulane has a lower acceptance rate than Tufts. The fact that acceptance rates -- which you kept referring to -- are not accurate in determining a school's quality or even its desirability. The deep sense of insecurity that emanates from Tufts and from boosters like you are what turns people off, ultimately. |
Anonymous
DC needs to decide what factors are important. Schools clustered around Tufts from WF to Rochester are all really good schools they just seem like they would be so different. Is the size of school, location, programs offered important for DC? What type of campus vibe or culture is there and is it a good fit. Does the political leanings of the student body matter? Tufts is very liberal. You can transfer if you get it wrong but better to try to get it right. Tufts (6k undergraduate) is clustered in the rankings with NYU (26k) UCSB (23k) and university of Florida (35k). They are literally all over the map in size and location. I can’t imagine there are many who are deciding between University of Florida and Tufts. It is probably a closer match to some NESCAC school in terms of feel but since it’s a “university” the school and boosters seem to want to characterize it as being different from those schools. And there are substantive differences from some smaller liberal arts schools, but it that probably changes depending on things like major, size of school and location. Tufts does have more offerings than smaller NESCAC schools even if none are considered elite. For instance is DC interested in engineering? You can get an engineering degree from other NESCAC schools but I don’t think many (any?) have their own engineering programs. So, does DC care if they might have to go to another school on an exchange program or planned transfer or a 5 year joint degree to study engineering? Perhaps they want to major in child development and like that there is a licensed children’s school on campus where they can do observations and teacher training. Maybe they are interested in international relations and like the study abroad programs and cross-registration opportunities and access to the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. Maybe they are interested in attending Tufts’s school of the museum of fine arts because of opportunities the partnership with the Boston museum of fine arts affords. Maybe they like the two-year on campus living requirement because it will force them to meet new people. Maybe they like being near a big city with tens of thousands of college kids (28+ 4 year universities within 10 miles of downtown from the ones everyone knows to those people don’t think about like Babson, Emerson, Simmons, UMass, Northeastern, Brandeis etc.). How far away from you do they want to be from you? Picking Tufts over Rochester or BC just because of the US News Rankings seems just as silly as picking WF over Tufts for the same reason. College is a big investment. It should take a lot of time to figure out. And it should be a fun time for DC and sad for parents. Don’t get hung up on rankings. It might be the last time DC really cares what you think. |
Anonymous
|
Sad day for Tufts boosters.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/pyv576/aita_for_telling_my_friend_harvard_kids_dont_care/ |
Anonymous
|
I went to Harvard undergrad and Tufts for grad school. There was this weird saying about how the cannon on Tuft’s campus was aimed at a “certain nearby college.” So that was…telling.
No Harvard undergrad thinks about Tufts EXCEPT when deciding where to apply for grad or medical programs. Then we are all over it. The undergrads I met there were smart, hardworking, nice. Just as smart as my Harvard peers. But I think it’s very hard living in Harvard’s shadow and feeling like you’re the less attractive sibling. I loved my time at Tufts. If I had to do it all over again, I’m not certain I’d choose Harvard again as an undergrad. I think I would have enjoyed Tufts more. |
Anonymous
I cannot believe 1) and adult reads reddit and 2) would take the time to even post this here. Like seriously, who cares? |
Anonymous
plenty of adults on reddit. might even be the majority on there |
Anonymous
|
The Reddit thing is just dumb.
It’s DCUM that seems oddly obsessed with Tufts and trying to bring it down. |
Anonymous
Trolls and/or vocal minority of first or second gen middle class immigrants who are desperate to prove they’ve “made it.” Ruthless strivers don’t realize most confident rich Americans couldn’t care less about pointless rankings — and their smart teens don’t obsess over or even care about Ivies. |
Anonymous
You sound dumb and insecure. |
Anonymous
|
People who pick apart Tufts when it is clearly a fine school also seem insecure.
I’ll be thrilled if one of my kids apply to Tufts. I grew up in Boston and at least people there know it’s value. |
Anonymous
| Its — autocorrect |
Anonymous
Go study all the rankings and spam DCUM, College Confidential, reddit and God knows where else all day. Spend years obsessing over getting your teen into a "T10". They probably won't get into an Ivy, but even if they do, they'll just be a schmuck middle class interloper. Truly elite colleges are elite because of the rich connected kids and bonafide brilliant kids, not the handful of annoying and deeply unimpressive ruthless strivers whose psycho parents helped them claw their way in by hook or by crook. Peter Principal will kick in and you'll realize what an embarrassing and shallow waste of life all of this was. Meanwhile the cool and confident wealthy smart kids at places like Tufts and other far less "prestigious" private colleges will continue to soar above your obedient swot. |
Anonymous
LOL you’re literally insane. |
Anonymous
| For what it’s worth, at my NYC intense prep school everyone knew about Tufts and it was considered a little step below Penn and Cornell. No one had heard of Carnegie Mellon. Not that that should matter and CMU is a great school but people are oversestmsting the respect it gets in NE circles. |