You didn’t indicate academic area of interest and that might make a difference. To each his own as far as campus architecture. Older d is a proud alum of Brandeis and the merit money and the academic opportunities were a perfect fit for her. She (and we) liked the campus a lot and there is a lot that is new and different on campus today that were not there at the time so cannot really comment. She did not apply to Tufts but had several high school friends that did and attended and trust me there was a lot of back and forth visiting between Tufts and Brandeis and any of the Boston area schools with each other. She ran into plenty of people she knew at parties at MIT and just by walking in Harvard Square. She went to performances at Tufts and the campus libraries offered (at the time) reciprocal lending.
In my experience, upperclassmen at Brandeis often have cars, which opens up some possibilities. You only need one per group of buddies, and it’s a lot cheaper than $70k.
Thanks for all of the additional replies. While it’s nice that Tufts is closer in to Boston, that’s not the main reason for preferring Tufts.We were at both schools last week, relying mostly on public transit, so we have a good sense of that aspect, and it’s not a make-it-or-break-it difference. It just seems like Tufts has a little more to offer, and the smart-nerdy vibe was stronger there, which was very appealing. Both schools are excellent in the programs my kid is interested in, though, so that’s not helping! @Bookmama22 - nice to know about all of the back and forth between schools - that’s encouraging!