HELP! WUSTL vs. Tufts??

fallenchemist
Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:41:55 +0000

Truly, forget the rankings. They mean little enough at the grad level, and mean nothing at undergrad. Impossible to have meaningful measures. The important thing is that both schools are good in the area, and Wash U may indeed be great. Just keep in mind that out of 40 or so courses you will take as an undergrad, maybe 8-9 will be in your major? 10 tops. That is a fair number of course, but still leaves 30+ in other areas. Go with the school you think you like best overall. That is where you will be happiest with your choice, not because of picking the school that had a SLIGHTLY better department where you will be spending about 10% of your total time (class + other stuff. Remember the other stuff, which is like half your time or more?). So if you think that being in Boston will make the most difference, go with that. Try and weigh as many factors as you can, then make the best choice you can. No one has a crystal ball. But don’t do it based on extremely small differences between departments at the undergrad level. That really would be the worst way to pick, as non-intuitive as that sounds.