NYU or Tufts?

jmek15
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:00:19 +0000

Congratulations on such great options.These are all very competitive schools.

Below are my impressions based on living the area and attending NEU (years ago).

NEU really is close to everything in Boston, either on foot or by T, has a nice campus despite being in the city, and solid academics. Very professionally focused and great co-op opportunities. If you don’t go into engineering you would still have plenty of options to chose from. At ~15k, NEU has three times as many undergrads as Tufts (~5k), but roughly half the number of NYU (~27k).

Tufts has wonderful academics with a liberal arts emphasis. A Tufts degree is very highly regarded in the northeast region, but I don’t know how well known it is in CA. In comparison to NEU, Tufts is not super convenient to Boston. I just did an Uber estimate from campus to Copley Square and it was $20 (which seems really high so it could be prime time right now and perhaps would cost less on the weekend). Boston Traffic and travel on the red line can be difficult and time consuming. But again, an outstanding school.

NYU has little or no campus feel and the engineering school is in Brookline and at a completely separate campus. Don’t know much more than than, other than NYU housing process can be difficult to navigate.

I would check out the Niche reviews for each school and see which one appeals to you. Think about what type of campus will give you the most energy. Find out the number of people in the engineering programs at each school. Cross check the course requirements for each. Check the attrition rates within engineering as well as the process to transfer between majors. Also, see what types of research are underway that you might be interested in. This is a big decision, and you have to put some time in to really get a feel for each school, particularly since you live across the country. Best of luck!!