He loved Rice. He also looked at Tufts (funny side story- the regional admissions rep who he met where we live recognized him when we were on campus for a tour, stopped in her tracks and greeted him by name! We got a LOT of looks from the other families who were also there for the tour.) He loved Rice and applied ED so it was a non-issue. He works now for a FAANG in the SF area. He had been with a start up in the Bay Area
Haha what a cool story. That is also very useful to know, so there is inter state mobility for Rice too, albeit its less common location.
Yeah I couldnt agree more, Tufts was not my top choice either so was more of a safety for me. But seeing as I really want to go US over UK, where I got offers from LSE + UCL, I considered Tufts as it’s still a good school in a great location. But I think Rice, after reading all these comments plus other research, is great school in a good location,
that is extreme, be real.
I do agree, Tufts is often people’s second choice if someone is truly Yale/Stanford material, safety or target school? no..
You can look at your schools naviance or scoir. Kids need very very good GPAs and scores to get it (I have kids in 2 different NE HS (a very good public and a very good private) and yes “top” kids are going to Tufts. Top 1-5%? maybe not, top 10-15%? yes..
And LOTS of kids go there in my area.
2 Likes
So you got into Tufts and Rice ? Those are great gets - Tufts and not a safety for anyone with a 6% acceptance rate and typically lots of $$ required.
And for many, Tufts is a top choice. Just like Rice, it may be a back up for some but also a primary target for many. And similar to Rice, Tufts places from all 50 states but the home region dominates.
These two share a lot more demographically and statistically than they don’t. They both punch way above their brand strength.
But Rice is in a city where it’s the easily the most academic heavyweight whereas Tufts is located in an area that’s loaded with academic powerhouses so its notoriety may be a bit harder to come by. And it’s more likely Tufts kids will apply to Ivy whereas Rice kids will have applied to U Texas, SMU, etc.
There are certainly kids, if they applied to both, that would get into Rice and not Tufts. And vice versa.
3 Likes
That’s generally the range for our area. Kids in the top 10-15% of their graduating class. Really good students but not the tippy top.
In our area:
Top 1-5% will typically go to T20 schools.
5-10% top OOS public - ie. UNC, UVA, maybe in state flagship (due to costs), sometimes NYU
Somewhere between 10-20% - Northeastern, BC, BU, Tufts, etc.
1 Like
Per CDS, 85%% of Tufts kids are in the top 10% of their class. 35% get need aid.
Rice is 89% top 10%. 46% get need need aid and they have some merit plus athletic scholarships, which might allow for some with less academic credentials (not sure) but they are D1.
In some cases, Rice will be more affordable.
But academically, they’re relative peers but with different strengths in areas of study and while the student is Econ, if they decided on business as an example, Rice will have a greater depth. But if at Tufts, the student can find courses at Brandeis or other nearby schools to fill a gap.
2 Likes
100% there would be kids for whom that would happen.
1 Like
IMO,
Rice is closer to Vanderbilt, Emory, Wash U, etc.
Tufts is closer to BC, BU, Northeastern (these schools seem to get lumped in together).
1 Like
One of the old college books used to list cross shops. I invented that kids who didn’t get into Rice would end up at SMU or Tulsa. Someone was like Tulsa and whatever poster on here said - yes, they have the old whatever guide and that’s correct.
Certainly in the advent of technology and given both meet need for all, their wings have spread to all 50 states both both are by and large regional schools with a third or so of Rice kids from Texas and at least half of Tufts kids from the NE.
I’d agree many lump Rice with Vandy, Duke, Emory, Wash U as these are similar in size. I’m guessing many Tufts kids apply to BU and NEU as noted given the localness but those are very different schools size wise whereas many Ivy on top and Brandeis, Rochester, Wesleyan below might fit better and I imagine have a larger cross shop.
I wish the guide with those match ups was still out.
On a side note, Rice has a yield of 44% with Tufts around 46%. Given all the immediate competition, I would have thought Tufts would be lower. But in essence, they’re the same.
My two cents is Tufts basically has two different markets in my circles.
For sure one big one is the kids who are basically looking for a very selective midsize private research university (or perhaps also academicky LACs they are crosshopping) in a cool East Coast location. And Tufts is one of those! I agree these sorts of kids usually would have some colleges on their application list they would prefer to Tufts, but likely also some where they would prefer Tufts. Meaning in what is really a very competitive field of universities (and colleges) meeting that general description, Tufts can be a solidly middle-range outcome for them.
A smaller pool (at least in my circles) has very specific reasons to like Tufts, usually some particular academic program. Those sort of people might well have Tufts very high on their list, including that Tufts might be their ED1 or ED2 choice.
At least in my circles, the market for Rice is really almost all of that second nature. Like, certain people really like Rice, and it is high on their list and might even be an ED choice. But then not a lot of other people apply to Rice at all. I think basically because they are not interested in considering a college in Texas (I live in a Northern metro).
2 Likes
Tufts in my circles is known for very aggressive “yield protection,” to the point yield protection is sometimes jokingly called “Tufts Syndrome”.
I think it goes along with what I was just suggesting. Tufts is a very good university in a very popular area for college students, but there are also a LOT of other very good universities and colleges in that area. And so I think a lot of highly qualified kids then end up applying to Tufts who have it pretty far down on their list. And Tufts reasonably does not want to waste a lot of offers on highly qualified kids who are very likely to choose somewhere else in the end.
Obviously the easiest way to avoid Tufts treating your application in this way is to apply ED. But people applying RD to Tufts are cautioned to really demonstrate interest, to have a really thoughtful answer to their “Why Tufts?” supplemental, and even then to have a good list of suitable alternative colleges where yield protection is considered less of an issue.
That’s certainly how it is seen in my circles. For certain specific interests, CMU (tech) and Georgetown (politics/IR) would also be seen in this group.
At least in my circles, this is where things can get interesting, as I think different kids looking at the Boston area develop different orders of preference. Like there are BC kids and there are Tufts kids, and not necessarily a lot of overlap actually. These days Northeastern might be the top choice in that group for Engineering kids (except for BME kids who might be back to Tufts), but then it is seen as a full tier (or more) lower for other kids. And then BU seems to have the least clear branding.
3 Likes
I love all the attention that this post has gotten, and really appreciate it! I am currently leaning Tufts because of the Per Capita youth brain power that exists in Boston with all the great schools. I was wondering, on this line of thinking, are Tufts + other schools in Boston region known for ‘cross-pollinating’ between eachother in friend groups and meeting up with kids from all different campuses?
Yes. I believe that happens because of the close proximity.
Interesting, Tufts does not list ED counts in CDS nor do they list them
None of this matters - to answer OP both are great. As an international, they may find more comfort in one city vs another. Boston will be faster paced.
Tufts has a BA and BS in Cog Sci while Rice just a BA. So the student might look at the classes for BS vs BA to see if that’s valuable to them.
Best of luck to them.
Eh, I would be careful about putting too much weight on this. Sometimes yes, for certain individuals. But realistically, a lot of kids are going to be spending most of their “quality time” with fellow students at their own college. And that is in part because there is usually no need to do anything else–at least at these sorts of colleges, there are PLENTY of other smart, friendly, interesting people to meet at your own college.
In that sense, they are not monoculture farms, they are already widely varied gardens in themselves, and perfectly capable of supporting lots and lots of “cross-pollination” just within their own student populations.
2 Likes
The OP did ask about “any thoughts” on the “general atmosphere” at those colleges, so maybe some orientation as to how they are seen domestically, what sorts of students following what sorts of paths end up there, and so on might be relevant.
But I also would agree none of this should be given TOO much consideration. The bottom line is in many ways these institutions are way more similar than different within the broader range of US undergrad institutions.
Yes I do agree, and no matter where I go I am pretty certain my life will follow the same trajectory. The only annoying thing with this decision is that they are in pretty different environments, and this will only change the journey I have not necessarily the destination.
1 Like
Not sure about cross pollination as such but I have heard from students who have gone there (including one who went to Tufts) that Boston is a great student city because there are so many colleges there, in a relatively small area.
1 Like