rising senior interested in tufts. what r some other schools across the selectiveness range that are similar to tufts, mostly in terms of location, academic rigor, and vibe? Feel free to mention women’s colleges. however, i would like to specify how intense the greek life/party scene is there, and how close it is to boston since i have family there ahahahaha
Some student who like having an engineering school in small liberal arts school also like Union in Schenectady. More Greek life.
Other possibilities, for a number of reasons, include Brown, Rochester, Wesleyan.
If you want Boston, your choices are many, from Wellesley, Northeastern, etc.
2 Likes
would you have any suggestions for someone interested in studying econ or psychology?
All of those work for that!
3 Likes
How close to Boston would you like to be?
1 Like
Not clear if ypu want Greek life or don’t !
Two options that aren’t Greek focused
Clark University in Worcester is very strong for Psych. Has Econ also. 1 hr on train to Boston. 5th year free Masters (though not in psych). Half the size of Tufts undergrad (3,000). Gives great merit aid.
Connecticut College in New London. Smaller again. Psych and Econ are popular majors there. Same NESCAC conference as Tufts, Wesleyan etc.
3 Likes
Brandeis will be less selective and a bit smaller. Still very selective.
A lot really depends on your academics - where can you get into. And budget - Tufts for example has no merit scholarships. Others mentioned do. Tufts is $90k a year and growing and while they do meet need, the far majority of students are full pay.
Both Tufts and Union, for example, offer engineering - but now that you said your majors - most any school will work for Econ and soc.
Lots of schools within, say 150 miles of Boston - including Smith and Mt Holyoke since you mentioned women’s schools.
Maybe not the same vibe as Tufts but you have to decide what is important. If it’s Boston, you can google a list of nearby schools.
Not Boston focused but here’s an old thread.
2 Likes
These analyses will allow you to compare economics departments by faculty scholarship:
1 Like
academics: I am looking for less selective schools bc im trying to figure out the safety schools on my list. 34 ACT, 3.7 UW GPA (with honors and APs my weakest grades r in classes not related to my field of choice) and decent ECs.
budget: around 80k-85k.
location: ideally close to boston but if we have to expand I can go to any east coast school within one flight to boston.
How many APs have you had?
What’s your field or area of interest?
What’s your highest level of math?
You have 4 years of English, social science, language, math, etc.?
Tufts is really out of budget - but they love love love full pay - especially if you apply early.
If you opened the thread I posted, Rochester was listed and it’s an easier but not easy admit. You could add CWRU. Lehigh was listed too - again, all three may be reaches.
Others lied GW, SMU (a bit farther than an hour), Ithaca (may be hard to find a direct flight), and Elon (but it’s rural - so not like Tufts). U Richmond could be another.
College of Charleston will be a safety.
Not similar but not huge and a train to Boston on campus - an hour 30 or so ride - UNH. Far less selective.
Well-known, rigorous, private university likelies/safeties in Boston or other big East Coast cities has become problematic because those are such popular markets, so many students apply. They also tend to be less generous with merit aid.
The kids I know about in our feederish HS who are looking at universities like Tufts may therefore also have colleges like Rochester (maybe hoping for some merit) or William & Mary as Targets, and then publics like Delaware or Pitt as Likelies.
But to be frank, I am not sure yet what really counts as a realistic Target or Likely for you. A 3.7 UW could mean a lot of different things depending on course rigor and school context.
4 Likes
APs: I’ll be doing 8 in my high school career. no scores so far.
area of interest: econ
highest level of math: im taking calc ab next year.
tufts is sort of my only exception to the budget. It just fits so much of what i’m looking into a school. even then we can still pay for it.
i’ve started looking into rochester, since i saw it come up in almost every list when i’d type "schools similar to (school i liked). i also checked out GW for the same reason. my only concerns are the safety since I’ve heard DC is a bit sketchy and if the party culture is too strong there.
thank you so much for your suggestions!
got it! frankly even i tend to get rlly stuck on what a target of safety becomes lol but thank you for your suggestion
If the student family can pay $85,000 and the student takes the federally funded direct loan…and works to pay for personal expenses (things Tufts doesn’t bill), Tufts is affordable.
@jellyfishchef77 Are you interested in colleges that are not in the northeast or on the east coast? Let us know. Some of these suggested colleges are not on the east coast, are not an hour plane ride to Boston, etc. If you want other colleges that are way out of the area or distance, please let us know.
CWRU is in Ohio. Great school, but out of your geographic preference, and farther than an hour plane ride to Boston.
College of Charleston is more than an hour plane ride away. Ditto Richmond
Are you interested in schools in the south?
So…some suggestions and some might be repeats: George Washington (check the cost of attendance because it’s usually amongst the most costly), Swarthmore, Villanova, Hamilton, Haverford, Boston College? Wellesley? (But I think these would be reaches, much like Tufts). For more like targets…what about Providence College? Brandeis?
If you are looking in the DC area, what about Loyola Maryland?
I agree that University of Delaware is worth a look see. Drew in NJ is another option.
2 Likes
I don’t personally think GW is like Tufts - especially environmentally - but it came up on the old thread. I’d look at Brandeis as an easier admit than Tufts.
If you’re sold on Tufts and are full pay, you can apply ED - will give you better odds. Tufts likes people who pay.
Btw while it’s not easy logistically Brandeis students can take courses at Tufts. I know one student now doing a Masters in engineering did this as Brandeis didn’t offer.
I’m assuming in your major, Brandeis will have all you need but there is a cross registration opportunity with Tufts and other area schools.
1 Like
I don’t think it has to be within a 1-hr flight of Boston, just a direct flight.
Seconding (thirding, whatevering) Case Western & William & Mary which where I’d guess you have somewhere between a 20-40% chance of admission (lower probability). Ditto for Brandeis and U. of Rochester, which I guess would probably be toss-ups for you (40-59%).
The Jesuit schools like Loyola Maryland, St. Joseph’s, and Providence would be likelies (60-79%) or extremely likelies (80-99+%). You may also want to consider Seton Hill (extremely likely) or Fordham (toss-up or likely). Christopher Newport is an easier admit than W&M and would also be an extremely likely admit.
5 Likes
Macalester in Minneapolis-St. Paul is an another liberal arts college in a city and close to an airport. Less selective than Tufts, but a hard target maybe.
4 Likes
to clarify: i didn’t mean 1 hour, i meant hopefully i can get to boston without any connecting flights (within 1 flight). i would prefer something on the east coast/closer to boston in general, but if you want to give suggestions elsewhere thats fine/
South is fine, my only worry is about the political situation in those states and how that could end up affecting my college experience.
I’ll check the rest of them out. thank you!
2 Likes
My two cents is when you factor in the practical convenience of getting to the nearest airport with regular direct flights to Boston, some geographically farther colleges can still actually be functionally pretty close in terms of convenience.
Just as an example, Macalester mentioned above (which I agree is a rather Tuftsy LAC) is like a 12 minute Uber from MSP. Delta then has like 6 or so nonstops a day from MSP to Logan, and there are a couple more budget flights too, which then helps keep down costs.
So even though Minneapolis is far enough away that the flight itself is like 2:45-3 hours, it is so darn convenient I think it competes in practical terms with nominally closer colleges where the flight frequency and travel to the airport is less convenient.
Of course at some point the flights just get really long. But personally, I would consider anything in the arc from, say, Minneapolis through St Louis down to Atlanta, with similar convenience to an airport with regular Boston service, to be a plausible candidate for this logic. And there are a lot of colleges that could potentially sweep in.
7 Likes
William & Mary gives little to no aid to OOS students.
For more of a safety/likely, how about American University in DC? I have to say, though, I know nothing about their merit aid. It’s located in more of a suburban neighborhood than GW, with more of a defined campus with green spaces, in what I imagine is one of the safest areas of DC…AU is surrounded by affluent older suburban residential and shopping areas near Wisconsin avenue a couple of miles north of the Georgetown area. I’ve heard that American does not like being used as a safety, though, and looks for evidence that you really like the school.
2 Likes