Tufts vs Harvard vs Vanderbilt vs Upenn

Naspy58
Mon, 18 Apr 2016 18:49:47 +0000

Doesn’t sound like the OP is that concerned about competing salaries, otherwise Harvard would already be chosen. I would guess that with the exception of Stanford, no other US school will provide the overall entree to jobs and opportunities that Harvard does. I have a daughter who is in her first year at Tufts. She is not a CS major, but has friends in Engineering and other Sciences, as well as in the liberal arts. She also fell in love with the place when we first visited and applied ED1. She still loves it and is happy. She visits a friend at Harvard on occasion, enjoys Cambridge a great deal, & the atmosphere at Harvard has, at times, struck her as a little self-important and competitive. But the friend (a legacy) is happy there. At Tufts she has found smart, interesting and NICE kids. It’s an eclectic group, not everyone is either a perfect 2400, a champion pole vaulter, or the son of a Senator. Partying is pretty much limited to the weekends, and not everyone parties every weekend. Frats and frat parties form the core of on campus social life in the freshman year, but she’s found them open (she’s not Greek). She has found school challenging, stressful at times, but not overwhelming, and she easily got involved in different groups (radio station, club volleyball) and is able to get into leadership positions in her freshman year. Tufts will always live in the shadow of both Harvard and MIT. But its star is ascending, and students seem content and happy. I thought the food was very good. One thing you don’t want to do, is go to Tufts, or Vanderbilt, and spend time telling people you turned down Harvard. If that is going to happen, go to Harvard. But Tufts is not like a junior college in comparison. You are obviously a very bright and accomplished person, as well as being pretty mature and grounded (I infer that from the fact that you aren’t immediately picking Harvard because it’s Harvard, and are giving a great deal of thought to the matter). And honestly, with your abilities, you will soar wherever you go. You should visit each place again, possibly more than once. You will be living there for 4 years and it’s your life, not mom and dad’s.