Which college would be the best for someone interested in Applied Math? I know that only Tufts has this major available for undergraduates, but it seems options are available at Penn too.
UPenn is the better school. What is your major and what is the cost?
For applied math, my guess would be upenn, it all comes down to difference in cost
Cost isn’t a factor they are about the same. I would want to major in Applied Math but that is only available at Tufts. If i went to Upenn i would major in Mathematics.
I would choose UPenn for two reasons: the math department as a whole is stronger, and top graduate schools tend to look for students who have prestigious undergraduate degrees, so UPenn would ultimately boost your longer-term career, esp getting into the best graduate school. In addition, applied math majors are most successful academically when they have theoretical background as well so you should be in a place where they recognize that and teach you to think theoretically as well as in applied math. Tufts is a good choice if you are also community oriented – the whole Boston area is amazing for mathematics. But most undergraduates stick to learning the undergraduate/early graduate level math, so an amazing city for math is less relevant than a very strong program.
That said, it’s also really worth looking up the courses you think you’d be interested in, and see if UPenn is really weak in applied math. If they really have nothing but the most elementary courses to offer, then Tufts would be a better choice. I would be surprised if that’s the case.