Hey! I’m a current Tufts student. Not too sure why you’d be worried about the social scene here as an underclassman when Tufts has the largest undergraduate student population out of the three. There are so many things to do you’ll only have gone through a fraction of opportunities by the time you graduate. I also don’t really recognize a graduate community on campus, although it definitely exists. At its heart, Tufts is still very much an undergraduate-focused, liberal arts school.
Students are very much academically (and politically) engaged here. I’ve actually learned almost as much as I have outside of classes as I have in them through hour-long conversations with friends during meals.
And in terms of size – class population will depend on your major. I’ve personally had mostly <20 person classes and I’ve formed lasting relationships with almost all of my past professors.
“I’m interested in having access to a big city”
Tufts and Haverford can offer that; Wesleyan not so much.
Tufts and Wesleyan are definitely more artsy than Haverford. Tufts also has great athletics for a D3 school.
I actually ended up choosing Tufts over a lot of other great options because the students here seemed much more engaged than at schools of similar reputation. They also seemed to choose to attend the school for tangible reasons, not because of its prestige (although it does carry quite a bit of that). Being both “artsy” and into athletics myself, I found Tufts to have a great mix of both cultures, especially with some SMFA students being on campus.
I would rule Haverford out. If you think being near a big city would substantially improve your college experience, go to Tufts. If you want a campus exclusively of undergrads, go to Wesleyan. In the end, they’re all wonderful institutions.