FWIW—Tufts juniors and seniors are able to take courses at the Fletcher School. I don’t know what areas of political science interest you, but if IR is of interest, then taking some courses at Fletcher is a huge plus.
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This is a fairly commonly held belief with a substantial basis. Regardless, Tufts University lists its most common 8 overlap schools as : Dartmouth, U Chicago, Brown, Harvard, Wesleyan, Georgetown, Northwestern, & WashUStL. Only 3 of the 8 are Ivy League schools.
Question is, do any of those list Tufts?
Wes is also NESCAC, but it is a LAC.
The protest thing is real and had a direct impact on decisions here. Older kid exhausted by it all - the chanting 24/7, sirens, interrupted classes, divisiveness among friends even, being followed around by reporters just trying to get to class, on and on and on and on and on. The relative peace at Vanderbilt was extraordinary, like a oh, wow, this is what college is supposed to look like.
Also, older kid was accepted at USC a few years ago - but a tiny caveat was that on campus housing wasn’t guaranteed. Oh hell no. Declined immediately. A friend here took the USC offer and it’s been a complete nightmare trying to negotiate LA housing from afar. Congratulations and welcome to Vanderbilt. You’re going to love it.
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With respect to the ‘Ivy League reject’ idea, I think that Tufts, like some other LACs, have many students who didn’t get into Harvard/Yale/etc. This isn’t limited to Tufts - I went to Cornell, an Ivy League school, and there were many students who were unhappy, at least initially, that they had to attend a ‘lesser’ Ivy. (I was thrilled that I got in at all and was surprised to hear others say that).
Part of the problem is that Boston has Harvard and MIT, both at the very top of the competitive college list, so Tufts students may feel inadequate by comparison. In contrast, Vanderbilt is probably the best university in the Southeast, where there is much less emphasis on Ivy League schools (because they’re all hundreds of miles away in a very different part of the country) than in the Northeast (because that’s where all the Ivy schools are). So while Vanderbilt students are at the top school in their area, Tufts students are in a comparatively disadvantageous position, even if the ‘quality’ of students in terms of grades and scores are comparable (I haven’t checked whether they are, but I believe that’s the case).
One thing that may or may not influence your decision is that Tufts is well known in the Northeast (and less well-known in other parts of the country), whereas Vanderbilt I don’t believe is well-known outside the south(I think they’re trying to change that, and that at some point it will change). I think only two or three students at most from my child’s very large high school (450 graduating seniors, almost all of whom went to college) even applied to Vanderbilt, many applied to Tufts. So if you’re set on finding a job in Boston or elsewhere in the Northeast after college, Tufts has a definite advantage.
Re the Fletcher School, it is an excellent school but again is overshadowed by Harvard (I believe the Harvard Kennedy School has a concentration in foreign policy in addition to public administration), Princeton (the same), Columbia (the same), and Georgetown (which has its own excellent foreign policy school). If you want to go into foreign policy that’s a consideration, but if you’re not, it’s not worth choosing Tufts on that basis.
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Your theory is interesting, but we will have to disagree about Tufts students being disadvantaged because of their proximity of other prestigious colleges. I’d argue, in fact, that simply attending college in Boston is a boost for many college grads. Mainly because there are so many highly regarded colleges in the area.
Not to get off topic, btw. I see no real world advantage to graduating from Vanderbilt over Tufts. Both are great schools with excellent reputations.
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Most people would not consider the area around Tufts to be “suburban”.
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Political science at Tufts, everybody will assume you are far-left, even if not all of the courses and professors are. If you go to Vanderbilt, you won’t be pigeonholed. Plus, the latter’s reputation is national, high and rising, while most folks outside the NE haven’t heard of Tufts. I have relatives who graduated from Tufts many years ago and loved it (I believe), but it’s not in the same league reputation-wise for undergrads as Vanderbilt, especially outside the NE.
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Funny in Nashville Tufts is well thought of and Vandy way overrated. A lot choose UTK and Bama over it.
No doubt Tufts and Vandy are fine and everyone can choose what is best for them. The schools are about more than academics.
I know someone who thought that Vanderbilt was in New York, which was the original family home.
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Tufts is not a hotbed of social justice warriors. That’s like me saying that everyone at Vanderbilt is preppy and belongs to a frat. I’m not sure where your idea came from, but it’s worth noting that both Vanderbilt and Tufts have had student protesters.
I’m sure there are many other stories.
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OK, fair enough, maybe suburb was the wrong word. I shoudl have said located outside Boston. ; )
Hi, I’ve really appreciated all the responses here these last few days!! There was some very helpful advice, thank you everyone for taking the time to comment and help me make this difficult decision. Ultimately, I’ve decided to commit to Vanderbilt!! I’m so excited to live in Nashville and I know that I’ll be really happy there. All the best to all of you!
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