WashU and Tufts are my son’s top two choices. He’s interested in international affairs and global politics. He prefers the Tufts program but cost of attendance is much higher. Anyone with experience with either school?
I’m wondering why the costs differ so much…if this is need based aid you are talking about.
If the cost of Tufts is too high, then WashU is an excellent option.
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What they consider to be need is very different. Like $20k per year different.
Having said that we are willing to do either. I’ve asked for feedback on a few different forums and nobody ever has any input on that major / area of interest at WashU.
you can’t go wrong either way.
but I hear more positive things from Wash U families than Tufts. Not specific to your area of interest. But they do have a great law school so I suspect their international affairs and politics faculty are also good. plus it’s cheaper…
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wonder if you’re able to negotiate that?
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Have you contacted Fin Aid at Tufts and ask for a review on the Aid? If these were my kids choices I would go to both admitted students days and talk to professor and future classmates. You can also talk with financial aid office in person
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Ask Tufts to review, share that your family is considering WashU, which is offering more aid, but your student would choose Tufts if the numbers broke differently. They should see WashU as a peer institution.
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We have a phone call with Tufts Wednesday. And attending admitted student day there Friday.
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Not yet. Have a call scheduled for Wednesday.
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These are two colleges with overlap applicants so neither is significantly better than the other academically IMO.
Personal opinion is that Tufts is a bit more caught in being a traditional liberal arts college and lately that has come with significant protesting that might turn off some. They certainly have a more liberal student body and that may or ay not be a factor for your son. I love Boston, but SL can be pretty cool, too.
I, personally, would not pay more for Tufts.
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Hopefully Tufts will be able to do something to get closer to WashU. If difference is 10k or less, Tufts is definitely better known for international relations and studies. Also Boston is a much safer, internationally connected and successful city than St Louis, and, yes, that matters in real life, a lot. As great as WashU, St Louis is just not a great or even relevant place for international relations/studies; if the kid is really into that stuff, Tufts is an academic leader due to the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy (even if the programs there are graduate, the faculty and grad students teach undergrad etc.).
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I agree about the content area, but also we love STL and I’m not concerned about safety at all at WashU. My older son goes to another school in the STL area.
This is going to sound crazy but it’s a much bigger difference than 10k per year. I’m estimating for years my other child will not be in college (have meetings scheduled with financial aid to
Hopefully get better numbers) but we are talking a 6-figure difference over four years.
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We also love Boston and my son grew up going every summer. My husband is from Boston and we still have lots of family there.
Tufts is the bigger name in the major but honestly, no matter where you study in that major, it’s a tough road - and the expected salaries may not be great.
First rule is - you don’t go anywhere you can’t afford. You say you’re able to do either - but can you do so comfortably ($80K over four years is a lot of money). And don’t forget yearly inflation - they’re all going up.
While I don’t know, once kids move off campus, there will likely be a cost difference that adds to it. You can check, but I’d assume St. Louis will be cheaper than the Boston area.
What is the goal post graduation? You might ask each for a career outcome report. WUSTL doesn’t list International Affairs on their dashboard and all majors chosen seem to lead to a general report anyway.
Here’s a report from Tufts - scroll down to International Relations. And their latest which is like a one page flyer.
Best of luck.
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Tufts has a much stronger program in that area. These two schools feel a bit different, so it’s good you are visiting.
Having said that, affordability is important, so that may make the decision for you. Hoping your discussion with Tufts goes well enough that it’s back in your hands.
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So for sure this is a real area of strength for Tufts, and Tufts is a cool college in general, so ordinarily that would probably be decisive. But this is then a cost issue.
So I thought I would chime in on WUSTL.
WUSTL is actually a kinda funny college in that there are very few, if any, specific areas in which it is really well known for undergrad. And yet, it is generally well-regarded as a college. And I think that is really because their way of doing things is all about broader experiences, interdisciplinary connections, and so on that do not necessarily lend themselves to high rankings in specific fields. In that sense I almost think you more have to treat it like an LAC, just in the sense you are more evaluating for the overall experience than reputational strength in specific majors.
But that doesn’t mean it is actually weak in specific areas, just not focused in the way that, say, Tufts is focused in IR, or Purdue in engineering, or so on.
And WUSTL in fact has a very well-resourced, well-organized “Global Studies” department:
https://globalstudies.wustl.edu/
If you start looking around, you will see how much they emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to Global Studies–again, this is the WUSTL way. Ultimately, though, you also choose one of six concentrations, which includes International Affairs as one of the six:
https://bulletin.wustl.edu/undergrad/artsci/globalstudies/
As you will also see if you poke around, they are very big into integrating study abroad and student research. And then they have a local chapter of an International Studies Honor Society:
https://globalstudies.wustl.edu/sigma-iota-rho
And one of their 16 first-year interdisciplinary programs, what they call Ampersand Programs, is Global Citizenship:
https://globalstudies.wustl.edu/global-citizenship-program
OK, so this looks pretty interesting on paper, in a WUSTL sort of way, but another thing I like to check is the NCES College Navigator to see whether people are actually graduating with this major. The basic logic is if the major isn’t working for people in real life, particularly at a college like WUSTL, they will just do something else. OK, so here is the latest data:
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=washington+university&s=all&pg=2&id=179867#programs
If you go down to International Affairs under Social Sciences, you will see 0. Wait, what, that is a disaster!
But this is WUSTL, IA is actually a concentration under an interdisciplinary Global Studies major. And if you look up to the Multi/Interdisciplinary section, you’ll find 37 in International/Global. Ah, there they are.
But is that good? Well, let’s compare. We know this is a big deal at Tufts:
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=tufts&s=all&id=168148#programs
Sure enough, they have 121 listed in International Affairs. Fair point. Still, the fact a few dozen people per year are sticking with the major at WUSTL despite it not being a specialist area means it is a real program, not just a paper program, that is working for these kids.
As an aside, I have looked at a lot of these NCES College Navigator pages at this point, and WUSTL really does have one of the most well-balanced lists I have seen. You have to adjust for the fact some majors are just naturally bigger or smaller than others–there are usually not going to be as many people in Creative Writing as CS these days. But WUSTL just seems to have so many listed with what I would call a healthy amount for that type of major, but not at the concentration level of specialist schools. Just an interesting observation to me, that the choices students are making at WUSTL about majors seem to track its jack-of-all-trades sort of institutional strategy.
OK, fine, but what about career development? As an aside, I generally like St Louis, and WUSTL’s location in St Louis is completely unproblematic to me. But St Louis is indeed not Washington or Boston or New York or so on. So, if you are going to break into a real career in IA, you are going to have to hustle to make sure you get suitable internships and jobs and such during breaks and summers.
But as usual, WUSTL is very well-organized to help. For example, they actually have quite a few alums in the DC area, and they also have a specific network designed for government and public policy:
WUSTL in general has a very well-resourced Career Center, and Global Studies links into that service:
https://globalstudies.wustl.edu/careers
Again, I do think you are going to have to show some initiative, but the professors, alums, admin staff, and so on you need as resources exist, you just have to make intelligent use of those resources.
OK, so that is a lot, but I thought since you were not getting much info on WUSTL in this area, it would be worth giving you a bit of an overview and some links. Again, I would not personally try to suggest Tufts is not very attractive in this area, it definitely is. But I would personally take comfort from all this that WUSTL, in its characteristically interdisciplinary way, has not at all neglected International Affairs as one of the many things it offers and supports at its typically high level.
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Wow thank you so much for this thoughtful response! I will spend some time perusing these links.
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