Tufts is better than BC, BU, Brandeis, NEU, and definitely Babson (what are they strong in other than entrepreneurship?). I think Tufts is close behind Wellesley and Olin, which in turn are behind Williams and Amherst (They are not BOSTON AREA, but Massachusetts schools) and Tufts is also a long distance behind Harvard and MIT.
And the others are music schools, how can you compare them with research universities such as Tufts or even with LACs like Wellesley or Amherst?
But nationally, I think Tufts is at the USC/UCLA/Emory/Georgetown Level but still below the Northwestern/WashU tier. (I personally chose Tufts over Emory after receiving one of Emory’s merit scholarships before getting accepted ED2 at Tufts).