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Dominic
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:53 pm
Post subject: Tufts or Washington University |
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Hey, I am a freshman at Tufts University right now. Since Wash U in St
Louis was my first choice college last, I decided to try for transfer.
Yet, after my first year at Tufts, I found it i like it a lot.
How would you guys choose between the two schools? What's the
different in terms of academics, reputations?
Is it worth transferring?
Please help me.... |
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thc
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:26 am
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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Tufts is a great school. If you like it - stay. Wash U is a good
school too, but it is much better respected as a grad school than as
undergrad. And then there is the whole "staring over" aspect ... Your
grad school is more important than where you spend your four undergrad
years. Get good grades at Tufts and you can go anywhere you want. |
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Ryan
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:34 am
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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This question isn't really directed to you, but anyone who can answer: what
is a "good" school? What makes a college good, what makes it bad? I'm really
confused, now more than ever. I was hoping someone could explain this to me.
Thanks!
"thc" <cthcarter@aol.com> wrote in message
news:b4809df5.0403231526.3189a32f@posting.google.com...
| Quote: | Tufts is a great school. If you like it - stay. Wash U is a good
school too, but it is much better respected as a grad school than as
undergrad. And then there is the whole "staring over" aspect ... Your
grad school is more important than where you spend your four undergrad
years. Get good grades at Tufts and you can go anywhere you want. |
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David Haardt
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 7:34 am
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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cydkrover@mail.com (Dominic) wrote:
| Quote: | Hey, I am a freshman at Tufts University right now. Since Wash U in St
Louis was my first choice college last, I decided to try for transfer.
Yet, after my first year at Tufts, I found it i like it a lot.
How would you guys choose between the two schools? What's the
different in terms of academics, reputations?
Is it worth transferring?
Please help me....
|
I'd say that WUStL is a bit better based on the stats, but if you like
it at Tufts I don't see any reason why you should take the risk and
transfer to some other place which you might not like.
Massachusetts and Missouri are two quite different states, aren't
they? With its liberal atmosphere, Massachusetts is arguably the
United States' premier state for college education, so I wouldn't want
to leave from there...
-David Haardt |
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David Haardt
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 7:37 am
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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cydkrover@mail.com (Dominic) wrote:
| Quote: | Hey, I am a freshman at Tufts University right now. Since Wash U in St
Louis was my first choice college last, I decided to try for transfer.
Yet, after my first year at Tufts, I found it i like it a lot.
How would you guys choose between the two schools? What's the
different in terms of academics, reputations?
Is it worth transferring?
Please help me....
|
What I wanted to add: IMHO, if you do well during your degree, which
is very likely to be influenced by how much you like studying at your
school, it won't make any difference whether you graduated from Tufts
or from WUStL.
Both employers as well as graduate admissions officers (the former
later than the latter, but anyway) have learned that doing well at
where you are matters much more than some percentage points in those
odd statistics. At least that's my perception.
-David Haardt |
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Penndad
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:17 pm
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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"Ryan" <nospam@hotmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | This question isn't really directed to you, but anyone who can
answer: what is a "good" school? What makes a college good, what
makes it bad? I'm really confused, now more than ever. I was
hoping someone could explain this to me.
Thanks!
|
Simple. If you're looking at job prospects only I'm sure each college
admissions office has the stats on how much their grads are earning
and it is easy to compare schools that way. If your concern is
getting a good education then it becomes more difficult. No matter
how many full professors and Nobel prize winners the school has the
quality of the education the individual gets will depend on the
degree of rapport between the student and the teacher. A TA who can
excite and challenge his or her students provides a far better
learning experience than a full professor with multiple doctorates
who the student just can't relate to, for whatever reason.
On top of the classroom experience there is the overall "college
experience" - the friends you make, roommates, educational resources,
etc etc...
None of these things can be quantified or identified in college
rankings or even brief visits to the schools. The best you can do is
list some general preferences as to lfestyle and target those schools
which best fit your personal preferences. For example, Cornell may
have the best engineering school (don't quote me; I don't even know
if Cornell HAS an engineering school) but if you really hate small
towns and cold weather then I suspect that they should not be on your
list of "good" schools no matter what their reputation in the area
you want to study.
It all comes down to personal experience, which usually requires an
effort on the student's part but in the end is subject to external
forces and relationships which cannot be predicted by looking at
school rankings or even by visiting the school and talking to the
students.
Enjoy! It's all part of learning.
Penndad
kreisthorn
at
shaw
dot
ca |
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David Haardt
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 9:10 pm
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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"Ryan" <nospam@hotmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | This question isn't really directed to you, but anyone who can answer: what
is a "good" school? What makes a college good, what makes it bad? I'm really
confused, now more than ever. I was hoping someone could explain this to me.
|
OK, I'll try (in no particular order):
- Its reputation (for getting a job and/or into grad school)
- Its location (are there other good complementary colleges around so
that collaboration in teaching and research is posssible?)
- Its students (do you feel at home socially/ideologically? do you
like the atmosphere with your fellow students? are there other bright
students around with whom you can discuss things and learn? is there
diversity so that you get to know people from other cultures, origins,
and social status so that you learn to appreciate tolerance?)
- Its professors (are they good teachers? are there enough of them? do
they have a reputation for their research? are they able to fascinate
students and to engage them? do you take a lot of knowledge home, or
is it just a dull place with nothing new? do you learn to think
critically rather than to take things as given?)
- Its equipment (are there enough computer labs? are the buildings in
a good shape? what about the A/V equipment in lecture halls and
seminar rooms?)
- Its accommodation (do you feel at home in your dorm? is there enough
variety with what's on offer?)
And much, much more.
-David Haardt |
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rick++
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 12:09 am
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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| Quote: | This question isn't really directed to you, but anyone who can answer: what
is a "good" school? What makes a college good, what makes it bad? I'm really
confused, now more than ever. I was hoping someone could explain this to me.
|
The Socratic answer is to know yourself.
I wanted to move away from home ASAP, so I looked for a residental college.
My siblings were satisfied with commuting.
If you are going to live there you want to know whether you like urban,
suburban or small-town. Does a drastic change in climate or recreation matter?
Does a huge, impersonal school matter, or a small school with more
limited courses?
Does the school have sufficient courses in your areas of interest?
A grad department in those areas helps.
In the end there was no one-only that would be best or worst,
but maybe hundreds I would have been happy at and hundreds I would
have not liked.
Fortunately I stopped applying after early decision at two.
I would have been paralyzed trying to decide between more.
See the new book "The Choice Paradox" for more insight. |
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Mike Tamada
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 5:38 pm
Post subject: Re: Tufts or Washington University |
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cydkrover@mail.com (Dominic) wrote in message news:<f336ac41.0403230853.11952f9e@posting.google.com>...
| Quote: | Hey, I am a freshman at Tufts University right now. Since Wash U in St
Louis was my first choice college last, I decided to try for transfer.
Yet, after my first year at Tufts, I found it i like it a lot.
How would you guys choose between the two schools? What's the
different in terms of academics, reputations?
Is it worth transferring?
Please help me....
|
The two schools are so close in overall reputations -- very good ones
-- that there's not much point in distinguishing between them.
Academics? It depends on your interests. WashU used to (and I
believe still does) put a lot of emphasis on its Putnam team, so if
that sort of stuff floats your boat, then WashU would be better.
WashU used to have a very loose, non-demanding set of general
education and distribution requirements, which is an advantage in some
students' eyes and a disadvantage in others (someone told me they've
beefed up those requirements over the years anyway). Tufts is a
reasonable distance to the Red Line and Cambridge and Boston whereas
WashU neighbors Clayton and Forest Park. If these things, or other
differences between the two, are important to you, then that'd be a
reason for choosing one over the other.
Given that they're both good schools and that you like it at Tufts,
I'd say that the only reason for transfering would be if there was
some specific, compelling feature that WashU has that Tufts lacks.
--MKT |
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