At a Glance
Medford, Massachusetts
Undergraduate Students: 6,600
Student to Faculty Ratio: 9:1
Acceptance Rate: 9%
Six Year Graduation Rate: 94%
Freshman Retention Rate: 92%
Notable Majors: international relations, economics, biology, computer science, and human factors engineering (psych/engineering combo)
The Feel
Tufts main campus is located in Medford, just 5 miles outside Boston, and overlooks the beautiful Boston skyline. They have 2 undergraduate campuses in the Boston area.
Freshmen will take a writing seminar with many different topics to choose from, including digital media culture, family, and other dimensions of reality.
With hundreds of clubs to choose from, some of the more popular ones are dance related. They even have a “Club Club,” which meets weekly to discuss other clubs.
Tufts is a member of the NCAA, Division III and has a sailing team in DI.
Students are required to live on campus the first two years, and greek housing and themed housing are also available.
Their cost of attendance is approximately $80,000, but they meet 100% of demonstrated financial need, and families making under $60,000 a year will receive that aid in grants only (no loans to pay back).
Standout Points
Tufts is known for their ExCollege, which is a department of experimental elective courses taught by none other than Tufts students. Seniors can teach a class on any subject they care deeply about.
Students at Tufts have the reputation of being accomplished, yet quirky and fun. They consider themselves “intellectually playful.”
Their engineering school, 50% of which are women, is built on collaboration and group projects.
Their School of Museum of Fine Arts, which holds a partnership specifically with The Museum of Fine Arts: Boston, is located in the Fenway neighborhood and awards a B.F.A with many concentrations to choose from.
Fun Fact
The Tufts mascot is an elephant named Jumbo, originally donated by P.T. Barnum. The elephant was taxidermied, and students quickly started the tradition of tugging on his tale. Over the years, the tail eventually fell off and is now on display in the library.
Bottom Line Fit: For the quirky student whose intellectual curiosity takes them across disciplines, and may even drive them to share their passions with other students through the Ex College.
Learn more about Tufts!