#Tufts vs UMD

14 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

tall salmon
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Schools: Tufts & UMD
Intended major: Electrical Engineering (or CompE)
Similarities: research schools w/ strong STEM. Great locations (boston & dc)
Costs: Tufts 34k, UMD 35k

Tufts
Pros:
-Small engineering class, lots of one on one time with profs
-Named a Stern Scholar, given to less than 5% of admitted engineers. I’ll have an easier time getting research positions and other perks
-Boston is amazing for connections and a great city overall
-Very nice people
-Good for business/finance related engineering, one of their profs already knows me and told me he hopes I take his class like a year ago
-surprisingly good career outcomes? #16 on linkedins best colleges for long term careers, 82% get into a t10 grad school
-amazing food
-weird addition but I’ve noticed that a lot of people transfer from tufts and they always end up at t20s
-Most graduate with 2 internships
Cons:
-Engineering isn’t well known. Some people say it is world class, some say it teaches the fundamentals very well, some say “who goes to tufts for engineering?”
-Boston is cold and tufts only has one indoor basketball court (the stadium one)
-Limited research & specializations
-Boston internship competition with MIT, harvard, etc
-not a celtics fan

UMD (in state)
Pros:
-Renown engineering, plenty of opportunities
-Close to DC
-Companies recruit at UMD regularly
-I know a lot of people already going
-Feels like a safe bet (familiarity)
-Niches to specialize in
-Indoor bbal
Cons:
-One in a sea of engineers
-Asked some UMD engineers about deciding tufts vs umd and they didn’t say anything helpful and just trashed me for even thinking about tufts
-Boston beats college park
-At admitted student day’s student panel, one guy had 3 nasa internships and the 5 other seniors had none (idk)
-crowded bbal courts

Tiebreaking considerations
-I’d really like to know how respected/known Tufts engineering is among companies, not just the general public, and how tufts engineers fare in competing for jobs

vapid sail
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Umd

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I've never heard of anyone going to tufts for engineering

outer lava
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You could look at - https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/tuftscareercenter/viz/PoCOutcomesDashboard/Dashboard
^^^ Also I would reach out to Tufts career center directly.

vs

https://eng.umd.edu/careers/outcomes/electrical

Also job recruiting/interning is going to be a lot up to you as an individual student. Like going to the in-person career fairs is good (which Tufts also has), but there's a lot more outreach/networking you can/should do.

I don't think you'll necessarily have to work harder at Tufts to get those employment opportunities but it's possible.

***Honestly the biggest difference is going to be the facilities. Public state schools engineering facilities are like government funded so like they're usually bigger and better than what any private school will have access to. For example like NC State has their own factories for creating fabrics and at Duke we have like a pretty big saw and some 3d printers but that's about it lol. So there could also be a difference between theoretical/research-esque engineering vs practical/hands-on.

It does look like Tufts has co-op opportunities so I would investigate that and what the engineering facilities look like a bit more to see which resonate with you. I think you should/could also ask yourself which community you'd thrive more in.

tall salmon
tall salmon
quartz cobalt
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I'd say tufts. it will be much easier to stand out for eng there, especially since you're a stern scholar. I think this should be a no brainer for you. Also, i feel your pain about the basketball courts haha, but there should be plenty of open runs a few t stops away lol

tall salmon
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im alr appealing at tufts but they alr denied me so im meeting with fin aid to see what can happen

vapid sail
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I would go to the university of maryland then

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It's a better engineering school.It's more affordable and most likely have the opportunities that you seek

thick quarry
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imo you should go to UMD it has a way better EE program and way more opportunities due to its proximity to DC and its connections there

south blaze
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Although Tufts engineering lives in the shadow of other Boston schools, it still a really strong program. There’s also sort of a liberal arts core so you will have the opportunity to take other high level classes in the school of Arts and Sciences. Boston is also a good Engineering hub due to an abundance of top schools. It will also be smaller than UMD which I would consider a plus.

tall salmon