At a Glance
Tufts admits 10.8% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Debt at Graduation
35.5%
receive need-based grant aid
$25,584
average debt at graduation
Tufts graduates carry an average of $25,584 in debt.
Merit Aid
179
students received merit aid
$18,964
average merit award
Getting In
Tufts admits 10.8% of applicants.
Tufts University's Early Decision applicants are admitted at more than 4x the rate of Regular Decision applicants — 32% vs 8.5%. Note: ED is binding — you commit to attending if admitted.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 42% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 16% of the class submitted
87% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Tufts University rates your personal essay as Very Important — equal weight to your GPA. Don't underestimate it. Demonstrated interest is Considered — showing genuine engagement with this school may help your application.
Student Life
59.8% of Tufts classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At Tufts, 59.8% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
10:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
60%
Men in fraternities
12%
Women in sororities
15%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
Tufts's student body is 39.5% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Tufts graduates 82.7% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
Tufts graduates 82.7% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
Tufts
82.7%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $88,300
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
94%
Overall 6-yr rate
93%
Pell recipient rate
Lower-income students graduate at nearly the same rate as their peers — a sign of strong institutional support.
Freshman Retention
95%
95% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Medford.
Tufts sits on a hilltop straddling the Medford/Somerville line, about five miles northwest of downtown Boston. It reads as a self-contained, largely residential campus rather than an urban one, but Davis Square in Somerville — a lively stretch of restaurants, shops and the Red Line — is a short walk away, and since December 2022 the campus has had its own MBTA Green Line stop (Medford/Tufts), putting the full Boston and Cambridge metro within a light-rail ride. The result blends leafy suburban quiet with quick transit access to the city.
Notable Alumni
Pierre Omidyar
Founder of eBay, the pioneering online auction and e-commerce marketplace, and later of the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science here in 1988.
Class of 1988
Jamie Dimon
Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank and one of the most influential institutions in global finance. He earned his undergraduate degree at Tufts in 1978 before an MBA at Harvard.
Class of 1978
Tracy Chapman
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter known for “Fast Car” and “Give Me One Reason.” She began performing while studying anthropology and African studies at Tufts, graduating in 1987.
Class of 1987
Meredith Vieira
Emmy Award-winning television journalist and host of “The View,” “Today,” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” She graduated from Tufts in 1975.
Class of 1975
Hank Azaria
Emmy Award-winning actor and voice artist best known for voicing numerous characters on “The Simpsons.” He graduated from Tufts with a degree in drama in 1988.
Class of 1988
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
Medford, MA
Best For
Traditions
Painting the Cannon
A replica of a USS Constitution cannon on the academic quad that students paint — only after dark, by tradition dating to 1977 — to promote causes and events. Groups often camp out overnight to guard a fresh coat until sunrise.
The Illumination Ceremony
On the first night of classes, first-year students gather to light candles in honor of founder Charles Tufts and the “light on the hill.” The same class returns to the ceremony the night before Commencement to close out four years.
Spring Fling
An annual outdoor concert festival held on campus just before final exams, running since 1980. It brings live bands and performers to the quad and is one of the biggest campus-wide events of the year.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Medford
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
1 hour 45 minutesClassic New England beaches, seaside towns and seafood on the peninsula south of Boston.
The White Mountains, New Hampshire
2 hours 30 minutesHiking, skiing and fall foliage in northern New Hampshire, including Mount Washington.
Newport, Rhode Island
1 hour 30 minutesGilded Age mansions, the coastal Cliff Walk and a lively harbor town on the Rhode Island shore.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Boston Logan International (BOS)
25 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Boston Red Sox MLB
- Boston Celtics NBA
- Boston Bruins NHL
- New England Patriots NFL
- New England Revolution MLS
Career Proximity
Tufts graduates plug into the dense Boston and Cambridge job market, with strong pipelines into biotech and life sciences — Kendall Square, one of the world's largest biotech clusters, is a few transit stops away — as well as consulting, finance, technology and health care. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy gives Tufts unusual depth in international affairs and public-sector careers, while Tufts Medical Center anchors its health-care connections.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
Downtown Boston — about 30 to 40 minutes by MBTA Green Line from the Medford/Tufts stop at the edge of campus
Who Thrives Here
Tufts admits 10.8% of applicants overall, but 32.0% through binding Early Decision against 8.5% in the regular round, so committing early is a real lever for students sure Tufts is their first choice. It is a mid-sized private that feels smaller in the classroom: 7,031 undergraduates at a 10:1 student-faculty ratio, with 59.8% of class sections under 20 students. Admissions are test-optional, and the middle half of those who submit scored 1460 to 1520 on the SAT. Outcomes are strong — 95% of first-years return for a second year, 82.7% graduate in four years and 94% within six. Culturally, Tufts leans quirky and intellectual rather than rah-rah: 60% of undergraduates live on campus, Greek life is modest (12% of men, 15% of women), and campus rituals run to painting “the Cannon” overnight and the first-night Illumination ceremony that opens each class's four years. The trade-off is cost: Tufts meets 100% of demonstrated need, but only 35.5% of undergraduates are awarded any need-based aid, so a majority pay close to full price; among those who do borrow, average debt at graduation is $25,584.