Is Tufts more selective than UVA overall?

Yes. For overall undergraduate admissions, Tufts is typically more selective than UVA, especially for out-of-state applicants comparing both schools side by side. Tufts has a smaller class size, a more national private-school applicant pool, and admissions there tends to feel tighter across the board. UVA is also very selective, but its admissions landscape is split more sharply between in-state and out-of-state applicants because it is a public flagship.

If you are a Virginia resident, UVA may be somewhat more attainable than Tufts because the university gives a clear priority to in-state students. In that situation, the comparison is closer, and for some applicants UVA can feel less difficult to access than Tufts. If you are applying from outside Virginia, UVA becomes much harder, and the gap between the two schools narrows more than people sometimes expect.

Tufts tends to attract students who are building a list around highly selective private universities with a strong liberal arts feel, interdisciplinary academics, and a more compact undergraduate environment. Its applicant pool is self-selecting in a way that often raises the level of competition. UVA fits students who want a large public university with strong school spirit, broad offerings, and the specific advantages of a flagship, but “large public” should not be confused with easy admission, especially for nonresidents.

So if the question is simply overall selectivity without residency context, I would read Tufts as the tougher admit. If residency matters, especially for Virginia applicants, UVA can look meaningfully different.