Is Tufts harder to get into than Fordham for undergraduate admissions?

Yes. Tufts is usually considered significantly harder to get into than Fordham for undergraduate admission. In practice, Tufts draws a more selective applicant pool, is more often treated as a reach school even for strong students, and tends to expect a very high level of academic preparation across grades, course rigor, and overall application quality.

One big differentiator is applicant competition. Tufts attracts a large national and international pool of applicants who are often aiming at highly selective private universities, so the bar is higher across the board. Fordham is well regarded and selective in its own right, but it is not usually placed in the same admissions tier as Tufts.

Another difference is how each school is perceived academically and institutionally in admissions circles. Tufts is often grouped with more selective research universities and liberal arts focused institutions that emphasize both strong academics and a distinctive personal fit. Fordham, while respected, especially for areas like business and its New York City location, tends to be somewhat more accessible to a broader range of qualified applicants.

A third factor is the level of unpredictability. At Tufts, even applicants with excellent grades and strong extracurriculars can face a very uncertain outcome because so many applicants look similarly strong on paper.

So if you are comparing selectivity alone, Tufts belongs higher on the difficulty scale. For building your list, many students would treat Tufts as more of a reach and Fordham as closer to a target or possible target depending on their academic profile.