How does Tufts' campus location compare to GW's campus location for an undergraduate student?

Tufts and GW feel very different day to day. Tufts gives you more of a traditional campus in Medford and Somerville, with a defined hilltop setting, campus quads, and a student life that feels more centered around the university itself. GW is woven directly into downtown Washington, DC in Foggy Bottom, so daily life feels much more urban, fast-moving, and connected to the city from the moment you step outside your residence hall.

Tufts tends to suit students who want a real campus boundary and a stronger separation between school life and city life. You can get into Boston fairly easily, but you are not living in the middle of it, which many students like because it creates a more contained undergraduate community. The area around Tufts has cafes, neighborhoods, and access to public transit, but the rhythm is still more residential and campus-driven than city-saturated.

GW fits students who want the city to function almost like an extension of campus. Foggy Bottom places you near internships, government offices, museums, restaurants, and Metro access, and that shapes student life in a big way. It can feel exciting and convenient, especially for students interested in politics, international affairs, public policy, media, or simply constant off-campus options, but it also means less of that classic enclosed-college atmosphere.

Socially, Tufts often feels like students return to campus as the main hub, while at GW students are more dispersed through DC for classes, internships, work, and weekends. Some students find GW energizing because there is always something happening beyond campus, while others feel it is harder to get the same tight campus bubble.

If campus location is one of your biggest factors, the real question is whether you want college to feel like its own place with city access nearby, which is more Tufts, or whether you want college embedded in a major city every day, which is much more GW.