Is Tufts or Brown harder to get into for undergraduate admissions?

The biggest practical difference is that Brown sits in a more selective admissions tier than Tufts, so Brown is generally harder to get into for undergraduate admission. Brown draws an especially large pool of applicants because of its Ivy League status and well-known Open Curriculum, and it tends to be viewed as a higher-reach school even for very strong students. Tufts is also highly selective, but in most college-list planning it is usually placed a step below Brown in overall difficulty.

That difference shows up in how applicants and counselors typically treat them. A student who is competitive for Tufts may still see Brown as a much longer shot, while a student strong enough to be plausible at Brown would usually also be in range for Tufts, though never safely. Both schools use holistic review, so there is no simple cutoff, but Brown is more likely to feel unpredictable even for top applicants.

The academic profile of admitted students at both schools is very strong, and both attract accomplished applicants with excellent grades, rigorous coursework, and substantial extracurricular involvement. But Brown’s applicant pool is usually broader and deeper at the very top end, which makes gaining admission tougher in practice.

So if your goal is to identify the more difficult reach, Brown is the clearer answer. Tufts should still be treated as a reach or high reach for many applicants, but Brown is typically the harder admit.