How hard is it to get into American University compared with Tufts University?

Tufts is meaningfully harder to get into than American University.

One concrete difference is the level of competition in the applicant pool. Tufts attracts a very large number of applicants for a relatively small undergraduate class, including many students who are also applying to other highly selective private universities. American also gets plenty of applications, but it does not sit in quite the same tier of admissions intensity, so the odds are less compressed.

Another differentiator is the academic bar. Tufts tends to draw applicants with extremely strong grades in rigorous courses across the board, and many of those students also have unusually polished extracurricular records. American certainly expects solid academics, especially for popular programs like international relations and public affairs, but the range of students who can be realistic applicants is broader.

The style of review matters too. Tufts is known for a very holistic process in which many applicants are academically qualified, so essays, recommendations, and institutional priorities can make an outsized difference. At American, those softer factors matter as well, but fewer applicants are clustered at the same ultra-competitive level, which makes admission less difficult overall.

So for building a college list, it makes sense to treat Tufts as a reach for far more students than American. Even strong applicants who would be quite competitive at American may still face long odds at Tufts because the selectivity gap is real, not just minor.