<p>I was browsing on some website when I saw a link to CC and all the memories came flooding back. So, thought I'd come back here to make this thread. </p>
<p>I remember when I was a high school junior worried about getting into college, creeping on this forum, and reading posts from Dan the admissions officer, haha.</p>
<p>A little about myself... I matriculated in the fall of 2009, spent a year abroad traveling around East Asia, and will complete my graduation requirements this December (I won't "officially" graduate until February 2014). I'm a political science major, spent a year in student government and the residential judiciary board, and worked full-time for 2 years as an EMT for Armstrong Ambulance mostly doing 911 coverage for Tufts, BU and BC.</p>
<p>I remember how stressful the whole college application experience was and how I always had so many questions and never enough answers. I can't really help out when it comes to chances or the application process, but I can try my best to answer any questions students or parents may have on Tufts life, campus, culture, etc.</p>
<p>I did not get credit for traveling abroad in East Asia because I took a leave of absence to travel and do my own thing instead of taking academic classes. But if you do intend to take classes overseas for credit, it is a pretty straightforward process as long as your department approves it.</p>
<p>Yes, I did take my EMT course through the Tufts Physical Education department (the course is still listed as PE 131). I really enjoyed the course but it is a SIGNIFICANT time commitment and there is also an additional lab fee (when I took it back my freshman year the fee was nearly a thousand dollars and labs started mid-way through the semester and were full-day affairs over at BU).</p>
<p>^Actually getting credit is not quite as easy as one might like. My son’s experience - two different programs in Jordan - was that the language department would give him credit for one semester of a language each term, but that every thing else only got gen ed credits. He took courses in Islamic History, Diplomacy, did an internship - none of which was recognized for credit for his major in International Relations. He doesn’t regret going, but it did mean he took more IR type courses and less for breadth than he might have.</p>
<p>@mathmom
Sorry to hear your son had problems transferring his credits, however I don’t think that is the norm. My DD did a non-Tufts program in Argentina and had no problem transferring credits in language, or in her major. Neither did any of her friends who went abroad in various other countries… Sometimes it required some work to translate the syllabus, or correspond with the appropriate Tufts department, but it all seemed to work out fine.</p>
<p>Likewise sorry to hear about the difficulties, but from my experience and those of my friends, transferring credit was a relatively straightforward process. The key is to make sure you obtain approval from the particular department in advance, and if you don’t, to make sure you keep the course syllabus and petition the department as soon as you return.</p>
<p>The short answer to how I was able to work full-time while also a full-time student: by working weekends and overnights at the expense of sleep, my GPA, and campus involvement. Sometimes I still wonder whether it was the best decision I made while at Tufts, or one of my worst.</p>
<p>I kept a respectable GPA and was heavily involved on campus my freshman year, but once I became employed as an EMT summer before my sophomore year, it was all I wanted to do. Something about being on the streets really appealed to me in contrast to the theoretical nature of a university classroom. Part of the reason I went abroad for a year was to withdraw myself from the life I was getting drawn into and refocus on my studies in order to graduate.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to explain the appeal of such a job (low pay, long hours, extremely high stress, emotional toll, etc.), but working as a first responder gave me something I couldn’t find in a Tufts classroom.</p>