<p>hi- im trying to decide between tufts and berkeley. ill most likely end up majoring in environmental studies and maybe economics. any thoughts? i like that tufts has smaller classes and more contact with professors (and doesnt have a major budget crisis) but i like the energy, culture, and social scene at berkeley.
any help would be appreciated- thanks!</p>
<p>Which is cheaper for you?</p>
<p>Hi, I have a few questions:</p>
<p>What’s the social life like at Tufts? Is there heavy partying/drinking or do people generally find other things to do? How often do people head into the city?</p>
<p>How are the alumni connections? Do Tufts graduates help fellow Jumbos get jobs/internships?</p>
<p>How is the sense of community on campus?</p>
<p>Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!</p>
<p>I have some questions too…</p>
<p>I’m going to be a freshman at Tufts starting this fall. My other friends who are also graduating are already signing up for dorms. Is there something like this on the Tufts website (it’s too confusing to navigate for me…)? Or will Tufts info come after May 1?</p>
<p>You won’t fill out housing information until summer (or sometime after May 1st, I forget). For freshman year, you don’t pick which dorm you want to live in, but you can choose between all freshmen, mixed classes, all-female, healthy living, or the Bridge Program (professors come and give seminars with the residents a few times a semester).</p>
<p>expenses, fortunately, are not a concern</p>
<p>How does printing work? Do people have to bring their own printers? (I kind of doubt this)
If not, is there a communal printer? How available are they, and do you have to pay in order to print (eg. 10 cents per page)</p>
<p>The library has printers for 10 cents a page and those are usually available, but it can be a pain to trudge all the way to Tisch every time you want to print chem notes or something. So most people bring their own printers. Some share with a roommate. Printers aren’t that big; it’s easy to park one on top of a fridge or even on your desk.</p>
<p>can you tell us a little about course selection?
like, when we do that, is it first come first serve, who gets priority, what’s the maximum courses we can take, etc</p>
<p>good question about printers… should she plan on bringing a wireless printer? I guess the question is are all the dorms wireless. No problem if not, just want to be sure.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
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<p>Freshmen don’t pick courses until orientation, which is in September. Sophomore, junior, and senior engineers get first priority, then the remaining seniors, juniors, and sophomores, then freshman engineers, freshmen in arts & sciences. Engineers can take up to 6.5 credits a semester (normal course load is 5 credits). Liberal arts students can take up to 5.5 credits a semester (normal course load is 4 credits). Typically 1 class = 1 credit, though some classes are 0.5 credit. </p>
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<p>No, she won’t need a wireless printer. Mine’s not wireless; I just plug the USB cord into my computer whenever I need to print something. Super easy. You don’t need a super nice one either, I got mine at target at the beginning of the year for ~30 bucks and it works great (works as a copier too). Most dorms are wireless, but there are some that aren’t. I know they’re adding wireless routers to even more dorms this summer. Unfortunately, you won’t know that until you get your room selection/move here, but all rooms have 2 ethernet ports and the cables are easy to pick up once you get here. I ended up not needing one, since my room faces the dorm next door, which has wireless. Pretty much all of campus (quad, academic buildings, library, dining halls, etc.) has wireless.</p>
<p>sorry, i know i might be annoying, but i have one more question…
how hard is it to take a full course load (5.5 credits per semester)
do you have to get permission from the dean or anything?</p>
<p>You have to get permission from the dean to take more than 5.5 credits, but only permission from your advisor to take 5.5 credits or fewer. The way the system works is that there is a hold placed on your registration and you must meet with your advisor to discuss your proposed schedule. At the end of the meeting (or some time before registration), your advisor will lift the hold.</p>
<p>Don’t take 5.5 credits first semester. Keep yourself to 5.0 maximum. It takes some to for you to figure out what works best for yourself in the classes-fun-clubs-sports balance, and you want to give to give yourself some time to figure it out.</p>
<p>Can anyone comment on how hard intensive chinese is?</p>
<p>i would also like to know about the chinese program!</p>
<p>Tufts is hard and intensive in itself. But that shouldn’t scare you. It’s actually beneficial. In that sense, for a Chinese program, you learn a lot. You can start out at Chinese 1 or even go to more advanced classes if you are ready. With it’s ties to IR, Tufts languages are very good. I know many people who have majored in Chinese and are really good. To quote my Chinese buddy at Harvard in regards to my jewish friend at Tufts he said, “She has no accent when she speaks Chinese.”</p>
<p>That’s anecdotal, but I think with any languages, it matters how much you work at it. And indeed, the opportunity to work at it and really grow and experience the culture is there as well. A lot of people study abroad in China and love it. There are also Asian societies that promote Chinese culture and Chinese-American interactions.</p>
<p>So you will definitely get a great experience out of it. Some people go into IR with Chinese, while others I know go to wall street. Others go work for companies in China because they prefer to work in the county (whether that’s for economics research, political think tank, etc.). It’s very fluid in that respect.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how the advising programs work? From the Connection 2015 website, it looks like you have to sign up for one of four types of advising programs with an associated class, and these classes are on top of the regular workload. Some were worth half a credit, and others a full credit. So does that mean you take 4 or 5 regular classes plus this advising class for a total of 4.5 to 6 credits? That seems like a rather heavy load for a first year. I would think that students should take a fairly light load in the beginning, while they’re getting used to college life, doing their own laundry, juggling extracurriculars, etc. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>^^The advising classes count as one of your regular classes, so you wouldn’t take one in addition to your other classes. Most are a half-credit, meaning they aren’t as much work or time as normal classes. Most kids take 4 credits first semester, and some take 5. You can’t take 6 credits (the max is 5.5) as a liberal arts student unless you petition for an extra credit. I don’t even think you can do that first semester freshman year. There’s also an option called host advising, which simply assigns you to an advisor but has no class attached. That’s what I ended up getting (I didn’t get my top 3 class choices), but it worked well for me.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification, ellopoppet!</p>
<p>S2 wound up with a regular advisor because he didn’t sign up for one of the other programs in time. (Last year the deadline was 6/15. They mean it.) Worked out fine. He was not crazy about his initial schedule, but was able to drop-add into everything he wanted. </p>
<p>If your student is interested in taking Ex-Coll (Experimental College) classes, registration for those takes place online starting the first day of classes. The list of courses comes out a few weeks prior. Folks who are interested in EPIIC must attend the first class and generally apply & interview to take the course from there. They will accept freshmen for the course, but be aware it is a BIG time commitment, esp. first semester. Consider it as if it were two courses.</p>
<p>S2 said that four regular classes would feel like not enough to him, but four including EPIIC was good. He is used to IB insanity, though.</p>