<p>I'm applying to Tufts this year, and i've heard from a couple of people that the races dont mix too much at Tufts. Is this True?. I really don't want to be entering an environment like that if it turns out these allegations are true.</p>
<p>Like any school, environments like these DO exist. There's no way around it. However, much of it comes from students' personal choices and their environment upon entering Tufts. A lot of international students gravitate towards other international students because they try to find people who are in the same boat of being in a foreign location. When some people first come to Tufts, they look for similarity when making friends (key word: some). To the rescue, however, is the existance of people who also look for a diverse group of friends. Personally, I like making friends that are different from me. It's fun to learn from people in the halls who have come from different perspectives - socioeconomic, location, political views etc - and that the mixing do occur, it's just difficult to see. It's very much of how people tend to view things. If there are problems, people are vocal about lack of interactions, but people who are content don't continuously shout out how diverse things are (other than maybe me). Just keep that in mind.</p>
<p>There are definitely those who are self-segregating, but also those who make friends regardless of race or background. Some make friends with the people on their hall, others with the people with whom they do activities, and when your friends are classified by those things first, then physical characteristics come second. Also, just because some of my friends are white doesn't mean they're all rich kids from New Jersey - some are pretty underprivileged, some are from Florida or Albania. And sometimes it just happens: I had a bunch of close Chinese and Korean friends in high school, but here none of my friends are Asian. Doesn't mean I'm racist.</p>
<p>Well like any school racial cliques do exist although this fact of life might be somewhat more prevelant here at Tufts. It's difficult to tell really if this school is any worse or better than other campuses but the facts are these rediculous divisions exist in most places I'd imagine.</p>
<p>What disgusts me is that a significant percentage of the folks looking to "branch out and meet new people" do so based on purely physical characteristics. They'll be happy so long as they've got a few blacks, a few latins, a few Tazmanians, etc. in their inner circle. Doesn't matter if they are all essentially the same people, with the same mindset, with the same income, with the same politics because race is what matters most to alot of folks. I mean, you don't have to be a cross burner to be racist. I'd say seeking out friends purely based on the fact that they're a different color than you is just as equally racist. But rest assured you'll find both here!!!</p>
<p>The thing you'll notice HEAPS more than racial divisions is the class divisions here at Tufts. Now you're going to see lolabelle storm in here in about 30 seconds and tell you something completely different but the fact is folks around here generally do not hangout with folks from different economic backgrounds. It simply doesn't happen.</p>
<p>among my friends, some are rich, most are middle class, and some are poor. The reason ppl from the same socioeconomic class seem to cling together so much is that Tufts is mostly a middle/upper-middle class school. There are just more of these people around, so they tend to cling together more.</p>
<p>Tufts does have a lot of ethnic cliques, but I don't think it has any more or less of that than anywhere else. International students from the same country or region tend to stick together, but that seems to be a reaction to being in a foreign environment.</p>
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What disgusts me is that a significant percentage of the folks looking to "branch out and meet new people" do so based on purely physical characteristics. They'll be happy so long as they've got a few blacks, a few latins, a few Tazmanians, etc. in their inner circle. Doesn't matter if they are all essentially the same people, with the same mindset, with the same income, with the same politics because race is what matters most to alot of folks. I mean, you don't have to be a cross burner to be racist. I'd say seeking out friends purely based on the fact that they're a different color than you is just as equally racist. But rest assured you'll find both here!!!
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<p>I don't think lolabelle has to stomp in here after 30 seconds to point out that you're quite a disgruntled student who sees pessimism wherever he goes. Ever put on those racism goggles as frequently as your beer and womanizer shades? Your life seems to revolve around the self-fulfilling prophecy. Call me blind if you want, but I take offense to your statement that no one hangs out with students of differing socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>"Ever put on those racism goggles as frequently as your beer and womanizer shades?"</p>
<p>You call me pretty boy like it's cool to be ugly. C'mon dude, no need to come at me sideways like that especially since you don't even know me. Lets just stick to the facts. I don't pigeon hole you like this.</p>
<p>Why are you pretending to have difficulty with what I said? Wrathofachilles clearly understood the implications of my post, although s/he disagrees with them. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to confront my meaning("folks around here generally don't hang out with folks of different economics backgrounds") as it is instead of going on to say I said "no one hangs out with folks from different backgrounds." </p>
<p>I'm not saying no one does it, it's just not very common, which could be attributed to the fact that this is primarily an upper middle class environment although I honestly don't know the gross anual income statistics for families of students at Tufts.</p>
<p>snuffles chill out.</p>
<p>I think wrath is more right. Since Tufts isn't need-blind or whatever it's called, the people here tend to be the people who can pay for it. So I don't know if it's exactly narrowminded kids CHOOSING to associate with their fellow upper-middle-classies, or just that those are the only kids around. However, I have friends that are lower-middle class here that are paying for college entirely, no help from the parents, and others that are pretty rich but don't show it at all. Both come off as content upper-middle-class kids, interestingly enough.</p>
<p>Yeah you might be right. There are an awful lot of Volvo drivers around here.</p>