<p>Hello!</p>
<p>So yesterday was the big unveiling of the Tufts 2012 website complete with 8972587345 forms and decisions to make. lol. i'm really excited about all this but i must admit a bit overwhelmed as well. any kind of advice or anecdotes about your experiences would be great. </p>
<p>Like what kind of advising program did you sign up for?
Did you like it?
What are your recomendations?
Pros and cons?
Anything we should keep in mind while choosing?</p>
<p>Also, what kind of housing did you live in?
What dorms are best?
If you don't choose all freshman or Metcalf what is the other option? Just general mixed housing?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>GO JUMBOS!</p>
<p>I signed up for the Perspectives program. Every week we watched a Stanley Kubrick movie, none of which I had ever seen, and it was really interesting and fun. I loved having 2 upperclassmen teaching our class and giving us advice about courses and college life. I would wholeheartedly recommend either of the peer-taught advising programs (Perspectives and Explorations) through the ExCollege. My brother (rising sophomore) took an Explorations class and loved it too. The only con of that program for me was that my advisor was kind of secondary and I only went to see her because I needed her permission to register. I knew exactly what I wanted to take, though, so maybe she had more guidance for other students.</p>
<p>I lived in South for 2 years. South is a mixed housing dorm, but to tell you the truth, I didn't have much interaction with anyone besides freshmen. There were some sophomores around, but they were starting to go off and do their own thing most of the time. There were very very few juniors and seniors that lived in South, and they were never around to get to know. If you're looking for a more active dorm life, freshman housing might be the way to go. A lot of my friends who lived in freshman housing stayed friendly with their halls for the remainder of college. </p>
<p>I didn't pick healthy living as a freshman, and ended up on the 4th floor of South. It was pretty quiet most of the time. I moved down to the third floor for sophomore year, and it was more or less the same, except no slanted ceilings. South has long rectangular rooms. I lived in Richardson (the all-female house) for one summer and loved it. It's in a phenomenal location, and the rooms are big (and square!) and nice. I moved off campus after my sophomore year and lived in the same apt for 2 years.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.</p>
<p>Advising:
I did Explorations, one of the excollege programs - the difference between explorations and perspectives is that in explorations, your advisor (the professor one) is more active. So if you take an explorations class that's close to what you're interested in, the professor will probably be involved in that subject area. Plus, you get to know them a little bit more than with perspectives, which gives you a random advisor.
I loved it - I liked having our orientation leaders teaching us a class, so we basically checked in every week with them, and they helped us with the transition to Tufts. Plus, it was a fun, no pressure class about something out of left field that interested me. I highly recommend doing one of the excollege hosting options, since my experience worked out well for me.</p>
<p>Housing:
I lived in an all-freshmen dorm (Hill Hall), and this year, I chose the healthy-living option. What's great about all-freshmen housing is that everyone's moving in at the same time, with the same situation. It's a lot easier to get to know the people on your floor and make friends. The pro to mixed housing is that you could go to sophomores/juniors/etc for help with things, such as if you take a class that they've already taken.
Your other options are healthy living, the bridge program, and, depending, the all-female dorm. Richardson has great rooms and a great location, but I know someone who switched out of the dorm freshman year because it was too quiet for her. Healthy living is also usually quieter. I liked that since I had a Friday morning class this year, and in my freshman dorm last year, Thursday nights could get way too loud for me. My friend lived in Metcalf (the bridge program), which had great rooms, though they were old and had a mouse problem, and was in a great location. The pro/con, depending on your attitude, was the program you were supposed to participate in, which involved discussions and such and the "scholar in residence."</p>