<p>Thanks smartgrad! Even the other references made in the prompt reinforce your point with regard to who Tufts is trying to appeal to. </p>
<p>To bpd123: Although the term, ‘American Culture’ is ambigious, I would argue that Saks is not thought of as a common, embedded component of American Culture.</p>
<p>^^ Nailed it re “pc.”</p>
<p>I had no idea what Saks was until about two minutes ago. But a simple Google search was enough to tell me that it’s some sort of luxury goods store on Fifth Avenue. No matter if you live in Manhattan or Anchorage, being part of the “elite” won’t seriously help you out on this essay.</p>
<p>Just read thru the thread and THANKS, DAN for being here on the CC lifelines. Your comments and advice over the years is remarkable. It is precisely this honesty and personality of Tufts that has the school high on my S list. Now, if he can only get in for RD…</p>
<p>I am resurrecting this thread because I have a controversial point to make. I haven’t posted on CC for a couple of years and I have only sporadically followed the various Tufts threads, posts, and references. I have always been a Tufts booster and believe that the university is generally under-respected and underestimated by a substantial segment of CC “know-it-all” contributors who are largely misinformed and significantly biased. That said…</p>
<p>I strongly believe that the Tufts admissions department is making a serious mistake by continuing to follow a strategy emphasizing the quirky, nerdy, flaky (or whatever similar adjective you would like to insert) nature of the school and its student body. In a dire economic recession that shows no sign of abating, where many prospective students and parents are now primarily concerned with jobs after graduation and whether payment of ever-increasing private school tuition costs makes any sense at all, Tufts focus on establishing itself as a home for the strange and different seems to me to be a failed approach. In fact, I further submit that this type of brand only reinforces the perception of the university as an out-of-touch bastion filled with elitists and pampered individuals who cant be bothered worrying about the mundane details of paying for school or acquiring practical job and career skills. The admissions department can go on and on about the benefits of their holistic review of applicants and desire to assemble an interesting and diverse class but the university still ends up with a remarkably affluent and economically homogeneous student body year after year (historically, Tufts has one of the smallest percentages of students receiving financial aid when compared with other highly-selective institutions in the country).</p>
<p>This year, it has been reported that Tufts suffered a 4.5% reduction in applications for the Class of 2016. Is this just a cyclical variance, perhaps due to other factors (including the departure last year of Lawrence Bacow and other high level deans and administrators)? Or is this evidence of a larger problem with respect to the schools image and perception in the eyes of prospective students? If I had a vested stake in the process, Id want to hear the admissions departments explanation for this phenomenon rather than a terse who cares? </p>
<p>Traditional brick and mortar institutions (especially including highly selective and high-priced schools) are heading for a crisis as more and more parents and students (whether struggling or affluent) question whether they are getting a good return on their investment. In my opinion, a university should concentrate on branding its students and graduates as smart, focused, motivated, experienced, and collegial as opposed to quirky, nerdy, strange, or iconoclastic. A school that does not recognize and adapt to this new economic reality will suffer the inevitable consequences. I hope that Tufts doesnt sink into this quicksand.</p>
<p>Good points just the facts…</p>
<p>Isn’t this interesting? I found the tour and info session dynamic and fun. My S loved it, too. And he is a serious athlete, but not a “jock” which is precisely why he liked the be-who-you-are message at Tufts. Schools can be hot in any given year and maybe this year was not a hot year for Tufts… It does not mean the school is any less at all. Also, particular environments and the student body personality DO make a difference. It is no wonder that Naviance shows crossover between Brown, Tufts, Penn, Chicago. See a common thread? The kind of student these schools attract are similar. Our HS Counseling dept coordinator just told me that “Tufts doesn’t accept many students from our high school,” but I don’t see that as a statement on quirky or not quirky… It is about a highly competitive and rigorous school with stellar students competing to get in. And if you are one of the lucky ones who get in, you can explore and try whatever you want without bias, judgment or preconceived stereotypes. just my two cents!</p>
<p>I’m a (fairly normal) freshman at Tufts, and I think the “quirkiness” is a bit played up during admissions. The summer before matriculation, there was a Tufts 2015 FB group that many students posted in. From the group, I got this impression that everyone was obsessed with a capella, Harry Potter, quidditch, etc. I was kind of turned off from Tufts, but then I realized - the people posting on the facebook group were just the loudest and most obnoxious ones. For the most part, kids here are normal - just passionate about what they like to do. IMO, the party scene is pretty great. I usually go out 3 nights a week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), and last weekend I went out 4 nights because Monday was a holiday. I have a 9:30 Friday class, which I am usually hungover for; however, since most interGreek social events/mixers are on Thursdays, I’m getting used to it. I am currently rushing a sorority, which definitely helps out your social life but isn’t an insane time commitment.</p>
<p>For those looking to improve their social lives at Tufts, I would say join clubs! Almost every club has parties from time to time. I’m also in our Burlesque dance group, which is really fun, and I get to meet a lot of people who tend to party more (besides my sorority and burlesque, I also am in Tufts Financial Group, work at the dining hall, and volunteer to tutor the SAT to local high school kids).</p>
<p>But seriously, people have fun here! I know a few freshmen who go out to bars in Boston on Tuesdays, even. It’s all about who you hang out with. </p>
<p>(Not to make Tufts out to be a party school, sorry, it’s definitely not. I was just trying to compensate for people’s worries about an utter lack of happiness/partying haha)</p>
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<p>Can undergrads join these clubs at the Fletcher School?</p>
<p>[Student</a> Clubs and Organizations | Tufts Fletcher School](<a href=“http://fletcher.tufts.edu/Students/Student-Clubs-and-Organizations]Student”>http://fletcher.tufts.edu/Students/Student-Clubs-and-Organizations)</p>
<p>^ (my son) a quirky high school junior wants to know, very interested in one of these clubs. Thanks.</p>
<p>(Don’t quote me on this) I’m pretty sure undergrads can’t join the Fletcher clubs, but why would they want to? Undergrads have plenty, PLENTY of clubs for themselves (I took a look at the link you sent - there is an undergrad equivalent of almost all of those listed). There are a few graduate students in my Burlesque troupe, and Undergrads occasionally study in the Fletcher library, but other than that most Undergrads don’t interact with Fletcher students. </p>
<p>But Tufts has clubs from every type of dancing imaginable, to Christian fellowships, to clubs concerning drug policy, to a gardening society, to LGBT centers, and so much more. Also - each club has quite a bit of money allocated to it from the Student Senate, which is awesome. Feel free to ask questions :)</p>
<p><a href=“I%20took%20a%20look%20at%20the%20link%20you%20sent%20-%20there%20is%20an%20undergrad%20equivalent%20of%20almost%20all%20of%20those%20listed”>quote=natalieisbored</a>.
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<p>In addition to playing chess, S wants to participate in the intercollegiate Clay Target Championships (Skeet, Trap and Sporting Clays). The only other schools that participate from the Boston area, besides Fletcher are Northeastern and Harvard.</p>
<p>In that case, I don’t see why he couldn’t join the Fletcher team. Like I said, undergrads generally don’t have much to do with Fletcher students; however, when someone wants to take a class that’s only offered at Fletcher, they just have to ask! I’m sure that would be a non-issue.</p>
<p>Barring that, he could always start his own club! It’s ridiculously easy to do that here.</p>
<p>^natlieisbored, that is excellent, thanks for the help. </p>
<p>Talking about applications numbers, I was surprised that Tufts is not on CC’s Top Universities or top LAC list. I think it deserves a place on those lists. Also, I don’t know if Tufts mails info. to high school juniors based on their performance on the PSAT, but I think that is a good strategy to generate interest. I know we have not received anything in the mail from Tufts, which is why I am asking. We were fortunate that a parent with a child at Tufts asked us to look into it.</p>
<p>Re: nerdy, here’s the Tufts Daily editorial opinion on the matter:
[Editorial</a> | Too cool for school - Tufts Daily - Tufts University](<a href=“http://www.tuftsdaily.com/editorial-too-cool-for-school-1.2704551#.T0VoFMrZJ0E]Editorial”>http://www.tuftsdaily.com/editorial-too-cool-for-school-1.2704551#.T0VoFMrZJ0E)</p>
<p>By the way, I think it is really positive to see Dan from Admissions and students visiting these forums and taking a personal interest in answering our questions. I was just wondering if anyone else thought Tufts could work more on increasing it’s visibility? Then again, maybe wait a couple of years (let my son gets in, first) lol.</p>
<p>Thanks Just the Facts! I haven’t posted in a while but I was heartened to see your post. Many of us obviously feel the same way you do.(And let me preface my remarks by saying that I know adcom people are dedicated and great people. Let us agree to disagree)</p>
<p>It’s easy to brush off what the TCU was trying to do but the fact is many Tufts students are disturbed by the admission department’s intense branding of Tufts as quirky/nerdy and feel its hurting the school’s reputation and turning people off from applying to Tufts. It could be jeopardizing Tuft’s ascension to the top tier of schools which directly impacts Tuft’s current students. These aren’t trivial matters. </p>
<p>This affects students and their prospects more than anyone is acknowledging. No one wants their school to be typecast as the nerdy quirky school or for Tufts to lose its upward momentum because of misguided marketing. You can dismiss the notion of institutional prestige, but it matters. And prestigious and weird rarely go together. </p>
<p>I am a huge Tufts booster but this approach should really be reconsidered. There’s no proof thats its working. It’s also an inaccurate description of Tufts. </p>
<p>Just as high school seniors are making their decisions about college, this was Dean Coffin’s blog entry dated, Feb 17:“This is how I already feel about the students at Tufts-the nerdy, passionate, the fabulously quirky.” I think there were about a hundred other references to nerdy, quirky on the site. The applicant essays quoted repeatedly used the word “quirky” or “nerdy”. Students and adcom bloggers repeatedly used the word “quirky” or “nerdy”. Besides turning off applicants who see themselves as socially well adapted mainstream types–the kind of people who add to school spirt, pride, etc–, the quirky focus trivializes the academic integrity of Tufts.</p>
<p>I also want to weigh in and support what just the facts and smartgrad are saying. I have for quite a while disagreed with the portrait of tufts students as “quirky”, both because it will necessarily turn potential applicants/matriculates away and because I don’t believe it’s a fair representation. When D, who is now a junior at Tufts, was in high school and read a review of Tufts as “a little nerdy”, the school became diminished in her view, but she became enamored when she attended an overnight and concluded that the description was inapt. She has lots of friends, some of whom may be slightly nerdy but most of whom are not in the slightest way so. I do feel that Tufts students are imaginative, free-spirited, unpretentious and accepting, but those are not necessarily synonymous with quirky, and I think, for all the reasons both of you have pointed out, that the admissions should stop with this characterization.</p>
<p>I personally like the quirky and nerdy adjectives. I think of my child as quirky and nerdy to a degree, but not “strange”. There is something warm, welcoming and inviting about a school that says it wants kids who are nerdy and quirky. It suggests, atleast to me, they are looking for kids who are passionate about somethings (that might not be interesting to others), unafraid to explore, challenge themsleves and take risks -quirky. However, they are also looking for kids with sound academic and reasoning abilities- nerdy.</p>
<p>Perazziman, I think what many of us are saying-and the Tufts students who wanted to get rid of the optional quirky question on the application are also saying–is that we prize exactly those same qualities you do, but have a problem with the language used to describe them. You can have your own interpretation of the words “nerdy” and “quirky”, but the fact is many, many people view those words as connoting social ineptitude, and an annoyingly self-conscious and self-celebrating weirdness. “I’m so quirky, I wear mismatched patterns and love Star Wars!” That does not make one inherently interesting or smart or even creative. It’s not a substitute for doing interesting work or having original ideas. Sometimes the most boring looking and acting people are privately the most interesting. Parading weirdness is often just an attention getting tactic. Let’s not forget the dictionary definition of quirky: “Characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits.”</p>
<p>I think they are the kinds of cutesy, trendy words that are often used to stand in for adjectives that are far more precise and meaningful. By relying on them so heavily, admissions is missing a chance to convey an institutional reality that is complex, diverse and intellectually serious. There is a genuine concern on the part of students who are facing a harsh economic reality out there that the intentional characterization of Tufts as quirky and nerdy harmfully trivializes it and undermines the community’s quest for excellence.</p>