<p>I think some people may answer "yes" to your questions, but I personally would not. I think this is an important issue, so my response will be kind of lengthy (as everyone on this board is used to) but hopefully illustrative.</p>
<p>Many of the Tufts kids I know and love have been chameleons. I walk around and see the typical kids in their Lacoste polos and whatever, but the people I'm closest to were people I met and liked based on their personality. As it happens, some were white, others black, others Asian, others Hispanic. Later I found that some of them were really hard-up economically, while others were reallllllly rich. But I'd never know it, based on their behavior. These people at each end of the economic spectrum acted pretty much the same - cool, funny, interesting, and smart, in their own ways. It's easy, on Tufts campus, to have fun without spending any money, so economic differences need not dictate social setups. Only later on in the year, when some people would say "Let's go into Boston to get dinner" and others would say "Um...I can't really spend any more money at the moment" did our friend group even realize that people within it had differing degrees of financial constraints. But we just shrugged and went to the dining hall instead, you know? Like, I never really looked around and wondered, "Hmm, how many of these people are on serious financial aid?" That's just...retarded. But as months passed, I'd start to get a sense of the fact that one girl went to high school where it was common for girls to get pregnant, while her roommate lived on Park Ave in a building with a doorman. Didn't stop them from choosing to room together and getting along famously, b/c they were both the cool kids who got into and chose Tufts.</p>
<p>I think there are kids who will say, "Wahhh, I wanted to come to college and make friends with lots of differently-colored people, but the black and hispanic and asian kids self-segregate!" I say, it's true that at times I'll see a group of all-black or all-asian kids at a table in Dewick - but I also know that these kids are good friends because they do activities together, from cultural groups to dance/step teams. And at nearby tables in the dining hall, other groups sitting together tend to be mixed.</p>
<p>Basically, I believe that if you reach out to all people equally, you'll def. find people of all races to hang out with. On move-in day sophomore year, I walked by a room near mine and saw two black guys blasting hip hop with ridiculous bass. As I walked by, I said "Hey!" and they said hey back to me. A few days later I stopped by their door and said, "Hey, I just wanted to introduce myself, I'm Renee, I'll be living down the hall." One of them was like, "Good to finally meet you! You walked by the other day and I was like, Wow, that girl is friendly." That's all it takes, really - as the year went by I'd stay up talking to him until 3 am about crap from video games to sexiling to LOST. But would that have happened if I'd just walked by their door without ever making an effort to get to know them? Obviously not. And there were probably people on my hall who assumed that the seven foot tall black guys wouldn't want to talk to them. Their loss. </p>
<p>Anyway, that example is not of, like, me and my token black friends or anything, because they're just a few of the multicolored cast of characters I like at Tufts. I was just trying to show that all I did was say Hey - and it's not like I singled them out either, I went out of my way to know everyone on my hall. I guess my point is just that you can make your group as multiracial as you want as long as the personalities mesh. For the most part, people are totally open-minded, and I don't know anyone who can say that they don't have any friends outside their race. Like...I think it'd be hard NOT to have a friend from a different race, b/c they're in your dorm, classes, extracurriculars, etc.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you want to transfer to Tufts, I don't think you'll have any problem finding friends of all different backgrounds. It's a really cool community, where even the aforementioned Lacoste-wearing types are of different races and have a lot to offer :-D</p>