<p>My daughter will be attending Tufts Boston School of Occupational Therapy starting in the fall of 2014. She flies to Boston on Wednesday. We’re from California and she just got her BS in Kinesiology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She’s looking forward to being a grad student at Tufts. Go Jumbos! </p>
<p>Hi all jumbo parents,
Greetings. First time jumbo parent here. Our eldest daughter starting at tufts in a few days. Indeed a very exciting time for her but also a very emotional time for us parents.
Lots of questions here. Maybe some one can help.
I was looking at the itinerary for the August 27th events at the school website. It says optional am and pm parent programs. Does anyone know what they are?
We are staying at Hyatt place Medford and planning on taking the train. Can anyone tell me how difficult it would be with luggage? It’s just me and my daughter and each of us will have 1 chkd bag and 1 carry on. So total 4 luggage pcs. Are there any stairs while making transfers? Or is it better to take a cab with luggage?
Where is the Hyatt shuttle drop off point at tufts? Can it go right upto the residence halls? Are there parking lots for each residence hall?
DD is so looking forward to her new life at tufts. And we are assured that she is in a good place.
Thanks everyone for this very informative forum. </p>
<p>@momwithoc, welcome to the Jumbo family!</p>
<p>My son and I stayed at Hyatt place Medford last Aug when I drooped him off. The hotel has free shuttle to stop at anywhere you want in Tufts and anywhere in 2-3 miles. We were dropped at South Hall where my son lived and picked up at Tufts Gym. I did not pay attention to parking lot since we did not have a rental car. Hotel can also pick you up at Davis square where has train stops. We took the shuttle to Target shopping. </p>
<p>My son and I also had 4 luggage. But we took the cab to the hotel in the morning when we arrived. By that time I just thought we were not familiar with the train and shuttle. It was about $45+tip to the hotel. But my son always takes the train($2.5) and free shuttle by himself when he comes home and goes back school. so it should be not hard to catch the train and shuttle. </p>
<p>Parking is a problem during move-in. They will let you park to drop off your bags in front of the resident hall and then you have to park elsewhere in one of the campus lots. If your child is in one of the downhill dorms, like Tilton or Haskell, there’s on-street parking on Powder House Road.</p>
<p>Thanks, Fromcalifornia and michigangem. I’ll be using the Hyatt shuttle to get to campus. Hopefully they can drop us close to Houston hall ( dd’s assigned dorm) so we don’t have to drag our bags across campus along with our target shopping that we plan to do the night before. </p>
<p>On the moving day, my son and I were the 1st one to line up for the shuttle at hotel. There were about 20 Tufts families stay there. Many taxi were waiting at hotel. I asked. It was $10-11 to get to Tufts. So my son and I took the taxi to the dorm on moving day. </p>
<p>Tufts will take the kids to Target in one of the nights during the orientation period. </p>
<p>Hi Jumbo parents! One of my identical twin sons is considering Tufts ED. Looking back, would you say Tufts met you (and your children’s) expectations? What turned out to be different socially, academically or otherwise from what you first thought about Tufts when it got onto your kids College list?</p>
<p>In the same boat as @Cabbage1, except I am the son in this case. I visited the school and absolutely loved it and I have heard tons of positive things about it.</p>
<p>Mother of two Jumbos. Both never thought they would stay home in New England for school, both fell in love with Tufts and ended up there. They have had totally different experiences according to their very disparate academic and extra-curricular interests. However, they have both found a community of passionate engaged students as friends, and talented and caring faculty that have become mentors. They love that there is so much going on that they don’t have time to do all the things they would like to do. They love the funky Medford/Somerville neighborhood and the easy access to Boston and Cambridge. </p>
<p>Tufts is less “quirky” than some of the press on the school. They select for highly confident and independent students with strong interests, an open mind, and the curiosity and energy to pursue learning and new experiences. Although Tufts has a strong reputation and high success rates of getting graduates into every type of grad school and job, it is not that concerned with prestige or competing with other institutions. The student body is a bit the same. Very smart and accomplished, but more collaborative than competitive, and generally appreciative of the unique talents of others in the community.</p>
<p>It is not a good place if you are a student looking for a big traditional athletics and Greek scene. It is probably not a good fit if you are a social conservative uncomfortable with an active LGBTQ community and students with nose rings and blue hair. There are plenty of political conservatives and “preppy” kids, but there is a live and let live attitude towards individual lifestyle choice.</p>
<p>Parents viewpoint going in to year 5. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I received email about Tufts Parents and Family weekend in Oct. My son is a sophomore now. I did not go last year while he was freshman. So I have a few questions about it. </p>
<ol>
<li>Is this mostly for Freshman parents?</li>
<li>There is a quite busy schedule. So parents just follow the schedule? Are those activities interesting?</li>
<li>how much time you had with your kid during the visit?</li>
<li>Do you think it worth your trip? Especially I have to fly from west coast, 6 hrs on plane one way?</li>
</ol>
<p>thanks everyone for your inputs. </p>
<p>My D is a junior; I’m from San Diego; I’ve never been! I generally go a different date in Oct. just to visit her without all the hoopla and crowds. As I really just want to spend time with her. But I’d like to hear from others too!</p>
<p>Son is a junior. We went on a parents weekend when he was a freshman. It was really crowded. We weren’t interested in the events. We just wanted to spend time with him. So last year we went on a different weekend. This year we’re not planning to go. But we’re 4 hours drive away so can change our mind at any time and hop in a car if we change our mind. I actually prefer when he comes home for the weekend instead of us visiting him. He’s always busy with HW or friends and other stuff going on. </p>
<p>We did not go with D1 (visited another weekend), but have been to every one for D2 because she has performances. We usually take a big group of their friends out to dinner whose parents are not there for the weekend. I would say that most of their friends do not have parents visiting that weekend. One thing to consider is that because it is parents weekend there may be fewer campus activities and parties for students, so they might be more willing and able to spend a little time. As a side note, if you have never been to New England in October it is spectacular - although there are lots of tourists and hotels fill up.</p>
<p>Hi Jumbo parents! My D2 wants to visit Tufts. If we take Amtrak to Boston’s South Station, how long will it take to get to Tufts on the red line? Also, any favorite hotels that have easy access to campus but might be a little cheaper than the Boston ones? We may drive if Amtrak doesn’t work so we’d like to park at the hotel and use public transportation if possible. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>It’s a 20 min ride from South Station to Davis Square on the Red Line. We stay at the Hampton Inn Boston/Cambridge which is on the Green line at Lechmere Station (1 block away) or you can walk to the Red Line Porter Station (near MIT) but that’s several blocks. We use the government employee discount which helps somewhat.</p>
<p>Thanks momyel- I will check out the Hampton. Our drive/train trip will be 9 hrs so we definitely need to stay overnight!</p>
Hello all. Bumping this thread in response to a question about parent conversation. Welcome to our 2019 Jumbo parents.
Thanks for starting this thread again. My son is in the class of 2019 and very happy to be going.
Thanks very much. My son goes to the University of Miami. They have a very lively parent group which is very helpful on various topics. My daughter is class of 2019 at Tufts.Is missing accepted student day any kind of a big deal? Daughter is going to be on school trip to Spain.
Congratulations! And no, missing accepted student days is no big deal My daughter is a junior, and she missed
hers. Definitely sign up for a pre-orientation though- they are great!