Tufts is one of a few schools my DS is down to in his final college selection. We’re trying to figure out if we can make Jumbo Days work, but I also wanted to reach out to ask a few questions of current students/families:
- We’ve heard there are some housing/overcrowding issues? Any first hand stories of whether these issues have been significant? Is there any issue getting classes?
- My DS has a handful of liberal arts and mid-sized schools on his list and one thing that’s important to him is not having large classes and not being taught by TAs (or at least not frequently). Have you (or your students) had a ton of TAs vs. full professors?
Any other thoughts or considerations about your experiences would be super valuable
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I have a freshman at Tufts who loves the school.
In 2021-22, Tufts had overenrollment and had to put 109-150 freshmen in a Hyatt in Medford. In 2022, they built modular housing on the tennis courts (there are two other tennis court locations on campus) where 150 freshmen are housed right now. At the start of the school year there were complaints about this housing but I haven’t heard of any issues recently. Some kids like it because it’s probably the only dorm with air conditioning.
Tufts has increased their enrollment over the last few years. So housing can be an issue off and on. They guarantee and require on campus housing to freshmen and sophomores. Most juniors and seniors live off campus. There is some upperclassmen housing and a new dorm for them is supposed to be ready in 2025 or 2026 (I don’t remember).
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For class registration, my daughter hasn’t had any issue, beyond the normal ones at most schools. You have to have plans A, B, C in place of course. You might not get the section you want or you might have to get on the waitlist for a really popular class. It has worked out for my daughter and friends in that they have gotten into classes they needed and switching distribution requirement classes around doesn’t cause any delays in their program.
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As for large classes, freshmen science, math, CS classes will all be large. However there will be smaller lab/recitation sections.
I don’t recall any of the classes my daughter has taken being taught by TAs. Recitation sections are usually led by TAs, though sometimes by faculty as well. I can’t say that TAs never teach classes though.
The class sizes your student will experience depend a lot on their major and what classes they take.
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Thanks so much for all of this info - really appreciate your replies