<p>I'm more of a lurker now but realized there wasn't a thread on this and thought there should be. About 9 months ago Tufts announced their new 1+4 program in which prospective students can also apply for a gap year program organized by the school in which all participating students have a common orientation before leaving and then work in smaller groups of Tufts students with local nonprofits/NGOs spread out both domestically and internationally. Financial aid is also available.</p>
I think this is really interesting, and I would most likely apply if I end up attending Tufts. Since it’s only in it’s first year, there’s not much information or student reviews of their experience out there…I wish there was!
I got accepted to take a gap year in LA! They gave a generous financial aid package for the gap year so thankfully it won’t be an issue. If anyone else is a 1+4 fellow, or is lurking this thread in years to come feel free to PM me!
I’m not sure how the funding/payment for 4+1 works out but obviously they can’t stop you from transferring. I imagine it would raise red flags for any institution you wanted to transfer to, though.
@Minimodi The program is binding, joining the program requires that you agree to become part of Tufts’ next class. That said, if you weren’t 100% set on Tufts, you could just take a more traditional gap year with one of the programs Tufts partners with.
The Tufts program includes need based financial aid, so depending on need, Tufts may end up covering the entire cost.
ThIs is probably why it is binding.
@Mastadon - if there’s excess demand (I’m not sure if they’ve reached that point yet) and there are more students interested than there are spots than any available spots should go to students who genuinely plan to enroll at Tufts
Having trouble getting my head around why someone would want to pay an extra year of tuition for this unless they were given full ride. Can anyone help me understand the advantage?
@hebrewhammer, the cost is about half a year’s tuition/room & board with financial aid avaliable. My gap year was not exactly similar to global citizen year but it cost in total $10,000. I could have made it cheaper by about $1500 if I didn’t choose to fly home for Christmas. I would say if you’re eligible for financial aid, the bridge year could be a great option, but I would hesitate to pay the full 30k. My friends that did the Brazil and Spain 1+4 enjoyed their time on the whole but some of them did have real issues with the jobs assigned to them by the program.
@annamom Admission to 1+4 is separate from admission to Tufts. Once you get accepted to Tufts, you can apply to 1+4, and at that point you have to say which programs you are interested in, but I believe you can apply to multiple and rank your choices.
On the Tufts Common App, there is a place to indicate if you are interested in the 1+4 program. Also, after you have applied and you can check the status of your application, there is a link to indicate if you are interested in that program.