<p>Hi,
I am a hopeful applicant and I am learning more about Tufts every day. So, I just thought of asking the current students. How would you describe Tufts, its environment, classes, Life@Tufts in general??</p>
<p>First off, I have no intention of limiting my answer to a sentence. I’ll try to keep it under a page ;-)</p>
<p>It would be helpful to know what you might plan to major in or what activities you might want to participate in. No student has experienced all, or even half, of what Tufts (or any college) has to offer, so the more specific questions you can ask, the better answers you’re going to get.</p>
<p>From my limited experience of four years at Tufts:</p>
<p>Academics - Professors are typically extremely dedicated to student understanding and well-being, and the strong student involvement in the tenure process means that professors who are bad teachers are almost always weeded out, the few exceptions usually being given administrative or research posts in addition to limit their contact with students. For a non-engineer, your schedule is what you make it: Tufts has an unusually lengthy period during which you can add or drop classes at will, called the “shop period”. I’ve always made extensive use of this - in no semester have I dropped less than two classes to replace them with ones I preferred, and as a result I’ve never taken a class I didn’t like. I’d advise this.</p>
<p>Your social life at Tufts will depend on which, if any, activities you participate in. Most activities or clubs form multi-grade communities, creating a very strong opportunity for underclassmen to befriend upperclassmen. Though campus very often features fun events, like well-attended lecture series, comedians (we just had The Office’s BJ Novak), bands (Spring Fling always has great acts), and various formals and dances, the majority of your social life will probably be conducted off-campus through extracurricular activities. <em>How</em> “off”-campus is up to you. The parties you’ll go to will be in upperclassmen’s houses right off campus. The very nearby Davis Square area is a really wonderful place to be, and for a lot of students that’s as far as they really get. However, Davis Square also has a Red Line stop, which allows pretty convenient access to Cambridge and Boston. I’ve heard many students complain that Tufts is falsely advertised as being in Boston when in fact its in a no-where suburb, and that it’s very hard to actually get into Boston. I just don’t understand these people - I have to assume they’ve never actually tried. I work in the heart of downtown Boston (literally overlooking Boston Common) every single day, and it takes me half an hour to get from my apartment to Boston Common. Cambridge is even closer; with Harvard Square only two miles away. Given that downtown, historic Boston is actually in the extreme north of the City of Boston, Tufts is actually closer to downtown Boston than many places (Hyde Park, Mattapan, West Roxbury, Roslindale) actually literally within the city of Boston itself (quite closer: 5 miles compared to 8 miles, or half an hour on public transit compared to over an hour on public transit).
So, given that I like the city and don’t have a panic response when confronted with public transportation, a lot of my social life (when I have time for one) is conducted in Boston and Cambridge, but a lot of people seem perfectly content staying on campus with the occasional outing to the really quite lovely Davis Square.</p>
<p>That’s one big sentence ;). Answering your question right off, if i get into Tufts, I am planning to major in Economics with courses from IR and Quantitative Economics. </p>
<p>And activities, Badminton for starters. I am also interested in Theatre and dance. How can I forget? I am in the editorial board of my current college and I want to continue that. And community service. I am a part of TFI (Teach For India) an organization of college students, graduates and professionals committed to teaching to kids from low income levels and slums. And of course, I will certainly experiment with something different, maybe something I had never thought of before 
Specific enough? :)</p>
<p>And wow. Shop Period sounds amazing. How long does this last and does this happen every semester?
Davis Square sounds lovely!! And the location sounds perfect. Not too far and not too near kinda thing.
How wild is Tufts??</p>
<p>I’m a Poli Sci major with a strong IR component, so I could speak at length about classes and professors there. Really excellent program. Make sure to get a class with Greenhill, if you can handle it.</p>
<p>As far as your extracurriculars, there’s an adjustment period from high school to college. While it was easy to juggle a half dozen or more activities in high school, in college people usually end up dedicating a lot more of their time to just a few activities, typically under three. You probably won’t be able to do badminton, theater, dance, journalism, and community service - not in the same semester anyway. You could always skip around from semester to semester, though.</p>
<p>I’m fairly sure we have badminton as an intramural, but I don’t really know.</p>
<p>We have a very vibrant theater scene here, which I’m a part of. Shows are usually well-attended, and the sense of community amongst theater kids is strong. It’s actually a pretty accepting place to be for first years - you get immediately wrapped up in a group, make upperclassmen friends, and get invited to off-campus parties. There’s even a show put on every fall semester exclusively for freshmen, to help get them engaged and acclimated.</p>
<p>Journalism is strong here, too. Tufts publishes a number of student-run magazines and journals, as well as the Tufts Daily, an independent, student-run newspaper put out (I think) every day Monday - Thursday.</p>
<p>Community service largely falls under the umbrella of the Leonard Carmichael Society, the largest student group on campus. I actually haven’t done much community service (through the school, anyway) so I don’t know a ton about their operations. I think its safe to say though, given Tufts’ emphasis on active citizenship and public engagement, that they’ve got some interesting programs. I know the Tisch College of Active Citizenship frequently does stuff like organize neighborhood outreach to the surrounding communities, and send students to places like Guatemala, Haiti, Uganda, and the Philippines for aid work. If you’re really dedicated to that sort of thing, you should look into becoming a Tisch Scholar.</p>
<p>Shop period for freshmen is amazing. This semester, classes started on January 21st. February 4th was the last day to add a new class without requiring a signed add/drop form (WITH a signed form, you can add whenever you want, as long as the professor consents). Freshmen can drop courses without record of enrollment until April 1st, which is well after midterms. Upperclassmen only have until until February 25th to drop classes without record of enrollment. My typical strategy is to over-enroll in courses, and then just drop my least favorite ones after a couple weeks.</p>
<p>How wild is Tufts? I’d say not very. You can find that kind of scene if you’re looking for it (specifically if you hang out with the art school kids - them dudes is crazy) but for the most part everyone works too hard to snort cocaine or accidentally murder hookers. There’s a lot of drinking, lots of house parties every weekend, and you can generally find a party going on somewhere every night of the week, if you look. Freshmen typically get attracted to frat parties like flies on poop. Upperclassmen often hang out and play pub quiz at certain bars in Davis and Teale Square (Redbones, Joshua Tree, and P.J. O’Ryan’s are probably the most popular). All classes get together at off-campus house parties.</p>
<p>Do speak all that you can!! Tufts doesn’t offer an IR minor does it? Cos I couldn’t see it anywhere.</p>
<p>And yeah that’s true. But all the EC’s that I mentioned are in my current college. I guess I mentioned in some other Tufts thread, that I am a transfer applicant. So I am pretty good at managing stuff I guess. Then again, the US college scene would be totally new to me, so I might take some time adjusting. But yeah clarifying, I wasn’t planning to do all of them in the same semester, more like over the years at college. :)</p>
<p>And yes, Badminton is a club sport at Tufts. There is a court at Jackson’s gym I guess.</p>
<p>Theatre sounds fantastic It is not too active here which is why I couldn’t further my interest any more. I am less than an amateur, it is more of a fascination and curiosity really. It is great that I know you now. :)</p>
<p>And thanks for the tip. I will look into Tisch right away.</p>
<p>Wow!! 3 month period sounds awesome!! And after midterms is positively appealing.</p>
<p>And yes yes yes <em>enthusiastic</em> The wildness sounds perfect. Not the “artsy dudes is crazy” scene, but the other. I do want a place where people work hard and get ‘safely wild’ (is that even a term??) :)</p>
<p>Nope, no IR minor. They’re serious about it. Depending on what you’re looking for, poli sci might end up being a better choice. There are no actual IR professors and no real IR department, it’s just an inter-departmental program bringing together classes and faculty from political science (in which IR is one of the four available concentrations), economics, culture & anthropology, and a strong language requirement. A lot of policy-minded people start off as IR majors, realize that all the classes they actually enjoy are poli sci, and end up as poli sci majors or minors.</p>
<p>Are you visiting campus at any point this semester?</p>
<p>Well I am more interested in Economics than poli sci. And nope. I am an international. Can’t really afford to visit.</p>
<p>When God gives up, man takes it up. Mind you, I am not retaliating or anything. I am not even a student. I am most interested in why you think that way esp when you are not a student yourself.</p>
<p>Umm. What?</p>
<p>Ah… There was a reply from a guy named stanfordalum whose said something along the lines of “Tufts is what God gave up” or something like that, and prayed to the God to save me. Looks like that person must have deleted their post after my reply, so now I end up sounding like a weirdo :)</p>
<p>I’m surprised no one has answered, “4 years, hard labor.” :rimshot:</p>
<p>Isn’t college hard even otherwise? Or should I say challenging? That sounds closer.</p>
<p>Sorry, just a lame attempt at a pun on the word “sentence.”</p>
<p>Lol alright. Sorry if I had sounded kinda short. A few days back there was a guy here who made derogatory comments and deleted them once I replied to his post. So I just assumed you were like that too. Sorry.</p>
<p>I actually misread this at first as “Tufts is a sentence” and clicked on the thread because I was surprised at the condemnation. However, Snarf did provide some pretty good insight so all’s well that ends well.</p>
<p>Hmmm ok. Do you have anything to add??? :)</p>