<p>Hey Everyone.
So I toured Tufts last spring and absolutely loved it... definitely one of my top choices (obviously I have applied!) Through the tour, I thought the social life at Tufts was going to be amazing (my tour guide really sold the school)... but I realized that he never really mentioned too much about social life.. I had really just assumed it'd be great... online I have read some mixed reviews... some say that it's great - lots of people doing all kinds of stuff... others said the majority of people are sitting in their dorms on Friday night doing absolutely nothing... does anyone have any personal experience? Are there a lot of parties? How's the nightlife? Is there stuff to do on the weekends? Obviously Boston is close.. but is there a lot of stuff to do on campus? I heard admin is really cracking down on the frats and sororities on underage drinking...? How's Tufts' relationship with neighboring schools (Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, etc.)?
Any info is welcome :)</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the social life. I was on a sports team so I got to know a bunch of upperclassmen and we had team parties somewhat regularly but I also hung out a lot with the other freshmen on my floor. If you’re into partying it’s definitely not hard to find people to party with. There are frat parties most Thurs/Fri/Sat nights and I haven’t heard of the university making any true effort to prevent underage drinking at them. There are also plenty of off-campus parties (literally across the street) that you can find if you (or your friends) know juniors/seniors.</p>
<p>There’s also plenty of stuff to do in the city and it’s really easy to get in/out of Boston/Cambridge. If you’re not into partying you can also find people into movies (Tufts Film Series runs two movies several times each weekend), video games, board games, sight-seeing, etc. I’m pretty sure Tufts students also get free admission to the Museum of Fine Arts, if you want to make the trek there.</p>
<p>I didn’t ever go to any parties at other Boston schools but some of my friends would have their friends visit from BU/BC (or elsewhere) from time to time.</p>
<p>I am not a student but have two DDs at Tufts. Based on their comments I would describe the social life at Tufts as very real-world. Unlike some schools where there is one big party that “everyone” is going to on Friday night, at Tufts there are many options on any given night. However, Tufts students need to be proactive about their social life and make a choice to do something, or choose to do nothing and sit in the dorm - which is also a legitimate choice. </p>
<p>Most students seem to have a core social group associated with some EC. There are tons of these groups including varsity and club sports, arts performance groups, political advocacy, community service, greek life, etc. Each of these form communities that have activities associated with the EC, but also have purely social parties and get-togethers. A lot of the dorm floors are also very close and do activities like going out to dinner and going together to campus wide dances and parties. Certainly people head into Boston, Davis or Harvard square on any given weekend -often for concerts or events but sometimes just for dinner and fun. Clubs in Boston are pretty tight on the underage drinking however. Most of the interaction with other schools seems to be centered on knowing people at the other school from HS, etc.</p>
<p>Hey, I’m a current senior at Tufts. I concur with everything the above posters said. Just my two cents: I have to admit that social life was a big problem for me freshman year, because I wasn’t into Frat parties and for everyone else on my floor that comprised their weekends. It was a problem because I think most freshmen do hang out with people they live with, and it can be hard to break from that insular dorm mentality.</p>
<p>I think the most important thing is really finding a group of people you fit in with, whether or not you live with them and the social life will take care of itself more or less from then on. Then you can build your own environment later. Sophomore year people start to segregate themselves, moving into suites/on-campus apartments, and then upperclassmen often live off-campus; both are great options for parties/hanging out. Living in a specialty house can also be a lot of fun. </p>
<p>What I would advise is to try many different options, talk to all different sorts of people, and you’re bound to find something for you. Despite my first impressions coming here, Tufts is not all that homogeneous – I feel like I’m living at a completely different school now than I was freshman year, and yet I live about a 6 minute walk from my freshman dorm. Is it the environment or my attitude which has transformed, or a bit of both? Anyway, perhaps you don’t need this advice, but for anyone else considering Tufts reading this I wanted to share my experience.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman. He wasn’t that much into partying in high school. Just had a few good friends. In Tufts he has so many friends. He’s constantly meeting new people. He parties pretty much every Friday and Saturday unless he has a game. He still studies hard during the week and weekend during the day. From what I’ve seen from his experience Tufts is study hard, party hard kind of school. In my opinion a little too much partying. But he’s having a great time and loves it there</p>
<p>Does anyone have an opinion on how difficult it would be for a transfer to make friends if transferring their junior year? I imagine a lot of freshman get to know eachother, and like others have mentioned, group off as the years go on. That concerns me because it sounds like if youre coming in as a transfer you have to kind of squeeze into a group. Any thoughts?</p>