<p>For those of you who are there, what do you like most, what classes, etc? I went up there last weekend, but Friday afternoon is fairly dead, and Monday was, well...President's Day, so I only spoke with one girl really....</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>~Ben</p>
<p>Ben:
I am sorry to hear that you didn't have a lot of fun while you were here last weekend. Well, if you were here last Friday, I would say that you pretty much picked the worst weekend ever...</p>
<p>I tell people I love Tufts because it is Tufts. Boston is full of many many colleges, but Tufts is very unique in many ways. It has a very strong global perspective compared to any other colleges in Boston, and because of that, people are all so different and interesting here. Tufts also has somewhat harsh requirements in order to graduate... we have foundation requirements which include English and Foreign Language requirements, and distribution requirements in five different areas. I personally think this provides a very solid liberal arts education. I was more of a math/science person when I was in high school, but now my favorite classes are Intro to International Relations and Intro to Philosophy! Definitely take these two classes or just sit in if you come to Tufts. </p>
<p>When it comes to partying and socializing, I would say it really depends on what you want to do. Personally, I very much enjoy partying and do not find it hard to do so here. On campus, I would say things usually happen pretty early around 10:30pm and stop early around 2am. Outside campus, it is Boston, it is easy to find stuff to do. </p>
<p>I hope that helped you, and feel free to ask if you have any more questions. Thanks!</p>
<ul>
<li>YJ</li>
</ul>
<p>I agree with Wellwood. I like Tufts because it is Tufts. Sure I may hate our colors (baby blue and brown) and I kinda hate the name itself "Tufts" (no offense to our founder, Tufts)... and I also hate that we're not more well-known than we are (the typical Ivy-League reject saying). But I love everything besides those superficial labels. Plus, as a little sidenote for all you folks, Tufts doesn't want to be Ivy League status. Tufts rejected the offer of joining the Ivy League. Also, Tufts chose not to sell its hoodies, cups, pens, bumperstickers, shotglasses... etc... at souveneir stores in Boston. It was the administrations decision not to commercialize their school as Harvard has done. </p>
<p>I'd say I like our campus a lot. I've been here for a semester and it just feels like home walking around it. The uniqueness of the hill... some of the poorly paved sidewalks... our beautiful Tisch library. Seeing familiar faces as I walk around the campus... (you won't be able to say that if you're in a HUGE school of 10,000+). My only complaint is that the gym and facilities are on the farside of campus, and some engineering classes are at "Sci-Tech" which is like a mile away from my dorm room... I'm not kidding. </p>
<p>The food here is incredibly good if you know how to make your own food. You're given a lot of options in making your own food... better than most buffets that cost twice as much. The pizzas at Dewick are incredibly oily and delicious. They recently bought panini machines so you can make your own panini sandwiches. You can always have PBJs if you get bored of the food. Or you can cook your own Belgian waffles... all day long... from breakfast-dinner. I try to balance my meals nowadays, I'm making my own Caesar salads and getting a side of fruits... plus you can take bananas/oranges/various fruits back to your dorm.</p>
<p>However, Tufts could be a lot better. Our bookstore is pretty shabby compared to the bigger schools around Boston. Our campus center could have more pool tables and better arcade games. My friends have actually tried petitioning for better games and ITG2 (In The Groove 2) except we didn't get farther than the worker at the campus center info booth who stopped us in our tracks.</p>
<p>Some of the dorms are REAL shabby... Haskell and Wren, namely, were designed by a prison architect. I live in South which is the newest dorm, its big, there are private bathrooms... the rooms are average sized. There are really nice on-campus apartments. PLUS they're building a NEW dorm as I type... Sophia-Gordon which is exclusive to seniors and juniors, I believe. It's a real nice dorm that's central on campus. However, if you're a lucky freshman, you'll end up in one of the all freshman dorms which are the most social... Hill, Houston, Tilton. The rooms in Hill are huge. I live in South, and it isn't very social at all.
To sum up, housing at Tufts is a matter of luck... if you're lucky, you get a good place to live... there are good places to live. If you're unlucky, you wind up in a bad housing area...</p>
<p>Classes I won't lie... I liked my high school classes better. But then again, I came from a really good high school. I think its mainly because college in general is a lot more impersonal with the teaching style. Not to say that the professors are bad. The professors are extremely good. Some have interersting sense of humors... some have funny accents, like my Calc3 professor Fulton Gonzalez who had the craziest accent... but he was a very nice guy, and a good professor... funny as hell. He often made arithmetic mistakes and would waste a minute trying to find out what he did wrong, but would always joke about it. My chem professor would always rant about Bush and various other beefs he had with the feds. However, there are boring teachers and bad classes... Engineering 1 was a BAD BAD class.</p>
<p>Many of the large lecture classes are impersonal but once you get higher up in your major, you take tiny 15-person classes and you get more attention.</p>
<p>Yeah, but you've gotta figure that if a school with ~5000 undergrads like Tufts has big classes, I can't imagine the classes at BU, BC, UF, etc...and I could've never dealt with a "Washington & Lee" type school with ~2,000 kids, like my high school.</p>
<p>Very true. I actually like lecture classes better because I greatly dislike talking in class, but if the smaller class is your thing, you can find them, as well as the bigger lectures.</p>
<p>^ Good, I really enjoy class discussions.</p>
<p>I've been lucky enough to have a lot of classes where the class size was actually smaller than the ones in my High school. Yes, I've had classes where it was a lecture with 100+ people. But theres were intoductory classes, and they're actually more efficiently taught as a lecture (anyone whose taken Psych 1 can hopefully agree with me). For example, here's the class sizes I had for last and this semester:</p>
<p>Last semester:
100+ (Lecture)
18
6
16
100+ (Another lecture)</p>
<p>This semester:
20
20
12
80+(Lecture)
5</p>
<p>And I know for a fact the numbers get smaller as you go up to more advanced classes. The way Tufts handles class size is something I'm very impressed with. There's a surpising amount of interacting in the lectures as well (anyone whose taken Physics 11 knows what I mean). </p>
<p>Oh and I LOVE the food here. It was one of the first things I missed when I left for winter break.</p>
<p>^ Sounds good to me, are you a Freshman then?</p>
<p>I personally have been astounded by the quality of my professors, with one exception, who ACTUALLY teaches at HARVARD! (GASP!) I took another lecture course in which the professor was unbelievable (Vickie Sullivan, in case you're interested, for Western Political Thought I), and she was super engaging and if you wanted to comment, she encouraged you and remembered your name. It's just that most of the class chose not to comment bc they didn't bother doing the reading.</p>
<p>My other classes are pretty small, but even in my biggest class, which is around fifty, the prof (Eichenberg) made a point of having everyone write their name on an index card, along with an interesting fact about themselves, which makes them memorable. He has since learned everyone's name, because it's difficult to look at a girl and forget that she was the one who ate a raw baby penguin, or had her hand bitten by a cougar. And my other big lecture course (Plants and Humanity) has an absolutely hilarious professor (Ellmore) that really makes the material memorable, and people always stay after class to talk to him.</p>
<p>Hey Ed, I totally agree with you that South isn't nearly as social as Tilton or Houston. But the thing is...I kinda like it that way. My friends and I have no problem getting together within South for a good time, and it's nice to have peace and quiet when you're trying to do your work or go to bed. I used to hang out in Tilton a lot and I realized how annoying it must be for people who were trying to get things done to have everyone constantly be so loud, running up and down the halls, drunk. I LOVE living in South, because downhill is the best, and the private lockable bathrooms are just about as awesome as it gets. I will say that the dorms aren't necessarily the nicest things to look at, particularly compared to like Harvard's campus, and on the inside as well, but I don't really care that much, it's about the people for me. And also, I have a corner room, lol, so it's BIG.</p>
<p>I really like the campus center, though, I didn't know there was a pool table problem. The food here is UNBELIEVABLE, I might add. I thought it was good, and then they added the panini and Belgian waffle machines. Plus the theme nights/brunches are always good.</p>
<p>I think another of the overwhelming Tufts pluses, though, is how everything here is geared towards making our lives easier. It's like, any foreseeable problem, Tufts has some sort of provision for it.</p>
<p>Oh, and about Wren and Haskell - they seem bad, but the people i know who live there really like it. Each suite is its own little community (it's like 9 people to a single-sex suite), and it's so confusing that most of the residents don't even know where the RA lives and vice versa. As a result, the suites can pretty much do whatever they want. And they have really nice big lounges, something South lacks.</p>
<p>I want to live in South again next year, and I think that if we then promoted socializing among the new freshmen, we could turn South into a social place :-D</p>
<p>Oh, and I posted my faves and dislikes on another thread somewhere...I'll find it lol</p>
<p>here it is!</p>
<p>Aaaaand I should really be studying for Spanish and Poli Sci...lol</p>
<p>Oh, heh, I just realized that one of my "dislikes" on that thread was the laundry points system - they replaced it over winter break. See what I mean about constnatly trying to make our lives easier?</p>
<p>DANG! You REALLY LOVE Tufts. That's really awesome. Everything you said makes me even more excited. Now I'm hyper-excited to go there...<em>sighs</em> if I can get in.</p>
<p>wow, bluirinka, reading your posts just made me so glad that i applied to tufts! i hope i get in!! :)</p>
<p>Yea, that was a good post bluirinka. Could you tell us a little bit more about the wireless internet situation? Are there certain dorms that get better connections than others? Do you get service in your rooms or just in the lounges? Are there any classrooms where you get internet?</p>
<p>There is no wireless....unless you live uphill in like Carmichael. This really bothers me because the administration says we don't have enough money for it. However, we're building Sophia Gordon with the utmost technology for saving the environment, but we cannot facilitate communication on campus by giving people internet. If you are close to the library you will get an internet connection. In your rooms you have to be hooked up to the jack unless you are in the aforementioned scenario.</p>
<p>Reading this just now reminded me of something I read recently regarding wireless concerns at a college in Canada. I know nothing about the technology, but will try to provide the link to the article.
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060223/tc_nm/life_canada_internet_dc%5B/url%5D">http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060223/tc_nm/life_canada_internet_dc</a></p>
<p>not entirely true. I get wireless in the library and campus center, yes, but at times when I'm sitting in certain sections of South I can get wireless.</p>
<p>To be honest, though...I kinda like it this way. It precludes me from attempting to study in the company of people, or talk on AIM during some lecture or other. The places I get solid internet, therefore, are my room, the library, the campus center, and all those are where I should be studying because that is where I will focus best.</p>
<p>I don't know about the uphill wireless situation, though :-D</p>
<p>ETA: I'm glad I'm sparking such Tufts fervor! And I hope y'all get in. (I'm from New Jersey but I say y'all somewhat ironically...lol)</p>
<p>If you live downhill in one of the dorms right on Powderhouse, you might be picking up wireless signal from one of the houses across the street. From my house, I can get onto at least 6 different wireless networks and I live about 50 feet from South. As far as I know, they don't have wireless in the dorms yet.</p>
<p>much as i admire your idealism, i have a sneaking suspicion that tufts merchandise is not sold in stores because nobody would buy it.</p>