<p>So, I'm a junior in high school right now and I'm interested in going to Tufts one day- they seem to have what I'm looking for academically and their campus looks very nice. Socially, however, I'm not sure. I have heard conflicting things while pursuing various forums and review sites online, and it's leaving me with some questions, so I'm hoping that some Tufts students could help me out. First, I've heard that its hard to get a social life, at least during freshman and sophomore year, if you don't go Greek; is this true? Second, how friendly are the students? Do people initiate conversations and smile at strangers and whatnot? Third, how socially liberal are students? Is there a big atmosphere of 'political correctness' and is the LGBTQA presence on campus big? Fourth, what to students-particularly underclassman-do on the weekends if they want to go do something with a group of friends but don't necessarily want to go to a frat party? Do they go out into Boston, or usually stay on campus or something? And, lastly, do people usually have an 'academic' or intellectual feel to their conversations, even outside of the classroom?</p>
<p>Well, I hope that my questions are on target to find out what I want and thank you in advance to all who reply!</p>
<p>Sure, I’ll take a whack at this one.
Social life: Depends how you define it. If you’re looking for big, public school style parties, Tufts isn’t the place to go, to be honest. There are various parties that you find your way into, but nothing like what I hear big state schools are like.
If you mean groups of friends having a good time together, no, you don’t need Greek life for that.
Students are definitely friendlier than in other universities I’ve been to. “Nice to meet you” and “What’s your name?” are phrases you often hear.
It’s a liberal arts school in Boston, Massachusetts. That being said, it’s probably not as PC as you think it is. It’s a solid balance of common sense and progressivism.
A groups of friends can chill in a dorm, especially in larger suites’ common rooms, or chill on the school lawn, go to Davis Square, the local metro stop/“nightlife” area, or even into Boston.
On the intellectualism, don’t let admissions convince you everyone is just running around discussing engineering projects and political theory.
That being said, most kids are bright, open-minded, and ready and willing to learn from their friends.
Last night, for example, my friends and I were talking about trash, and the topic moved to Scandinavia, taking free trash from Europe to make electricity, and then to NYC paying to export trash to Pennsylvania, and so on. So it’s not ALL we talk about, but intellectual topics are delved into in day-to-day conversations.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions, and feel free to shoot me a message. </p>
<p>I’d like to add the perspective of a recent alum. I was lucky enough to be on a sports team so I both had a built in friend network but frequently couldn’t go out on Friday nights before meets. I also remained close with the group of friends I developed in my freshman dorm and with my classmates in my department.</p>
<p>I had friends who participated in Greek life but most of my teammates and other friends didn’t join. When going to parties the fraternities were usually an option but one of the great results of having so many students off campus but still close by was that there was never a shortage of off-campus parties at people’s apartments. On any given weekend if I asked around to different groups of friends there were usually a variety of pre-games and full-on parties to attend or people (of age or with fake IDs) who had made plans to go into Davis, Cambridge, or downtown.</p>
<p>As far as political correctness I think Tufts is sometimes over the top but mostly in a good way. Students will frequently engage in various forms of active citizenship and I think that is sometimes interpreted as being too PC.</p>