Student Profile
Kara
- Class: Junior
- Major: Spanish
- Gender: F
- High School: Northwest Catholic High School
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
Every day that I'm at Tufts, I realize how perfect the school is for me. The size is perfect: with 4,000 undergrads, you'll never be able to meet everyone and you'll definitely see people you don't know all the time. But you also can't go a day without seeing tons of people you know either, which I think is perfect. Tufts is also in the perfect location! We're outside of Boston, so we have our own beautiful campus, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. On the other hand, it's a piece of cake to get into the city- we're a 10 minute walk from the T and we have a bus stop on our campus. Plus, Davis Square, the town center near us, is really hip and has great little shops and restaurants to peruse.
Academic Life
I love the Tufts academics- I'm double majoring in Spanish and Community Health (CH). CH is a great major, and not every college has it! I'm also in a combined degree program- I'm taking graduate classes now (for free!) and will be able to finish my Master's of Public Health in just one year after I graduate. Tufts has a lot of combined degree programs which are great because Tufts students can take their graduate classes for free, and can apply easily to graduate school as sophomores, avoiding that stress senior year. Class size and professor depends on the department. Intro classes are usually big- 200+ students, but after taking the intro class, the other department classes are much smaller and there's more participation. Some professors know every kid's name, some never learn any. You talk to upper classmen and find out which classes are good, and which aren't so good. Also, because Tufts is relatively small, it's really easy to bend the academic rules. Last semester I designed my own independent study class and took it one-on-one with my adviser. You don't have that flexibility at bigger schools!
Student Body
Tufts' student body is very interesting, and some rivalries do occur. The Tufts Democrats and the Tufts Republicans can bang heads, and the Free Thought Society, Tufts' Atheist Club, often gets into arguments with some religious groups. Racism and prejudice do occur- but the media and the students themselves dwell on these events because they're so rare. In general, Tufts students really are incredibly accepting and open of each other. My friends are all different races, religions, and sexual orientations. I have some incredibly wealthy friends, and some kids who have to scrape the bottom of the barrel just to come to Tufts, and we get along just fine. Tufts has high percentages of liberals, whites, homosexuals, Jews and pre-med students.
The Best Things
Everyone there wants you to succeed, and professors and administrators will bend over backwards to help you out.
The Worst Things
It's not need blind yet: sometimes we can't accept students because they can't pay for a Tufts education.
