Tufts University Top Questions

Do professors know your name? Almost all my profs know my name - the few exceptions are profs from the huge intro classes, but even some of those know me. Especially if you come to their office hours. Tell us about your favorite class. Not sure I have a favorite class, but I'll say EPIIC - an incredibly challenging but rewarding crash course in poverty and inequality. We did an Outward Bound trip to bond, had some serious intellectual probing, went on multiple research trips. We planned an international symposium which was attended by 70 students from 11 countries, tons of distinguished speakers, and Boston-area students and professionals. We hosted and led a conference for high school students, which was like model UN, but also included parties like human rights groups, the church, corporate consortium, etc, and helped them with discussion of international issues and passing of resolutions. It's resulted in a mesmerizing list of contacts and a few internships. Gotta love the Institute for Global Leadership! Least favorite? Probably Intro Econ. The professor was really boring, and instead I would just skip lecture and read the textbook. He was a part-time guy who also How often do students study? They balance studying and having fun pretty well. It depends on the major, and the person. But most people tend to take their work seriously. Is class participation common? Depends on the class - most times, in my experience, yes. But not so much in science classes. Do Tufts students have intellectual conversations outside of class? Definitely - often. Students from all disciplines. Are students competitive? Only with themselves, really. What's the most unique class you've taken? EPIIC, above. Tell us about your major / department. I'm really happy with the IR and Econ departments - lots of breadth in course selection, and the advising has been really helpful. Do you spend time with professors outside of class? Yes - in office hours, and sometimes just chatting on the way to class. How do you feel about Tufts 's academic requirements? I like them - it's not like Brown, where you don't have any kind of core curriculum, so people are relatively well-rounded. But it's not Columbia, where I'd feel I was taking classes I wasn't interested in when I wanted to take something more specific to my discipline. Is the education at Tufts geared toward getting a job, or learning for its own sake? It's whatever you personally want to get out of it. If your goal is a job, you'll take advantage of the courses and resources that are oriented toward the workplace. You'll go for internships instead of research opportunities, for example. If your interests are more academic in nature, you can structure your experience to reflect that preference.

I have been extremely happy with the quality of my professors and advisors during my time at Tufts.

Whether it's right off the bat or a year down the road, everyone is challenged at some point in their career (even the geology majors). Like anything though, if you have an interest in a subject, then pursue it. I've yet to meet a professor who doesn't explode with happiness when a student seeks more interaction with questions on classwork, their research, your research, possible internships, career advice, or whatever you chose. As far as the student body is concerned, everyone has a pet subject that they won't shut-up about when asked. My advice is to challenge yourself early in your academic career to open room as an upperclassmen to explore other fields. Note: By 'other fields' I do not meet intramural golf. I mean history for a biology major, English for a math major, or a foreign language for the economics major.

Tufts is known for its top-notch academics. Like at any school, professors will vary in their quality or availability. But overall, professors are experts in their fields and care about their students' progress. On a medium-sized campus, it is very easy to make and maintain relationships with professors. Students coming from smaller high schools have to realize that often they will need to make the effort to familiarize themselves with professors, but once that happens many professors truly do care about forming relationships with students. As always, its a two-way street. Students can find classes in whatever may interest them or, like many liberal arts students, explore different areas that are new and exciting. You can find anything from "the 1960s" to "American Sign Language" to "Mathematics of Social Choice" and everything in between. We have the Experimental College which is a truly unique and special feature of the school. The Ex College offers a variety of courses which change every semester taught by professionals from outside Tufts, Tufts faculty and even qualified upperclassmen. These courses are quirky and focused ones which attract students who are genuinely interested in them. They are amazing opportunities and really embody the Tufts notion of learning for the sake of learning. Courses can include "Producing Films for Social Change," "Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies" and "the History and Mathematics of Baseball." The Tufts faculty is comprised of world-renowned experts in their fields who have so much to share with their students (like Daniel Dennet in the Philosophy department or renowned psychologist Robert Sternberg, our Dean of Arts and Sciences). Tufts students put in a good amount time for their work, but it never takes over their lives. Coming to Tufts, it seems to many students that we have an overwhelming amount of requirements. However, these easily disappear when we learn how many courses double-count and that AP credit is very helpful. Language can seem intimidating at first when students see that there is a 6-semester language requirement (three semesters of spoken language). However, AP credit or the placement test quell any fears. As a freshman, I came to Tufts having already fulfilled 4 out of 6 semesters of Spanish.

All of my professors knew me by name and all were available to help me outside of class. The professors at Tufts are very caring and inspiring. They want students to understand the material. Class participation is very encouraged, especially in small, upper-level classes. One of my favorite professors, Steve Cohen, invited me to his home in Cambridge to have breakfast with him during reading period one year. Tufts students do not compete with one another. They compete with themselves, always pushing themselves to do better, but the academic atmosphere at Tufts is very collaborative. I was always able to reach out to my peers and ask for help with an assignment if I needed it. Also, study groups are very common. The Experimental College is one of Tufts' greatest assets. Students can register to take classes that are quirky and unique like The History of Punk Rock or Forensic Science or Psychopathology. These classes are taken for credit, many are letter-graded, but others can only be taken Pass/Fail.

The teaching at Tufts seems to be a pation as well as a carreer

Like at any other institution there is your wide range of people's intelligences. Some are brilliant students who do not even open a book and get straight As, which other burn off their eyelashes and barely get by with Bs or Cs. Depending on the class there is class participation. Normally in large lecture halls the participation is down to a minimum, but in classes with few students there is a high amount of participation. The most unique class that I have taken so far during my first two years in college was one that incorporated chemistry, biology, anthropologie, astronomy, and geology. It was taught by some great professors all pioneers in the areas that they lectured in. it is possibly the best class i could have taken at tufts so far.

Most professors do know their students and recogninse them outside the classrooms. My favorite class was International Finance... In general I like finance courses and this was one the really few to be offered by Tufts.

My professors do know my name, because my classes tend to be 20-30 people. Students study a LOT, depending on their major, and tend to be pretty competitive in the science majors. I have gone out for lunch and coffee with my professors, and in general they are great.

You get a range of class types at Tufts. In the pre-med track, some of the intro classes are large. It is difficult to get to know your professor if you do not go to office hours all the time. That said, professors always set aside ample time to meet with students and that is a great chance to get to know the professors and to stay on top of things. The one advice I would give is to always go to office hours, even if you think you understand the material. That way, you have found a potential candidate to write you a recommendation for the future.

Good professors, helpful TAs and competitive students!

Academics are great. We spend a lot of time working: if you're looking for a party school, don't come here. There's no business major, which contributes to the overall character of the student body.

This is, without doubt, the reason people (and myself) come to Tufts, The academics are stellar. The classes are interesting and the professors are, for the most part, fantastic. Even the ones I have hated I have also respected for their masterful grasp of their subject, but I have liked many more than I have disliked. The professors are also aware of the small liberal arts feel that we are coming here for, and are willing to provide. They are friendly and personable for the most part and always willing to help anyone who speaks up. The requirements are a little much, especially the language one which is notoriously a GPA bane if you aren't careful as many of the language classes are quite difficult and labor intensive. However, on the other end is the Ex-College which allows almost anything to be taught as a class for real credit. I took The Politics of Coffee that included a daily coffee tasting and lesson on connoisseurship in addition to the viability of the coffee market, fair trade laws and practices, and Brazils stance on everything coffee related.

Tufts has a panel of spectacular professors. Their dedication to undergraduate education is unique and wonderful. Unfortunately, despite the perennial dictum that students at Tufts can study anything they want, the reality is that it can be a real challenge to create your own major, even one related to existent departments.

Absolutely love love love studying at Tufts! Unless its an intro class my professors all know my name and know all about me. I absolutely love every single one of my teachers. It is way too hard to pick a favorite- but if I had to do a top five I'd pick: George Norman, Oxana Shevel, Prof. Eichenberg, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, and Paul "Khalid" Wulfsberg. Class participation is common and people always have some pretty stimulating conversations outside class. But the great combo is that kids at Tufts know how to work hard, are genuinely interested at understanding and achieving and also know how to have a life. A lot of people are involved in volunteering (our volunteering club has over 1/5th of the students in it). I've spent the most time with my Arabic professors, because they're always putting on culture nights or film dinners. The academic requirements are really easy to fulfill, sometimes at face value they seem like a lot but if you actually go through the coursebook and see the listings you can see that most of your classes fulfull the basic requirements. I feel like my time here is well spent because I'm learning a lot more than most of my friends back home- I really feel like I'm working hard, enjoying learning as well as my other activities, meeting so many interesting people. I just love Tufts- I can't say it enough.

Tufts is great because you can choose what kind of path you want to take academically: either taking bigger lecture classes or small classes with lots of professor attention. Tufts does have a lot of requirements, however. Tufts students definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class, not necessarily about dry topics but just about the world in general. Some students study WAY too much and some study not at all, although overall I would say Tufts is perhaps a bit too studious of a school.

there are some amazing professors and very cool classes. professors are very understanding of life as a student. the class sizes are intimate (with the exception of intro level courses) and you get to know the other students and professors pretty well.

Tufts admissions has been getting more and more competitive, so the student body is highly intelligent. That said, it's not like everyone is dying to talk about their studies all of the time. It's actually a nice balance. I'm not saying people don't love any of their classes (this past semester I actually took a full schedule of classes I loved!), but people still know how to enjoy themselves. I do sometimes wish there was a little more intellectual coversation, though.

It's hard to describe Tufts academics broadly. i have taken some truly excellent classes at Tufts, but obviously have had some awful classes as well. In general, I have found that classes within my major, including international relations, community health, economics, and spanish have been fantastic. Even my Intro to IR class (that had close to 250 students) was interesting and enjoyable. All of my small classes have been really enjoyable. Language classes at Tufts are always capped at 16 students, and economics classes are capped as well past the intro level. The classes I have not like at Tufts have been classes I needed just to fulfill distribution requirements. I did not, for example, like my intro to philosophy class, which I took to fulfill my second english requirement. This semester I took intro to economic statistics, which was easily the worst class I've ever taken in my life. I pretty much would blame the professor for the horrible experience I had in this class, but take comfort in the fact that this was his last semester at Tufts. Overall, I think students take their classes very seriously. One of my favorite things about Tufts has been that most of my classes have been very interesting, and that the opportunities to learn more in each of those classes have been plentiful.

I took an amazing class on Postmodernism & Film which epitomized the academic experience for me. The professor was engaging and eloquent day in and day out. Professors run the gamut from boring to spectacular, just as you might find anywhere. Most of the classes I took at Tufts were small, and professors knew my name and cared about how I was doing.