Demonstrating your interest in a college is an important part of your application, because it shows the admissions office that you know the college and that you’re excited to come here. There are many ways to do this – one well-known way is to visit campus (and if you can, I’d really encourage you to do so!). But what if you can’t visit because it’s not affordable or too far away? Don’t worry, there are plenty of resources to allow you to get to know us and to show us that you think we’re a great fit.
Step 1: Research, research, research
- Visualize campus (even if that means looking at a computer screen): there’s nothing like seeing what a campus looks like. Take a virtual tour and get to see where you would walk to class, or how you might decorate a dorm room. You can even watch videos of campus life – I promise you that research can also be entertaining.
- Listen to student voices: read the student paper, the student magazine, and our student blogs. Your peers are going to be a very important part of your life when you attend a college, so see what they’re interested in and how they talk about it – do you get a certain vibe or see trends?
- Find your interest(s): Look up some extracurricular pages on Facebook, read through the classes of a major or minor that pique your interest, check out Jumbo athletics, check out a TED talk by students or professors. Are there things that stand out about the college?
- "Meet" a student: there are students from all around the world and in the US who would be happy to answer your questions about Tufts. Check out the map and ask them about their experiences
- See if we're coming to you. We travel all over the US and around the world every fall. We visit schools, attend college fairs and National Portfolio Days, and host Who Gets In And Why events. Check out upcoming events here.
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Step 2: Prepare to apply with care
- Take a breath and think about the fruits of your research – why Tufts? This question is the first on our supplement for a reason: it allows us to see how you would fit in on our campus. Whether you talk about a specific major, a professor who you are dying to work with or our pumpkining tradition, the best thing you can do is make this answer specific. For some examples of our favorite responses, check out these past essays.
- Give yourself time to carefully think about your answers and about why we ask the questions we do in the supplement. Write in your own voice and tell us why we’re a great fit for each other.
- The supplement is the biggest opportunity for you to articulate that you want to come to Tufts – don’t squander it by writing a generic essay that tells us nothing about why YOU want to come Tufts. We can see how much care you put into the essay, and are hoping to learn about YOU too.
Step 3: Hit submit
- Care for your application: make sure to dot the i’s and cross the t’s as you apply – making sure your application is complete is a great start to showing that you are truly interested.
- Check in on your application status page after you apply so you can make sure all of your admissions and financial aid application materials have been received.
- Think about whether you might like to have an optional alumni interview. If you’re dying to tell us more about why you have a passion for Film and Media Studies at Tufts or about your idea for a project that is calling the Jumbo’s Maker Studio’s name, why not ask for an interview? It’s also a chance to meet an awesome Jumbo near you and hear about why they picked Tufts and what they loved here.
If you’re a senior and writing your essays now, good luck! We’re all excited to get to hear why you want to come to Tufts!
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Feature photo credit: fdecomite via Flickr