Finding Extracurriculars for YOU
As I was deciding which college to apply to, Tufts checked all my boxes like no other. A huge part of what I wanted in a school was to have various…
Today Tufts released its course offerings for the Fall 2016 term. As I made my way through each department, getting my first glimpse of next semester’s curriculum, I thought back to each of the 22.5 credits I’ve taken while at Tufts. Below are my favorite 12, listed from great to greater. Beware of an abundance of personal bias.
12. French III with Carrie O’Connor
I’m going to be honest: I only took this class because of Tufts’ language requirement. I love the language and I hope I can continue learning it throughout my life, but taking it in college was and is not a priority for me.
However, Carrie O’Connor was a pretty great teacher. She encouraged group exercises that helped the class get to know each other, but never assigned graded group projects (which as we all know only lead to frustration). I’ve always struggled with foreign language, but she taught in such a way that I never felt like I was drowning nor like I was being babied. She also offered a ton of extra credit and was very available and willing to help outside of class.
11. Introduction to World Art I with various professors
I definitely recommend this class to anyone, no matter your major. Take it as a world civ requirement, take it as an intro to a department you’ve never explored, take it to impress your friends with your knowledge on relatable topics such as 15th century places of worship.
This class is jointly taught by several different professors in the art history department, and the mix changes every semester. The professors teach the topics of their expertise, which means every lecture is taught by someone who is incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about the subject. You also get a mix of teaching styles which forces you to get accustomed to different studying and note-taking methods.
My only downside to this class is that it’s geared toward people who have never taken an art history class before, especially first semester freshmen. This was a con for me as I took it as a second-year prospective art history major, but can definitely be a pro for someone who is new to the subject!
10. Acting II with Sheriden Thomas
Unfortunately this class is audition-based only, so while anyone is free to audition, not everyone will get the chance to take it.
This class throws a lot at you. It’s intense, and Sheriden’s personality and methods are the majority of what makes Acting II so good. She ran us through different exercises and assignments that she’s perfected over more than a decade of teaching the class. We don’t put on plays or rehearse different scenes, but you will definitely leave at the end of the semester a better actor and person than you entered it.
Non-actors should feel free to audition, as my class had two football players in it. The only requirements are bravery and a willingness to learn.
9. The Corset and the Crown: The History and Politics of Fashion with Alexandra Van Den Berg
This was the second class I took in the Experimental College. The Experimental College is home to new and developing majors, visiting lecturers, and students who want to teach their fellow peers.
TCatC:THaPoF, as I’ll dub it, was taught by a local professional who received a master’s in Museum Studies and has worked in several local fashion museums. We started every class analyzing a painting from a certain time period to sharpen our observation skills. Then we moved into the history lecture. Each week we explored fashion trends through the ages. We discussed how King Henry’s grand outfits helped reinstate his power, and where exactly the divide between hippie and disco lay. The second half of the class was a hands-on practical activity, tailored to the lecture we’d just heard. One week we learned how to spin thread, another we learned how to use a loom, and a third we discovered how to interpret a fabric’s material, country of origin, and year just from our observations of it.
The class met once a week on Wednesday nights and was a great way to break the monotony that a school week can have. It was engaging, interactive, and insightful about a topic I didn’t know anything about and probably would never get the chance to learn otherwise.
8. Classics of Rome with Anne Mahoney
I signed up for this class before I entered Tufts, as a CAP advising class (side note: Professor Mahoney is an amazing advisor). I didn’t know what “Classics of Rome” meant, but found out it was a literature course studying ancient Roman authors. Cool concept, but challenging for someone who didn’t know the first thing about ancient Rome.
The texts we read were incredibly varied: we read histories, novels, poems, political speeches, and plays. We analyzed historical context, we discussed the language used, and clarified how to interpret different translations of the same Latin text. Our grade was based on several essays, participation, and a few tests, which meant one poor assignment didn’t drag down my entire grade.
I wish I could go back and take Classics of Rome again next year as a junior with a couple more literature classes under my belt, and the reason this class isn’t higher is because I felt over my head as a first semester freshman taking this course.
7. Physical Comedy: Clown with Sheriden Thomas
Another Sheriden class. Unlike Acting II, Clown focuses on the physical body and comedy, as the title suggests. Part of the class is technique based, in which we learn specific methods of comedic acting (did you know looking-into-the-camera-like-you’re-in-The-Office is actually called “clocking?”). Part of the class is ensemble building and more general energy-raising exercises.
Like Acting II, a good portion of what makes this class so interesting is Sheriden, but I find more so it’s the students I’m currently taking the class with. This class has pushed me outside of my comfort zone as an actor, and being in such a creative and caring environment has been incredible.
6. Writing the Short Film with Khary Jones
This class had its ups and downs, but overall was a very positive experience, and one that taught me things I’ll remember and use throughout the rest of my college career. For anyone interested in storytelling in any capacity, whether it be scriptwriting, novel writing, theatre, film, dance, or mime, this class is a must. As we moved through the semester writing our own scripts we learned about all of the essential elements of story and its conflict.
This class made me a better writer, film-watcher, and critic. The skills I acquired are numerous, and being in a workshop environment with other creative peers is a great and unique opportunity. Khary himself is one of the most knowledgeable and talented men I know, and is very encouraging of meeting with students about their work outside of class.
Seriously, if writing or narrative is in any way important to you, take this class.
5. Hitchcock: Gender, Cinema, and Ideology with Lee Edelman
Lee Edelman is a professor most Tufts students will agree you have to take a class with before you graduate. He’s an English teacher, which means it isn’t too hard to go out of your way to take one of his classes. In H:GCaI we watch and discuss a different Hitchcock film each week, moving chronologically through his career. If Hitchcock isn’t your thing maybe this class isn’t for you, but if you like movies I’d suggest giving it a shot.
Professor Edelman has read just about every published work on Hitchcock available, and his passion for the subject is undeniable. He often goes far deeper into analysis than necessary, and connects little details with wild theories that I don’t think should be connected, but at least his over-analysis reflects his excitement. Oftentimes his deep analysis is actually really cool and eye-opening, and it’s fun to sit in the room and go through the process of decoding a Hitchcock film with him.
4. Introduction to Computer Science with Chris Gregg
Chris Gregg is almost unparalleled as a professor. My intro comp-sci class, like most intro comp-sci classes, had over 100 students in it at the beginning of the year. And within a week of the semester he knew each of our names and faces. I’ve never had a teacher care about his students as much as Chris Gregg does.
In case you can’t tell by the plethora of arts and humanities classes I’ve just described, computer science isn’t really my thing. I find it incredibly interesting and creative, but my brain is not wired for computer science and it’s very hard for me to do well in the subject. Yet Chris Gregg made each class interesting and engaging, and the weekly labs helped reinforce the lectures. It’s a hard class, but it’s structured very well and designed to make each student succeed. Tufts’ computer science building, Halligan, is always bursting with faculty and students alike at all hours of the day who are willing to help out if you just ask. Honestly, Introduction to Computer Science was one of the most community-oriented classes I’ve ever taken.
This class is fun, exciting, challenging, welcoming, and invigorating. The professor is friendly, dedicated, and very intelligent. Basically, everything you could want in a college course.
3. Introduction to Film Studies with Scarlet Marquette
The class is what it sounds like: an introduction to how to intelligently study films. We learned the basics of a film like cinematography, editing, and point of view. And we did this by watching a dozen very well-made films. But what made this class so good was how interdisciplinary it was. We read high level film critiques, and we talked about the Hollywood actors we liked. We took tests, wrote essays, and made presentations. We had class debates and we listened to lectures. It was a little bit of everything, which I think made the class more about learning than about movies. I also wrote some of the best papers I’ve written in college for this class, and that’s because we got to write about what we’re passionate about, not about a specific topic the professor pigeon-holed us into.
Unfortunately this specific class is no longer being offered, but its new modern equivalent is Art of the Moving Image, offered next semester with Malcom Turvey.
2. Special Topics in Contemporary Art with Jacob Stewart-Halevy
This class is difficult. It’s almost exclusively made up of art history majors and MFA students, and everybody in there knows what they’re talking about. I mostly just sit in the back and listen along.
Jacob Stewart-Halevy is a relatively young professor, who was an artist before coming to Tufts. That means not only is he passionate and knowledgeable about the subject, but he was actually employed as a contemporary artist, the subject he’s now teaching us about. He throws us right into the modern world, but is very conscious of leaving personal bias out. So far we’ve analyzed topics such as the market, branding and trademarks, strike art and the Occupy movements, and more. We’ve dabbled in economics, history, and advertising. It’s a very forward-thinking, cutting-edge, global class. I don’t always understand everything we talk about, but I can feel myself getting smarter as I sit in class each week. The material is unlike anything else I’ve learned in the sense that it’s so modern.
An understanding of art or art history would definitely be helpful if taking this class, but because of the different angles from which we’ve looked at art, I do think anybody could have a reason to take this class.
1. Cosmology for the Curious with Alexander Vilenkin
Oh boy. I could gush about this class for hours. First of all, outer space is awesome. But it’s way more awesome when you actually know the details about it. In this class we learned about the theories of relativity (yes, there are two), black holes, the age of the universe, string theory, and other hard-to-understand concepts about the universe. But here’s the best part: this class was designed for non-science people, like me, who just really like the subject but can’t do the hard math behind it. We learned advanced topics but in a way that was manageable for humanities and arts majors.
Professor Vilenkin is the best professor I’ve had at Tufts, partially because of this reason. He usually teaches graduate-level physicists at Tufts, but taught this undergraduate course last spring. He is brilliant in every sense of the word. He’s a giant in the field of cosmology and has an incredible knowledge-base. And he was so great at “dumbing it down,” so to speak, for those of us who didn’t have this knowledge-base. It’s rare to find a teacher with that skill, and he definitely possessed it. But he didn’t condescend to us: he taught us some hard-core physics and trusted us to learn it, which we did.
Moral of the story: take a class you’re passionate about. I love outer space, I dislike science, and I loved this class. Intro courses or humanities-for-engineers/science-for-humanities classes are a great way to learn about something new just for the sake of learning.
And that’s it! My favorite 12 Tufts classes so far. As you can see, there’s a wide range of classes, not just those that fall in my major. I’m lucky to go to a school that encourages me to be so well-rounded and values diversity, and I can’t wait to add some more to this list in my next two years!
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