When touring colleges, and thinking about what school I wanted to attend, I usually paid attention to the big things about each school that I found attractive. I also found myself inundated with numbers and statistics, which, as a quantitative person, I could not ignore. Does this school have a lower student to faculty ratio than that other one I toured last week? How does the dining hall food stack up against similar schools? Is it possible to be involved in music ensembles without majoring in music? How many majors are there?
But what I practically ignored were all the little things about the schools I toured. These things are smaller, by definition, so they’re harder to pick up on when only touring a school for a few hours and having a limited amount of time to play around on the school’s website. So for the rest of this post, I am going to share with you some of the little things at Tufts that make it the special place it is.
There’s student produced art work in almost every practice room in the music building. This fact may seem irrelevant, especially when choosing a school, yet is reveals something about the students here. My friend, actually, decided that musicians spend so much time in these box-like rooms to practice, that they deserve something prettier to look at than plain white walls, on all sides. These beautiful music-related images are a testament to Jumbos looking out for one another.
The fall is stunningly beautiful. In case you didn’t have the opportunity to visit Tufts in the months of September and October, I’m here to tell you that you will look at campus in awe every time you have to walk to class. The leaves are just so bright: yellow, orange, red, somewhere in between.
There’s always a show or concert to go see, right on campus! With quite a lot of music ensembles, and an active Music Department that invites off-campus musicians to perform on campus, Granoff is always bustling. Between student groups and the Drama Department, there’s almost always a show to go see in Aidekman. Both the shows and concerts are of the best quality. I’ve never gone home disappointed.
Tufts borders the Mystic River, Mystic Lake, and Fresh Pond. Have some leftover time on a Sunday afternoon, why not bike around Fresh Pond or run next to the Mystic? Either way, you’ll get a great escape from campus and, if it’s autumn, feel as though you’ve been transplanted into the epitome of an autumnal scene.
Being located on a hill. If you can’t make it to the gym or squeeze in time for a run, you can be sure to get a workout in by going up and down the hill all day.
There’s so many more little things about Tufts that make it what it is. Just remember when touring schools that there’s more to the place you’re visiting than numbers and lists. There’s also incredible people, and so many little things that you can look forward to discovering.