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Inside Admissions

Answering Tufts’ Short-Answer Questions

Jul 01
Julia Dudley-Kramer Inside Admissions

 

All applicants to Tufts University submitting the Common Application or Coalition Application will be prompted to share their responses to two short-answer questions. Your answers offer the Admissions Committee insight into the interests, experiences, and communities that make you you. 
 
Question 1 - Complete this sentence in 250 words or less: “I am applying to Tufts because…” 
We encourage you to go beyond the Google-able – tell us about your specific connection to Tufts and how you made that connection. Maybe you’re excited to explore a certain major after you attended an online mock class or pored over a department’s course offerings? Perhaps you’ve been looking forward to joining a student organization since you read about it in a Jumbo Magazine profile? Maybe a conversation with a Tufts admissions officer at a college fair left you with a vibrant sense of the research opportunities available to our undergraduates? Or maybe you bonded with your tour guide over a shared interest during your campus visit? Whatever things excite you about the Tufts experience – and there’s a lot of cool stuff to choose from – your answer to this question will help us better understand your genuine interest in becoming a Jumbo. 
 
Question 2 – This prompt varies by program: 
Applicants to the School of Arts & Sciences or the School of Engineering will choose to respond to one of the following three prompts in 200-250 words: 

  • It’s cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity and why? 
  • How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today? 
  • Using a specific example or two, tell us about a way that you contributed to building a collaborative and/or inclusive community. 

These prompts were intentionally designed to reflect Tufts’ multidimensional community of intellectually playful, kind, collaborative, civically engaged, and globally-minded students, and your answer will provide us with additional insight into how you demonstrate one or more of these values. There is no one correct answer to any of these questions; you should select the prompt that provides you with the opportunity to share what you want to share with the Admissions Committee. We encourage you to be specific and allow your enthusiasm to come through; we’re eager to learn more about you! We also invite you to use this short-answer response to describe interests and experiences not already discussed in other pieces of writing.

Applicants to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts will respond to the following prompt in 200-250 words:

  • Art has the power to disrupt our preconceptions, shape public discourse, and imagine new ways of being in the world. What are the ideas you’d like to explore in your work? 

Your art can be about anything, so your answer to this question go in many different directions. Take this opportunity to share the topics that excite you and drive your work. You can think of this answer as a pared-down artist statement. Feel free to reference specific pieces in your portfolio and/or write about the direction you’d like to take your work in the future. Your answer will help us better understand the work you’ve submitted and your motivations for joining an interdisciplinary, idea-driven art program. 
 
Artificial Intelligence Usage Policy 
As you work on your short-answers and the rest of your application, please note that Tufts has established the following policy with respect to the use of generative AI in our undergraduate admissions application process: 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the capacity to transform how we communicate, create, and work. It does not, however, have the capacity to effectively replace an applicant’s unique  perspectives, experiences, and writing style - the very things that matter when we review college essays. Applicants for undergraduate admission to Tufts University may use AI and other online tools for brainstorming or creative inspiration, but we expect that applicants will not copy or transcribe generated text or materials directly into an application and submit it as their own writing or creation.

 

For more tips on submitting your application to Tufts, check out the Application Advice section of our Inside Admissions blog! Visit the Common Application site or the Coalition Application by Scoir site when you’re ready to apply online. 

About the Author

Julia Dudley-Kramer

Associate Director of Admissions

View Bio & Articles
Related Topics
Application Advice The Writing Supplement
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