Tufts Blogs

Prior to college, I lived my entire first 18 years in a rural Maine town where there are around 8,000 people and there is one major intersection where all the major routes meet. There are countless deer and squirrels and there is one public high school of ~500 students for two towns together. My parents both grew up in Maine and my grandparents reside in other small towns in Maine, with my mom working in my school district the majority of the time I was attending school. Much of my graduating high school class were people I attended pre-school and elementary school with, giving that small town feel where everybody in the town knows everybody.
 
I was among the small group of students who chose to attend college/university outside of the state of Maine, where I traveled a whole four hours away to attend a small liberal arts college in Connecticut. Branching out to a school of just under 2,000 students seemed very daunting coming from my high school, although I was excited to build a new community and meet people from around the country and globe. This transition allowed me to gain new levels of both independence and perspective that I could not imagine, learning how to do my own laundry for the first time, learning from a community filled with students of diverse backgrounds, and learning new things about myself I had never considered before. Even just traveling from Maine to Connecticut allowed me to broaden my worldview and meet people from different geographic locations, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, and more. Through college, I had the opportunity to have my own views challenged, meet and learn from people with a completely different background than me, travel the world while studying abroad, and learn a lot both inside and outside of the classroom.
 
Your hometown will always be there to welcome you back when it is time to go home! I am not the only person who has transitioned from my small town to an entirely new environment for college, here is an account from my colleague Will Wilson, who graduated from Tufts in 2021:
 
Every moment living in Somerville, MA is a smaller version of the culture shock I had when I first moved to Tufts. I was born in small town Grant, Nebraska and grew up in Lewiston, Idaho. Lewiston is a big-small town, around 35,000 people, it feels like you know everyone. From the moment I toured campus I knew I wanted to make Tufts a new home. I was the first person from my high school to attend Tufts. I reveled in introducing myself as the guy from Idaho to everyone on my floor in Harleston Hall. I enjoyed my experience, so much so that I’m still here, meeting and admitting students who are just as eager as I was to explore something bigger than the rural community they come from. And while “getting out” is a sentiment I felt as a fresh college student, my understanding about rural student experiences has changed a lot. Now I get to dedicate my time to improving access to students who, also like me, want to bring a new perspective back to their rural home. 
 
When you are considering the right college and location for you, my biggest advice is to take the jump and step outside of your comfort zone. I learned so much more than I could have imagined by going to college four hours away; there are so many people to meet and learn from and there is so much perspective to gain from broadening your horizons.