Tips for SMFA First-Years
To be honest, my first year at SMFA at Tufts was a bumpy road. I laughed a lot, cried a lot, but most importantly, I learned countless important life…
So... What is JUMBO Magazine Anyway?
If you’re a prospective student who has checked out our website, visited us in Dowling Hall, or been to any of my info sessions, you will most likely have heard about JUMBO Magazine (Engineering Edition here). But what is it exactly, and why is it such a big deal? Well dear reader, I’m here to answer just that! So, strap in for a quick overview of a unique resource from our admissions department designed just for you!
The Broad Overview
Hi! My name is Sam and I’m the editor of JUMBO. Named after the Tufts mascot, JUMBO and JUMBO Engineer are focused on sharing the stories and experiences of our students. Every article is written by a current undergraduate, so you’ll hear directly from people who were just in your shoes. Each issue follows a specific theme which we focus our articles around so that you can learn about unique aspects of life here on campus. There’s lots of info on classes, professors, housing, and admissions right at your fingertips. Now, here’s a breakdown of a few of the most important sections.
Staff Profiles
Each issue has a handful of staff profiles, which are a great chance to get to know professors from around the university. We make sure to include faculty from across the schools and in different majors, so no two issues look the same. Our back issues have lots of great interviews and profiles that are always worth checking out, so if you’re interested in a specific subject area be sure to check those out! We’ve interviewed everyone from Professors of Civil and Environmental Engineering to Anthropology Professors to Professors of the Practice at the SMFA so there’s something for everyone. Within this category, we also have an article series we call From Classroom To Conversation, where a faculty member will sit down with one or more students and talk about the class they shared. The fall 2021 issue featured two students who both took a class with Professor Lisa Shin in the Psychology Department and went on to do research in her lab. This is a great way to get to know how students felt in specific classes and hear about some cool research opportunities as well!
Student Profiles
Student profiles are similar to the staff ones, except focused on people who were just in your shoes! Get to know students in their own words and find out about aspects of the Tufts community that may surprise you. We try to cover as many of the unique ways of moving through the Tufts community, from pre-med English majors to a polyglot economics major. We have two article series within this category: Journey to the Hill and Why Tufts the Rewrite. Journey to the Hill is a chance to students to reflect on the diverse ways they came to Tufts and what they’ve done since arriving, while Why Tufts the Rewrite asks current students to provide new responses to the Tufts short answer questions. Every article is there to help you get a feel for the kinds of students that come to Tufts, and the different ways they move through the campus that they call home.
Features
These articles are for deep dives into special services, resources, and events on and around Tufts. This is your chance to learn more about some really interesting parts of the Tufts student experience and vary wildly by issue so definitely check out older issues to find some exciting and sometimes unexpected info!
Living
One of the questions that we receive the most is about housing on campus. For good reason, students want to know what the on-campus residence halls are like. It’s where you will be living for two years, so ask away! Our Instagram has some great pictures, and many students will do story takeovers where they show off a day in the life so definitely check that out, along with the Living section of JUMBO, to get an idea of what to expect.
Admissions Info
Finally, at the back of the magazine we have all the main info you need for applying to Tufts. Deadlines, financial aid info, test scores (optional for this cycle and next). If you have a question about applying, chances are it can be answered here or in the companion Advice section of the magazine where admissions counselors like me will give tips for applying.
And Also…
There are lots of other sections that give so much more info than I can fit in this blog post! Class Highlights calls out cool or unique classes that fit the theme of the issue, Athletics is about a sports team or athletics culture on campus, Art Highlight is where we will often give special attention to the SMFA or just art happenings on campus in general, Around Town/Check These Out/Inside Out all offer short blurbs about the campus, events, people, Boston, Medford/Somerville, basically everything that doesn’t fit into the other categories but that we felt you should know about. In short, there’s always something to learn in each issue, so never fear!
And that’s the long and short of it! JUMBO is an incredible resource to get to know the Tufts community a little better, and I highly recommend that any prospective student check it out. There’s bound to be something for everyone, and I guarantee that at least one article will pique your interest.
