Tufts Blogs

If you’re a veteran reader of the Tufts Admissions blogs, you might’ve noticed a theme: “the people” is a phrase that comes up over and over again, from the first paragraph of Ishika’s Things I would tell myself as a new transfer post to a blog literally titled Definitely, the people. 

The people referred to here are Tufts people - students, faculty and staff, even our neighbors in Medford and Somerville - who make Tufts such a welcoming place. If there’s one thing I want prospective transfer students to know about Tufts, it’s that the same kind, welcoming, collaborative, and excited people are here all year, every year, for everybody.

Transferring to a new school can be daunting, and one question we get asked all the time by prospective transfer students is how will I find community? Although our incredible transfer-student bloggers have answered this question with examples of their experiences with orientation, clubs and housing groups, I want to approach it from a 10,000 foot view.

Tufts has just under 7,000 undergraduate students. Depending on where you’re coming from, that may seem like a lot or a little, but I want to tell you why it’s the just-right number, particularly for transfer students. When first-year students come to Tufts, they likely know few-to-none of their peers also coming to campus for the first time. They go to Orientation and meet, let’s say, 100 other students they’ll recognize in the dining halls or sprinkled amongst their first classes at Tufts. In their classes, they’ll meet another 100 students who might also be in clubs with them or become contenders for roommates for their next year. They’ll also meet people in the dining halls, on sports teams, and through friends of friends. And the not-so-secret secret is that you, as a transfer student, will do all of those things too. But even with all of those people you’ll meet within your first few months at Tufts, even with all of those familiar faces you’ll see across campus, there are still thousands of other new faces just waiting to be recognized.

The truth is, being a transfer student at Tufts is much like being any other student. You’ll meet new people every semester, you’ll work on completing your major and distribution requirements, and you’ll climb the same hill (literal and metaphorical) as everyone else. Especially through distribution courses, you and everyone else on campus will encounter people in completely different majors and with wildly varied interests. And those people in those classes - transfer or not - won’t know most of the people in those classes either. You and them will be in the same boat - making new connections, and finding new friends. People join research labs, join new clubs, and find lifelong mentors each year (as someone who joined a research lab their senior year and found an amazing mentor through my research professor, I can attest to this). Professors will be just as excited to hear about your passions, interests, and goals, and the dogs our neighbors walk on the President’s Lawn will be just as excited to greet you.

So, if you were wondering if the cliche was true for transfer students, then I can tell you that, yes: Why Tufts? Definitely, the people.