Tufts Blogs

Dear Reader, 

Upon entering as a first-year at Tufts, you’ll have the option of participating in what is called a pre-orientation program, or a program where students move in earlier before the larger class-wide orientation and get to partake in activities tied to a specific theme or interest. The University has a great selection of different pre-orientation programs varying on interests to choose from, which can, at times, feel slightly stressful to select the best fit for you. In this post, I’ll be talking about my process of selecting a pre-orientation program as well as my experiences with both pre-o and orientation week. 

Originally, when asked to rank my top three programs in order to be placed in one, I selected Fitness and Individual Development at Tufts also known as the FIT program, which offered students the opportunity to go kayaking, bowling, rock climbing, visit a trampoline park, do a campus-wide scavenger hunt, as well as a cruise in the Boston Harbor to end the program. As someone who was really nervous about making new friends and finding a strong friend group, FIT sounded like a really great way to get active while also meeting many new people in really fun circumstances. Besides from FIT, I was also really interested in FOCUS, which is a pre-orientation centered around doing varying types of service. I ranked FOCUS as my next option, seeing as it was also really interesting to me and seemed like a great opportunity to start my Tufts journey with. (On another note, a full list of all the pre-orientation programs and resources, with detailed descriptions, can be found here.) 

I ended up being selected for my first choice, FIT, and had a blast throughout the entire week. Being able to move in early was great, and I got to start meeting new Tufts friends right off the bat, whether in my assigned FIT group or in my residence hall. I remember most enjoying either going to the trampoline park or going on the FIT cruise with all the friends I had made in the program over the span of that one week. I also loved how our FIT group always had breakfast, lunch, and dinner together to allow us to create close bonds and get to know each other better. In fact, my FIT group still even makes the effort to have dinner together every now and then throughout the year allowing us to keep our friendship going strong. FIT also enabled me to gain a deeper understanding of the vibrant and lively student community here at Tufts. 

After FIT ended, it was time for regular orientation to begin and the entire first-year class to move in. Orientation offered many great activities and events for our class, while simultaneously being a time to meet even more new friends on campus. During orientation, Res Quad, one of Tufts’ large green spaces, was a hugely popular spot for first-years to hang out and play a game of spike-ball. I also remember the first night of every first-year being on campus, there was a free ice-cream truck parked right off of Academic Quad, which offered for an ice-cream social to end off the first night orientation. While orientation did not split first-years into assigned groups, which will be changing for the Fall of 2026, the programming still offered events like Bridging the Herd, which was another way to meet new people and talk a bit about yourself through some fun ice-breakers. 

Overall, pre-orientation and orientation are such great ways to get accustomed to Tufts’ campus and student life, while also starting to find your people here on campus. Both programs offer so many great events with which you’ll be able to find people who share similar interests to you as well as have an excellent start to your time here at Tufts.