Tufts Blogs

Hi new Jumbos! We are so excited that you will be joining us this fall to start your college career! Here is some advice that should help you be ready for classes in the fall. 

Communication is key. Various offices at Tufts will be contacting you over the summer through both your personal email and Tufts email accounts. Remember to check them! If your personal email is associated with your high school, please remember to change it as soon as you graduate (if not sooner), to another personal email address. Most high school email addresses are deactivated after graduation. You can update your email address by contacting studentservices@tufts.edu or your regional admissions officer. Speaking of your Tufts email, after you confirm your enrollment, you will receive an email in a day or so with next steps now that you are a Jumbo. You can't do anything until you set up your Tufts email and your Tufts SIS account. Tufts SIS is the online portal that everyone uses as a current student. 

After Tufts SIS is set up, you can sign up for housing. Remember that you’re required to live on campus in your freshman and sophomore years. I recommend going over the housing website with all of your first-year options. I lived in Bush Hall when I was a first-year student. I loved it because it was only three floors and my room was on the second floor, overlooking the front door. If I needed to know what the weather was like outside in the morning, I just looked out the window to see what everyone was wearing! Bush recently went through a renovation and is currently one of the nicest dorms on campus. Housing and Residence Life will be in contact with you with your assigned hall and room (kind of like picking a seat on an airplane). This process usually takes place in June.

The next thing that you will need to prioritize is taking your placement exams. Everyone takes them online from their home (that is not new). You will have a language placement exam and you may also have other subject exams, depending on your major. Placement exams are required to help you plan which language classes you’ll be taking at Tufts. Tufts has a foreign language requirement that every student in the School of Arts and Sciences needs to fulfil. 

Speaking of placement exams and transfer of credits, did you take any AP, IB, Dual Enrollment, or college classes while you were in high school? Tufts will need to see those scores or transcripts before they build your schedule. Try to have those transcripts or AP/IB scores sent to Admissions by mid-July. Also, you will need to have your final high school transcript sent to the Admissions office by July 15th. Make sure to tell your high school to send them to Tufts after you graduate.

There will be several other things that you will need to do over the summer, like sending immunization information and health insurance forms, but if you follow these steps, you should be ready for classes in the fall. View the official New Tufts First-Year Student Checklist here.