Tufts Blogs

This summer, working as an undergraduate admissions intern, I’ve had the opportunity to take prospective students and families on countless tours across Tufts University. While each tour is unique, talking with students about their college search has given me plenty of time to reflect on my own experience.

Four years ago, as a junior in high school, I felt very unsure about where I would be in the next couple of years. I knew I wanted to go to college, but I didn’t know how to find the right place for me. So, my mom and I devised a plan. We bought a book on the top 300 colleges and universities in the US and flipped to the back, where each school was listed by state. Growing up in a small town in New York, I knew I wanted a college far enough from home to feel a sense of independence but close enough to drive home for breaks. So, I narrowed the list down to schools in New England. I also knew I wanted to study biology and had a passion for marine sciences and conservation, so I focused on schools with those programs. After picking my region, I narrowed my search even further based on the size of the school. Coming from a small high school, I knew I wanted a college in the medium size range, not small enough to know every person and not so big that the school felt like its own town. This left me with a list of a couple of dozen colleges and universities, much more manageable than 300. 

Outside of where I wanted to be and what I was generally interested in studying, the next important factor was the school's campus culture. So, I spent the next few days looking over each school’s online presence (websites, newsletters, instagram pages, and student vlog accounts) to get a better understanding of the values of each school and what my day to day life might look like there. Crossing off the schools that didn’t match what I was looking for—a liberal arts school with research programs—I had a list of just over 10 colleges and universities. Over the course of my junior and senior years of high school, I attended as many campus tours (in person and virtual) as possible, trying to better understand what my life might look like at each one. 

By the spring of my junior year, I had visited several campuses and wasn’t sure what to expect when I scheduled my tour for Tufts. I hadn’t felt “the spark” for any school, but during my campus tour, something clicked. I fell for Tufts' open-minded, creative, and collaborative environment. My excitement grew, and I found myself taking pictures, asking questions, and scouring the lists of majors/minors, clubs, and study abroad programs available. Now, four years later, that feeling has not only stayed but grown. Each year, as I discover more about myself and my studies, I feel more and more grateful for all the time I spent poring over that list.