What Office Hours are like
Welcome fellow Jumbo! You are probably wondering what it feels like to go for office hours in Tufts. After all, office hours didn’t really exist…
I just got back from Jumbo Day on April 14th! For those who are unable to attend or want a sneak peak on what it’s like, feel free to read about my experience. I didn’t stay at the overnight, so I can’t write about that, but hopefully this is helpful for anyone or just entertaining if that’s the case.
First, my parents and I approached the gym where staff and students filled with smiles and friendly hellos showed us where to go as we followed the crowd. Leading to an open space, I registered and got my name tag. On my name tag it had my name, town (Irvington, NY), and that I was in the schools of both Arts & Sciences and SMFA. Then, I was given a little elephant sticker to differentiate myself as an ED student. I was also given a folder filled with the day’s activities. After that, I walked over to another table where they gave me a free T-shirt! I may or may not have squealed of happiness when the volunteers gave this to me, because I love free stuff.
I then continued my course to the gym where I grabbed a plain bagel with cream cheese- if ya know me you know I love a good bagel- and orange juice then made my way to a seat. My parents and I arrived pretty early, so we were able to grab seats towards the front, but the entire gym filled up in no time. I can’t recite any of the speeches given, but they were all very sweet and congratulated all of us for our acceptances.
Next on the agenda, parents stayed in the gym while the students chose a class to sit in on. I chose a class called The Human Rainbow, which was taught by Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Zarin Machanda. Following a Tufts student to the building, we made it to the classroom and my class sat down. Machanda spoke about her research and studies on a group of Chimpanzees in Uganda to introduce herself. Then she lectured about how the human rainbow came to be. She was incredibly captivating and ended off the lesson by sharing that if children were taught about skin tone variations in the way she taught us, and not by differentiation in race (since race is a social construct), then maybe our world would be different.
After the first class, I went across the building to Braker Hall and sat in on another class called, End of the World, Plan B where Professor of Japanese and Co-director of International Literary and Visual Studies, Charles Inouye, spoke about his theory behind the end of the world. Every sentence that left his mouth was so wise I just sat there in the front row taking it all in and being mentally shaken. He shared his belief that too much justice will ruin the world. It had me thinking about how justice is very opinionated; who gets to decide what is right and what is wrong? I recently read Joan Didion’s essay, On Morality, where Didion digresses about morality and how it’s a ridiculous concept, because it is so opinionated. Why is it okay that certain religions can justify wrong doings and where are all individuals getting our moral code from?. This essay and Professor Inouye’s lecture are easily connected through this imbalance of right and wrong. I won't digress, because I feel like I'm already not making any sense. After being mind blown, my parents and I met up for a dorm room tour and lunch.
There’s not much to say about the dorm room tour and lunchtime experience. Don’t get me wrong, it was great, but I don’t really know what to expand on. It was very crowded but I managed to make myself a salad and grab a few cookies. Wow, side note about the salad- I was eating the salad right? I put olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette as my dressing so when I was trying to fit a piece of spinach in my mouth the stem'ish area of the leaf flicked up and vinaigrette splashed all over my face and got in my eye. I was crying because it stung a lot, 0/10 wouldn't recommend being an aggressive salad eater like me. Anyways, the free time was nice other than the vinaigrette situation.
After being energized I went back to the gym to attend a students only student panel where we were able to ask a group of Tufts students about their experiences. Also just to mention, I talked to a bunch of accepted students who were there too, and everyone is super friendly! Back to the student panel, the Tufts students gave tips for transitioning; telling us not to be shy, find different spaces to study besides the library, and to say hi to everyone. All of the current students expressed their love for the school, but also shared one thing that they disliked about Tufts. This question was important, because it showed that the campus isn’t perfect; there’s always room for change. One student spoke about how sometimes it’s hard to pursue hobbies that you’re not amazing at, because everyone at Tufts is so talented in their own way. Other students talked about the dining hall hours on certain days and how they are not always ideal. Something that I took away from students outside of the student panel and the things they dislike about the campus was the greek life. By the graffitied canon, students wrote “abolish greek life” on the sidewalk. In addition, there was a protest going on outside the library for the mistreatment of the custodians at Tufts. This all demonstrated to me that Tufts is a politically active campus always looking for positive change, which to me is a great thing.
Leaving the gym, we all walked towards the quad where different clubs held tables. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay for long since my extended family was waiting at our home for our return, so my parents and I left. All in all, my Jumbo day experience was a great one and my favorite part was attending the classes. I’m very excited for orientation and to meet everyone!
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