Tufts Blogs

Now that I've started my senior year, I've found myself looking back on my four years at Tufts: what I've learned, what surprised me, and what I'll carry with me after graduation. More than anything, I've been thinking about a simple question: what is the real value of a Tufts education? 

When I arrived as a freshman, I honestly didn't know what to expect. I knew I'd be challenged academically. I expected a rigorous, transformative learning experience, and that's exactly what I got, just not in the ways I imagined. 

A liberal arts education that actually prepares you 

What truly sets Tufts apart is its commitment to the liberal arts. In the School of Arts and Sciences, every student completes two sets of requirements on top of their major. Foundation requirements build core skills like writing and language early on. Distribution requirements make sure you take courses across the humanities, arts, social sciences, natural sciences, and mathematical sciences. 

The system also rewards planning. Some of the Chinese culture courses I took for my major also counted toward my humanities requirement. One of my favorites was Chinese Science Fiction, taught by my advisor, Professor Zhong. It let me go deeper into the subject I loved while still making progress on my degree. Figuring out how to make my schedule work for me was its own small lesson in strategy, and it freed up room to try subjects I never would have picked on my own. 

That's where the distribution requirements really paid off. I took Introduction to Sociology (SOC 0001) with Professor Dzitko to fulfill a social sciences requirement. It had nothing to do with my major, but I've always had a personal interest in understanding why people behave the way they do, and it ended up being one of my favorite classes. We studied how institutions like family, education, religion, and the economy shape our daily lives, and how race and gender change the way people experience each of them. Seeing how all of these factors combine to shape a person's outlook changed how I understand the people around me, and myself. 

For my math requirement, I took The Mathematics of Social Choice (MATH 0019) with Professor Garant, which looks at how groups make decisions together. We studied different voting systems, like plurality, the Borda count, and runoff elections, and saw how each one can produce a different winner from the same set of ballots. We also covered the Condorcet criterion and strategic voting, where voters misrepresent their

true preferences to get a better outcome. I never expected a math class to change how I think about elections, but it showed me that the rules of a decision can matter as much as the choices themselves. 

Without these requirements, I might never have stepped into either classroom. At first they can feel like boxes to check, but looking back, I see them as the foundation of everything else. They pushed me to explore new subject areas, and they give students the skills to succeed in any job, not just the one their major points toward. 

What those classes taught me 

The most important thing I learned is how to think critically. Across disciplines, I was pushed to build arguments, form a thesis, and then defend it, or take it apart when the evidence pointed the other way. That skill doesn't belong to any one subject. It shows up in every class, every meeting, and every decision. 

Some of my most memorable experiences came from outside my comfort zone. In some of my Chinese classes, no English was spoken at all. Every discussion, question, and mistake happened in a language I was still learning, which taught me as much about patience and confidence as it did about grammar. 

Another standout class was Entrepreneurial Business Law, taught by Professor Volman, which featured guest speakers from venture capital, private equity, and investment banking each week. The course explored the legal issues businesses face from the day they're formed and throughout their life cycle. Hearing directly from people doing that work gave the material a real-world weight no textbook could. 

Looking back 

As I think about my time at Tufts, I can confidently say that some of my most valuable classes had nothing to do with my major. They challenged me, pushed me to think in ways that were uncomfortable, and made me a more adaptable, more thoughtful person. 

These skills aren't abstract. They're practical, and they travel. It's why I can major in Chinese Language and Culture and still head into a career in finance after graduation. Holding a full discussion in Mandarin taught me to stay composed when I'm out of my depth. Building and defending a thesis across my humanities classes taught me to make a case under pressure. Hearing from venture capitalists, private equity investors, and investment bankers in class showed me how those skills show up on the job. My major and my career path might look unrelated on paper, but the way Tufts taught me to think is what connects them.

That's the Tufts value-add. It isn't just a degree. It's the ability to walk into any room, take on any problem, and hit the ground running.