Tufts Blogs

My time at Tufts has been filled with so many opportunities to learn. In the academic sense, of course. From coding languages to the history of the US healthcare system, I’ve been given a breadth of factual and practical knowledge in the classroom. In terms of my personal development, I’ve had my ideas challenged, and I’ve been able to surround myself by people who will support my desire to understand the difficult ways in which our world tends to unfold itself. I’ve been encouraged to remember that my voice and thoughts are valuable, and I’ve been given a foundation from which to look at the world with a critical yet hopeful eye.

The scope of what one learns on a college campus extends far beyond the four walls of the academic buildings. It is through the collective community, the liveliness, and the intellectual curiosity of our student body that a dynamic atmosphere for learning is created.

Here is a short list of important, and fun things that I learned at Tufts:

• Asking for help is a good thing. Office hours, tutoring, study groups -- they’re all there to help you succeed.
• Read the Tufts Daily everyday! Grab a copy in the CC and take it to class. I’m such a big fan of them and student journalism is so important to support.
• You must use Facebook while in college it is an essential utility. (Go 'like' the Tufts Daily on Facebook)
• The Residential Quad has fantastic sunsets.
• Pay attention to and be active in what people are advocating for on campus. The student activism groups are fighting for important and meaningful causes.
• Yes, you can still sweat beneath your coat in 20-degree weather if you’re running late to class. (Being from California, this thoroughly shocked me)
• If you ask, you can get four pickles at the Kosher Deli instead of just one.
• Imposter syndrome is real. I don’t think I turned in a single paper in my first two years at Tufts without thinking that it wasn’t good enough. I don’t really have any sound advice because I’m still trying to figure this out myself, but knowing how to recognize the different ways that imposter syndrome can manifest has helped me understand why it’s so common.
• The Campus Center is a great place to pull out your laptop and pretend like you’re doing work when really, you can just socialize endlessly. It’s such a popular hangout spot, I loved sitting there in between classes.
• It’s true, in college you really can have soft-serve after every meal.
• Breakfast is better at Carm.
• Dinner is better at Dewick.
• Find communities on campus that make you feel fulfilled and whole. There are so many different groups and clubs to be a part of at Tufts. And it’s okay if you don’t find your niche immediately, it took me an entire year to find my places.
• Wear shower shoes.

I could make an endless list of things I learned at Tufts – from the most serious to the most lighthearted, the ways that I’ve grown to understand myself as a student on campus and as a person equipped to enter the real world are almost wholeheartedly attributed to my time here and the opportunities that this university has afforded me.

My final parting piece of advice is something that, in retrospect, I would tell any high schooler including myself when they’re choosing a school: go somewhere where the people that you’ll be surrounded by make you feel like it’s valued to be kind, that it’s valued to be smart, and that it’s encouraged to fall deeply in love with your passions, interests, and the community around you. This is what Tufts was for me, and for that I am so grateful.