Tips For A Homier Room
I’m by no means a décor professional, but having gone from dorm room to dorm room for most of my life (+ several moves post-college), I’d like to…
“Assuming every animal was a ridable size (about as big as a horse) what animal would you ride into battle and why?”
Okay stick with me here, I promise I’m going somewhere with this.
Getting to know people is really important, and I think I just found my favorite way to do it. A few weeks ago, I posted the question above on the Tufts class of 2021 Facebook group chat. I’ll admit, it was a completely out-of-the-blue question and I asked it because… well, why not. Yet, I was surprised at how much thought some people put into their comments- considering speed, reliability, strength, and other traits. But what I realized is that questions like these carry real value outside of entertainment. Plopping your newfound friends at the crossroads between open choices and seeing which path they take gives you a glimpse of what kind of person they are. The usual question we ask more often than not prompt the usual responses. Regardless of how esoteric your weird quesion is, the opportunity it gives us to discover things about each other that don't often come up should be celebrated. Do they value a tardigrade for protection? An ant for strength? Or a fish for a challenge?
Quick disclaimer here: regarless of how the question provides us a unique perspective, that perspective is likely to be a seriously one-dimensional view and there is DEFINITELY more to a person (or a school) than wanting to ride a corgi into battle, but hey, it still makes for an interesting conversation. What more, these questions can be really useful in college tours.
I remember when I did my round of tours, and that inescapable feeling that my questions were getting way too repetitive. It was always about campus life, food, what extracurriculars they would take, and stuff like “if you could use three words to describe the people at your school, what would they be?” These are fine things to ask, but I can’t help but think that these questions could be more interesting. At least ask about what their favorite pizza topping is or something. In my opinion, there's no better way to understand the schools you're looking at than to ask questions and engage in conversation, and fun and interesting questions lead to the best conversations.
So here’s my challenge to the high schoolers reading this: Next time before a college tour, come up with an interesting question to ask the tour guide and pop it into your arsenal. Talk to your friends if you need inspiration! Speaking from personal experience, I've had some pretty amazing conversations about the practicality of horse-sized hamster mounts.
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