Dear Future Jumbos,
As we come into the final days of decision-making when it comes to your future college, I want to share with you a couple reasons why I'm so glad I chose Tufts. I was very proud of the Why Tufts I submitted with my Common Application, but reading it back, I realize that at the end of my freshman year, those precious 100 words don't even come close to why I'm so happy here. Thus I present to you my amended version, hoping that it captures my life here a little bit better.
A couple months into school, I was sitting in the common room of my floor, surrounded by new but already close friends. It was “hall snacks”, a weekly event organized at first by our RA, but later by one of the girls on T1 in an effort to not lose this communal feeling. The game of the week was Chubby Bunny, where the winner stuffs more marshmallows into their mouths than any other participant. After the winner was declared and a couple really gross pictures were taken, the situation degenerated. Marshmallows started to be thrown at other people, and soon the common room was a flurry of marshmallows being flung with spoons used as catapults. This continued for 20 minutes until the 30 people who had participated sunk to the floor, exhausted, sticky and excruciatingly happy. Looking around the room at that moment, I realized how lucky I was to be at Tufts with people who enjoyed every second of their time here.
On a different but not completely unrelated note, a couple days ago, nearing the end of my second semester here, I was sitting in my Introduction to Child Development class, waiting for my professor to show up. Although it is one of the classes at Tufts that has more than 40 students, Dr Maryanne Wolf, an incredible neuroscientist with a focus on the domain of dyslexia, knows most everyone by first name. She teaches CD1 because although her level of expertise is way beyond anything we learn in the class, she truly wants us to develop a passion for child development. A couple minutes into lecture block, the auditorium darkened and Dr Wolf, a world class researcher emerged, dressed in saggy jeans, an oversize leather jacket, sideways hat, earbuds and sunglasses. She then proceeded to peel off layers of clothing (symbolizing the many identities of the adolescent) and ended up in a tank top with drawn-on tattoos on her arms. Lecture that day consisted of examining what biological processes are occurring in the teenage brain, and why teenagers are so... weird. I emerged from that auditorium with a sense of wonder. I go to a school where the professors, on top of being world-renown experts, are extraordinarily dedicated to their students. I am getting the world-class education I was hoping for by coming to Tufts, and for that I am forever grateful.
So here I am, a young Jumbo from the Class of 2019. As I sit at my desk, glancing outside at the sunny lawn and my friend lying contently in her hammock, I am able to measure to a certain extent the amazing life I have found here. And so I'll end with the last sentence of my original essay: Why Tufts? Because being anywhere else would break my heart.
Picture: impulsive T1 ice skating outing, Winter 2015