Where did all that time come from?
In college, you will have a lot more time on your hands, and most of it is yours to allocate. How do you make the right decisions about it?
Why Tufts?
Last year around this time I wrote on here about how the people at Tufts made me decide to come here. One year later, I'd still say that the people are why I came to Tufts, but to be honest, every college is going to have amazing people at it. So since I'm one year wiser, I'll give you my pitch for why Tufts could be the place for you and why it is the place for me.
On my Tufts application, I wrote about how a cappella and the music program were why I wanted to come to Tufts. I wrote my Common app essay about my a cappella group in high school. Music made up a large part of my life in high school and I definitely planned to continue that trend at Tufts. And then I tried out for two a cappella groups and didn't even get called back for a second round of auditions. What was supposed to be my main reason for coming to Tufts besides academics fell flat and I didn't want to continue singing for any other Tufts groups after my auditions. After being so involved with extracurriculars like singing and sports in high school, it felt weird to not be doing anything outside of the classroom.
I'll be honest, the first few weeks of school were pretty tough. Adjusting to a new place and not having the familiarity of music and not knowing that many people made it hard to find a routine to follow, but pretty soon I got over my initial disappointment. Without having all my free time tied down with rehearsals and concerts, I had the freedom to focus on my school work and get to know my hall mates better. I could get a good night's sleep almost every night and value my own time since I didn't have obligations to any clubs or organizations. I started to get to know some of my professors on a personal level and devoted a lot of my own time to doing work that wasn't mandatory for my classes. I spent a lot of time with the people in my hall, and those people are now some of my closest friends. And I did join the Tufts Daily, but the level of commitment didn't dominate my schedule and allowed me to decide my own path for how I wanted to spend my time.
So in short, while the things that made me want to come to Tufts ended up not factoring into my first year here, I've had an amazing time so far. At Tufts, you have the space and the room to pursue what you want, and if those interests don't pan out, there will be other options for you to pursue for sure. The jump from what you're like as a high school senior to what you're like as a college first-year is massive, and Tufts is a place that makes the ensuing adjustments that are bound to happen as smooth as possible. So if you have your whole four-year plan in your back-pocket, good for you. But for those of you who aren't quite sure what you want to do, don't worry. Tufts is definitely the place for you.
