I made it back to Boston on Wednesday morning, sandwiched between snowy days on the New England side and after the Christmas snowfall we had in Chicago. My flight was only delayed 30 mins! Woohoo. We ended up getting some snow on New Years and last night, just enough to postpone my walk to get groceries at Shaws by a day.
It was right around this time 4 years ago that I heard back from Tufts after over-nighting my early decision application on November 14th. So today I decided to dive deep into the depths of my documents folder and pull out a little gem from my undergrad application. Although a few of my responses seem a little silly/naive to me now, this one turned out to be a surprisingly accurate reflection of my Tufts experience. I believe the prompt now is simply “Why Tufts?” but when I applied it was a tiny bit longer:
“Education does not accomplish anything if it does not stretch your mind, if it does not force you to think about things in different ways, if it does not challenge you to examine some of your assumptions,” writes Provost Jamshed Bharucha in Tufts’ admissions viewbook. Describe the aspects of Tufts’ curriculum or undergraduate program that prompt your application to the University’s Class of 2010. (200 words or less)
My response (entirely unedited, I promise!):
Throughout my experience in high school and even in elementary school, I have noticed that a significant amount people tend to label themselves as “English people” or “math and science people.” When students ask me what category I fit into or when they are branding other students as type A or type B, I cannot help but ask, “Can’t I be a little of each? Why would I want one without the other?” The academic curriculum at Tufts allows me to get the best of both worlds through a strong college of liberal arts and an equally impressive school of engineering. By participating in both colleges, Tufts will hopefully teach me to question why these subjects were ever separated in the first place. Another facet of Tufts’ curriculum that has prompted me to apply is the philosophy that knowledge should be continuous and interlinked wherever it takes us in life. Whether I continue my education in another cultural setting through studying abroad or expand my options in an internship for a major company or organization, Tufts’ curriculum will make my own determination the only limiting factor on my college education.
