High school seniors around the country move into their college dorms with dreams of new friends, parties and free time. But Jumbos often find themselves with more schoolwork than they could have predicted and much less leisure time than they wished for.
According to the 2005 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Annual Report, only 17 percent of freshmen expect to spend 25 hours per week studying - but that's the amount of time surveyed faculty say is necessary to do well, and that's just on average.
Sophomore Lander Alanis-Cue found himself overwhelmed with work during his first year. "My freshman year was a lot different than I thought it would be," he said. "I had a lot less time than I thought I would; my life was dominated by work."
Of course, the amount of work that baby Jumbos get depends on the classes they take. "I would say that I got more work than I expected during my freshman year, partly because I'm pre-med," junior Steve Poon said. "I took Chem 1 back when [Professor] Chris Morse was still here, and the weekly problem sets were notoriously brutal."
Senior Dzovinar Derderian, an international student, came to Tufts unsure of what she would face. "I don't think I had much of an idea of what to expect, but I don't think I got more work than I thought I would," she said.
But sophomore Katie Fortin thinks that most Tufts students come to the Hill with realistic expectations. "I definitely expected to spend a lot of time studying, but I also knew that college was supposed to be fun," she said.
The NSSE found that 93 percent of first-year students expected to participate in activities outside of the classroom, but once the year began, one-third of students actually spent no time on co-curricular activities.
Tufts students don't seem to fit that profile, though; perhaps the emphasis on civic engagement and community involvement encourages students to take part in campus life. "I use my 'leisure' time towards my activities," Poon said.
While even Jumbos may be involved in fewer overall activities compared to in high school, Poon explained that it's not because they aren't interested. "Everyone who comes to Tufts was involved in things in high school; some [of those] clubs require much less of a time commitment. But, at Tufts, you're actually in charge of your group, because there are no faculty advisors anymore. I do fewer activities than I did in high school, but I'm involved in them more intimately," Poon said.
Fortin explained that her college "free time" is different from her high school free time: instead of watching TV, she's doing work or participating on campus. "I have less time for leisure than I thought I would. I watched a lot of TV in high school, but here I never watch it," she said. "I think it's because, at the time of night when I would usually watch TV, I'm at rugby practice or trying to get work done."
Poon agreed that the definition of "free time" may vary from person to person and from college to college. "I consider doing my co-curricular activities as my leisure time, while someone else might consider their leisure time as sitting on the couch watching TV," he said.
Alanis-Cue's opinion of Tufts has turned around since he became involved on campus. "I'm a lot more satisfied with Tufts this year; a lot of that has to do with getting work done and how much I can accomplish in a day. The Tufts community embraces doing social work and creating social change, and Tufts encourages a balance with classroom work," he said.
