Tufts students are used to hearing references to Tufts' expansive international community -- The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy's lofty reputation coupled with a 14-percent international undergraduate student body make for a geographically diverse campus. But few people question how Tufts actually came to receive such a reputation, and why such students choose to come to a school thousands of miles away from home.
Jennifer Simons, associate director of admissions and director of international recruitment, explained that the undergraduates considered "international" include non-U.S. citizens who may have attended an American school for all or part of high school, as well as American citizens who have spent most of their schooling abroad. She added that probably about half of the international student statistic -- seven percent of the Tufts population -- are non-U.S. citizens enrolling from a foreign secondary school.
The admissions process for international students is largely the same as for American students. The one significant difference is that, depending on their home country, students may be required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) -- a standardized test.
Many students from other countries decide they want to study in the United States, and Tufts works specifically to target these students and spread the school's name abroad. Simons said that because it may not always be possible for students to visit from abroad prior to coming to Tufts, international admissions officers "try to visit [key] places [within their assigned areas]" in order to find students.
Tufts admissions officers also keep in contact with independent counselors abroad to help find qualified students and work with initiatives like Banaa, a program that brings qualified students from Sudan to American colleges and universities.
Simons herself is responsible for Asia, while there are four other officers responsible for Europe, Canada and the Middle East, Turkey and Central and South America, respectively.
Simons explained that some countries are visited more frequently than others.
"[We] experiment with [less popular places] ... but mostly it's the big countries and the countries where they send a lot of kids to the U.S," she said.
Asia is one of the largest origins of international Tufts students, a fact that Simons attributed to the overarching culture of many Asian countries.
"[It] depends on how many kids choose to leave the country [for college]," she said. "It's very common for Asian students to go to the U.S., the U.K. [or] Canada."
For areas not visited by admissions representatives, Tufts sends literature to high schools, and generally tries to make its presence known through advertising.
Simons admitted that some international students may choose Tufts over other American schools for monetary reasons -- Tufts has a greater supply of financial aid set aside for foreign students than many other schools -- or because of its proximity to Boston, but often it's more about word of mouth and reputation abroad.
"Even more than [in states or regions in the U.S.], word of mouth plays a big part," Simons said. "[A student] doesn't want to be the only one from [his or her] part of the world."
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions makes a concerted effort to increase the contact between current and prospective students online if no in-person contact is available, and offers detailed profiles of several international students and the names of representatives from nearly thirty countries whom prospective students may contact.
First-year museum studies graduate student Yun Min Cho, a Korea native, emphasized the importance of spreading the word about Tufts to friends or friends-of-friends. She applied to Tufts after a co-worker made a recommendation and received word about the quality of the museum studies program from another acquaintance. Cho was set on going to school in the States, but probably would not have come across Tufts had it not been for the recommendations of her peers.
Sophomore George Kolev, who is Bulgarian, underlined the importance of word of mouth. He had initially visited Tufts because it was near another school he had heard of and was visiting -- Harvard.
"No one in Bulgaria really knows ... about [Tufts]," he said. "I didn't really know how good [it was before coming here]." It might be time for the Admissions Office to add Bulgaria to their list of places with which to experiment.
