The Tufts Admissions Office has been working with students in recent months to create new outreach programs to appeal to different groups of prospective students. All of these programs aim to reach specifically targeted groups of students, and encourage them to apply to and eventually attend Tufts University.
One of these new programs is called “Podcasts from the Practice Room,” which was created by sophomore Keesha Patron.
“I was sitting in the practice rooms of Granoff one afternoon, when I realized that I was experiencing such a diverse crossover of different soundscapes,” Patron said.
She used this experience to form the idea for Podcasts from the Practice Room, a weekly podcast where Patron interviews different students about their time at Tufts and their different modes of involvement with music at Tufts.
These interviews are very informal and are a place where the students can talk about how their music and creativity influence their learning inside and outside the classroom, according to Patron.
“My intention for this project is to give prospective applicants and [first-years] a better look into the diverse identities and unique interests that we have on this campus,” Patron explained.
This program was recently implemented, but Patron is excited to interview more musicians and hear their interesting stories. She has been conducting interviews for the past two weeks, and the first podcast is scheduled to come out next week.
“I really like to carry the podcasts out inside the practice room because that way in the background, you can hear the different instruments taking over the entire space,” she said.
Another effort to reach different prospective students is this semester's creation of specialized engineering facilities tours along with regular tours to appeal to prospective engineers. Engineering tours are offered one to two times a week, and prospective students can sign up for them along with their regular tours, according to junior Daniel Bronshvayg.
“We talk about the curriculum and different clubs that we have specifically for engineers.” Bronshvayg explained.
Specifically designated engineering tours have been taking place for the past three years, according to Bronshvayg, but there have been engineering information sessions for longer than that.
The engineering facility tours, where there is less talk of student life and clubs, are 45-minute tours more focused on the buildings and resources that are available to engineers. This tour includes visits to specific engineering buildings, including Halligan Hall and the Science and Engineering Complex, Broshvayg said. These facility tours can be paired with an engineering information session and tour as well, to give prospective engineers a look into what life as an engineering student is like at Tufts.
Another new program to reach new groups of prospective students is called “Java with a Jumbo,” created this fall by senior Alex Brodeur. Prospective students can sign up for this program to get coffee with a current Tufts student at either Hotung Café or Kindlevan Café. This program is a 45-minute conversation where prospective students are able to ask questions to a current student in an informal setting.
“I just think it gives a much more real perspective of campus,” Brodeur explained. “It is a more casual conversation rather than a formal information session or tour.”
According to Brodeur, most of the students who participate in this program are on their second visit to Tufts and are looking to get a more personal view of the school. Right now, there are about two to three students that participate in this program each week, but Brodeur hopes that he will be able to expand this program in the future.
New admissions programs give prospective students personal view of Tufts
