Tufts University Top Questions

Tufts has a good social life if you manage to get off campus.

Student Activities, Student Senate, Greek Life, Sports, etc.. There are almost no excuses for anyone to be bored at Tufts. If you want to get involved and stay busy: THEN YOU CAN!! We'll have frequent Speakers ( My Sophomore Year Hilary Clinton came to speak), Comedians, Performers( Common, TI, Lupe Fiasco, Busta Rhymes, Method Man, Beenie Man, Drop Kick Murphy's , etc...) There's always our traditions such as Homecoming , Fall Ball, Winter Bash and of course Spring Fling where the whole school is partying and yes the ever infamous NQR!( Naked Quad Run on the last night of Fall semester Classes). Yes we're an amazing intellectual school and work really hard most of the time, but we do have the chance to breathe and hang out! What I loved most were how the Cultural organizations always taught us so much and even at times through social realms. The Culture Shows were best and we can't forget the After Parties at Hotung and Dewick! But remember that you are only a car ride, short walk, bus or T-stop away to what ever else you may want to get into in Cambridge( Harvard, MIT, Lesley) and Boston( Northeastern, Suffolk, BU, BC, Emerson, Simmons, Wheelock, Fisher, Art Institute, etc. clubs, museums, common park, Garden, Fenway etc!!! )

There is a lot to do in the Tufts area / in Boston so having a good time is never a problem. Generally on the weekends, which start on Thursday night, people go out and party. We do drink a lot which is horrible for our kidneys but awesome for everything else. You can go to a local bar or to a frat and just live the dream. I have some friends that don't drink but they still come out to the parties and play drinking games with water or soda or get me to drink their beers for them. We have something like 8 frats and 3 sororites and 1 co-ed fraternity. Sororites cannot have parties but frats certainly can. The co-ed frat is actually just a frat but has girls that live in the house and are members. Its a dump so no one cares if you throw beer on someone, or on the floor, or piss in a corner. The food is really good too. There are plenty of places where you can order from late at night. I actually like the dining hall food which is suppose to be some of the best in the country. Its nice because the dining halls are open straight from like 7:30 am to 9:00 pm or something like that. Most schools have dead blocks where the dining hall isn't open like at 3:00 in the afternoon which is just stupid. Oh yeah. And when people party, people hook up. Problem solved right? Although yes there arn't that many hot girls and from what my girl friends tell me not that many hot guys but there are still some smoke shows and everyone is actually really cool. Ive never had a problem.

I'm not sure how it happens --and this isn't necessarily unique to Tufts --but you really become the closest with the people you live near freshman year. Especially if you live in one of the freshman dorms. Freshman year when people go out they usually go out to frat parties (beware boys --one of my male friends put it to me as "I had to bring a harem with me to get in"). After a few months or the whole year of this you realize that frat parties are gross, and you make friends with upperclassmen, and then you start going to house parties. The frat scene isn't really big either, I don't mean to give that impression. But they are a great supplier of dark, dirty rooms for dancing and hooking up your freshman year. Once you and all your friends turn 21 you start going to bars too-- going out in Boston can be expensive since you have to take a cab back if you come back late, and drinks are more expensive, so it pretty much depends on how much you and your friends are willing to spend going out how frequently you go out in the city. Davis has several bars with their own unique draws (or drawbacks) that are really popular. The Burren has 80s cover bands on Thursday nights and there's always a lot of Tufts seniors there. Trivia nights at bars in Davis are pretty popular too. There's certainly a range of going out --often it depends on how much is going on that weekend, sometimes there are lull nights. Thursday and Saturday are the big going out nights but there's usually things going on Fridays as well. There are the people that go out three nights a weekend and some that go out one night a weekend and sometimes none, it totally depends on your preferences and regardless you will find people interested in doing the same. The biggest Tufts tradition is the Naked Quad Run (NQR). After classes end in the winter, a large portion of the student body streaks the quad, running laps with their friends. It's exhilarating. And university-sponsored, basically. There's also the school dances--Fall Ball and Winter Bash, which are pretty well attended and generally a good time. Some people pregame too much and get sloppy though. Second semester there's Spring Fling, an outdoor daytime concert that draws an at least recognizable named artist. Before Spring Fling everyone has a pregaming brunch. There's an endless list of different organizations and clubs on campus. There's a couple worth singling out -- the Leonard Carmichael Society is a huge umbrella organization for different volunteer groups, so it's a great place to get started looking for something service-oriented to get involved in. Another one of the larger groups on campus is the Tufts Dance Collective-- student choreographed dances in shows every semester with no experience needed for dancing. More generally speaking, you name it and it's there. If not, you can start it. People go to watch their friends in sports events, but besides that the attendance for games and such is pretty low. If you are really into university sporting events like big football games, this is probably not the place for you.

There are a bunch of things to do on campus when you're not studying. There are many groups like Tufts Wilderness or Tufts Dance Collective that students participate in that either put on shows or go on trips or do fund raising for various charities. As far as athletics go, there are a ton of sports that students can get involved in, on the varsity and club level, that really make the transition to college much easier. I did club Water Polo in the fall and was on the Swim Team in the winter, and I made a ton of friends from both sports with almost minimal effort (besides practices). While the school doesn't rush to football games quite like Ohio State does, there's still a little bit of school spirit that comes out at the big events (Homecoming, NQR, big playoff games, etc.). The nightlife at Tufts is what you make of it. If you want to go out and get drunk at a frat party, you can. If you don't want to drink, there are still a bunch of things to do on campus that are alcohol-free, and all of the great things in Boston are a couple of minutes away. Greek Life is not a huge deal on campus.

Extracurricular-wise, the 20-80 rule applies pretty well at Tufts. A fraction of students are involved with a ton of clubs and groups. The typical student on campus, though, seems to involve them self in two or three groups and be pretty passionate about them. My roommate is almost exclusively involved in different theatre groups, while I'm running between a half dozen different groups. There is some club or group for everyone. I'm serious, I don't even know how people find time to start new groups! Socially, a lot depends on freshman year. The freshman-only dorms are ridiculously social and loud until 2 AM and people generally form their main group of friends within their dorm neighbors. Mixed year dorms tend to be riskier, as you could be stuck with one of the less-social dorms. People stay good friends with their freshman year groups, but branch out with their extracurricular friends. Frat brothers stick together, sports teams throw parties, theatre kids are stuck at the hip. Generally, the more involved on campus you are, the more social circles you belong to. Tufts is not a big party school. Regardless, underclassmen pack into the frats on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays while upperclassmen hang out in on and off campus apartments with their friends. However, a good party isn't guaranteed on campus every weekend night - something unheard of at big schools. Most Tufts kids lean a little on the nerdy side (if not the closet-nerdy side), so a Saturday night in the dorms isn't too bad once in a while. But we know how to have fun. Most students go out two times a week, but some much more, while others less. My ideal Friday night would be coming back to campus after my internship, maybe going out to eat in Boston with friends, seeing a show on campus, before pregaming and going out to a party. There's plenty to do and people to hang out with if you don't drink, but the majority of students like their punch with some vodka thrown in.

The LCS (service) club is the most popular. I do ECO which is the environmental club run by students. Dorm doors are frequently left open in all-freshmen dorms. I met my closest friends through other friends. Dating is not really common, one either has a steady boyfriend or just hooks up. NQR is a big tradition (naked quad run) in december, right after classes. spring fling and homecoming are the other two big days. Frats and sororities think they're more important than I do. Frats (or what's left of them) throw parties for freshmen to go to. On a sat pm when not drinking, one can go see a movie in davis, go bowling, go get JP licks ice cream, hang out at a friend's house...

If you're awake at 2 a.m. in the morning that means you basically have a 20-30 page paper due in the next day...or you're an insomniac. There's not much to do late at night on a weekday. Everything closes down by one o'clock; weekends there are frat parties, house parties that go on till early morning and just general movie clubs that screen something in Barnum till maybe 11 p.m.

Well Tufts is really big on frat parties. I personally hate frat parties. But if your really big on crowded places and alot of beer then you should have yourself a fun time. Thankfully there are others way to have fun. You can go to another school or go into Boston or even go to Hotung Cafe(which can get boring after a while).

The most popular extracurriculars are probably Tufts Dance Collective- a dance group that puts on a show at the end of each semester that anyone can sign up for--not experience necessary and Leonard Carmichael Society. LCS is a community service club. I've done TDC as both a choreographer and a dancer and it is an amazing club. It really gets everyone together and so many people come out to see the shows. They really are such fun events. I'm also on the Ballroom Dance Team. While I had never danced before college, I had always wanted to try ballroom and so I joined the team. It's been an amazing and fun experience. In dorms, students tend to leave their dorms open when/if they want to be social. It really depends on the inhabitants of each room/their study/sleeping habits. Athletic events besides Homecoming aren't that popular. Guest speakers and theater events usually get pretty large turn outs. The dating scene at Tufts seems to be tough. There seems to be little "dating" and more either dating towards a relationship or just hooking up. After freshman year I feel like it's harder to meet people which doesn't help unless you are very outgoing or talk to people in your classes and extracurriculars. I met my closest friends through living in the dorms. The people you live with tend to be the ones you hang out with unless you meet people through extracurriculars and classes and make plans to see them outside these places. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday I am probably either up late doing work or studying or ordering food with people on a study break or taking a study break to watch tv or hang out. In general though, if it's that early in the week, I am up doing or procrastinating doing work. The most well known traditions and events that happen each year are Naked Quad Run (which everyone should do at least once!), Fall Ball, Homecoming, Winter Bash, and Spring Fling. There are a few more, but those are the major ones. People try to party probably 2-3 times a week in general. Although some people party more and some people party less. Often there is little going on though. Fraternities and Sororities are not that important--there are 3 sororities total I believe and probably just a few more frats. However often there is little going on besides frat parties. There is sadly little to do that doesn't involve drinking. Very few students don't drink, which is sad for people such as myself who really don't drink. It is the main social activity, with most extracurricular bonding sessions involving it. Off campus if you venture into Davis Square, Harvard Square, or Boston there is a lot to do which is nice.