<p>S2 is happy that he has found his sports fans and his intellectual buddies, so he has two groups of pals, depending on his mood. (He’s in the same class as mathmom’s S. Awesome course, tons of work.) </p>
<p>He found it easy to get a job on campus.
He was not happy that intramurals for winter were cut due to the budget.
Some dorms do have wireless.<br>
Lewis Hall was built to be riot-proof, not conducive to college students hanging out.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not true, but there were protests that took place on its construction site in 1969, and it was built at a time when people made odd (or what I would consider odd) architectural choices. [Brutalist</a> architecture.](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture]Brutalist”>Brutalist architecture - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>CountingDown, if you don’t mind me asking, where did your son find a job? I’ve been trying to find a part-time job, but to no avail. It seems that most (except Dining Services) require work-study, and an outside scholarship replaced my work-study designation. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with Dining Services, I’ve just worked at a restaurant for the last two years of high school and am ready for something new.</p>
<p>I went to Tufts when Lewis was brand new. No one called it Lewis; we called it Freefer Hall. At least two meanings there.</p>
<p>My D lived in Lewis (a very unattractive dorm) but managed to meet and become amazing friends with other freshmen who lived there - they had no problem hanging out together in the dorm. My D tends to be on the shy side, and yet she was able to make great friends in a dorm which may be less conducive to hanging out than other dorms.</p>
<p>@JusPhys:</p>
<p>The point isn’t that the “only bad thing about Tufts is the hill”; rather, something that Tufts does a great job of is keeping you happy and busy despite any minor concerns you might have, so the only thing you ever notice is long walks up the hill or problems waiting for mail services. Phirah isn’t wrong that Tufts may be lacking in certain departments compared to other schools, or that there aren’t any paper towels in the bathrooms (as I understand it, it’s done for environmental concerns), but if I was at UNC-Chapel Hill (my final decision came down between the two), I seriously doubt I would have such a diverse community of close friends or engaging opportunities around the Boston area to keep me occupied. Sure, Tufts has faults just like all schools, and most of them have been listed here, but there’s a reason it’s hard to complain about the school.</p>
<p>Yes, I understand all that, but no school is perfect and I’d like to see the flaws in a school before attending. Phirah was the first to mention the wi-fi, unless I missed it previously, and to me that is definitely something to think about. Surely not a deciding factor, but interesting nonetheless.</p>
<p>I understand the desire to see the inevitable imperfections about a school; I was just trying to provide insight as to why it might be hard to find a plethora of complaints about Tufts as compared with other schools.</p>
<p>Regarding wi-fi access, the Granoff Music Center is the only building on campus I know of that doesn’t have wireless internet. I asked a few friends who said that certain areas of certain dorms (the lounge in Miller Hall, for example) have wi-fi problems, but as far as I know, most dorms get wireless internet access on the tuftswireless network. I live in Houston, and have never had an issue.</p>
<p>good to know, thanks!</p>
<p>fwiw, Lewis isn’t “riot-proof” (as has been noted), but Houston and Miller are - doesn’t mean much other than that hallways are windy rather than straight.
also, lack of wifi in most dorms isn’t really an issue. just get a router and/or an ethernet cord</p>
<p>Im a freshman here and is totally not enjoying college life at Tufts. HUGE pretense. I’m an SMFA dual degree student. One of the biggest reason I chose this school is because it “advertised” as if it had great art program with the school of museum of fine arts. Turns out the Museum School is shi***y- the level of classes and the faculty. No instructions whatsoever, at least not for a class that costs thousands of dollars. Reslife is horrible with dormitory assignments, and there are some horrible deans and faculties. My dean gave me no idea whatsoever in choosing class-- mind me, she knows that I grew up from group home with no family and no significant people who went to college to guide me to choose classes-- . Without knowing what I wanted to do, I signed up for Japanese, Music Theory, Chinese Calligraphy, English, and Realist Painting. Later, when I figured out that I was unlucky to either be in horrible teacher’s classes or that I have not signed up for intensive class and dropped 3 of those that I’ve listed, it was one day after the last day to sign up for courses. So I only had Chinese Calligraphy and Realist Painting which were the worst classes I’ve ever taken. The financial aid office WONT return my money because the school does not offer part-time and therefore even if someone takes 0.5 credit(elective course) they have to pay 50,000 -_- I am very unhappy with this school and in fact meeting with the President with this matter</p>
<p>Braker Hall (an academic building) also does not have wireless. </p>
<p>My least favorite thing about Tufts is probably the mediocre party scene and the hook-up culture, but the latter is going to be at just about any college today.</p>
<p>Will have to ask S2 where he heard about the riot proof story!
He is working in one of the dining halls – not a glamorous job, but it does help him keep his eyes focused on landing a better job in the future, and it provides his book/spending $$…</p>
<p>The housing stuff S got recommended bringing an ethernet cable. S2 says it’s not a big deal, and sometimes they can pick up the wireless from the dorm across from his. It has not been a big issue at all. His older brother at another school has the same scenario and manages to survive quite nicely.</p>
<p>The biology department is a wreck, even with some brilliant research profs. We have an intern right now from Tufts, and she and I both agree that the whole department needs to be revamped.</p>
<p>And the majority of landlords are pretty lousy, and some are so-so. Everyone I knew, myself included, had bad landlords. A lot of our problems could have been solved if we had known our rights as tenants in the state of MA!</p>
<p>The wireless situation isn’t awful, just a bit annoying. I’m the sort of person who likes to be able to use her laptop anywhere, so that really limited me.</p>
<p>All things said, I liked Tufts, and I was happy there. It’s a great school, it’s just not flawless by any standards.</p>
<p>
Could you elaborate? Tufts is my second/third choice for school and I will probably major in Molecular/Microbiology.</p>
<p>I’m with jasonleb1: micro/molecular hopeful. What’s the problem with the bio department?</p>
<p>Yeah . . . I’m with samslam and jasonleb1. What’s the problem?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the problem is, perhaps it’s organizational. From the courses I’ve taken and from what I’ve heard, Tufts has a great science program. They’re known for having rigorous science courses (bio and chem in particular). They don’t even accept a Harvard biochem credit anymore because Harvard’s class is too easy.</p>
<p>Pirah, what about the biology program do you think is lacking? As a potential bio major, I’m curious. Especially because I’ve mostly heard only positive things about it.</p>
<p>A lot of people might be turned off by the introductory biology sequence (Bio 13 and 14). Even though it has been taught for so long, my friends’ opinions were that it was disorganized, some of the professors were hit and miss or absolutely terrible (three professors per semester), it tested you poorly (four 20 question multiple choice tests), and the labs were horribly designed.</p>
<p>Haven’t taken it myself, so can’t say for sure.</p>