I Need Caffeine Just Thinking About My Weekend.

After spending a week at home (i.e., lounging on a sofa and watching cheesy Lifetime Movies for six days on end), I returned to campus to find an avalanche of work and a plethora of extracurricular events. As the semester winds down, student groups rush to schedule their performances and meetings before finals, creating an on-campus atmosphere that is simultaneously hectic yet exciting.

For example, I'm attending a Senior Leadership Committee meeting in the Campus Center tonight. This group is an offshoot of the Senior Class Council which is composed of elected students who work with the Programming Board to plan social events year-round. We'll be discussing tomorrow's November Senior Pub Night, to be held at Hurricane O'Reilly's for the 21+ crowd.

Tomorrow, I'll be at Bendetson, helping to finalize the group of new tour guides by gauging their "mock tour" skills. I have a three hour-long Senior Honors Thesis class and then I'll board a bus for Pub Night. On Friday morning, I'll accompany Matt, one of the other interns, and two other seniors as we drive to a high school and interview applicants on behalf of Undergraduate Admissions. This is part of the Tufts Student Ambassador Program, a pilot initiative. (We'll try not to be too intimidating!)Since I'll be grilling twelfth graders all day, I won't be able to make Friday's inaugural meeting for the Committee on the First Year Experience. Bruce Reitman, the Dean of Student Affairs, and James Ryan, the Coordinator for Programs and Special Projects, will be meeting with a group of students to discuss how the university can improve Freshman Orientation and first year resources. I think it's great that Tufts administrators make an effort to include students in their decisions. We actually have a say in how the university should be run!

Luckily, it's not as though my life consists of meetings. This weekend, I'll be going to "Major: Undecided Refutes Evolution," a sketch comedy show, and the Spirit of Color dance show. Sadly, I won't be able to make it to Torn Ticket II's performance of "Cabaret" or the Tufts Spirit Coalition's Mr. Jumbo Competition. Such are the constraints of a 24-hour day.

College is great because it's all about the things you do in your spare time. Sure, you go to class for about 15 hours a week, but there are endless opportunities to explore beyond the classroom. When pressed to name something she would change about Tufts, Amy tells parents, "There aren't enough hours in the day!" Still, I'd much rather have too many things to do/see/attend than too little. Now about that homework...

Spotlight on Famous Jumbos...and Stephen

Pictured at left is my housemate, Stephen, who just received a letter of acceptance from a law school! It's the first school that has contacted him thus far, and now he's eagerly awaiting more admissions decisions. After studying International Relations and Spanish at Tufts, he plans to focus on transnational corporate law in Latin America.

But before Stephen drafts litigation in Lima, we've devoted our Tuesday night to television. (DVR is a glorious, glorious thing. I can't believe I survived three years of college before obtaining the ability to record Martha Stewart every weekday.) Tonight, we've watched two episodes of "Nip/Tuck." One of the guest stars this season is Oliver Platt--also a proud Tufts alum!

Some other famous Tufts alums who have made their mark in the entertainment industry:

- Meredith Vieira (the current co-host of "The Today Show")
- Peter Gallagher (Sandy on "The O.C." and recipient of Tufts' Light on the Hill Alum Award last year)
- Hank Azaria (perhaps best known as a voice actor on "The Simpsons")
- William Hurt (recipient of the Oscar for Best Actor for "Kiss of the Spider Woman" in 1985)
- Neal Shapiro (former President of NBC News; he recently taught an ExCollege course at Tufts)
- Ben Silverman (Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio)
- Rob Burnett (the Executive Producer of "Late Night with David Letterman")
- Brian Koppelman (screenwriter whose credits include "Rounders" and "Ocean's Thirteen")
- Tracy Chapman (multi-Grammy Award-winning artist)

Also, actors Jessica Biel and Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute on "The Office") both attended Tufts for several semesters.

My favorite fictional Tufts alum? Elaine Benes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character on "Seinfeld." My favorite soon-to-be Tufts alum? My housemate, Stephen Blaker. I predict he'll be a bigger celebrity than any of them.

The Gong Show

You may be well aware that Tufts has 7 a cappella groups, a Symphony Orchestra, a Pep Band, a Gospel Choir, and the like. However, you may not be as familiar with our Javanese Gamelan Ensemble. The gamelan is a musical ensemble consisting primarily of gongs and metallophones. They are found throughout much of Southeast Asia and the Indonesian archipelago. A Javanese gamelan consists of two tuning systems, 5-tone slendro and 7-tone pelog, and several individuals rotate from one instrument to the next to play each composition.

So for years, I've been telling visitors on my tours about our Javanese Gamelan Ensemble, although I had never seen it myself or even knew what it was exactly. I somehow thought it was a giant drum; clearly, I was wrong. My friend Emily, with whom I lived last spring, is majoring in Psychology and Economics, but she needed to fulfill an Arts distribution requirement before graduation. She signed up for the Gamelan Music class and likes it so much that she is contemplating taking it again in the spring!

Thus, I found myself with 6 friends at the Boston Village Gamelan and Tufts University Gamelan Ensemble Concert on Saturday night. We applauded as Emily pounded on the various gongs and xylophones. It was such an incredible spectacle--the bamboo, brass, and bronze gamelan filled the entire stage and musicians kneeled on cushions while they played. Tufts' gamelan was built by the most renowned living gongsmith in Java, Tentrem Sarwanto, and it took him 9 years to complete it. (Unfortunately, my digital camera is broken, so I don't have photos of the actual gamelan--just images I borrowed from Google of other gamelans!)

The performance was held in the Distler Performance Hall, which has been dubbed the "best small recital hall in the Boston area." Distler seats 300 people and is located inside the Granoff Music Center, a $27 million building that opened this past January. The Tufts Department of Music has a very strong ethnomusicology program. In addition to the Javanese gamelan, we have a Kiniwe West African drum and dance ensemble!

Sarabande Supershow

I woke up this morning at 6:15 and accompanied Amy and Dan Grayson (an Admissions Counselor who graduated from Tufts in 2006) on visits to three schools in the Boston suburbs. When we returned to campus nine hours later, Amy immediately set to work interviewing undergraduate tour guide applicants and I went home to collapse on a sofa. She has much more energy than me.

There are a lot of energetic individual on campus, but I'd like to dedicate this entry to hardworking dancers. Tufts students with terpsichorean talents are in abundance. I studied dance for 12 years and was burnt out by the time I reached 9th grade. My close friend Kat, on the other hand, majors in Art History at Tufts, works at the Museum of Fine Arts, and spends 17 hours a week at dance rehearsals--let alone the time she spends choreographing routines for others!Tonight, I went to the Sarabande Supershow to support some of my dancer friends (Maggie, Steph, Kat, Laura, Marissa, Cassie, and Rachel--you were all fantastic!) Sarabande is a repertory dance ensemble that features a variety of dance styles--ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, tap, etc.--and the members choregraph all of their own work.

Sarabande stages a major recital each semester and invites other Tufts performance groups to showcase as well. This year, the following groups performed: Tufts University Bhangra Team; Spirit of Color Performing Arts Troupe; Tae Kwon Do; a Pen, Paint, and Pretzels dramatic soloist; TURBO Breakdancing; Major: Undecided Sketch Comedy; and TDC, the Tufts Dance Collective. Static Noyze, a Boston-based hip hop troupe founded by five male Tufts alums (and former Spirit of Color members), performed their unique mix of innovative and stimulating theatrical dance. Their spectacle tonight was based on Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" and set to tunes by Bright Eyes, Timbaland, Nine Inch Nails, BT, and Justice.

Before they came to Tufts, many of the Sarabande members studied with premier programs like the Boston Ballet School, the Joffrey Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Ballet Academy of Baltimore, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, to name a few. Prior to college, my friend Marissa (pictured at right) was on the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics National and World Championship teams. She even trained at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY for a year! Today, in addition to being the President of Sarabande, she's double majoring in Child Development and Spanish and is one of the Head Writing Fellows at the Academic Resource Center.

That's one of the things I love most about Tufts: there are so many talented individuals from diverse backgrounds. Tufts students are involved in a plethora of extracurricular activities and find creative outlets for their many interests. You're always finding out something new about someone else!

You can read more about Sarabande here:
http://ase.tufts.edu/sarabande

Food, Glorious Food

So it's 1:15 AM and I've been Googling "corn pudding" for the last 10 minutes instead of writing a literature review for my thesis. I'm a master procrastinator, and I generally do my best work only if there's a deadline within a looming 24 hour span. Hence, looking up my favorite fat-laden Southern recipes instead of being studious. I am so excited for Thanksgiving! I will eat, eat, eat.

I joke to visitors that Tufts is the one school in the country where you will not gain the "Freshman 15" by fall break--because of our infamous hill. It's kind of like going to school on a giant treadmill. I've made it to the gym once this semester; walking around campus is a boot camp in itself. (Don't worry, walking around isn't that cumbersome. I'm just not very athletic. I also failed Pee Wee Tennis when I was 4 years old.)

But it's great that we're constantly being aerobically challenged, because the food on- and off-campus is amazing. Our dining halls are ranked among the best in the nation. At Carmichael, our uphill dining hall, we have professional chefs who come in Monday through Friday to prepare individual meals according to daily themes. Tuesday Stir Fry Night is legendary. You go down the salad bar, pick out your veggies, and then tell a chef, made-to-order, what meats, noodles, sauces, spices, and rices you want sauteed in a pan. Teriyaki sauce, udon noodles, chicken, pineapple, snow peas, broccoli, and sprouts is my standing order.

Because of our affiliation with the nation's only graduate school in nutrition science, we have a variety of healthy and tasty options. Vegans, vegetarians, and individuals with dietetic concerns have a lot of dining hall options. My housemate, Stephen, has Celiac Disease and Dining Services has been really accommodating in ensuring there are enough gluten-free entrees.

I once walked into a dining hall at 9 am on a Tuesday, bleary-eyed, to find The Beach Boys blasting overhead, bikinis, towels, and inflatable pool toys thrown everywhere, and, in the center of the floor, an industrial-grade cotton candy machine. It was Beach Madness Day. Try and tell me this isn't the greatest school.

What Emily Post Never Told You

Although my own college search process went fairly smoothly, no one ever sat me down and said, "Okay, here are the do's and don'ts of how to apply to schools." In retrospect, applying to college is very much akin to applying for a job. You should strive to be professional, succinct, and knowledgable. So here are some of Katie's Tips for Applying to Any School:

1) Create a generic-sounding email account for your college search process.

For the past two summers, I've worked in the phone room of Bendetson Hall, performing a lot of data entry. I'd highly recommend that you create a professional (if bland-sounding) screenname. Use a combination of your first name, last name, initials, and/or birthdate--this also makes it easy for us to keep track of who you are should we need to contact you via email. If you wouldn't feel comfortable telling your email address to your grandparent, then consider creating a separate account solely for collegiate correspondance. We've seen a lot of questionable screennames--anything from sexual innuendoes to alcohol references to the names of other colleges. Keep it PG.

2) Keep those passwords Tufts-friendly.

By the same token, be conscious of your usernames and passwords for Admissions Connection or any university-affiliated websites. When we pull up your profile on our inquiry system, we can see your private information. This is good if you ever forget your password and need to call us to retrieve it. This is bad if, in the case of one student, your password is the name of your top college choices--neither of which is Tufts. Ouch.

3) Do not send out mass emails to colleges.

Every now and then, Bendetson prints out emails from prospective students in which they inadvertently list all of the schools to which they are applying. "Your school is my #1 choice!" the student writes, beneath a CC bearing the names of 25 colleges. You're breaking my heart.

4) Proofread, proofread, proofread.

At every information session I have attended, an admissions officer joked about how a student can hurt his or her essay by referring to the wrong school. "I can't wait to attend Tufts because I've always wanted to go to school in California!" is perhaps not the wisest thing to write. The MS Word Find/Replace function is not always your friend. Similarly, "Tufts" is singular, not plural. Beware your apostrophes--it's "Tufts' application," not "Tuft's application." That little dancing MSWord paperclip will do nothing to alleviate this error.

CollegeWeekLive

Do you want to speak with Tufts admissions officers and current students but don't have the ability to travel to campus?

CollegeWeekLive is a two-day virtual college fair to help prospective students in their college planning by connecting them with colleges in a live, interactive environment.

It will take place on November 13th and 14th from 3:00 EST to 11:00 EST. The event will draw thousands of students from the US and abroad and over 50 major US colleges – including Tufts! Attendance is free.

You can register and learn more here:
Online College Fair - CollegeWeekLive, November 13th - 14th

Wendy's Extreme Challenge

One of my favorite (and more ridiculous) freshman year memories was when my friends Katherine and Jessie decided to do the "Wendy's Extreme Challenge," i.e., attempt to eat everything on the Wendy's Super Value Menu in under an hour. It was an epic ordeal, much akin to "The Odyssey," but with more trans fats and triglycerides. Ten of us traveled with them on the subway to cheer them on in their quest for glory.

Here they are in Davis Square in athletic apparel, gearing up to be "Extreme:"

Everything they were required to eat: four double burgers, two salads, four sides, a dessert, a drink, and a partridge in a pear tree. Katherine, to cashier: "I'll have one of everything on the Value Menu...and a Diet Coke."

I still get queasy every time I look at this photo.

The battlefield before and after the siege. Note the stopwatches.


Jessie wasn't able to cross the finish line, but Katherine ate everything in 56 minutes and 38 seconds. And as for me? I have the commemorative t-shirt: "I Was There When Kat & Jessie Did the Wendy's Extreme Challenge."

The Waiting Game

Tick tock. Tick tock. At this point, if you're a senior, you may have already submitted your Early Decision I application to Tufts. You may be in the midst of culling recommendations from your teachers or preparing your personal essays for the January deadline. You may or may not be at your wit's end.

Everyone says that the senior year of high school is the most fun, but, honestly, as the college search process becomes more and more cutthroat and complex, it's easy to lose sight of this fact.

Like many of you, I went to a high school where kids felt they were vying for the same spots at elite institutions. One admissions officer jokes about so-called "helicopter parents"--the ones who breathe down your neck and unintentionally exacerbate an already stressful atmosphere.

One of the best decisions that I made as a junior was not to tell anyone my SAT scores, GPA, or what schools I was considering/visiting/applying to in the fall. Some people found this odd, but, as I watched my friends judge themselves against one another, it felt good to be somewhat removed from the drama. From April 2003 onward, I knew that Tufts was the school for me--but I didn't make this common knowledge until December of that year, when I was accepted. I spent the rest of my senior year doing extracurriculars and getting to know my fellow seniors--instead of competing against them.

So, relax, breathe, and trust that the decision is out of your hands. Admissions officers are arbiters of applications--not applicants. (Read Jacques Steinberg's "The Gatekeepers;" it's a fascinating look at the admissions process and it reminds you that it's all an imperfect science.) It's not a personal slight if you don't get into a school, and, hey, in the long run, you'll probably wind up at the institution that is right for you. College is pretty fantastic no matter where you go.

Remember, nobody's perfect: I failed my driver's license test twice and still got into Tufts.

My Favorite Autumn

Hello! A couple of weekends ago, I traveled to New Durham, New Hampshire for the Tufts Christian Fellowship fall retreat. Tufts Christian Fellowship is one of the two Christian fellowships on campus and is part of InterVarsity International. I love autumn in New England so I took some pictures to share with you! Enjoy!









Now the leaves are falling and snow may be on the horizon...maybe you guys will get to see some sledding pictures soon!

Matt

A taste of abroad..

I spent my junior year studying abroad in Israel, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Below are a few of the literally hundreds of photos from my incredible year. I hope that these can give you a little taste of what being abroad was like - please feel free to comment or email me with any questions!


Dome of the Rock!

Meeting Prime Minister Olmert (I swear, that's me right in front of him!). I actually worked directly with the Prime Minister's brother, Yossi Olmert, last summer as a Media Fellow at The Israel Project (a fellowship that I found out about through a connection at Tufts!).











Nov. 4, 2006: Memorial on the 11th anniversary
of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. The big sign in the front reads "11 years since the murder".















Snow...in Jerusalem....this happens only every 4 or so years, so it was pretty amazing to be there for it! Of course, the next day we were at the beach in Tel Aviv and it was 70 and sunny.















Cheering on the Israeli national team at the Israel-England World Cup qualifier game.



View of downtown Jerusalem from Hebrew University at Mt. Scopus.















Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) at the Kotel (Western Wall)

Immediately after Memorial Day, Israel transitions from memorializing to celebrating on Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day). A few weeks later, Jerusalem celebrates Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). In a region that is scarred by decades of conflict, I think that these national days play a huge role in helping people comprehend and deal.


One of my seminars took a trip along Israel's borders with Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. This is the Israeli-Syrian border and that compound is the UN Peacekeeping force.

Speaking of borders, a few friends and I decided to head on over to Jordan for a long weekend in December. This is the Arava border crossing, which is down by Eilat (Israel) and Aqaba (Jordan)

We traveled further north in Jordan to Petra -- here we are in front of the monastery, one of the many incredible ruins left over from the time of the Nabataeans (over 2000 years ago!).

A Jordanian sunset.

Of course we rented some camels for part of our trip.

Lastly, this was the view from my bedroom window, overlooking the Old City (the gold dome is the Dome of the Rock)... it was pretty incredible. I lived in student apartments right down the road from campus. While my apartment-mates were all Americans and Canadians, most of the students in the complex were Israeli and I'm still very good friends with many of them!

Again, please feel free to comment or email me (amy.spitalnick@tufts.edu) with any questions or comments!

Nice day for the ducks

Nice day for the ducks
Tufts University ducks
Rainy, 53

We aren't really ducks
We're all proud to be Jumbos
We blog about it

Admissions is Warm
The haiku are flowing forth
The kettle is on

Ellen brings me tea
Even though I made the tea
I mean, it's not hard

Katherine Winter
Is to blame for this blog post
I am innocent

Like weeping willows
Maybe bamboo or something
Well that's what she said

It's almost TELESCOPE time!

This weekend, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will be welcoming several hundred visitors to campus!

TELESCOPE, a progam for prospective students of color, first generation college-bound students, students in low income or rural areas, and other students interested in learning about diversity within the Tufts community, will be hosting pre-registered visitors this Thursday, November 8th and Friday, November 9th.

Fabulous TELESCOPE interns (and current Tufts students) Joel, Mary Jo, Amanda, and Kerline have spent months meticulously planning every detail and ensuring that the prospective students are entertained and enlightened about all things Tufts. You can read the interns' mini biographies here.

If you are interested in participating in future programs or learning more about TELESCOPE, cruise on over here.

NY Times: "Tufts Asks for 250 Words of Wisdom"

Today, The New York Times featured an article about Tufts' new optional essays in its Special Section on Education Life:

Fun Fact: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., the publisher of The New York Times and chairman of The New York Times Company, majored in Political Science and graduated from Tufts in 1974. Every Sunday, free issues of the Times are delivered to the freshman dorms on campus!

What do you think about the new optional essays?

Chat University: Chats for Prospective Students

You are invited to join Tufts Admissions Officers and current students for several online chats:

East Coast Prospective Student Chat
Monday, November 5th from 6 pm to 9 pm EST

MidAtlantic, South, Midwest, Southwest, West Coast, and U.S. Territories Prospective Student Chat
Tuesday, November 6th from 7 pm to 10 pm EST

International Prospective Student Chat
To Be Announced

You can log on to Chat University via the following link: http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=143

Photos from Talloires, France

Last summer, I studied abroad for 6 weeks in the Haute-Savoie region of France as part of the Tufts-in-Talloires program. Tufts alum Donald MacJannet and his wife, Charlotte, purchased an 11th century Benedictine priory and donated it to Tufts in 1979 for use as a European Center. For more information about the program, you can visit this website: http://ase.tufts.edu/frenchalps.

This is "Le Prieure," or the Priory, where we had our classes:

This is the main stretch of road in Talloires--a tiny village situated on Lake Annecy, the most pristine lake in all of Europe. Talloires reminded me of the opening scene in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" where Belle sings about her provincial town.

This is a view of the lake and dock immediately behind the Tufts Priory...I'm hardly an outdoorsy nature person, but it was honestly the most beautiful place I've ever been!

Some views of Lake Annecy from Veyrier-du-Lac, the neighboring village where I lived with my host family:

There was a small beach in Talloires; here, Tufts students are pictured on the floating dock:
\
I also lived for a time in Annecy, the closest city to Talloires. Annecy is called the "Venice of France" because of the canals that run through the Old Town, the historic area downtown:

On our next-to-last night in France, Tufts threw a dinner cruise aboard a boat and I snapped this shot of the sun setting over the lake:

I'll post some more photos from France later. Forty to 50% of Tufts juniors opt to study abroad each year; indeed, we have been named Best University for Study Abroad Programs several years in a row!

Senioritis

Greetings from Medford!

We've enabled the Comment feature, so feel free to provide us with feedback about what you'd like to see on this new blog. We'll also do our best to address any questions you may have about Tufts, from the application process to daily life here on the Hill.

I just came back from a meeting with my English major advisor during which she signed degree checklist sheets, approved my registration for spring classes, and discussed my Senior Honors Thesis. Seniors need to file some paperwork within the next few weeks to verify they have met academic requirements; for me, the scariest "reality check" moment thus far was when I had to type out how I wanted my name to appear on my diploma.

Then I walked to the Tisch Library and ordered my yearbook photos online. Facing the prospect of my last semester in college and the reality that I need to come up with a post-graduation plan is terrifying...I completely empathize with every high school student who is attempting to navigate the college search process!My own college search process was relatively painless. I am fortunated to have a sister who is three academic years older than me, so I tagged along on all of her college visits and watched her negotiate the application process. Since I had toured so many schools with my sister, by the time it came around for me to select schools, I only needed to visit a few. I literally sat down with a copy of the Princeton Review and methodically Sharpie'd out the names of schools that did not interest me until I was left with a list of 17 potential colleges. The more that I read about Tufts University, the more that it interested me, and I had this cliched gut feeling that I would really like it.

So, on a miserable, dreary Saturday in April of my junior year--my dad likes to say that "it was raining and sleeting sideways"--I visited Tufts. (Irony of ironies: Amy, another Senior Admissions Intern, was on the same tour!) "If you think that you like Tufts when the weather is this bad, just imagine how much you'll like it when it's actually nice outside!" joked our tour guide. I turned to my parents and said, "This is it. I'm applying Early." Tufts was only the second school that I had personally visited and the only one to which I applied in the fall. Luckily, everything worked out for me!

Now, as a tour guide myself, I have trekked backward through rain, snow, and sunshine hundreds of times to help visitors gain a better sense of all that Tufts has to offer. On your college visits, it's important to keep an open mind. Consider the place where you could imagine yourself best fitting in with the student body. Spend time wandering around the campus by yourself--without your parents, guardian, or chaperone--and gauge how comfortable you feel. Follow up your visits by reading the schools' newspapers online and gaining an unfiltered sense of daily life at any respsective institution.

Tomorrow, I'm joining Admissions Counselor Jon Godsey (who graduated from Tufts in 2006) on visits to some schools in Northern Massachusetts. It should be interesting!


Summer 2008 Tour Guides after painting the cannon: Amy, Miranda, Matt, Katie, Stella, Adam, Whitney, and Josh. Maybe you were on one of our tours!