Last Thursday and Friday marked the Tufts Admissions Office's annual Student of Color Outreach Program (SCOPE), giving scores of prospective minority students a taste of life at Tufts. Program organizers agree that it was one of the most successful SCOPE weekends yet.
The aim of SCOPE is to encourage minority students to apply to Tufts, so that the community continues to have a diverse student body. Nearly 175 African-American, Latino, and Asian-American high school seniors participated in this year's program, up from just over 100 last year. Busloads of participants came from New York City and Hartford, with other prospective students travelling from states as far away as California, Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, and Mississippi. The Admissions Office provided discounted airfare to those students who did not live within driving distance.
Students felt that this year's program was more effective than it has been in years past. One current student noted that "last year, people just came on the SCOPE weekend for fun; they were just looking to party. This year they actually seemed to be more interested in the school." Freshman Abigail Akande also hosted students for the program. While she felt it was successful, she did have one criticism.
"I think the program should have been longer - I didn't feel that the pre-frosh had enough time to really see what Tufts was like; they came in the evening and left early in the morning for tours with admissions," she said.
The prospective students were treated to a panel Thursday evening designed to show "The Tufts Experience," and what life in general, specifically for minority students, is like on campus. Friday was a day of class visits, open houses at the various cultural centers on campus, and a forum about college admissions.
Freshman and SCOPE planning committee member Nadia Right said that "the forums featured a cross section of students on a panel, and they answered questions from the prospective students." Students from the committee carefully selected students for the panel in order to provide a varied perspective on campus life.
In addition to the various organized events, the student hosts exposed their prospective students to various aspects of Tufts life by bringing them to daily activities, such as classes, parties, and club meetings. Many prospective students ventured into Boston with their hosts in order to explore the cultural and social resources offered in the city.
"There was a lot of choices as to what to do with our pre-frosh," Wright said.
One of the highlights of the weekend was Tufts' annual Supershow. Multicultural art and performance groups performed at the event, giving prospective students an idea of the kinds of artistic groups that are available to the community.
Wright participated in SCOPE last year as a prospective student, and the spirited Supershow in particular was one of the events that influenced her decision to attend Tufts.
"Part of the reason I joined the planning committee was that last year I came to SCOPE and really enjoyed it. I loved the Supershow, I loved speaking to students about Tufts.... I really felt it was a successful program," she said. Wright said that the three prospective students she hosted this year from San Diego seemed to enjoy their experience here, and she made a huge effort to show off the school.
"When I did SCOPE, my host was so busy, and I wanted to make sure I was a good host as I showed them around campus."
Junior Angel Vail, who worked as a liaison between the SCOPE program and the Hispanic culture house, La Casa Latina, mentioned that it is often times hard to know what the students have in mind when they come to Tufts.
"The thing with fall SCOPE is that the kids aren't sure if they're going to apply, so you have kids who aren't really interested in Tufts, and they just want to have a fun weekend at a college. It happens every year, and there's nothing we can do about it," she said.
However, Vail felt that this issue did not undermine the importance of the SCOPE program.
"I still think it's something we should definitely have, because we want to get students interested in Tufts. There's always a chance that the people who came to party will end up loving the school and wanting to apply," she said.
Vail noted that the existence of the SCOPE program comes from Tufts' desire to recruit minority students to increase the diversity of the school.
"Some people get upset about affirmative action. SCOPE helps minority students to be interested in Tufts, and the more people we have apply, the more people with higher GPAs apply. This allows us to have a diverse community without lowering our standards," she said.
