Prospective students began swarming campus on Tuesday for the start of April Open House (AOH), a four-day outreach program that helps assembly Tufts' class of 2005.
Over the last three days, pre-frosh have been touring campus, eating meals in the dining halls, staying overnight in the dorms, attending information sessions, and quizzing AOH volunteers about life at Tufts, all with the goal of getting to know to the place they may call home for the next four years. Along with general AOH activities, the Students of Color Outreach Program (SCOPE) began yesterday and will run through tomorrow.
AOH is among the admissions staff's most comprehensive efforts of the year. The staff expects as many as 300 pre-frosh to visit campus this week. "Our yield strategy basically... is to get as many admitted students as possible to visit campus. That's why we do the AOH program," Associate Director of Admissions Joy St. John said.
According to Tufts' Facts and Figures, 33 percent of last year's accepted students enrolled at Tufts. In the past, Tufts usually yielded between 20 and 30 percent, which, according to St. John, is a figure similar to other highly competitive schools.
"Something like five schools in the country get more than 50 percent, so we actually have a very strong yield," she said. "Most schools in the country are doing what we're doing."
For most visiting students, impressions of campus life will sway their choice. "Students nowadays apply to from eight to ten schools that are very similar to each other. [Pre-frosh] are forced to choose between schools like Tufts, Georgetown, and Brown - not something where one school is much better than the others academically," St. John said.
An especially important factor in helping high school seniors make up their minds is interaction with college students. Josh Harris, a prospective student from Easton, MA, said that, based on his visit, he will choose Tufts over Amherst and Georgetown.
"On my overnight, [Tufts students] seemed a lot more friendly," Harris said.
A prospective student from Guilford, CT, Nathan Proctor has to choose between Tufts, George Washington University, and BU, and also found Tufts students friendly and the University's outreach program well-organized.
"The people are really helpful... I had a lot more trouble seeing some of the classes at GW," he said. "Tufts has a really good system. I respect that a lot."
When students compare schools of similar academic reputation, they often choose Tufts based on their interactions with students, St. John said. "If they feel like it's an open place to be, they can make friends easily and become a part of campus."
For these reasons, program coordinators do all that they can to make pre-frosh feel comfortable on campus. "Probably one of the best deciding factors is 'Am I going to have fun here? Am I going to feel welcome here?'" said Felicia Chao, an AOH coordinator.
Some pre-frosh, however, find it difficult to distinguish between schools. Danielle Borrin, a prospective student from Atlanta, GA, has to decide between Tufts and Washington University, two schools she found to be very similar.
"I really like [Tufts], I just need to see what one has that the other doesn't," she said.
While AOH visitors typically stay on campus for just one night, SCOPE involves a two-night stay, along with panels directed specifically towards students of color, and the Supershow, an entertainment program that will take place this weekend. Tufts charters a bus for 54 accepted high school students of color from New York, which also stops to pick up students in Hartford, CT. Some students of color who demonstrate financial need receive a partial reimbursement for their trip.
"We reimburse students of color who come from families that can't afford for them to visit... we don't think any student can make a decision if they don't visit Tufts," St. John said.
White students generally do not receive reimbursement because they generally do not demonstrate the same amount of need. "There aren't that many high-need white students proportionate to the need for students of color," St. John said.
Both SCOPE and AOH rely on Tufts students to help with the respective programs. "If people aren't involved, it sends a message to interested students that this isn't a very interested campus," St. John said. "We're not trying to sell Tufts, we're offering them an accurate vision of Tufts. They see everything Tufts is about."
