Engineering school entices undergrads to spend another year at Tufts

Although many students enjoy their undergraduate experience here, few could be convinced to stay for an extra year. But when the school offers half-price tuition for a fifth year and the opportunity to walk away with an engineering degree? For some students, it is an appealing option.

For the second year, the engineering school has experienced a demand for its "Tufts-Plus" initiative, which offers University engineering students a minimum of a 50 percent discount on tuition for a fifth year if the students pursue their graduate studies at Tufts.

"[Students participating in the program] just liked Tufts enough to stay," said David Friedman, a fifth year student in the program about to receive his masters. "If you enjoy yourself in a place and don't have a desire to move, you might as well stay. And it makes a lot of sense on the part of the engineering school. As part of the requirements, they want you to have had a good education at a good school. What better applicants than those from Tufts, where professors already know you and know you came from a good school?"

Professor Vincent Manno, the Interim Dean of Engineering and a professor of mechanical engineering, leads the program. Manno said that there was little negotiation involved in starting this program, as "all parties agreed it was a good idea."

Engineering students who had not already heard of the program were informed of its existence in an e-mail that was sent to all undergraduate engineers over the winter break of this year. Manno has already received letters of interest from undergraduates.

However, it seems that many students are not even aware that there is a specific program that they are applying too in many cases. "I didn't chose Tufts because of the Tufts Plus program but because I thought Tufts would be the best match for what I wanted to achieve with a masters degree," one graduate student in the program said. "Not having to take any more standardized tests and having an easier application process probably helped as well in choosing Tufts; however, it wasn't the essential determining factor."

The student said the 50 percent discount was "a very nice incentive" but he "did not make it [his] determining factor."

The Mechanical Engineering department has six students seriously considering the program, according to professor Anil Saigal. Manno would like about 20 students to participate in the program each year.

He said the 50 percent discount was not revolutionary. "Some form of financial aid to good full-time students is typical in graduate engineering programs," Manno said. "Our motivation was to attract our own students to pursue graduate studies for their own professional development and also to avail ourselves of a pool of qualified applicants. It's a win-win."

The requirements demand that the student maintain at least a 3.0 GPA while at Tufts until the fall of his or her senior year, at which point most students apply to participate in the program. Students are only required to submit two letters of recommendation, as opposed to the usual three, and admission is decided on rolling basis.

Manno believes that this program will add to the number of students retained by the University for graduate-level work. He also cited many other positive effects of the program, both for the student and for the University.

"It gets people thinking about their future (post-BS) plans sooner," Manno said. "Also, this earlier engagement motivates students to get involved in research as undergraduates as a means of jump-starting their graduate programs."

Civil Engineer freshman Abby Lillianfeld believes that the program is a great opportunity for University undergraduates. "If you enjoy your experience at Tufts, why not continue your education here?" Lillianfeld asked. "At this point I don't know if I want to pursue a Masters, but if I decide to, I will definitely apply to the program."

Through the program, Tufts attracts students it may otherwise lose to other upper-tier graduate programs. Although it seems as though Tufts is losing a lot of money by footing half of the bill for all of the graduate students, they are in fact gaining far more in value.

"Attracting the best graduate students is a challenge these days as Tufts competes among the strongest research universities such as MIT, Georgia Tech, Stanford and UCal-Berkeley," Manno said. The Tufts-Plus program gives Tufts a leg-up in the eyes of applicants.