Welcome to Tufts.
The University is welcoming the most intelligent groups of students in its history, at least according to the SAT statistics. And to what school is this new class of students arriving? It is a school that claims it is upon the cusp of a revolutionary change; the full-scale leap from a small New England college to a world-renowned research institution.
And what advice do you need before going into the big wide world of Tufts University? That is a tough question to answer. Most of you have received enough advice from parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, parents' friends, friends of parents' friends, and dentists to start your own column. There is not much to be said that has not already gone over, ad infinitum, by everyone you know and some that you do not.
These next four years will be but one stage in what hopefully will be your long and successful lives. What makes these years "the best" of your 75 years of existence cannot be so easily explained. For a short while you will eat, work and live with thousands of your direct peers in age and, often, in interests.
Academically, you will be challenged in ways you may not again. After classes, you will throw yourself into selfless tasks for different student organizations that give you a satisfaction that later in life you will probably never be able to explain. At night, you will be surrounded by friends who have reached awareness of who they are just as you do. These are the parts of college that will make you think back, many many years from now, of these times and wonder how they went by so fast.
But college is a mean, and not an end. Your time at Tufts is a chance to do new things, to take advantage of the brief respite before heading into the Real World of work, taxes and lawn care. Do not run from that future, but rather use this university to grow stronger and meet it head on.
Have fun. Do what you enjoy. Excel at what you enjoy. Make friends. Stay up late. Do your homework. Don't start your essay until 2 a.m. the night before it's due. Go out. Stay in. Be all you can be. See how long you can avoid stepping outdoors in the middle of the Massachusetts winter. Play in the snow. Sleep late. Watch sunrises. Get to know your professors. Skip class. Do all of this, or none of this, and we promise these four years will be the best start to your life you could have.
