As Tufts prepares for another fall semester and upperclassmen look forward to familiar faces and favorite professors, a bigger and even more qualified freshman class hits the Hill.
While the university does its best to ease students into their new academic lives during orientation with peer leaders and advising, social comfort isn't guaranteed.
Luckily for students with an inclination toward the outdoors, fitness and nutrition or community service, or those who simply want to start their Tufts career a few days early, pre-orientation programs provide a social boost. Tufts' three pre-orientation groups have become an early tool for breaking into the Tufts social scene.
Tufts offers four pre-orientation program: Tufts Wilderness Orientation (TWO), an outdoor immersion program; FOCUS, which sends freshmen out into greater Boston to perform community service; FIT, a health- and nutrition-focused option, and International Orientation (IO), a program designed for international students or those with an academic interest in international issues.
TWO, which sends groups of eight freshmen with two upperclassmen leaders to the New England woods for five days, experienced increased popularity this year, according to program co-coordinator Zach Landau. The program was only able to accept 200 of its 300 applicants.
While the Wilderness program often draws students with experience in the outdoors, the number of participants camping for the first time was notable this year
"These trips have people who come in who've never worn hiking boots, or people who've spent their whole summer in the woods," said junior Renee Orser, a member of the TWO Support Staff.
Similarly popular was the FIT pre-orientation program, which helps students develop strong fitness and nutrition habits before beginning their first semester away from home. This summer's program drew 123 applicants and 104 matriculates.
Senior Rony Jacques, a Medford resident and head peer leader for FIT, was surprised at the variation in experience and knowledge of his fellow FIT members. "I was expecting a lot of people who were athletes and kind of knew about nutrition already," he said.
If not for a lifetime of vested interest in subjects such as hiking or nutrition, why are incoming freshmen so drawn to the concept of pre-orientation? For many, it was the security of a social safety net to ease the transition.
Program assistant Matt Lucerto attested to FIT's ability to make new students feel comfortable. "The program itself is geared toward people who want good mental stability in the university setting," he said.
Jacques said that his social life at Tufts has largely been shaped by his experience with FIT.
"I got to meet so many people, and I'm still friends with three or four of them now," he said. "And we're about to be seniors ... Now I know who I can look to, if I want to go to the gym or play basketball."
Erica Sine, a TWO Support Staff member who participated in the program as an incoming freshman, said her initial experience encouraged her to keep coming back to the program and further enabled her to establish friendships.
"My social life now is based on people I did support staff with," she said. "I remember freshman year, all the way through to the end of the year you'd have something in common, a way to start a conversation."
Particularly crucial for all freshmen are the first several weeks of college, where new and potentially uncomfortable situations abound. Landau said that pre-orientation programs help newly minted Jumbos maintain confidence in otherwise potentially awkward scenarios.
"It does create a nice little community for that first few months of freshman year," he said. "It's a big self-esteem booster."
Jacques agreed. "We got those awkward questions over with during FIT," he said. "We were past the awkward stage [by the time school started.] That was a step in getting myself up there in the social scene."
For the hundreds of freshmen choosing not to participate in TWO, FIT, FOCUS or IO. a potential to feel intimidated by those with a social edge of pre-orientation exists. But for students like sophomore Dan Casey, who opted not to participate in pre-orientation, making friends at college is a natural process.
"For the most part, people still seemed very welcoming and friendly," he said. "Despite the friends they'd made in the programs, they were basically in the same lonely boat as all the other incoming freshmen."
The four existing pre-orientation programs have been cut down from five. Active Citizenship Through Technology (ACT) program was offered in 2005 and 2006, but ended last year after the funding finished, according to program coordinator and Tufts doctoral student to Clement Chau.
Casey would have liked to see more variation in the types of programs offered.
"Perhaps the drama department could offer some sort of program or Fletcher [and] EPIIC could collaborate on something," he said.
