For many Tufts sophomores, next spring will not be spent on the Hill, but in a foreign country. Those hoping to study abroad are flashing back to their senior year of high school, filling out applications and writing essays to gain entry into the program of their choice, and many have struggled to make Tufts' deadlines.
Tufts offers students the option of studying in ten different locations, from Paris to Hong Kong to Ghana. Each program's application deadline passed on Feb. 1, including those for the following spring semester, just two weeks after students returned from winter break.
This contrasts with the policies of many other study abroad programs whose deadlines come later. Students applying for New York University's spring 2009 study abroad programs may apply as late as October 2009, and students applying to the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) for fall 2008 can apply as late as early March.
Sophomore Ethan Hochheiser, who finished his application to participate in Tufts in Madrid at the Universidad de Autónoma in spring 2009 said he had difficulty completing the application on time and was frustrated by the deadline.
"I don't know why you have to apply a year in advance," he said. "It doesn't seem a necessity to put it this early because programs at other universities that allow you to go abroad in the spring have deadlines in November, [just] a few months before you go [abroad]."
According to Associate Dean of Programs Abroad Sheila Bayne, the application deadline, which has remained the same during her 18 years at Tufts, is placed early in the semester to provide students with options should they not gain admittance to the Tufts program. If students are not admitted to the Tufts program when the Mar. 15 notification is sent out, they can look at other programs whose deadlines are typically later.
For sophomore Sarah Keefe, the fear of being rejected from Tufts in China is very real. While currently enrolled in Chinese 4, the language level required to apply for Tufts in China, Keefe is concerned that an increase in interest in the program will make it more selective.
"I definitely am [worried about getting in]. My Chinese is not very good," she said. "My professor said there was a higher demand ... this year, there seems to be more interest in Tufts in China."
Keefe said that she became worried over winter break when she discovered that the Tufts application required a parental signature. With no application in hand, she contacted Tufts and asked for a copy to begin working on. "It [the application deadline] did seem to come up very quickly," she said.
Unlike many other schools, Tufts gives an almost exclusive preference to its own students in dealing with programs abroad. "Our Tufts programs exist for our Tufts students," Bayne said. "Our goal is to include students, not to exclude them." Even greater preference is given to students who apply for an entire year, according to Bayne.
And while Tufts programs abroad want Tufts students, it seems the Tufts students also want the Tufts programs abroad. According to Bayne, she received 240 applications by last week's deadline, in comparison to 299 last year. Sophomore Tara Umbrino, who plans to spend the year in Madrid through Tufts, said the program was her first choice. "I have to go through a Tufts program to complete my history concentration, which is modern European history," she said. "So by going to Spain, I can do that and complete my Spanish major."
Hochheiser is also invested in the Tufts program in Madrid, citing it as a reason for coming to Tufts. "I'll be going abroad no matter what in the spring," he said. "[But] it just seems like a Tufts program would be better."
While many schools, like Middlebury College, stagger deadlines for their own students and outsiders, Tufts uses the same Feb. 1 deadline for all applicants. This is in step with the university's goal to keep the Tufts programs for Tufts students.
For Middlebury's programs abroad, non-Middlebury students must apply by either Mar. 1 or 15, depending on the program, while Middlebury's students have a deadline of Feb. 1. According to Middlebury's Dean of International Programs Jeffrey Cason, the deadlines are staggered to accommodate both Middlebury and non-Middlebury students and predict how many students will be on campus for admissions purposes.
"[The applications] give us a sense about how many people are going to be abroad for the next year," Cason said. "That then influences the decisions of the admissions people and helps them decide how many students to admit."
