Regardless of how much literal and figurative distance they put between their high-school and college experiences, many Tufts students find that they can't leave everything behind. High schools commonly send students to Tufts in pairs, threes and even groups of 10, which means that some students have found themselves pursuing their college educations alongside friends and acquaintances from high school.
Many students have become closer with high-school classmates at Tufts since entering college, and the experience has been, for most, a positive one.
"I'm happy I came to Tufts with the [high-school] people I did," said sophomore Robbie Gottlieb, who attended Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, N.Y. "We weren't best friends in high school, but now we are much more friendly."
"I have become closer with some of the people from my high school [who now go to Tufts] because I've gotten to know them better," freshman Alan Yee of Weston High School in Weston, Mass. said.
Indeed, the high-school link is a force that helps forge college friendships between people who were in completely different social circles in high school.
"I didn't talk to some of the people from my high school [who now go to Tufts] before coming here, but now we're friendly," said freshman Dana Cheriff, who also attended Horace Greeley.
In extreme cases, people who barely knew each other in high school become good friends once they enter college together.
"I had talked to [juniors] Will Maroni and Jon Bornstein, [high-school classmates now at Tufts], probably only once in high school; we hung out with completely different people. But we got really close here and now we hang out a lot," said junior Veronica Turk, of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md.
On the other hand, some students have grown apart from their now-Jumbo high-school friends since the start of college, or simply do not see them very often.
"I don't get to see my high- school friends here as much as I did in high school, especially if we're not in the same classes. College campuses are more spread out than high- school buildings, so I don't run into my friends like I used to in high school," said freshman Rachel Verrengia, from Horace Greeley.
"I see my high-school friends at Tufts less than I did during high school," freshman Kevin Stirling, of Weston, said. "If I don't make an effort to see them, then I usually don't."
Such a situation may be ameliorated by setting up lunch dates or coordinating class schedules with high- school classmates, but still may be inevitable in a school of over 5,000 students. This is especially true if students want to concentrate on making new friends and trying new things in college.
Many students, however, enjoy the comfort and reassurance that comes from seeing a reminder of home on campus, and find that Tufts' moderate size makes it possible to run into high-school friends frequently.
"Tufts is small enough that I end up seeing my high-school friends a lot. It's nice to see familiar faces," Cheriff said.
"It's good to know some people coming into college because otherwise I would feel totally lost," Verrengia said.
In fact, the comfort that high-school friends bring to a new and unfamiliar college setting may make some students appreciate these friendships more.
"I value my high-school friendships [with Tufts students] more now because it's like bringing a piece of home to college. It makes college seem smaller and less intimidating," said freshman Lizzie Schrott, also from Horace Greeley.
Students invariably feel that having people they can relate to on an academic, geographic or personal level is one of the best parts of going to college with high-school classmates.
"It's definitely nice to have people to relate to on the high-school level. I like being able to compare a high-school teacher to a college professor and have somebody else know what I'm talking about," Cheriff said.
"It is much easier to talk to high-school classmates than to anyone else about how college is different from high school, and the process of adjusting," Verrengia added. "Since we have the same starting point, it's easier to understand each other."
High-school classmates can act as a safety net for Jumbos, becoming people that they feel safe and comfortable talking to because of their similar high-school experiences.
"It's good having people that I know and who know me from back home, that I can always go and talk to," Hartman said.
"When I first started hanging out with high-school classmates, it was a little awkward, because we knew that we went to the same high school, but we never talked," Turk said. "But slowly we started hanging out more, talking about high school, and we realized it was cool to have someone to talk to that came from the same high school and town. We talked more about high school when we first started hanging out, but we still definitely do bring up comparisons or talk about people."
