Tufts' Office of Undergraduate Admissions has taken the lead in a number of urban public school initiatives in an attempt to steer Boston-area middle school and high school students onto a college path.
The initiatives organized by the admissions office are designed to connect Tufts with area schools that do not have adequate resources to prepare their students for the college admissions process and the university experience, according to Associate Director of Admissions Walker Coppedge.
The admissions office's efforts are not designed to bypass or replace existing guidance programs at Boston-area schools. Rather, they are intended to help guidance counselors who often face overwhelming workloads that keep them from making the college application process fully accessible to their students, according to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin.
Guidance offices generally serve as the point of contact for admissions officers, but, according to Coffin, in the past Tufts officials have found those offices understaffed or without basic information on college admissions, including how to write an admissions essay. Sometimes, when Tufts administrators would visit schools, Coffin said, "the resources weren't there."
Tufts' admissions office has stepped in to provide resources to schools that may otherwise not have the capacity to familiarize students with their options after graduation. Tufts administrators and students have visited middle schools and high schools in and around Boston, Medford, Somerville, Cambridge and Revere in line with this effort, Coppedge said.
"The program has been a way to bring a taste of college culture and application advice to students that may not otherwise consider applying to college," Coppedge said.
As part of its efforts, the office has brought over 20 local middle school classes to the university during the past two years as part of the Early Awareness Initiative, providing what Coffin called a "mini dunk" into the college life.
The visits consist of "middle-school friendly" tours and a panel of current Tufts students that aims to demonstrate the diversity of Tufts' student body and introduce the adolescents to college students. Tufts students on the panel also discuss what middle schoolers can do to prepare for college.
Additionally, middle schoolers are offered a free lunch at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall, a popular highlight of the visit.
The Early Awareness program attempts to bridge the gap between higher education and elementary and secondary schooling.
"One of the challenges of higher education is what happens in K-12," Coffin said. "How does a college partner with a K-12 system to affect the outcomes?"
These visits, Coppedge said, serve as the "centerpiece of the work the office is doing."
"They're usually really interactive and enjoyable for both the Tufts students and the middle school visitors," Coppedge said.
He hopes the admissions office will expand the program even further, allowing "as many schools from the area as possible" to participate in coming years.
Tufts is also in its fourth semester of partnership with Somerville High School as part of Let's Get Ready, a national network of student-run college preparatory programs. The program at Tufts is led by students who generally meet twice a week for eight to ten weeks in the fall.
"[It] has been really valuable, not only for getting kids to think about Tufts but for getting [them] access to SAT prep and other college resources and opportunities," Coppedge said.
In addition to Let's Get Ready, Tufts maintains partnerships with a variety of college access programs such as College Summit, which allows colleges to host students during the summer for a variety of workshops. Tufts representatives last year also visited a Dorchester middle school to talk to eighth graders as part of the TERI college access program.
The admissions office also recently held an admissions resource symposium at Tufts for over 60 local guidance workers and principals. "We invited staff from schools in Boston and the surrounding area to talk about admissions at Tufts and the admissions process in general," Coppedge said.
In addition to opening the university's doors to local adolescents, this year officers will follow through with their plans to visit high schools around the country. Compared to the Early Awareness Initiative program in the Boston area, these visits have more of a recruitment theme specific to Tufts.
"We don't have the capacity to measure in a concrete way the success of our university awareness programs," Coppedge said. "The measure of success for us is getting to kids and allowing them to be educated about the college process."
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Ben Gittleson contributed reporting to this article.
