Large groups of people often exhibit a collective personality. Tufts' approximately 5,000 undergraduates are no exception, and their communal eccentricities are some of the reasons freshman Grace Oberhofer gave for choosing to attend Tufts. "It came down to personality. I like the quirkiness," she said.
Oberhofer's passion for music recently snowballed into a story perhaps oddly fitting to the personality of the school she ended up attending.
Though her final decision led her to the Hill, Tufts was not Oberhofer's first choice. For years, she had dreamed of attending Harvard University.
"Harvard was the first college I'd ever heard about," she said, adding that its music department was a particular draw. For Oberhofer, music has been an important part of her life for as long as she can remember. "My mom was an opera singer," she said, and this parental influence led to an interest in opera.
For her senior project at the Tacoma School of the Arts in Washington, the performing arts high school Oberhofer attended for three years, Oberhofer composed a four-part-voice operetta based on Snow White. Oberhofer also studied vocal music, audio recording and songwriting, the last of which drove her to what some would call drastic action when Harvard put her on their waitlist during the college admissions process.
After composing a song extolling all the virtues of a Harvard education, Oberhofer proceeded to record a video of herself performing the song on piano — fully decked out in Harvard apparel — and then post it on YouTube.
"In veritas I must admit that Harvard's grand/Advancements every day; let's give her a hand," Oberhofer sang, assuring the admissions office of her allegiance to the school and her intention to stay far away from the John Harvard statue's left foot. With the letter of interest she sent to the Harvard admissions office explaining why she wanted to be taken off the waitlist and accepted, Oberhofer included a link to the video, entitled "Dear Harvard," and hoped for the best.
"I felt like doing something bold and daring would be fun," she said. In addition to YouTube, Oberhofer also posted the video on Facebook with a message to her friends, writing, "Hey guys! I'd like to get 1,000 hits!" The video soon became a minor viral success; it had about 50,000 hits within the first week, according to Oberhofer, and has now been viewed almost 90,000 times.
Along with all the attention the video received, there came an onslaught of comments and reactions from YouTube viewers. The comments, Oberhofer said, ranged from encouragement from friends to people cussing her out. She said that her favorite comment declared: "Damn hipsters think they can be artistic and get in anywhere they want to." She recalled with amusement that her video caused "a lot of YouTube battles."
The video also garnered attention from several news outlets.
"Fox 25 in Boston did a Skype interview with me, and Q13 Fox in Seattle," Oberhofer said, adding that she also did interviews with several local radio stations, a generally positive experience for her.
"All of the radio shows, except for one, were all incredibly supportive," she said. Oberhofer explained that being in the spotlight following the posting of "Dear Harvard" was also a vital learning experience.
"I learned a lot about how to properly handle yourself for interviews," she said. "[I learned] how important it was to say exactly what you mean."
The video was first posted in April, and months later, Oberhofer is still a bit bemused by the strong reaction "Dear Harvard" triggered.
"I'm kind of confused on that myself," Oberhofer said with a smile when asked what she thought made the video so popular. For her, posting the video was never about getting the attention she received.
"I think the main reason [for posting the video] was to let off steam after the whole application process," she said. Oberhofer added that whether she's tense or happy, composing is a way for her to express what she's going through.
"Writing songs is my way to keep sane," she said.
Eventually, Oberhofer got a response from Harvard.
"I found out I got rejected on graduation day, which kind of stung," she said. However, she noted that it was something she was expecting in the back of her mind.
"I live with the motto, ‘Hope for the best, prepare for the worst,'" she said. She added, however, that although rejection hurt, the experience was positive in a way.
"It made my future plans set, so it was comforting in a way," Oberhofer said.
Her future plans now included admission to and attendance at Tufts, something that Oberhofer embraced with a passion the best way she knew how.
"I wrote a new song about a week after I found out [I was rejected from Harvard]," she said. Again decked out in her school's regalia — this time Tufts' — Oberhofer filmed her new video, called "Dearest Tufts" on a friend's laptop while at camp in Colorado, all the while loudly singing about everything that she thinks makes Tufts wonderful.
Although her boldness didn't quite bring the result she was expecting, Oberhofer was no stranger to watching the success that can come from taking a chance when she posted her first video.
"I was going to a college prep high school," she said, adding that she did four hours of homework a night there before transferring to Tacoma School of the Arts. Oberhofer explained that while the prep school was a fantastic school, it didn't quite provide what she was looking for.
"It didn't satisfy my craving for the arts," she said, a craving that she'd had since sixth grade when she first got into acting, singing and dancing, the perfect complements to her passion for music. After watching her brother attend the same school, Oberhofer was excited to apply there.
"[My brother] just totally blossomed as an artist and a person there," she said. So, she took the leap and enrolled at Tacoma School of the Arts.
"I'm so incredibly glad I did it," she said, and as a result, she's found new passions to pursue.
"I got into more songwriting, singing and classical music in the last few years," Oberhofer said. Her YouTube videos were a direct result of these interests.
Although the passion for singing and songwriting — and risk-taking — she conveyed in her first video may not have gotten her into Harvard, and although she is now a firmly committed Jumbo, Oberhofer has only positive things to say about her experience and the two schools from which her videos provoked such fervent responses.
"Through these two videos, I've learned a lot about both of these communities," she said. "There were a lot of kind words, support and outreach. It's heartwarming."
