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FactsSlang
- A Cappella - Singing without accompaniment.
- CSL - Committee on Student Life.
- Dewick - When going to eat at Dewick, someone may ask you, “Do you want to Dewick it?”
- Double-Jumbo - Someone who has attended Tufts both as an undergraduate and graduate, or professional student.
- Downhill - Using the library steps as the dividing line.
- E - Short for “Engineer.”
- ELBO - Elections Board.
- Ex College - Experimental College, a program that brings in outside experts to teach classes.
- Flip Cup - A drinking game played by two teams. The game proceeds as a relay.
- Jackson College - The name of the Tufts’ college for women (from before the University became coed).
- JumboFOB - Electronic signal keys used to enter some dorms.
- Light on the Hill - A number of school traditions and songs derive from this phrase that initiated Tufts’ creation, when Nathan Tufts vowed “to put a light on the hill.”
- O-zone - Where you live if you’re on the basement level of a dorm.
- Pax Et Lux - Latin for “Peace and Light,” and is part of the Tufts symbol.
- P-Row - Professors Row.
- Quad - Area of grass surrounded on all sides by buildings.
- TCU - Tufts Community Union; student government groups, TCU Senate, and Judiciary.
- TEMS - Tufts Emergency Medical Service, the group of student-EMTs on call for emergency service.
- The Hill - Walnut Hill, where Tufts is located.
- Uphill - Using the library steps as the dividing line.
- Wren Bugs - The special species of bugs that live in and around Wren Hall.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
- Bring your own computer.
- Do not dedicate your whole life to one activity right away, and shop around for a year before becoming super-involved.
- Do not try to do everything on your own, sometimes you need help.
- Fill your math requirement freshman year.
- Get the 160-meal plan, always, until you have your own kitchen.
- Go to office hours and ask a lot of questions.
- Go to the frat parties during orientation week—they are the best parties all year, especially ZBT’s jello shots.
- How cold it gets in the winter.
Tips to Succeed
- Check e-mail constantly.
- Don’t even try to apply for an on-campus apartment before you are a senior, unless a senior is pulling you into an apartment.
- First semester, take courses in very different subjects so you can find out what you like.
- Get involved in an organization, and rise to a leadership role.
- Go to office hours so some professors will know you well.
- If a professor is bad, don’t stick around. Drop the class, and switch into something that will keep you interested.
- Learn to write well.
- Look for sophomore-year housing in older dorms, or Tufts-owned houses—they have the biggest rooms.
- Study abroad so that you don’t have to deal with finding junior-year housing.
- Write a senior thesis even though you don’t have to.
Urban Legends
- "Rape Steps" - These steps are behind the Hillel Center and lead down to Boston Avenue. They say that the design of these steps was given to an engineering student as his final project. He was supposed to design them so that they would be easier for women to run up than men if they were being chased, and the steps were designed to be the exact stride of a woman, calculated from a number of biological factors. However, an empirical study will show that men can run up these steps twice as fast as women. The stride length is difficult for women, but men can just jump two steps at a time.
- Direction of the Tufts Cannon - There is a replica of a U.S.S. Constitution cannon on the Tufts campus. It is said it points at Harvard, but no one really knows where it points.
- If you can get a penny to land on the nose of the Jumbo statue, you’re supposed to have good luck on your finals.
- School Color Selection - In the first 30 years of Tufts’s existence, the graduating class was allowed to pick their own school colors, and every year they changed. After 30 years, the administration decided it was time to settle on one set of colors. When the administration told the senior class that they would pick the school’s colors for eternity, they didn’t believe them, and thought it was a joke. That class picked the worst color combination they could come up with: baby blue and dark brown. Those remain Tufts’ colors today. Tufts says the school colors represent earth and sky.
- The Gravit Stone - This is a stone plaque cemented near the library roof. Legend has it that Tufts contracted a company in the 1960s that sold it this stone to bury outside of East Hall. The stone’s properties would keep airplanes and missiles away from campus, apparently a strong worry during the Cold War. The Tufts Mountain Club realized the ridiculousness of this idea and wanted to move the stone. Finally, the administration had it cemented in its present day location.
- Wren Bugs - This is a unique species of bug that supposedly only inhabits Wren Hall. No one has seen much of them lately, and they may have been exterminated, or at least gone into hiding.
Traditions
- Candle Ceremonies - There is a big candle-lighting ceremony during Freshman Orientation and Senior Week. The traditions are derived from the Nathan Tufts vow to “put a light on the hill.”
- First Night - The first night of Freshman Orientation, the entire class and A=alumni gather in the Gantcher Center for dinner and the story of Jumbo. Watch out for indoor fireworks.
- Frisbee Golf - Watch out for flying Frisbees! There is a Frisbee golf course on campus, and it is only known to members of the ultimate Frisbee team. They aren’t trying to hit you in the head with the Frisbee, they just want it to land on Jumbo’s nose.
- Naked Quad Run - In the 1960s, students who were living in West Hall (the last all-male dorm on campus) were told that women would be moving in the next year, and they decided to protest. They ran naked around the academic quad, and it has been a tradition ever since. The event traditionally takes place on the first night of reading period in December, usually with some amount of snow on the ground.
- Painting the Cannon - This is the best form of advertising on campus. Every night, students are allowed to paint the cannon, though painting may only be done in the dark. Students then guard the cannon until dawn. If you don’t, it is free-game to anyone else to paint over.
- Pancake Breakfast - This used to happen after the Naked Quad Run, but now due to a number of incidents with naked pancake throwing, the event has been moved to a study break during reading period in the spring semester.
School Spirit
Students will go to Homecoming and Parents’ weekend football games, and if a team is doing really well, they will get excited about it; but Tufts school spirit extends further than sports. Despite the name sounding bad at first, almost all Tufts students are proud to be Jumbos. Most Tufts students express an affinity for Jumbo, and could recite the story of how Jumbo came to be Tufts’ mascot, and of the tragic fire that destroyed the real Jumbo. Most students are very happy at Tufts, and proud of their school. In times of tragedy, the campus is able to come together very quickly and support each other as members of a community. No one knows the alma mater except the a cappella groups, and most students could only mutter a few syllables of the fight song, but on Tuftonia’s Day (Tufts’ birthday), everyone celebrates. School spirit is hard to avoid, since the Tufts Spirit Coalition is always cooking up something.
Most Recent Contributing Author
Name: Chris Cote
Hometown: Ipswich, MA
Major: International Relations Chris is on the Tufts Ultimate Frisbee team. Contributing Author Internship
College Prowler is actively seeking talented students to be "Contributing Authors," and assist with updating
the College Prowler guide to their school. This is a great opportunity for a student to gain internship experience, be a part of a nationally
recognized company, gain tremendous exposure, utilize new media techniques, and share advice with high school students about what life is
really like at your college. Read more about the internship.
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