Applicants to the School of Arts & Sciences or the School of Engineering:
Please respond to one of the following three prompts in 200-250 words: 
 • It’s cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity and why?
 • How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today?
 • Using a specific example or two, tell us about a way that you contributed to building a collaborative and/or inclusive community.

Applicants to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts:
Please respond to the following prompt in 200-250 words:
 • Art has the power to disrupt our preconceptions, shape public discourse, and imagine new ways of being in the world. What are the ideas you’d like to explore in your work?

In addition, we will ask all applicants to complete this sentence in 100 words or less:
“I am applying to Tufts because…” As you begin to plan for the upcoming application cycle, know that we are here to help! We encourage you to learn more about the Tufts admissions process by exploring the admissions website, reading Jumbo Magazine or our student blogs, and following us on Instagram.  

The Maker Portfolio is an optional addition to your application that allows you to show admissions officers what you’ve been working on and how you might translate that work into the hands-on, collaborative classrooms you’ll find in the School of Engineering at Tufts. Last year, we had portfolios showcasing everything from indie horror games to haptic devices to help deaf athletes. The world is your workshop.

Choose
I know this isn’t easy, but pick a project! Focusing on one project to showcase usually yields the best portfolio, so although we know you are likely working on a million different things, pick your favorite to submit to us.

Reflect 

Intellectual curiosity and civic engagement are two of the values that Tufts students tend to embody. What these look like in practice is a passion for their work and a concern for how that work impacts the world. When you are telling us about your portfolio project, take time to reflect on what the project means to you, or what kind of impact you anticipate it would have on society.

Craft  

Take some time to look at the instructions and example portfolios on our website before submitting your project. These examples will give you a good idea of what is helpful for us to know when you are formatting and writing responses to the portfolio questions - like what your role was in your project. Plus, although our portfolio reviewers are accomplished in the sciences, our admissions officers want to read about your project, too, and we could definitely use some translations of field-specific language or jargon!

Show 

If you are a student who has been working on a research paper in high school, that is great work and preparation for college!...However, if you would like to submit a Maker Portfolio, please don’t just submit said research paper. Instead, show us a prototype you worked on for the paper or sketches that you did that will highlight those hands-on creative skills. Submit! First things first, we know you are a student! We don’t expect you to have it all figured out, but seeing your project and process can still showcase the kind of problem solving skills, creativity, and passion for hands-on, collaborative work that we look for in our engineers. Don’t hold back from submitting a portfolio because you don’t think it lives up to Da Vinci - show us what you’ve got!  

About Tufts

 • Medford/Somerville, Massachusetts (just outside Boston)
 • Founded in 1852
 • Private institution
 • Total undergraduate enrollment in previous year: 6,877
 • Suburban setting 

 • 10.5% acceptance rate  

School Is Known For 

 • Double majoring and combining degrees is common and supported.
 • Very arts-positive across all majors—lots of musicians, performers, visual artists. SMFA at Tufts (School of the Museum of Fine Arts) is part of the university, giving access to fine arts courses. 

 • Active citizenship is a major theme: students care about making the world better. Many are involved in political organizing, volunteering, environmental activism, or nonprofit work. Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life offers resources for public service projects.
 • Top-notch engineering and pre-med, but with a broad, humanistic approach.
 • Students often double major in, say, computer science and music, or biology and peace & justice studies.
 • Excellent placement into med school, grad school, and fellowships (Fulbright, Truman, etc.). 

Culture 

 • Social but not frat-centered (some Greek life, but it’s small)
 • 300+ student organizations: dance teams, debate society, sustainability groups, queer alliance, food justice, anime club, and more.
 • Hilly campus with a mix of red brick buildings and modern architecture.
 • Close to Boston (15 minutes by subway) but has its own calm, neighborhoody feel.
 • Most students live on campus or nearby for all four years.