Christine So, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Leadership MA candidate

As a Graduate Resident Assistant (RA), I had the opportunity to live on Beacon Street near the SMFA campus in Fenway. You can hear the bells ringing from the green line train right in front of us with the original Tatte Bakery and Cafe just a few steps away. These brownstones we get to live in have the unique history of seeing various types of first-year undergraduate BFA students in these old, yet very aesthetic buildings. The three buildings 1047, 1025, and 1023, each have such a unique character and all the residents that reside in it each get an unforgettable living experience in their first years as a student in Boston. Fun fact: 1023 used to be a Bed and Breakfast!

Prior to coming to Tufts, I had been a RA for two years. In my role, there are some key goals we have to hit. Those goals being connecting with our residents, building community, and supporting our residents to be academically and personally successful as a student at Tufts. A challenge I had found for our first year BFA students is that we live a bit farther from Medford campus, which I feel may take away from their first year experience. Hence, community building in our Beacon Street community has been very important. In total there are four RA’s who are in charge of roughly 80 residents. Programming is a very important part of this role so we can hold events that benefit our community. So far we’ve done self-care related programming, study sessions, and for the holidays we made hot cocoa and chai. For Halloween, we decorated our buildings and painted mini pumpkins while having too much candy. 

Many people around me ask why I continue to be an RA (outside of the benefits of housing being covered). I cannot deny the challenges that come with the role in moments of conflict, crisis, or living in the environment that is your job. However, I just love bridging people and communities together. Beacon poses a lot of challenges in comparison to when I was an RA at my undergraduate institution. Even in comparison to Medford campus, we have to change our thought process to serve our residents in a whole different way. Being a prior music major, I understand the challenges of an unconventional education process in comparison to other majors. The challenges are different, so as an RA staff we do our best to make sure the events we hold are meaningful. Being an RA has taught me countless skills that I have been able to hone in my three years of being in housing. And of course, I value all of the connections I have been able to create in my first semester at Tufts in the Beacon Street community. 

This year I am an Assistant Residential Life Coordinator (ARLC) in the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL). I will help with individual neighborhoods within the Medford/Somerville campus, purchasing, and offering leadership development to our RA staff. Working in housing in an institutional setting for my fourth year is a rewarding experience and one I’ve gained many professional skills through. Working in housing has its challenges, but similar to being an RA, the connections you make are everlasting. 

Lida Ehteshami, School Psychology MA/ Ed.S. candidate and Matt Suslovic, administrative coordinator, Education department

As you know, it takes stumbles to grow into your shoes as a grad student. We’ll dive into a few common anxieties and hopes we see unfold in the first semester of grad school, from Lida’s experiences as a student in Tufts’ M.A./Ed.S. in School Psychology program and Matt’s eyes as a staff member. 

Lida (first-year in School Psychology): 

One of the first anxieties I felt was assuming that everyone already had it figured out. I thought I might need to be a superhuman with exceptional intelligence, unwavering focus, and boundless energy to succeed. It was easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone around me had it all together while I was struggling to balance my jobs, classes, and life. As I saw myself getting more and more overwhelmed, I reached out to fellow students who all related with the same feelings and helped me set realistic expectations for myself. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and graduate school is a journey of growth and development for everyone. 

Given that I had just moved from another state and knew no one in Massachusetts, one of the biggest anxieties I faced was a sense of isolation. Between the academic workload, going to my practicum site, and working two jobs to support myself, I felt disconnected from the world outside. While I am still working on widening my social connections, I am very happy to have found a warm, welcoming, and fun group of friends in my cohort and have gone to a couple of events run by the Graduate Student Council. I’m sure to schedule time with a friend at least every other weekend, using that time to explore beautiful Boston and make this city feel like home. The support and camaraderie I find in my fellow graduate students is the most invaluable part of this journey so far. 

Along the same lines, I also feared having to sacrifice everything for graduate school given how busy my schedule was about to become. During my first few weeks of graduate school, I was entangled in the web of this myth. The stress it induced was suffocating, leading to burnout and a decline in my work quality. I am slowly realizing how self-care is not a luxury but a necessity. I am now beginning to prioritize activities that rejuvenate my spirit, such as cooking, spending time outdoors, and finding time to sketch. Engaging in these hobbies offered a welcome break, helping me strike a better balance and reignite my enthusiasm for learning, which, in the end, gave my academic performance a boost. 

Matt (administrative coordinator): 

The moments I see the student-teacher dichotomy fall away and transform into a colleague-mentor relationship are the ones I wish I could preserve to show to grad students when they’re having one of those “ohhh, what did I sign myself up for?” reactions to the first semester. It’s a great thing as a staff person to watch the ease and familiarity increase between student and teacher over a semester. I see it happen often in the spill-over moments of teacher-student interactions (i.e. serendipitous conversations in the kitchen waiting in line for the microwave, the post-class meandering exodus of humans through the hallways, etc.). It comes up all the time in my conversations with faculty how they’re still lingering on a learning they took away from what was shared in class or are excited to share a story of something that happened to them in the field and get their students’ takes. I believe we’re all stumbling towards learning and figuring out the questions that need asking – faculty, students, staff, and administrators alike. I know that soothes my anxiety as each new semester unfolds.  

Natasha Keces, Child Study and Human Development PhD candidate and Graduate Student Council President

By now we are nearing the end of the Fall semester, making it halfway through another (hopefully not horribly treacherous) academic year at Tufts. Whether this is your first semester at Tufts, you are deep into your program, or you are thinking about Tufts as a potential school, I think that it is important to celebrate where you are and how you got here and to take some time for yourself. 

When celebrating your hard work and considering your future at Tufts, you may also be looking for a like minded community to lift you up and offer more support. Although you, without a doubt, deserve to be here and have so much to offer not only the university but also your peers, understanding your place within the graduate student body can be a struggle. Departments, specific research teams, or learning environments are often physically or socially siloed within their respective spaces so connection with other people may not be immediate or seem natural. This can be hard (I know it was a transition for me!) but luckily support systems have been created by the university and other students.  

In what probably won’t come as a surprise to you as a reader that I am very passionate about understanding and supporting graduate student life. This year I am the president of the Graduate Student Council, a wonderful team of elected graduate student representatives that have the sole mission of understanding the needs of the current graduate students and creating targeted support. Support can look like truly anything – including but not limited to decreasing the barrier to having a headshot by offering free photoshoots every semester, giving the opportunity for social connection and engagement with fun social events like bar nights, bowling, and pumpkin carving, fostering academic rigor and bolstering your CV with thesis and research competitions within the university, and creating the opportunity to give back to the broader Somerville community through community services events. In all of these spaces, you will meet people from all departments with all types of interests, experiences, and knowledge and get to know people you may have never interacted with otherwise. At the end of the day, we have all been thrown together in a similar environment at Tufts, gaining a unique shared experience as a member of the Tufts graduate student body that we can collectively grow from. 

You can learn about all the events run by the Graduate Student Council and what we do on our social media (Instagram @tufts_ase_gsc, Facebook at Tufts ASE Graduate Student Council), monthly newsletter, Slack Channel, and website (https://sites.tufts.edu/asegsc/). More than focusing only on what we currently do, I consider our role as constantly thinking of ways to consider how we can adapt in the future to support graduate students in new ways. I always encourage emails to gsc-president@tufts.edu to give me and the other GSC members more insight into your lives and how we can support you! 

I also think in order to do your best work, to allow you to continue growing more in your time in your Tufts grad program, and to ease any other concerns that may be hindering your progress in your program, it can be important to know more about other resources that Tufts can offer graduate students. Here are just a few of my favorites: 

The team at Tufts Student Support (https://students.tufts.edu/student-support) has been created to meet individual student needs and to direct you to other places that can help you flourish at Tufts. You can schedule individual appointments with them to talk about where you are at and how you can continue to succeed! 

You may also be feeling the weight of financial burdens as they impact your ability to purchase food that sustains you to do your work. Various resources have been compiled and are available here (https://students.tufts.edu/dean-students-office/help-support/food-resources) in order to speak to food insecurity both on Tufts campus and in the larger community.  

The university provides free graduate writing support and academic success coaching (https://students.tufts.edu/staar-center/academic-support/graduate-student-resources) – you can book up to weekly appointments during your time here. 

If attending a social event held by the graduate student council feels too big and overwhelming, specific identity based centers (https://students.tufts.edu/division-student-diversity-and-inclusion-dsdi) offer opportunities for connection with individuals of similar identity groups through fun events and physical Medford campus spaces. 

At the end of the day, you have made it so far and will only continue to grow in your time at Tufts (maybe even with the support of the Graduate Student Council or other Tufts resources!). 

Written by Ebru Ece Gulsan, Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering

We have all heard horror stories about grad school. We knew advancing our research and coursework, while balancing our finances and life outside of grad school, would be challenging. But knowing and experiencing something is different. Maybe as an undergraduate, we were one of those students who seldom struggled with the assignments. Maybe our friends and family used to point at us as the overachiever of the crew. Maybe we played sports, planned events for social clubs, volunteered at animal shelters, or got straight A’s and graduated in Dean’s List of Honor. We know we were more than capable of overcoming the struggles of grad school. But, maybe we thought it would be just like a breeze, that we thought we would be an exception. But are we really an exception?

Maybe you come here as an overachiever and the very first experiment you designed fails. Graduate level classes are actually really hard, and now you have to assist undergraduates about a class that you took 3 years ago and barely remember the basics. Then maybe your second and third experiments fail, and your self-confidence falls through the floor. You realize you are not giggling while incubating your bacteria and start questioning if you are actually happy or meant to be in grad school.

So here is the deal:

It is OK to experience failure in grad school. You are literally creating knowledge and performing cutting edge research – and that science is built by figuring out what doesn’t work as much as by figuring out what does.

It is OK that your experiments take more time than you thought they would. There will always be bottlenecks and inevitable setbacks on your timeline and sometimes they are not predictable.

It is OK that some weeks you will have to work day and night, but some weeks there will not be much to do. You will not be burnt out every single day. Having ups and downs is completely normal. Steady state assumption only works for solving hypothetical chemical engineering problems.

It is OK that your initial hypothesis on your thesis proposal was wrong. It would be a miracle if you guessed it right on your first time. I know it can be frustrating to come up with a new idea, but do not forget about what you have learned along the way. You deep dove in the literature and read a tremendous amount of research articles, did numerous experiments, defended your ideas in rigorous discussions. You know much more than you used to – even though you are not aware of it yet! You will be surprised how natural it will be to come up with a new hypothesis.

It is OK that you mixed up the bottles when you were preparing your solutions. So what? You can make them again! I guarantee you that even the third year PhD student in your lab, who you think is very confident in their work, once made the same mistake.

Everybody fails.

Grad school is a place where pretty much everybody is brilliant. Your group members are brilliant, your faculty is brilliant, your classmates are brilliant, your advisor is brilliant (probably the most brilliant person you have ever met in your life). Everybody has certain personality traits that brought them to grad school: time management skills, dedication, organization; the very same skills that brought YOU to the grad school! So please remind yourself that there is no smooth way to achieve your goals.  Even the people you consider successful scientists have failed many times on their way to where they are standing right now.

Luckily, Tufts offers numerous resources we need to balance our countless responsibilities as graduate students. I tend to see exercising and fitness as a “binding agent” for all my other tasks; moving my body always gets me through my daily responsibilities smoothly. The Tisch Fitness Center provides a safe and healthy environment for those who would like to use the exercise studios and gym equipment upon reservation. Counseling and Mental Health Service (CHMS) understands the unique challenges of being a graduate student and offers short- and long- term counseling, group meetings, and telehealth services. The International Center always has an annual calendar filled with events for Graduate Students and all students, even in the middle of a pandemic, to assist us in our journey and increase the knowledge of immigration laws and international student rights.

Last but not least, it is crucial to build a supportive community especially with the folks who go through similar experiences with you. Along with the welcoming environment of Tufts University, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) is always there as a representative body and a priceless catalyst for us to meet other graduate students and engage in valuable conversations with our peers.

My advisor once said if he already knew everything he had learned throughout his PhD before he started, his PhD would have only taken 6 months. There is a reason why PhD takes 5+ years. Just because you struggle with this aspect of your work, that does not reflect on you as a person. Making mistakes does not make you a bad scientist; it makes you a human. We are here to learn; this is a part of the process and should not be locked out of the experience. Failure is natural. It is organic. It is expected. The only superpower we need to have is hard work. We just need to learn how to pick ourselves up and move along.

Written by Abigail Epplett, M.A. student in Museum Education

Hello, readers! My name is Abigail Epplett, and I’m a master’s candidate at Tufts University in the Museum Studies program with a concentration in Education. I also love American History, so I’ve taken classes about that as well. I actually entered the Museum Studies program through the certificate track, but I moved to the master’s track over the summer.

Today, I’m going to talk about two important parts of my experience: why did I choose Tufts over other programs, and how do you transfer from the certificate to master’s track?

Part One: Why Tufts?

I also appreciated that Tufts had online learning options even before the pandemic. My first semester, I took an online class about Digital Technology & Museums, which was taught online using Canvas. I had experience taking online classes in middle school and high school, so this was easy for me to learn. Plus, the topic lent itself really well to being taught online. One tip to succeeding with online learning is to go into the course module as soon as it opens and look everything over. Every professor organizes the module in a different way, so knowing how to navigate the virtual space beforehand is super important.

The third reason I chose Tufts was because of the Practicum, which is required of both certificate and master’s track students. This is an opportunity for Museum Studies students to work with a museum or non-profit organization and hone the skills they have learned in class, along with making connections with other people in the field. I took my practicum over the summer with Blackstone Heritage Corridor, Inc., a non-profit organization that works in collaboration with the National Park Service to preserve the history and environment of my area. It was a great way to see how non-profits and public agencies can work together to support local communities.

Part Two: How do I move from a Certificate to a Master’s program?

Because of COVID-19, museums are currently laying off workers, rather than hiring them, so I decided that entering the job market was not a good idea. Once the market improves, a master’s degree will be considered more valuable to employers than a certificate. I had also made a lot of new friends and connections while in the program. Another important factor was that I was not going into serious debt to earn the degree, so the investment was financially feasible.

Moving from the certificate to the master’s programs is advertised on the Tufts Museum Studies website, but the actual process is individualized and takes some pre-planning and organization. I imagine that the process is similar for other departments. Here are some things to keep in mind during the process.

Start by talking to your advisor and/or the head of the department. These people are professionals and have helped many other students transfer between tracks. They can often connect you with whoever you might need to talk to in Graduate Admissions or Financial Services.

Make sure you know what tests you need to take. Some departments require GRE or GMAT scores to be submitted with the move to a new degree program. Because COVID-19 has stopped much of this testing, this requirement was waived for me. Your application also requires a final transcript, which you already submitted when applying to the certificate program. Email Graduate Admissions to make sure this document is transferred between applications.

Once your transfer is successful within Graduate Admissions, you still need to manually transfer your credits in SIS, the online database that controls all of Tufts billing, financial, class schedule, course selection, and feeding times for Jumbo. (Okay, I made that last part up…) This is also called “petitioning to the head of the department,” and it can be somewhat confusing. For example, Museum Studies operates within the spheres of Education, History and Art History, so I had to petition to the Chair of the Education Department even though I had taken all Museum Studies classes, some cross-listed in different departments. Just remember to transfer your credits, or they will look like they have disappeared from your account, not to mention that your billing will not be correct.

In the Museum Studies program, certificate classes were paid per credit at a discounted rate. Master’s classes are paid in bulk in the first two semesters of the program, while only fees are paid for the second (or third) year, although the amount of fees might surprise you. If you feel as though you cannot afford to pay for the entire program up front but find payments over four semesters more feasible, start with the certificate program and then move to the master’s program.

Another layer gets added if you are eligible for scholarships and federal work-study. When moving to the master’s program, be sure to ask your advisor if there are scholarships available. This can take a lot of money off your bill. Make sure you fill out your FAFSA ahead of time, even if you aren’t sure if you will receive aid, because this information is often required to receive scholarships. You also have a chance to receive Federal-Work Study hours. Once you receive your bill, make sure to look at it right away – if you are not understanding what you see, contact Financial Services. They are really good at explaining each item on the bill and explaining future billing. For me, my second semester bill will be pro-rated to account for the classes I took while in the certificate program. Please note that there is currently a three-day waiting list for Financial Services emails on account of COVID-19, so be patient and kind while emailing them! They will certainly return the favor.

Conclusion

I hope that answers the questions you may have about why I chose Tufts for my master’s alma mater, and how to move from a certificate track to a master’s track. If you have any more questions about my experience or the process of moving to a certificate to a master’s program, feel free to reply in the comments, and I’ll try to answer you in a timely manner. Enjoy your time at Tufts!

Written by Ruaidhri Crofton, History and Museum Studies M.A. student

Most Tufts students will likely know of the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s Ride, and the Battle of Bunker Hill, just a few of the many significant historic events that have taken place in and around Boston throughout the city’s nearly 400-year history. However, many are surprised to find out just how many cool and quirky historic claims to fame can be found in their own backyard. Though Boston may often overshadow its smaller Medford and Somerville neighbors, these two cities are themselves home to a number of interesting historic sites. With many within walking distance or a short bus ride of the Tufts campus, a visit to any of these sites is not only a great way to get to know your new community, but a fun opportunity to do some exercise in the process!

Please note that given the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency in Massachusetts and around the world, I would strongly advise against planning a visit to any of these sites until the situation improves.

Jingle All the Way…to Medford Square! (Medford)

Inspired by popular sleigh races that used to take place on Salem Street in Medford in the early 1800s, James Pierpont is said to have penned the now iconic Christmas song “Jingle Bells” at Simpson’s Tavern in Medford Square in 1850. This seasonal claim to fame is rather dubious as the city of Savannah, Georgia, where the song was copyrighted in 1857, also claims to be the where the song was first composed. However, a small plaque now marks the site of Simpson’s Tavern as the site of the song’s birthplace and is sure to bring some holiday joy to Tufts students looking to take a short stroll from campus to see it.

Walking Distance from Tufts: 0.7 miles, 14 minutes

Just Call Me #1! (Somerville)

Charles Williams, Jr. arguably had the easiest phone number in the world to remember: 1. In April 1877, the Williams family home at 1 Arlington Street in Somerville became the site of the first permanent residential telephone line in the world. The owner of a telegraph manufacturing facility in Boston, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson experimented with the telephone in Williams’ shop and eventually installed a phone line connecting his house in Somerville to his office in Boston. What was the first conversation held over this line? A brief message from Williams to his wife after work: “Caroline, I’m coming home!”

Walking Distance from Tufts: 2.4 miles, 49 minutes

“To Grandfather’s House We Go!” (Medford)

In yet another claim to lyrical fame, Medford is also home to the Paul Curtis House, said to be the “Grandfather’s House” in Lydia Maria Child’s beloved poem “Over the River and through the Wood” written in 1844. Originally published as “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day”, the work recounts the author’s childhood memories of visiting her Grandfather’s house during Thanksgiving. An unknown composer eventually set the poem to the tune that remains popular today.

Walking Distance from Tufts: 0.7 miles, 14 minutes

Powder House to Pickle Factory (Somerville)

First built as a windmill c. 1704, the Old Powder House in Somerville was eventually converted into a gunpowder magazine in 1747 by the colonial government of Massachusetts. In the lead up to the American Revolution, Governor Thomas Gage ordered the removal of military stores from arsenals like the Old Powder House in an attempt to prevent the outbreak of war amongst colonists. On September 1, 1774, a force of approximately 260 British Regulars removed all of the gunpowder held in the Old Powder House before returning to Boston. This led to panic amongst colonists throughout the countryside amid rumors that bloodshed had occurred, resulting in thousands of militiamen mobilizing and streaming toward Boston in response. Since then, the property surrounding the Old Powder House has been used as a farm by the Tufts family, a carriageway, and even a pickle factory. Today, the Old Powder House stands in Nathan Tufts Park near several restaurants popular amongst Tufts students and next to another eccentric landmark: the “Museum of Modern Renaissance”.

Walking Distance from Tufts: 0.5 miles, 10 minutes

The Royall House and Slave Quarters (Medford)

The Royall House and Slave Quarters preserves the 18th century home of the Royall family, the largest slaveholding family in Massachusetts, along with the only remaining slave quarters in the northern United States. Visitors are welcome to visit the site from mid-March to mid-November where they can take a guided tour of both the mansion and slave quarters to learn more about the property’s role in the history of race, class, and slavery in North America. Though the stories preserved and interpreted by the site can be troubling to hear, a visit to the museum provides an impactful means of learning about this country’s past and its significance today. Admission is typically only $10, but Tufts students are able to visit for free.

Walking Distance from Tufts: 0.2 miles, 5 minutes

Fluff (Somerville)

Although not exactly a historic landmark you can visit, Somerville is the birthplace of perhaps one of the most famous guilty pleasures in the Northeast: marshmallow fluff! In 1917, Somerville confectioner Albert Query began marketing the sweet, sticky concoction door-to-door before selling his recipe to candy makers H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower in 1920. Today, the Durkee-Mower factory in nearby Lynn, Massachusetts continues to produce marshmallow fluff to be enjoyed on its own or as a key ingredient in a New England take on the peanut butter sandwich: the fluffernutter. Every September, Somerville hosts the annual “What the Fluff?” festival in Union Square to celebrate the local invention. While you’re there, be sure to check out The Mμseum – perhaps the smallest art museum in the world!

Walking Distance from Tufts: 2.4 miles, 50 minutes

Amelia Earhart’s House (Medford)

Before she became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932, Amelia Earhart worked as a teacher and social worker at a Boston settlement house during the 1920s. During the week, Earhart worked to teach classes and hosted programs for new immigrants and their children at Denison House. During her time off on weekends, she gained experience doing what she is now most famous for: flying. Originally from Kansas, from 1925 to 1928 Earhart made her home in Medford with her mother and sister in a small house on Brooks Street. A small plaque in her honor can be found outside the private home today.

Walking Distance from Tufts: 1.5 miles, 31 minutes

Don’t know where to start in your move to the Greater Boston area? Check out posts by graduate students and alumni in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering, all whom came to Tufts from afar.

Making Friends and Building a Community when Moving to Boston, from an international student’s perspective

Written by Ebru Ece Gulsan, Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering

---

• 

• 

When Home is 2,500 Miles Away

Written by Alia Wulff, Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. Candidate

---

So you think you want to move to Boston… Now what?

Written by Lennon Wolcott, M.F.A. 2017

---

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Moving to Tufts

Written by Michelle Connor, Music M.A. 2017