Do You Think You Want to be an Engineer?

Think you want to be a Tufts engineer? If so, we want to help you get there. Here are our top tips for applying to the School of Engineering from our very own Associate Director for Engineering Recruitment, Beky Stiles!

Determine if you’re an engineer: If the classes, research, and projects you read about here make you jump for joy: congratulations—you’re an engineer! But if you’re on the fence between majors like biomedical engineering and biology or chemical engineering and chemistry, take a look at the online “degree sheet” for your intended major (Google “major + degree sheet + Tufts”). If the engineering major entices you more than the option you are considering in the School of Arts and Sciences: congratulations—you’re an engineer! Still unsure? Talk to current students, faculty, counselors, and family members. Then go with your gut and apply to whichever program feels like the best fit for you.

Map out your schedule: Our engineers typically take around 38 classes during their undergraduate time at Tufts. And, as you hopefully can imagine, STEM courses logically make up a good amount of those 38! Our admissions committee does a deep dive into applicants’ math and science high school trajectory. Our most competitive applicants will be in the most advanced science and math courses their school offers. It’s okay and even encouraged to specialize a little bit your senior year. If you need to forego a fourth year of foreign language in order to double up in math or science, that’s a decision we understand and support as we review your transcript. But also embrace any electives that let you celebrate your inner engineer. Computer science, woodshop, orchestra…they all show an aptitude and mindset for engineering. Tufts celebrates that interdisciplinary mindset; after all, our engineers have to take eight courses in our School of Arts and Sciences as part of our curriculum.

Line up your recommendations: Your school counselors and teachers are some of your biggest advocates in this process. Tufts requires one counselor recommendation and one teacher recommendation (but yes, you can send us more than one teacher recommendation!). For engineers, it is especially helpful to have a recommendation from a math or science teacher. Instead of asking a teacher who doesn’t know you well but who gave you an A++ on every assignment (because that teacher will inevitably talk about all of your A++s…which is already something we know from your transcript!), ask a teacher who truly knows you and can write stories and anecdotes to help us understand you better as a community member, collaborator, and tinkerer.

Harness your engineering “voice”: Tufts engineers aren’t just math and science whizzes. They’re also playful, creative, collaborative, logical, enthusiastic, and grounded. In your essays, we’ll be looking for the soft skills that will make you a great engineer and the je ne sais quoi that will make you a great Jumbo. While you shouldn’t feel pressured to write about engineering specifically, do ask yourself if the topics you tackle showcase those attributes. And if writing isn’t your thing, don’t panic! Do the best you can with the task at hand, then feel free to show us your engineering skills through the optional Maker Portfolio.