Tufts University

Apply for first-year Apply for transfer

Tufts University

Apply for first-year Apply for transfer

Tufts is a private university composed of three undergraduate programs—the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering, both located in Somerville/Medford, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, located in Boston—and many graduate programs. Tufts is a leader in American higher education, a blend of both a research university and a liberal arts college. This unique combination attracts students, faculty, and staff who thrive in our environment of curiosity, creativity, and civic engagement.

You can’t fit Tufts students into a box. They are kind, intellectually powerful, down-to-earth, driven, and civic-minded. At Tufts, they learn how to make a measurable difference and then start making it—even as undergraduates. Whether they are engineers, studio artists, political scientists, or poets, our students graduate from Tufts ready to enact positive change in the communities they join, locally and globally.

Virtual Tour

Academic Programs

Engineering
Liberal Arts
Research
Visual Arts

Student experience

Athletics
Co-op/Internship Opportunities
Disability Services
Greek Life
Intramural/Club Sports
LGBTQIA Services
On-Campus Housing
ROTC Program
Study Abroad
Undergraduate Research

Application information

Find out about requirements, fees, and deadlines

First-year

First-year students apply using the Common Application, the Coalition Application, or the QuestBridge Application. In addition to the application, 1 teacher recommendation, 1 school counselor recommendation, transcripts, a personal statement and the responses to the Tufts short-answer questions are required. An interview with an alumnus/a is optional. Tufts University is currently test optional, and students can decide whether they want SAT and/or ACT scores to be considered as a part of their application. Note: All applicants whose primary language is not English must submit proof of English proficiency, unless a student has been enrolled in an English instruction school for at least three years. You can learn more about our testing policy here.

Transfer

Tufts welcomes applications for transfer admission from students who will have completed some college by the time they plan to enroll at Tufts. Our only entry point for transfer students is in the fall. The number of transfer students who matriculate to Tufts in a given year varies.

Additional Information

WE DO OUR RESEARCH
Tufts is a student-centered research university, which means that we like to dig into our passions deeply and figure things out for ourselves—whether that involves using silk to regenerate tissue or spending a fully-funded summer exploring the political implications of Shakespeare’s plays through the Summer Scholars program. Students and professors come together, across disciplines, to ask questions and create meaning.

WE ARE ACTIVE CITIZENS
Jumbos use their skills and ideas to better people’s lives, whether they are teaching engineering in local elementary schools, creating sustainable businesses, or spending a semester in Peru immersed in social and environmental justice as part of the Tufts Civic Semester. They understand that they are citizens of a global community, and they embrace that responsibility.

WE ARE INTERESTED
...in a lot of things. Tufts students don't limit themselves: they combine biology with philosophy, compete as nationally-ranked D3 athletes, pursue degrees in studio art at the School of the Museums of Fine Arts, and solve problems as engineers. They're part of a community that embraces the unconventional and the uncategorizable.

WE DON’T TAKE OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY
This is a place where students are as excited to debate fan theories as they are to apply mathematical theorems—as intellectually playful as they are powerful. We believe that ideas can have a profound impact on the world, and those ideas can be born around the seminar table but also in the residence hall common room.

Visit us

Our Medford/Somerville campus – home to the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering – is located just five miles outside of Boston and may be easily reached by car or public transportation. The SMFA at Tufts campus is located in Boston in the Fenway neighborhood and is across the street from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. If you would like to visit either campus, we encourage you to join us in-person or virtually for an information session, student-led tour, and or/an SMFA portfolio review. You can register for your visit on our website – we look forward to meeting you!

“Tufts is a school of acceptance and tolerance, and treats each student with genuine care. The students and faculty are able to immerse themselves in the diversity and adventure that lives within Medford, Boston, and beyond in order to stimulate a more colorful and active conversation in the classroom. Here, I am supported in my passion for civic engagement while juggling my learning in psychology, medicine, and education. This university has a focus on community that allows me to supplement my learning with service.”
Praise Adekola, '23