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Humans of Tufts, Tufts, Medford, MA (2026)

02/23/2022

“I came to Tufts with immense imposter syndrome that reminded me daily of past regrets and introduced so much fear regarding what my experience would look like here. While I came here unsure of why I got in, I’ll soon graduate confident in my abilities to navigate the natural pressures of growing into an adult. While the idea of growing up is scary to me, I am reminded that at Tufts I have been able to experience and accomplish things I would have never imagined for myself at age 16. At 16, I couldn’t see the bigger picture and I can now trust that there is still a bigger picture to be drawn out and that I can embrace that journey. This comes from learning that my expectations for myself and who I want to become may constantly evolve, but as long as I am reevaluating and evolving with them, I will keep on learning and growing.

The regrets and fears I came to Tufts with made it hard for me to believe in my ability to succeed here and made me fear the ramifications of failure. I’ve realized that we’re only in this space where we can make mistakes and pick ourselves back up for a limited time. Pushing myself to advocate for myself and others around me helped me let go of the fear of being wrong. I’ve learned that it’s better to speak your truth with a shaky voice than not speak your truth at all. Along the way, you may not even realize when your voice stops shaking.

Lastly, there is an immense privilege in having people believe in you. I have felt uplifted by so many friends, peers, and professors here. Having a village of support around me has helped me feel secure, inspired, and accepted. Maybe the most important thing I have learned in college is that the ultimate power is when you start believing in yourself. As I wrap up college, I know that I want to make the most of every day. I want to continue growing in ways I don’t know yet, experience new things as much as I can, and continue to be more true to myself.”

– Radhika Sharma, Class of 2022

02/02/2022

Hello Everyone!

Humans of Tufts is back with a new set of stories to share. We hope you will enjoy and relate to these new stories. If you would like your story to be heard, please email [email protected]. Otherwise, please like, share, and boost the page and the posts!

We look forward to a new semester with all of you.

02/02/2022

“Right now, I’m most afraid of leaving behind a time that may just be the happiest and freest I’ll ever feel: no parents around, no 9-to-5 work schedule tying me down, no siblings or kids to be responsible for.

I started off college really lonely. Choosing to spend a lot of my time away from Tufts in my first year left me without a close support system at school, and I spent the rest of my time desperately searching for a home amongst my peers. In the middle of my freshman year, we were sent home due to the increasing severity of COVID. My difficulty finding my place at Tufts didn’t get any easier with fully remote classes and online learning. I felt frustrated that I felt so out of place at a school where everyone seemed so free and happy.

In my sophomore year, I was lucky to find some of the best friends I’d made my entire life. I found people who truly enjoyed the same things – from Pokémon to matcha lattes to reading productivity books. My friends and I spent our days studying and chatting and the nights laughing and dancing. It was the first time I truly felt that Tufts was my home.

Now in my third year, I feel the happiest I ever have. I read, run, knit, snowboard, play video games, design graphics, cook, and have the freedom to do anything. New friendships budded and old friendships blossomed. I live life to the fullest, constantly learning new things and pushing myself to become the best version.

At the end of this past fall semester, I chose to graduate a year early. At first, I was so excited to have a gap year before dental school. But when I realized that I’m accelerating a time in my life that I would never experience again, I found myself upset that I didn’t cherish my wonderful time at Tufts as much as I should have.

Thus, I have made it my mission to live my last semester to the fullest, sledding down the Pres Lawn, watching the sunrise on Tisch roof, and going into every Tufts building just to explore. Although it’s bittersweet to be leaving, I know that my time at Tufts was an amazing one. Looking forward makes me excited about what’s to come after college – a new chapter in my life, ready to be unfolded.”

- Grace Gong, class of 2022

02/15/2020

“I wasn’t allowed to ride until I was 10. My parents were very against it because of a fear of what could happen to me. One of my mom’s friends died because a horse flipped on her. My dad just didn’t like it because of the money.

My older sister started to ride horses through Pony Club. I had a bunch of Briar Horses when she started riding, and I was obsessed with them. I named all of them, and I would bring them to the barn with me when I watched my sister ride. It was an obsession.

At age 9 I demanded, ‘I want to ride,’ and I wouldn’t leave my room until they agreed. Super bratty of me to do, but I’m glad they finally came around to it. When I started riding it became about personal growth. I loved the horses, but for the first time, I felt like I was achieving. Before that, I felt like I sucked at everything. Horses have taught me that I’m stronger than I think. Until freshman year of high school, I was 4’9” and a stick. When I got on a horse, I learned how to hold my own. It was the best feeling. I also grew mentally stronger. For the first two years of riding, I fell off every lesson. I cried after most of my first lessons. When I fell off my sister would give me back the horse again and scream, ‘Man up Claire!’ After a while, I learned to stand up and get back on. I just kept going. It taught me that even when things get you down, it’s going to be fine. I learned to love it.

My family had my horse, Hannah, since I was 12. Her show name was Hands-on Sporting Days. Terrible name, but that’s where Hannah came from. When my family adopted her, we renamed her Alma Fuerte, which means ‘strong soul’ in Spanish. She was a bitch, but we got along really well. Everyone hated her because the minute you fight with her, she rams you into a wall. Somehow, we worked well together.

I broke up with my boyfriend for her! He started to get annoyed with me because I always had to go feed my horse instead of hanging out with him. But he couldn’t come with me because he was allergic to horses. That should have been a sign. I wanted to go to a horse show in Kentucky the same week that he wanted me to go to the beach with him. He said, ‘Pick me or the horse’ and my response was, ‘the horse.’

Right before I came to Tufts I had to sell Hannah because: ‘tuition.’ I went from riding her 6 times a week to not at all. I always knew I would have to sell her. But it still sucked when she moved to Maryland. I decided I didn’t want to ride a horse that wasn’t Hannah for a while because it made me really upset. Yet after I didn’t get into any Tufts acapella groups, I decided I would try out for the Tufts Equestrian Team. I saved up a bunch of money so I could pay for lessons, and then sophomore year I joined the team. I was hooked.”

-Claire Tierney (class of 2021)

02/04/2020

Hello Everyone,
I would like to inform you that we now have an instagram. Please follow us at humansoftuftsofficial.
Have a wonderful Semester!

02/03/2020

“I wish that financial insecurity didn’t exist. I wish that every person is inherently good, and they want the best for others as they wish for themselves. I wish I didn’t have to scroll through my facebook feed to see people suffering from avoidable challenges and non-avoidable natural disasters. I wish money hadn’t kept my parents from seeing their parents one last time before they passed away. I wish I didn’t have to “get a job.” I wish the old me knew what I know now. I have many wishes and regrets in life. If I could better communicate my feelings, hopes, and aspirations with the people I love most, I think I could alleviate those regrets. In doing so, I want to grow as a person and move away from my introverted tendencies, which have impacted my experiences throughout my childhood and in college.
In every new beginning of my life, whether immigrating from Ethiopia to Texas, or moving from Texas to Massachusetts, I have let myself and others set me back to my hermit tendencies everytime I feel as though I finally grew out of my shell.
I am now a junior at Tufts and I feel like I have found my community here, but when I first came to campus, I wasn't sure where I belonged. I sometimes hated the dining halls, which felt like a social challenge. I felt that I wasn't black enough for the black community at Tufts and I wasn't not black enough to fit in other communities. I wanted to confirm my identity with the people I thought I was supposed to look like and act like. Slowly, but surely I have come to realize my own detrimental behaviors and that only I can dictate the impact those behaviors have on my life. As long as I am true to my passions and aspirations, and as long as I push myself outside of my comfort zone while trying to surround myself with people who will challenge my intellect and support my personal growth, goals and aspirations, I will be fine.
I am still learning about myself and how I can be a better version of myself. The one thing that I would recommend to people who are learning about themselves and how they can be better is: Seek out the things you are curious about, ask questions, give to others, and love yourself.”
- Sosina Assefa, Class of 2021

01/24/2020

“Right now I’m learning how to trust myself. Struggling with mental health, it’s often hard to feel like you are in control of your own life. It’s even harder to be honest with yourself and those around you. Authenticity can feel impossible. Whenever I would have a bad brain day, I would always claim that I wasn’t feeling like myself. Then I realized that didn’t make sense because I don’t stop being me when things go bad. I didn’t want to accept the parts of myself that I wasn’t proud of, but I can’t pick and choose which parts of myself I’m willing to love. I’m learning to accept that me while depressed or anxious is still me, and that doesn’t take away from my light. I’ve struggled with mental health for so long that I don’t have a fantasized ‘normal self’ to come back to. I’m learning to love myself more holistically. I’m learning how to be kinder to myself, how to be more patient with myself, how to forgive younger versions of me that didn’t know any better. My concept of self is constantly in flux. I’m obsessively passionate and could talk about anything I love for hours, but I also easily get emotionally exhausted and get the urge to isolate myself for days. When I’m not around the right people, my social battery doesn't last long. I’ve been getting better at letting go of people. I’ve learned that you can appreciate the past you had with someone and still not want them in your future. Some people are good friends, but just not a good friend for you. I’ve realized I don’t owe anyone friendship at the expense of my peace of mind. For the first time in a long time I feel like I can breathe. I was so used to surrounding myself with people who suffocated me and made me feel like the perpetual other. Now that I’m finally reshaping my circle, I’m learning about a whole new side of myself. I’ve realized that I’m bad at casual friendship, I don’t know if that’s part of my anxiety, but I can’t only give someone a part of me and have it feel like a friendship. Why would I ever want to surround myself with people that I can’t be myself around. You can love all of me or none of me.” -Rachel Mintz (class of 2022)

09/04/2019

"I am afraid of not being young anymore. I know, in other people’s eyes, I am still considered a very young person with lots of time. I have also been told many times that it is possible to "age gracefully." Deep down, however, I am convinced that almost everything that I am able to do right now is because I am young. I know that my current physical and mental health can afford me fully experiencing the thrill of life: staying up very late with my friends, singing at the top of my lungs, going on long hikes, swimming in the ocean, dressing in all kinds of clothes, and adoring the body I have. All of the things that I do make me feel alive, and I can only do these things because I am young. Because I am young, I have time; I have time to make mistakes. I have time to fall in love with the wrong person and take forever to walk out of it. I have time to realize this life isn't how I like it and change it. I have time to create something that would outlive me. So in the end, I guess, this all means I fear running out of time. I fear the death of my current self. I fear death before I have time to experience everything. I fear leaving that life behind."

- 冬青 Rena Ju (Class of 2022, Taking a Gap Year)

08/30/2019

Hello everyone!
As a new school year is approaching, this page will once again be alive with stories and experiences. If you have a perspective you want to tell, please message us. Additionally, If you want to join the team, send a message and we may take you on-board. Please support us and look forward to new stories!

-Humans of Tufts

07/23/2019

Only if it were easy to shift my interests completely and become a doctor, I would do that in a heartbeat. I don’t think my parents were ever discouraging, but they were always wary of creative pursuits. There are some days I would so badly wish to love medicine and sales and talk about them, but I don't and I can't. But on a less career based answer, the kind of person I want to grow into is a person who doesn’t live by comparison and is able to stay within their own attention. I would want to stay within my own intentions and follow through with things. I think I struggle with having super big ideas and not really carrying them out. I’d like to be someone that can put boundaries on myself and take care of myself but the “by comparison” thing is coming out a lot for me especially because I’ve just gotten out of this super hard year, my sophomore year was so difficult, and I’m just awakening to the possibility of my own ambition again. My ambition wasn’t something I was thinking about. Now I can think about “what do I like?” I finally have space now to think about those questions. Sometimes you’re just living day to day, so now I’m finally able to think about that. Today I was on instagram and seeing all my friends do all these crazy things and look so nice, I was like “I should be doing that, I should be doing better. I should be pursuing creative projects more. I should be drinking that ginger root tea,” you know, stupid things like that. I just have to be patient with myself and hopefully when I'm in my mid thirties and ill be like “ok, I see where I was going with that.”

My sophomore year was difficult to a comical degree. Lots of people left my life and strange circumstances put me in a difficult position mentally. I wasn’t very engaged in my friendships and relationships. I felt like I was in a position of wading in grief. I was standing in it like floodwater. Every single sector of my life, held a lot of uncertainty and tragedy. What was difficult about that was that I would try to lean on people for support and some people would be there for me and other people couldn’t and I just had to take that as a neutral fact rather than a personal one. That was difficult; when I wanted people to just drop everything for me. I was relying on people and that wasn’t really working to make me feel better-- and then I got into this car accident with my mom, my two best friends and I during spring break.

From June to March was this onslaught of tragically hard things happening to me. On that day in March, we should have died in that car accident, because it was a head on collision of 50 miles per hour. I was in the front seat, my mom was driving, my friends were in the backseat. All I walked out of it was a concussion, which is such a blessing. My mom was more injured than I was, because she was in a lot of shock, so she wasn’t saying things that made sense. The ambulance came and she could only speak in Bengali, so I had to translate for her, something I never had to do for her. It was very scary. She was taken to the hospital and I didn’t check myself in. I should have. We got all of our belongings from the totally wrecked car and put it in an Uber and left. “We live another day” I said.

The next day I went to a clinic because I was having a severe headache and they told me I was having a concussion. I went to school and I was carrying on school as normal, which was a big no no. Health services told me that the concussion was a much more severe problem, and I had to take care of it. That made me step back from doing the things I was doing. I couldn’t go on the phone and compare myself with other people on instagram. I couldn’t stay past 10pm so I had to go to sleep. Normally my schedule is from 2am to 8am, crazy gross little amounts of sleep. I couldn’t engage in my extracurriculars, but I was so grateful to be alive. I felt like I had cheated death in a way and it gave me permission to go past my grief, because I realized “I’m alive and I’m here. I might as well live my life.” That’s something that I don’t remember everyday. I had to take two incomplete classes and finish the work over the summer, but that is something that shaped how I live moving forward.

Trina Sanyal

06/11/2019

I definitely feel like I spread myself too thin. I invest myself in too many areas. My three academic tracks are unrelated. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough time to put into the things that are important to me because there are so many things going on. That definitely stresses me out and more so because I don’t prioritize myself a lot. I definitely try to get things done before I take care of myself. It’s not sustainable but I have to get everything done.

It’s hard to prioritize your relationships with people, to support people. That’s something I realized, I have to make time for the people in my life. That’s just as important as my exams. I feel like I don’t need to receive a lot, because I rely on myself a lot. I feel like I am capable enough to push things on my own and not need a ton of support. It’s not true, but I convince myself of that a lot. I definitely say I am more giving person than receiving.

But, I am so lucky to have amazing friends in my life. Isabell Creed has been my rock. Even when I tell her that I don’t need any help and I’m fine, she forces me to receive her help and understand and admit that I can’t do everything on my own. She reminds me that I can rely on her and allow other people to support me through tough times. She’s the most amazing friend I could have asked for. Adam Lipson is such an incredible friend for me as well. He’s another person who will always check in with me, making sure that everything is going well and letting me talk about things that I need to talk about. These are people who know me and know what I need, even when I don’t know what I need.
..

I think what draws me to medicine is the personal aspect. Having relationships with my patients and having an impact on their lives as a person. I have a very holistic view of medicine, it’s more than the actual science around it. It’s the mind, spiritual and body connection. And I think music plays a large role in healing. I’m actually writing a research paper about music therapy. I want to incorporate music somehow into my practice.

Gregory Alan Isakov is my favorite artist of all time. His music is soft and calm, and if I’m ever stressed out I put on his music and, I swear, my blood pressure lowers. For some reason his music speaks to me and calms me. I really love Maggie Rogers as well, and I listen to her all the time.
..

My grandfather’s life inspires me more than anything else in the world. He came to America from Mexico not speaking a word of English, but he rose to the top and eventually became chief of surgery. He worked incredibly hard to make his own life here. He was the smartest man I’ve ever known. He knew everything about everything and had a hunger and drive for learning. He especially loved geography, and he would quiz my siblings and I all the time. We could speak about capitals and rivers all over the world and just random facts about life. He wanted us to learn. He believed in education as one of the most important things to have in life. You could have no money, but with an education you could get somewhere.

Amelia Hern

06/04/2019

I’m from a very small city in South East China. The province is called, Zhejiang, one of the most economically developed provinces of China. However, my city was the least developed one in the province. So growing up we felt inferior to those living around us in the province. After my elementary school, my parents really wanted to send me out of the city for a better education and it was serendipitous that I could go to the best school in the capital of that province, by my own exam taking skills and I was the only one in my elementary school to go there. It was serendipitous because that was the last time when my high school recruited students from all over the province before they were required to recruit local students only. If I had not faked my birthday to go to elementary school early, I would not have gotten the opportunity to be recruited by this prestigious high school. My parents are first generation university students in China. Their parents are all peasants and farmers, so they were the first to leave the villages and live in the city. I still spend a lot of my time in the countryside where my family feels strongly connected to. We still visit our extended family in the countryside, although we make a living in the city.
..

I value genuineness and honesty in a friendship, although I think you can’t be completely honest with your friends. There are somethings you just don’t want to share. But, I also don’t like people who overshare. I hate the type of conversations that make you feel like you’re being used as a bin for a person’s emotions, and stories which you get the sense that person has been telling to everyone else and make you think “why do I need to hear this?” If I can sense that a person really need help, I’ll try my best to help, but I don’t want to feel like a trash bin.

I think that one strength that I have is that I can block my emotions effectively. I have tips and tricks to stay rational and ignore my emotions to a certain extent. Maybe I think of this as a strength because there was a time when I just didn’t trust emotions. I am critical of my preferences, because I think they are very malleable. For instance, I function in a way believing that if I’m good at something I would like doing that. So I would often fake myself to like something, be good at it, and see myself really liking it in the end. So, I used to be very skilled driven. For instance, when I joined a club, I liked the idea of doing something together, but I never joined a culture club, because I personally didn’t like the idea of simply hanging out together for the sake of hanging out.
...

I think nationalism can be a threat to multiculturalism. During my time as the president of Wuzee, I have definitely thought of Wuzee in political terms in various scenarios. Last year we did a Xinjiang dance, during a time when China was accused of committing massive abuse against the Xinjiang people. In China the dance troupes, dominated by the Han majority, often perform the folk dances of the minority people, which are inspired by indigenous traditions and became performative art form like ballet. In every spring festival gala, they would be showcased as ‘representations’ of minorities to send the message that all the ethnic groups unite under the same flag . Hence, I am very wary of performing ethnic dance on Tufts campus, where some people are very vocal about Tibetan independence and human rights in Xinjiang. It has always been my aspiration to make Wuzee an Asian dance team and not a Chinese dance team, especially when most schools - MIT and Harvard - in Boston have a Asian dance team and not a Chinese dance team, incorporating dances that are traditionally chinese, but also including Vietnamese and Korean dances. The focus on a Chinese national dance could limit where Wuzee could go. This is a direction that future Wuzee leaders will have different perspectives on, but that had been my aspiration.

Leila Li

Humans of Tufts

02/23/2022

02/02/2022

02/02/2022

02/15/2020

02/04/2020

02/03/2020

01/24/2020

09/04/2019

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