Local Students Make the Grade

Brittney Gedeon is excited to “focus on what I’m really passionate about: biology!” Jeffrey Zou looks forward to hiking in New Hampshire with the Tufts Mountain Club, and Clara Leite hopes to get better acquainted with Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

The three Somerville High School students may all have different expectations about college, but they all have at least one thing in common—they have been admitted to the Class of 2022 at Tufts.

Somerville and Medford, two of Tufts’ host communities, had a total of twenty-four students accepted to Tufts for this fall.

Thirteen come from Somerville: nine go to Somerville High School, three to Prospect Hill Academy Charter School, and one to Pioneer Charter School of Science. The students collectively set a new record; Tufts last year accepted nine students from Somerville.

Eleven students were selected from Medford. Eight attend Medford High School; the other students go to the Community Charter School of Cambridge, the Cambridge School of Weston, and Concord Academy.   

Tufts each year seeks out high achieving students from Medford and Somerville; the university waives the application fees for students from the two public high schools and the dean of admissions personally reads each of those applications.

Tufts meets the demonstrated financial need of all admitted students through financial aid packages that combine loans, grants, scholarships, work study, and in some cases federal student loans, according to the Financial Aid Office. Currently forty-eight students attending Tufts from Medford and Somerville are receiving $1.6 million in financial aid.

Somerville and Medford students have opportunities to get to know Tufts long before senior year in high school to see it’s the right fit for them.

Every ninth grader from Somerville High School is brought to the campus through the Office of Admissions, goes on a campus tour, and hears about the admissions process. And Medford High School students meet Tufts students in their classrooms through a number of STEM and other programs. Students can also audit courses at no cost. Tufts also hosts the Tufts Classic at Cousens Gym, a basketball game between Somerville and Medford high schools. In addition, Tufts pays for an SAT prep program at both high schools.  

Now the accepted students have one more decision: they have until May 1 to let Tufts know if they will be enrolling in the fall.

Laura Ferguson can be reached at laura.ferguson@tufts.edu.