ELIZABETH CASSON TRUST
I NFORMATION FOR INCOM ING SCHOLARS TO T UFTS U NIVERSITY
Congratulations on making a fantastic choice to apply for this incredible opportunity that will be one of the
best years of your life. This leaflet will explain a little about the program and Tufts.
Tufts is a private university situated in what is called a city, but here would regarded more of a suburb of
Boston, called Medford. To be more correct the university straddles two suburbs (Somerville and Medford).
To get a better idea of geography Somerville adjoins Cambridge, which is where Harvard University is. The
great thing about studying here is you technically have
access to so many university resources between
Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Boston College,
Brandeis, Bentley and Northeastern (and that is not
even an exhaustive list!) Tufts has an excellent
reputation in the United States and is known as one of
the “Little Ivies”. Tufts is highly regarded for OT and is
ranked 6th nationally. The university is predominantly
undergraduate; although they do have on this campus
the Graduate School of Arts and Science (which the Occupational Therapy School is part of) and the Graduate
School of Engineering. Tufts also have veterinary, dental and medical schools although they are situated on
another campus. The university mascot is an elephant and therefore all students who attend Tufts are known
as Jumbo’s!
A CCOMMODATION
AT FAIR MOUNT
H OUS E
The campus is very beautiful and the picture you see is of
Fairmount House where you will live. Fairmount is home to 10
students, typically graduates although not always. There is a
bedroom reserved for the UK Elizabeth Casson Trust Scholar and
you will have everything you need including bedding, furniture,
hangers, hairdryer, printer, kitchenware etc. All you will need to
bring is your own clothing, toiletries and laptop. There is wireless
within the house. Although 10 people seems like a lot - it is over
3 floors. Your room is typically on the first floor (confusingly
referred to as the second floor in the States!). There are 2
lounges and 3 bathrooms so it’s pretty spacious. There is a
shared kitchen but many students choose to buy a Meal Plan
rather than cook, and eat in the local dining hall Carmichael – a
five minute walk away. The dining hall food is generally good
although this does work out very expensive compared to cooking
– although kind housemates will take you along as a “Guest” if
you ask nicely! The popularity of meal plans does however mean that the kitchen is more empty than you
would think for 10 students sharing. The university organises a cleaning service which cleans the kitchen,
bathroom and other communal areas most weekday mornings but you will be responsible for your bedroom.
As the cleaners keep cleaning items in a locked cupboard you will have to ask when you need the hoover.
There are laundry facilities in the basement (a large washing machine and tumble dryer) and you will need to
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use “Jumbocash” (campus wide payment system using Tufts ID card – see http://www.jumbocash.net/) or
quarters to operate the machines.
B OSTON S CHOOL
OF
O CCUPATIONAL T HERAPY (BSOT)
The OT school has recently moved to new facilities which are shared with some other departments. The new
facilities include study spaces, labs, seminar rooms, lecture rooms and ADL facilities.
BSOT have an informative website which can be found here: http://ase.tufts.edu/bsot/default.htm. In the
United States OT is a Masters level profession so the majority of the American students in the school are doing
that program. Their program runs for 2 years and then they have 6 months of fieldwork (placements) before
they take the NBCOT (a national certification exam required to work as an OT here). You will be regarded as a
“Post-Professional Student”. There number of post-professional students varies each year. In previous years
there have been international students topping up their Bachelor’s degrees to enable them to practice within
the USA.
COMPULSORY CLASSES
Being a “Post-Professional Student” allows you far greater flexibility to customise the course to your own
interests. There are mandatory classes in OTS 209: Clinical Research, OTS 208: Clinical Reasoning IV: Evidence
Based Practice and OTS 234/235: Practicum. Although there is a Thesis option with slightly different
mandatory classes this is generally not encouraged for one year Post-Professional students due to the
timescales involved in carrying out a thesis. However if a thesis is
something you particularly want to do it is worth contacting faculty
in advance to explore whether is a realistic option. Thesis or no
thesis there are plenty of opportunities to become involved in
research within the research module or by taking a Directed Study or
Special Topics. These are independent study projects supervised by
a member of faculty on an area of particular interest to you. Many of
the faculty members are actively involved in research themselves.
PRACTICUM
The practicum is similar to placement and involves spending eight hours per week in a clinical site. You must
write a proposal in the first semester and the faculty will find you a suitable placement based on your
proposal. There is a “Fieldwork Wiki” which details sites. This is a good place to start researching. The
practicum is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the healthcare system of another country, or to
explore a slightly less traditional role. Previous students have taken practicums in a number of settings from
hospital placements (of which Massachusetts has some of the best in the world) to less traditional OT roles
such as supporting refugees and asylum seekers, or working for a non-profit (charity) organisation. The
practicum experience may be complemented by weekly seminar discussions and the opportunity to blog about
your experiences for the benefit of other students which allows you to link theory with practice and benefit
from the experiences of other students. Overall the practicum is a great learning experience.
SELECTING COURSES AND CONCENTRATIONS
After your 3 required courses/credits. You then get to choose your courses (or spend your remaining 5
credits!). Credit for classes is typically a 1.0 but some classes can be taken for 0.5 credit. It is usually advised
you take 4 credits per semester but this is definitely not fixed. A full course list of OT courses is available here:
http://ase.tufts.edu/bsot/coursesCourseDescriptions.htm You can choose from any course offered at Tufts or
within the consortium of universities, this gives a broad choice (and can be a little overwhelming at first). Sis
the university management system provides details of all courses across Tufts, you will be given a log in to this
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when you are here. Although do be prepared for course changes/clashes etc and have a flexible plan. Your
tutor will help you go through this process and discuss your class selection with you.
Generally students try and group their courses into a cluster of related courses, known as their
“concentration”. The elective classes are always popular with Post-Professional Students and are in more
specialised topics such as Upper Extremity Rehabilitation (Hand Therapy), Assistive Technology, Outcome
Measurement, School-Based Practice, Inter-disciplinary Groupwork, Older Adults class at Harvard etc. Typically
2-3 electives are offered per semester.
The practice classes (that begin with OT Practice in…) can also be useful to consolidate knowledge on practice
and frames of reference used with those populations – often these have Graduate Assistants attached and this
is a good way of sharing knowledge and learning with the pre-registration students – more of this later. Some
students in the past have taken classes from other departments including Psychology, Child Development, or
at the Medical School in the city centre – the Tufts handbook details all available classes. Often classes in
other departments are undergraduate (all your classes must be graduate level) but if you speak with the
professor concerned they may let you take it as a graduate class by setting an extra piece of work for you.
ADD/DROP PERIOD
The university operates an Add/Drop period. This is a window of time in which you can add or drop classes.
This allows a little flexibility in class choice & a period of window-shopping! – If you are unsure between two
classes you can start both and then choose to drop the least favoured class within the first few weeks. The
academic calendar http://uss.tufts.edu/stuserv/acadcal/ will detail the dates by which you have to “Add” or
can “Drop” classes. You complete the process for Add/Drop through Isis the university management system
mentioned previously.
CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS
There are also offered several ‘certificate programs’ in BSOT, which you can gain in addition to your masters
during your time here if you so choose. These usually have mandatory classes in an approved concentration to
fulfil the requirements for that certificate. Those offered at present are; upper extremity (hand therapy), pain
and school based therapy Please see http://ase.tufts.edu/bsot.coursesCertificate.htm or speak to Sharan
Schwartzberg for details.
GRADUATE ASSISTANT POST
As part of the scholarship package there is an opportunity to act as a Graduate Assistant (“GA”) – generally for
one class a semester. The faculty will try and appoint you something based on your interests but you could
potentially end up as a GA for almost any class! It is a great opportunity to develop teaching skills and use
your experience to facilitate the learning of the Pre-Registration students. It is also well paid and only a few
hours a week work. The duties and specific hours vary depending on the course and professor but could
involve facilitating discussions, providing admin support, marking work or running a lab or study sessions. It is
best to schedule a meeting with the relevant professor prior to the start of the course to clarify what the
expectations are. You will require a Social Security number to facilitate being paid. This can be arranged within
the 30 days of your start date of work. If you work in the Fall semester the social security team come to
campus where you can then apply. However if you are not working until Spring semester you will need to do
this in December.
TRUNK
Trunk is the online system for courses administration and is extremely useful. Here course handouts can be
accessed and readings for class are posted. Some classes use additional facilities on Trunk such as blogging,
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discussion boards or submission of work. It is always worth downloading and storing any information you
would like to keep as it only stays online for the duration of that semester.
AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
There are a few similarities but also some key differences between the American and UK education systems
that are worth mentioning. Similar to the UK the year is divided into two semesters: Fall and Spring, as well as
a Summer School, and courses run for one semester. Most classes have some sort of assessment half way
through known as a “Mid-Term” and a “Final” at the end of the semester which again could be a paper, exam
or presentation. There will usually be weekly readings and smaller pieces of work due throughout the
semester. Some students have found the volume of work to be demanding with the high frequency of
assignments, however this is very course dependent and often submissions throughout the semester take the
forms of drafts, which are stepping stones towards the final project; these can actually help to structure your
work. Exams can be open or closed book. The pass grade is 77% or as US ‘B-‘ which sounds terrifying but is
actually more achievable than it seems due to the American marking system, which starts from 100% then
knocks off marks, and is slightly more generous than the UK marking system – don’t worry you can do it! That
said, the learning expectations are different than in the UK and so an adjustment will be required on your part.
All told, this makes the programme quite intense and commitment is required from you to be successful.
OT O RGANISATIONS
A M E R I C A N O C C U P A T I O N A L T H E R A P Y O R G A N I S A T I O N (AO TA )
http://www.aota.org/
This is the main OT organisation in the USA. They have two main publications: AJOT and the magazine OT
Practice. They run a conference in late Spring which many OT students attend from Tufts, however it can
sometimes clash with finals at the end of the Spring Term. Possibly worth joining as a student member
(although Tufts library subscribes to AJOT so you will be able to access this journal whether a member or not).
M A S S A C H U S E T T S A S S O C I A T I O N O F O C C U P A T I O N A L T H E R A P Y ( MA OT )
A conference is held by them in the Fall term which is usually in the Boston area and lots of Tufts OT’s attend
and present at this conference. The conference fee which is very reasonable becomes even more reasonable
as a member! MAOT send frequent emails so good for keeping finger on OT pulse in Massachusetts.
S T U D E N T O C C U P A T I O N A L T H E R A P Y A S S O C I A T I O N ( SOT A)
Based at Tufts SOTA is a Graduate Student Organisation supported by the Graduate Student Council. They
hold frequent meetings, which are well worth attending as they detail “Service Days” (volunteering
opportunities), social events, student issues and conferences. Usually meetings are held in “Open Block” (free
period) on a Wednesday. Also SOTA coordinates a buddying scheme for new students.
C AMPUS F ACILITIES
LIBRARY
The main library on campus is Tisch Library. http://www.library.tufts.edu/tisch/index.php Information
sessions on how to use electronic databases are integrated into the Clinical Research and Clinical Reasoning
modules and they really walk you through the process as many students are not familiar with using databases.
A gem of a service is the Inter-Library Loan system (ILL) for short. If a book or article is not available then a link
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appears allowing you to request the item via Inter-library loan –
the library will then source it for you and deliver it to you
electronically (for articles) or to the main Tisch library (for books).
The library also runs useful workshops on things such as how to
use Refworks and Endnotes (referencing software). Tisch has
plenty of workspaces and late opening hours so is a good place to
base yourself for study sessions. It also runs a bike loan scheme
where bikes (and helmets) can be signed out using your library
card. They also have a great media (dvd) loaning system, which is
worth checking out when you get here. The library also has a
wonderful view from it’s roof as shown in the picture. Occupational Therapy has a dedicated librarian called
Laurie Sabol who is a wealth of information and put together a research guide which is a good starting page for
OT resources. This can be accessed at:
http://researchguides.library.tufts.edu/content.php?pid=51443&search_terms=occupational+therapy
The Ginn/Fletcher library is another useful place for resources and is also a nice study space, this is sometimes
slightly quieter than Tisch particularly around exam times!
SPORTS AND FITNESS
The sports facilities centre around Cousens Gym http://ase.tufts.edu/physed/ppp/cousens.asp Here there is a
well-equipped gym with all the machines you would expect as well as a swimming pool and indoor track.
There is also an outdoor track across campus. For those interested mini courses are run by the P.E.
department in yoga, pilates, spinning etc. which cost a (modest) fee and run for 10 weeks during the semester.
See http://ase.tufts.edu/physed/mini/main.asp for the latest timetable.
GRADUATE STUDENT LOUNGE
The new Graduate Student Lounge is located in Curtis Hall, also the old one still exists in the basement of West
Hall. They have a few computers and snacks etc available to buy as well as a meeting area but by far the
biggest draw of the Graduate Lounge is the FREE PRINTING that is available there (although you just take your
own paper). The students at Tufts are expected to print their own handouts in advance of classes from Trunk
(the online system) – although many now choose just to download handouts to their computers and make
notes directly onto them in class. Anyway the free printing will come in very useful at times (although there is
a printer at Fairmount but ink can be expensive).
EATING AND DRINKING
On campus there are many options for eating and drinking see http://dining.tufts.edu/ for full details. The
Brown and Brew Coffee house, Tower Library Café and Campus Centre are all good for snacks and coffees (and
delicious iced chai lattes). All food and drink on campus can be paid for using Jumbocash. For a full meal you
can pay as a one off at the dining halls or better still persuade a friend with a meal plan to sign you in as a
guest. There is a raging debate about the relative merits of the two main dining halls Dewick and Carmichael –
see this blog for details on this and other “Stuff Tufts People Like”:
http://stufftuftspeoplelike.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/1-dewick-v-carmichael-debates/ It is also worth
checking out the local eateries of which there are too many to mention in Davis Square. It is likely you will
become acquainted with the Danish Pastry House – very near Fairmount and the OT school and home to the
most amazing pastries and coffee in Medford!
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INTERNATIONAL CENTER
You will probably have been in contact with the staff
here by the time you arrive for help with Visas etc.
This is a lovely center with great and very supportive
staff. They run an international student orientation
day and various activities throughout the year, which
are worth attending. The International Center also
coordinate the Inter-Cultural Conversation Program
where English speaking students are paired with
someone who speaks English as a second language to
practice conversational English. This is a good way to
meet international friends and access further activities
run by the international center, as well as helping out
a fellow international student.
G R A D U A T E S T U D E N T C O U N C I L (G S C )
The GSC organises various events including the awesome Apple-Picking trip in the fall, the GSC 5k and BBQ in
the Spring and the Graduate Student Symposium where graduate students present their research. They have
a rep from each department and student organisation but any interested parties can attend their meetings,
usually on the first Monday in a month and enjoy the free pizza they lay on.
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