Boston today is an exciting city of contrasts. Visitors come to experience its rich traditions, rooted in the American Revolution. They walk its Freedom Trail, visit "Old Ironsides," and check out the historic cemeteries. Long-standing institutions, such as the Boston Symphony, Boston Ballet, Museum of Fine Arts, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Public Library (the nation's first free lending library), the African Meeting House, Fenway Park, and the Boston Marathon, complement the more recent additions to Boston's cultural and entertainment scene - numerous comedy clubs; galleries; experimental theater groups; rock, jazz, contemporary folk, and reggae clubs; and four professional sports teams. It's no wonder so many visiting students want to put down roots here after graduation. Home to more than 50 colleges and universities, Boston is a multicultural city that boasts the largest concentration of international students in the world. The city itself is a blend of many ethnic neighborhoods. The North End's Italian festivals, Chinatown's restaurants, and smaller enclaves that offer Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Caribbean, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Jewish, and soul food make Boston one of America's most stimulating and cosmopolitan cities. Boston is also a jumping-off point to the extraordinary natural and cultural resources of New England. Most day trips to hot spots are just an hour or two away.

From lush Walnut Hill, Tufts' 150-acre campus overlooks Boston, just across the Charles River. The nearby neighborhoods of Medford and Somerville, with their late-Victorian homes on tree-lined streets, provide a close-knit community feeling. Only blocks away is a Revolution-era powderhouse, as well as the pubs, shops, bookstores, and theaters of Davis Square - dubbed by Utne magazine one of "the hippest neighborhoods in North America." At the Davis Square subway station, you can board the "T" for a five-minute trip to Harvard Square in Cambridge, or a ten-minute ride to downtown Boston. Check out Boston's public transportation system, the MBTA to see how easy it is to get around with Tufts as your starting point.