Tufts University Pre-College Programs Engineering of Music

Classes run Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm in both weeks, with lunch from about 11:30am to 1pm and a guest speaker from Tufts faculty, students or industry every day from 1pm to 2pm. In Tufts' sample timetable, which it says may change, week one gives each morning to a new topic and each afternoon to building something. Week two moves to room acoustics and project planning, and the last three days go to the final project.

Residential students check in on Sunday 11 July 2027 and orientation starts on Monday morning. Evenings and weekends are run by residential staff, with past activities like ice cream socials, midnight pancakes and trips to Davis Square, and weekend outings that have included Crane Beach and the Museum of Fine Arts. From Sunday to Thursday you need to be in the residence hall by 10pm and in your room by 11pm, moving to 10:30pm and midnight on Friday and Saturday. Commuters come only on weekdays and finish at 2pm on the last Friday.

The program instructor is Kelsey Rogers, a lecturer in Tufts' Department of Mechanical Engineering who also works as an Affiliated Expert in Acoustics at Acentech, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She specializes in acoustical measurement, simulation and concert hall design. She studied Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton and earned a master's in Architectural Acoustics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and at Tufts she teaches Introduction to Music Engineering and Architectural Acoustics. She's also a lifelong musician.

Teaching Assistants work alongside students during the daily challenges and project time and hold dedicated office hours. A different guest speaker joins each day, drawn from Tufts faculty, students and industry partners, to talk about careers, research and real-world work. Tufts doesn't publish a class size or teaching ratio for this program.

You leave with the instruments and devices you built, a final project you've presented at a public showcase and a personal digital portfolio documenting your work. Friends and family can come to the showcase and try out the projects. Past students built a MIDI drumkit from buttons wired to an Arduino and cardboard, a cigar box guitar with its own amplifier, a fretted cigar box guitar, an original recorded and mixed track, and the "trute," a cross between a flute and a trombone that changes notes with a slide.

The program isn't for credit, so it won't appear as a graded course on a college transcript. Tufts also states that taking part doesn't lead to or guarantee admission to any Tufts degree program, and that conduct reports from the summer are visible to Tufts admissions offices if you apply later.

You need to be entering grades 10 to 12, or graduating from high school in 2027, and you don't need any background in engineering, physics, music or instruments. If you live on campus, you must be at least 15 when the program starts and no older than 19 by the time it ends. Homeschooled students can apply too.

Tufts reviews applications as a whole on a rolling basis and doesn't publish an acceptance rate, but it says a strong transcript and a detailed recommendation are the best ways to stand out. Your file isn't reviewed until the transcript, recommendation and parent permission form are all in, and decisions usually arrive within 10 business days after that. Tufts gives no feedback if you're turned down. If English isn't your first language, you'll need a TOEFL iBT score of 100, IELTS 6.5, PTE 68, Duolingo 120 or at least a year in good standing at an all-English school.

• Online application

  You give your personal and parent details, choose residential or commuter, and add your recommender's contact details and any optional test scores.

• Statement of interest

  Tufts lists one among this program's application materials.

• Transcript

  You name a school official, who gets an email and uploads it for you.

• Recommendation and parent permission

  Once you submit, Tufts emails your recommender (a teacher, counselor or mentor) and your parent with their forms.

• Enrollment forms

  If you're admitted, health records, vaccination proof and agreements are due by 1 June 2027.

Living on campus costs $5,950 and commuting costs $4,425 for the two weeks. The residential fee covers a room in an air-conditioned dorm, three meals a day (brunch and dinner on Sundays), lab materials, bedding and towels, 24-hour residential care, program activities and excursions, and a staff-accompanied airport transfer within set arrival windows. The commuter fee covers the program, activities and weekday lunch, but not breakfast, dinner or weekend meals.

On top of either fee you pay for travel to Boston, spending money, laundry at $1.50 a cycle for residents and any medical bills. Tufts adds $55.16 for health insurance if you can't show valid U.S.-based coverage, and $55 per vaccine for any required vaccine you get on campus.

Once you're admitted, you hold your place with a $550 deposit within 10 days. It counts toward the fee but is never refunded. The balance is due by 15 May 2027, and that's also the last day to withdraw in writing for a tuition refund. After that nothing comes back. If you apply after the payment deadline, you pay in full on admission. Visa problems and dismissals don't qualify for refunds either.

Tufts has limited need-based scholarships, usually covering 75% to 100% of the program fee and awarded twice a month from February. International students aren't eligible. If you can only go with aid, Tufts suggests waiting for its decision before paying the deposit, though the program may fill while you wait.

Residents live in doubles in Tufts undergraduate halls, which are split by gender and age and staffed by a director, senior staff and one resident advisor for every 10 students. You need a Tufts ID to enter the building and every room locks. Staff take attendance each morning and after lunch, students must use the buddy system in free time, and no one can leave campus or be in a lab without a staff member or official parental permission. Tufts says it makes reasonable efforts to background-check staff and give them Title IX training, and its own police department is on duty around the clock.

Medical care combines on-campus urgent care and Boston hospitals, billed to the family, and there's no on-site mental health counseling, so students who need it should stay in touch with their own provider. Commuters aren't supervised outside program hours and can't enter the residence halls, and residential students can't have a car on campus.