<p>I'm seriously considering applying early to Wesleyan; I love everything about it. My only concern is that I've read on a few student sites that students can tend to be kind of apathetic towards their studies. Is there any truth to this? I find it hard to believe considering that Wesleyan is such a good school.</p>
<p>I’m not sure where that’s coming from unless people are comparing Wesleyan to Swarthmore or perhaps Chicago. Wesleyan students are <em>very</em> serious about their studies; they just don’t waste a lot of time playing endless games of misery poker; they’d rather throw a house party instead.</p>
<p>On what sites did you read this? I can assure you that’s blatantly false…</p>
<p>I forget; I’ve been on way too many. That’s what I thought, though, and I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t true. Thanks!</p>
<p>frankly, its kind of true. Wesleyan is a good school, but studying here is not exactly rigorous. I take between 6~7 classes a semester and still have a tremendous amount of idle time, considering. Furthermore, a large minority (perhaps a huge minority) of the student body are not terribly serious about their studies, although of course a school with the reputation, faculty and admission standards of Wesleyan boasts many top notch students. To be perfectly honest, in three years of studying at Wes, I haven’t been truly impressed many times. That said, I think this allows one to shine more readily than if Wesleyan were a more cutthroat academic institution. </p>
<p>One of my disappointments with the school, however, is probably not exclusive to Wes. I think that in general, there is a problem with liberal arts education in general these days where rising costs, prestige and resources drive institutions of higher education like Wesleyan to offer more in way of academic exotica at the expense of canonical and foundational study within given fields. But, since the academic rigor of Wesleyan pales in comparison to peer institutions (or institutions Wesleyan ought to peer) among the little three schools, or schools such as UChicago, Swat, etc. my feeling is that I’ve been exposed to alot of subject matter that lies far from the beaten path without rigorous training in the important methodologies of the field and without having studied much of the canon of work which brings relevance to studying unconventional areas. I am, however, a double major in music (a field in which the notion of canon – that is, the Western canon – is PARTICULARLY salient) and neuroscience (in which specialization at the early levels of education is necessary to become a proficient practitioner of the field). I get the feeling that Wesleyan is a school where a notable population studies what it finds fun, easy, or socially validating – rather than impassioning, enabling, or at the most conventional, financially solvent. I have never had intentions of transferring, I just have had strongly mixed feelings about the academic environment here. The rigor of the classes and seriousness of students, do not get high marks in my opinion. The faculty are nothing short of impressive, though, and the academic resources available to you are immense if you rise above the tide of academic apathy that you often encounter.</p>
<p>yes, I remember a similar thread from a year or so back in which you had the last word: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/683049-wes-prestige-recognized-oher-colleges-3.html#post1062243224[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/683049-wes-prestige-recognized-oher-colleges-3.html#post1062243224</a>
How is MrPimpateer?</p>
<p>What’s fascinating about that earlier thread is that if you examine post #30 more closely, it turns out to be none other than Mytheos Holt (or someone who writes with a remarkably similar style.) Mytheos had his differences of opinion with the way Wesleyan was run, over the years. But, I can’t thnk of anyone who studied harder or managed to have more fun: [Bush</a> is Back in Ohio Senate Race - Battle ?10 - National Review Online](<a href=“http://www.nationalreview.com/battle10/245082/bush-back-ohio-senate-race-mytheos-holt]Bush”>http://www.nationalreview.com/battle10/245082/bush-back-ohio-senate-race-mytheos-holt)</p>
<p>mrpimpateer has transferred to the London School of Economics.</p>
<p>That’s interesting. How many years before he gets his degree?</p>
<p>Also, how someone who until a year and a half ago hadn’t “taken many econ classses” (post #21 of the same thread) was able to parlay that into a gig at LSE? That’s awesome.</p>