Hello, hello! I’m here to try and liven up the discussion boards a bit, and I definitely got a lot of help from this last year as well when thinking of where to apply and what to do. I’ll try to reply to the best of my knowledge, and if there are any other current students, feel free to hop in as well!
Ask away, prospies, we seriously love seeing anyone as excited to come here as we all were!
Hey! It’s good to see this on here! How is your first year living up to your expectations of how Wellesley would be? (Both socially and academically)
Do you know how competitive it is to be accepted to the MIT/Wellesley College Dual Degree Program? Or anyone who has been accepted?
Hello, hello, sorry for the late reply here! It’s been a bit of a hectic week
@mjstewart1224 Honestly, as a student who never visited Wellesley before actually confirming my decision to come, I’m actually very surprised by how much I came to like this week. Of course, orientation helped a lot, and knowing people beforehand was very helpful, but most of the people that come here are lovely and are very like-minded as well! So, socially, getting out there and joining orgs as well as simply being active in some orientation events helped a lot in terms of social expectations. Academics, I would say, are the same as I thought they were going to be.
They’re, of course, rigorous, but shadow grading does really help you get involved more around campus, and taking full advantage of that is wise to get either hard classes out of the way, or to simply have a better time socially. Grade deflation is a thing, and the coursework is somewhat stressful and overwhelming at times, but plan and schedule and you should be fine! Large variety of courses as well, and there are many helpful people and resources during, and after, orientation to help you on the right track.
@math3matical alright, I’m not a STEMs/Math/Science person at all, but I do know that the dual degree program is notoriously hard to get into, and even harder to complete. It is, however, doable for sure, and there’s no reason to be discouraged from applying! If I remember correctly, less than a dozen people did it in the last couple of years, but even if you don’t get into the program, or decide out of it, there’s always the option of taking MIT classes as well. MIT and Olin are both wonderful STEM focused schools that can offer you more resources than Wellesley could in those fields – but Wellesley’s STEM programs are also amazing.
Hello! It would be nice to hear about what you are involved in or considering getting involved with at Wellesley? And do you know about Scoop? I am writing about it in my supplement and it would be nice to hear more about it. Thank you for taking your time to help out!
What are people like? Would you say there are laid back or artsy people?
@healthandglory Ah, alright, alright! If you’d want logistics, I can give them to you without giving my identity offline too easily. I’m involved in a cultural org, a performance org, an instrumental group, and a member of the college government as well! Wellesley, during the first couple weeks of school, holds a day dedicated to orgs on campus called “Org Fair,” and they set up booths for every org who wants to be represented. It goes from Societies to Cultural Orgs to Publications, and everything in between, and basically you sign up for what you’re interested, go to meetings, and pick and choose what you can fit in and what you’re really dedicated to from there on! Many orgs also have open meetings (like performance/instrumental/dance groups), and others have information sessions where you can sit in on a meeting and basically listen in and ask questions! I also am part of House Council for my dorm, as well as attend an informal weekly meeting for other issues on campus as well
Scoop, I know is the Student-Run Co-Ops, and I know many people that work there in both the Hoop and El Table (arguably the two most popular ones run during the day). There’s also Punch’s Alley, the only pub on campus, and SCOOP, but I’m not quite sure what that does except something to do with sustainable living (foods, communication with local farms, etc). They’re quite popular, and all very well run!
@mermaidenly basically, you have to find your own niche. It’s very easy to do that with clubs/orgs, and orientation/what sort of classes you take. My friend, who wants to major in art/art history is extremely well adapted here and absolutely loves this school. There definitely is your average (and beyond control) Type A people all over campus, but a lot of Type B as well. There’s a good mix of people, I’d say, but everyone definitely works as hard as they can, and no one slacks – even if they are laidback. It’s a good place to be, and Boston is incredibly artsy too.
Thank you for the reply! I would love to be part of some sort of student government as well! This sounds very exciting and I hope you are having a lovely time!