D23 is deciding between Bates, Mount Holyoke, and Wesleyan University. Has been admitted and has visited all three and loves them. I’m just looking for any impressions and insight from people who know these schools – we can leave financials out of the discussion. For context, she’s thinking about majoring in Environmental Studies along with History or American Studies, and she’s planning to continue journalism (one of her main ECs) in college, possibly looking ahead to a career, but she doesn’t need to major or minor in journalism to do that. Her interests are wide-ranging. She’s hoping to continue with French, study abroad, interested in internship and field work opportunities, etc. Definitely values a small-college experience, opportunities to work closely with professors, and an open and accepting community (not interested in a party scene, but not antisocial, either). She’s not interested in rankings or relative prestige.
Weather preferences and/or ease of getting home? Those may weigh against Bates. Women’s college plus or minus? Big differentiator for MH obviously.
Wesleyan strong history and enviro and open curriculum sound well aligned with needs.
I can’t comment on Mount Holyoke or Wesleyan, but my son is a freshman at Bates, and is having a great experience so far. The academics there are a huge strength - he loves his classes, and is more engaged academically then he’s ever been in his life. He’s already developed some close ties with a few professors. He’s so far mostly taken classes in the social sciences - economics, political science, history - and is super impressed with what Bates has to offer. Other highlights - the down to earth, nice students, great food in the dining hall, the beautiful campus, and proximity to all of the hiking, camping and skiing that he loves.
My son is a sophomore at Wesleyan and loves it. Some highlights of Wesleyan that might appeal to your daughter include the open curriculum where there are very few required courses so students can easily double or even triple major; the graduate school courses in environmental sciences available to advanced students along with the 5th year Masters option; the Writer’s Block House where students who love to write can live together and support each other; and a friendly welcoming campus.
My son is all science/math, but I know there are French speaking study abroad programs and the career center has a large listing of internships and alumni employments contacts. A lot of kids research with professors both during the school year and during the summer science scholars program. Here is info on research opportunities for environmental sciences. https://www.wesleyan.edu/ees/opportunities/index.html
Thanks for that information. We’re aware of Wesleyan’s open curriculum, but I was wondering if you could explain how the general studies “expectations” affect the academic experience? It seems as if these distribution requirements are pretty extensive, even if not absolutely required. Do most students ignore them and do their own thing, and just forego the chance to graduate with any kind of honors? The general studies bit is definitely not a deal-breaker, but it does seem a lot more extensive than corresponding requirements at many other colleges that don’t advertise an open curriculum (like Bates and Mount Holyoke). I’m just wondering if the general studies expectations seem at all cumbersome. General Education Expectations < Wesleyan University
I can’t speak to the others but do have a student at Mount Holyoke. She has quite a number of friends in both stem and non-stem majors. Can’t speak to journalism but they do have an active weekly newspaper that’s been around since 1917.
Mostly, I would just add that (probably similarly to the other schools on your list) it does perfectly encompass “a small-college experience, opportunities to work closely with professors, and an open and accepting community”
I would say the curriculum is pretty open - basically 3 Distributon requirements that seem fairly broad, and 1 language class. The students are encouraged to be very exploratory in their choices.
Wesleyan’s GenEd requirements:
- Stage 1 requires 2 classes in each of the 3 divisions, all in different departments, by the end of the 4th semester
- Stage 2 requires 1 additional class in each of the 3 divisions, in any department, by graduation
My son is math/science student so did not have to worry about meeting the science/math courses requirement. For Humanities, which for him is the toughest to get, he took a philosophy and a music course. For Social Science, he took an interesting anthropology course and then data visualization and Data Analysis courses. He does have to take one more humanities course over the next 2 years, probably a condensed German class over January term/break.
A lot of kids double major across specialties such as Film and History or Biology and Dance so would complete most of the requirements just by taking classes for their majors. The Data Analysis courses can be applied for either social Science or Math/Science and teach useful skills no matter the major. There are courses designed for nonmajors under each of the three divisions. I have even seen an interesting video of senior football players performing in their Intro to Dance humanities course. My son and his friends have not complained about fitting in the gened classes.
One thing your D might do to help make the decision is ask the admissions folks to connect her to someone on the school’s newspaper. Find out more about how it runs, read it carefully, ask questions about how people get editing or leadership positions, find out how the paper is perceived on campus. My D is also interested in journalism, and did this with a couple of LACs she was looking at. She was surprised to see what she considered to be low investment and low quality writing at one of them. And quite the opposite at another. There was a wide range of interest in the paper on campus—on one campus, the editor told her they were hoping to revitalize it. To her, this came across as though the paper was a dying student club, and not a vibrant home for journalism. While it wasn’t the only deciding factor, it did help her understand what her future might look like if she wanted to keep pursuing student journalism . Nowadays, there are plenty of ways to pursue journalism without working on the paper, but in a small town LAC environment , those might be limited. If nothing else, she’ll get a new perspective to consider in her decision.
Thanks for the explanation!
She’s actually done that herself, just by finding contact info on the newspapers’ mastheads. (And actually, the state of a school’s newspaper has helped her determine her top choices - just like with your D.) Thanks!
Here’s a good example of both life at Wesleyan as well as the level of writing for the school newspaper:
The Wesleyan Argus | An Delicious Evening With Bryant Terry: Chef, Activist, Author, Community-Builder
When we were researching schools, I was impressed with Wesleyan’s interdisciplinary options – like the College of Social Studies, Letters, or Environment (these 3 seem particularly relevant to your D’s interests). That, plus a renowned reputation for producing artists, writers, scientists, etc. and its proximity to larger cities, and a larger student body… all of that makes me lean toward Wes in this situation. We liked Mount Holyoke, too, but thought there was more artistic energy coming out of Wes, based on the internet research, people we encountered, etc. We didn’t look at Bates, fwiw.
Some of this you may know already…
Bates requires a major in addition to a minor, concentration, or second major.
As for general requirements: They have 5 “modes of inquiry” (creative, scientific, historical, etc) that must be met, one class each, 2 of which can be covered by your major/minor/concentration. They also require 3 writing classes, 1 of which is typically the thesis for the major. So essentially, they require 5 classes outside of major/minor/concentration. That makes it pretty easy and common to double major.
It looks like enviro studies major requires around 12 classes. History minor is 6 classes.
Students typically take 34 classes in total.
this link should be helpful for seeing major/minor requirements and classes:
Bates College Catalog
My DD is at Bates and is really enjoying it. She is similar to your D23 in that she is social but not a partier - she had no problem finding similar people, and is able to mix high quality social activities (hiking, volunteering, etc) with a good amount of studying. The environment seems more collaborative than competitive which was a main draw for her.
Best of luck - your D23 has great options!
Thank you! Yes, we were more familiar, I think, with the distribution requirements at Bates than we were at Wesleyan. some of those interdisciplinary concentrations sound really great!
In addition to the Mount Holyoke News which covers campus news, national and world affairs, Mount Holyoke also has a radio station that is run by students.
Not to pile on for Wesleyan, but to the extent having a radio station matters, Wes has one too. There is a lot of tradition and lore associated with the station. Here’s the website:
Three very fine schools and a fine choice to have set before you. I don’t think you can go wrong. We loved and looked hard at Holyoke for two of ours. What killed it for both was the location. South Hadley isn’t really a hoping place. Had either kiddo wanted an all-women college, in that location it would have been Smith. The campus is beautiful though, and there is a lot to like about Mt. Holyoke.
Would you like to conclude your topic by announcing your daughter’s decision, @Shelby_Balik?
Sure – she chose Bates! It’s a great fit, and she’s very excited.