I recently made my deposit at Bowdoin college and I’ve been on the waitlist for Wesleyan, they recently emailed me and said I’ve been moved to a smaller waitlist and need to email back about if I’m interested or not. I’m interested in majoring in biology (pre-med and going to medical school). I’m trying to figure out if one school is markedly better for pre-med. I’m not super excited about attending Bowdoin and I see Wesleyan as a school that I might be happier at. The issue is I haven’t visited Wesleyan and I’m not technical admitted yet. I’m wondering if people who’ve attended or have kids who’ve attended could compare and contrast the schools beyond just admission statistic numbers I can find online.
Here are my worries about Bowdoin: too small in size of school and population of the surrounding area, too much drinking/partying, not enough pre-med opportunities as in hospitals, researching in a lab, volunteering, and too preppy of a student body, very cliquey.
this is really stressing me out, any help or advice is appreciated.
If you can, please visit Wesleyan in case they contact you about an opening. You can’t make an informed decision unless you see it. As for partying, there is tons of partying at Wesleyan. I think you’ll find a more hipster crowd there than you would at Bowdoin, which is known to be preppier. I would ask Bowdoin about premed stats and opportunities. It’s one of he best LACs in the country so I’m sure they do well with med school admissions, but check. Wesleyan is a great school too, but you have to see it. GL
When does your school year end? Is there a time you can visit during the summer or when you have free time? in any case there is no harm in staying on the waitlist.
The level of political activism on the Wes campus was a huge turnoff to us. One wonders if there is anything else that gets accompilshed on campus, lol. Posters were everywhere (riddled with F bombs) there were notes on sidewalks and steps of the buildings, student groups were actively protesting; it was just too much. We’ve been on about 15 college tours and none of the others had that kind of vibe. I’m not a prude by any means, nor very conservative, but it was crazy. It didn’t help that our tour guide was annoying, boorish, and did nothing to represent the student body in a positive way.
However, they do have a 5 year BA/MA program in the sciences where the 5th year is tuition free. And they tout their premed advising team, though I have no firsthand knowledge that it is indeed good.
It’s not worth stressing over which of two comparable LACs has the better premed program. I’m pretty sure that in both cases, there will be some sort of premed panel you will have to suck up to in order to get a much desired letter of recommendation. Everything else - the research opportunities, the volunteering - is icing on the cake.FWIW, there is a hospital about a mile from the Wesleyan campus.
None of this, however, is to detract from the OP’s other legitimate concerns. Wesleyan is the larger of the two schools and southern New England as a whole is much more densely populated than Maine. A visit in the summer won’t be decisive as far as the student body is concerned, but, Middletown will still be open for business and it’s an important player in all this.
Personally, I think one of the smartest moves former Wesleyan president, Colin Campbell ever made during his eighteen years in office was to preserve the old faculty village and convert it to student housing, thus, ushering in the era of the “house party”. They are smaller, lower key affairs than the traditional frat or dorm party and there’s usually some pretense that you are there to get to know the hosts, not just to get drunk. If you are lucky enough to befriend an upperclassman, it might be one way for you to dip your toe into the Wesleyan party scene without drowning.
Or, not. It’s pretty easy not to do stuff at Wesleyan.
Would it be worth visiting even though they haven’t actually offered me admission yet? Also, aren’t classes out of session during June so there wouldn’t be any students around?
I’m sorry you’re not excited about attending Bowdoin. My S graduated from there and had a fabulous experience. Yes, it is a small school (smaller than his HS) in a small town, but he really enjoyed the area and his experience in general.
To address your specific concerns:
Wesleyan is obviously larger than Bowdoin in terms of enrollment (approx 3200 v 1800) and Middletown, CT is double the size of Brunswick, ME. As far as drinking/partying, my guess is they’re not too different. I think you could have excellent pre-med opportunities at both. Bowdoin is probably more on the preppy side, while Wesleyan is more on the hipster side.
Both are excellent schools and academically you would be well-served at both. So I think it really comes down to, IF you are admitted off the wait list to Wesleyan, if you want to have a slightly larger student body and surrounding area.
And if you are not admitted off the wait list, I hope you are able to embrace Bowdoin.
@Andrewtm123 - I hope you don’t mind, but, I decided to take a look at your posting history in order to gain some insight. I can see that this rural/city thing has been a concern of yours from the beginning of the admissions process. A big problem, of course, is that you are from Washington State and these visits are not easy for you.
No, there aren’t going to be a lot of actual Wesleyan students around to allow you to compare the two campus cultures (Wesleyan hosts a variety of adults seeking masters degrees and a few summer students, but, not enough to give you a fair impression of what it is like compared to Bowdoin.)
Did you have a first-choice school? Wesleyan and Bowdoin are actually more alike than they are different. Middletown is less rural than Brunswick, but, it isn’t exactly New York City either. It’s not even Providence. On my last visit I counted exactly one coffee shop that stayed open as late as midnight on a Saturday; almost everything else is shut by 10 or 11 on the weekends and maybe 8 or 9 during the week. There’s a Cineplex, but, that’s tough to compete with Wesleyan’s own first-rate facilities and curated films. In general, Middletown is very busy during the day, but, can quickly empty out as people head home from work. So, unless there is something else about that first-choice school that is affecting your decision, I’d say it’s not worth a plane trip to walk around an empty campus and have a bubble tea on Main Street.
The key aspect may be to avoid any school you actively didn’t like. If – for definable, empirical reasons – you are disinclined to attend Bowdoin, then Wesleyan would appear different enough that you might be happier there. However, the rural/urban distinction, to the extent it applies to these respective schools, should probably be disregarded. Personally, I’ll say that I do like Bowdoin’s quintessentially-LAC size, though, and would generally prefer it to Wesleyan’s. Nonetheless, Wesleyan’s identity seems to be that of an original hybrid, so their enrollment appears to work very well for them as well.
@circuitrider
I did have a first choice school it was probably Northwestern or Johns Hopkins. Obviously, I didn’t get into either of them, in fact, I didn’t get into any of my larger in undergrad population reach schools, I only got into small liberal arts reach schools which is weird. I appreciate your advice about not visiting right now because it wouldn’t be worth the flight over. I do have a question though since I can’t visit or rather shouldn’t visit, what is the best way to handle this waitlist situation, should I just disregard it? Also, how does transferring colleges after the first year, affect medical school admissions and the process as a whole? (I’m not saying I’m going to transfer, I’m just curious what that would look like from those who’ve transferred as an undergrad and gone off to medical school.)
Agree with others that Wesleyan will have a LOT of partying, and kids will be more trendy and hipster. Bowdoin will be a little more preppy, but with a good mix of kids. Kids will party there too. That’s what teens do. Your worries about med school, etc… are undfounded. You will not have an issue at either school with getting into med school and having opportunties. Both schools have great reputations. Personally, I much prefer Wes, only because it’s exactly the kind of place I would have chose for myself, except for the pot smoking, which it seems is pretty popular there. You are correct, no point in visiting during the summer. Very few students will be on campus.
If you are VERY interested in Wes, you need to say yes to the smaller WL immediately. They don’t leave WL positions just hanging around. I have seen both schools. Bowdoin is pretty and perfect, Wes is more disorganized but nice. Bowdoin is close to Portland, which is a cool small city, but Wes is within a manageable distance of Boston and Providence. About an hour and a half to both. It’s close to Hartford, which is a city, but that’s about it.
Something to think about, if Wes sounds like the school for you and IF you get off WL, you just have to take a leap of faith and go. There will be international kids who will not have set foot on the campus unitl move in day. My kid knows about ten people at her LAC who never came to campus before move in, and two of those kids live within a day’s drive. It’s the people who matter and who will make your experience good or bad. You will make freinds at Bowdoin, so try not to worry about this, because it’s all hypothetical anyway. There is zero benefit to visiting right now. Seeing a zoo without animals is pointless. Plus, you don’t have a ticket to the zoo.
If you dislike Bowdoin enough to be thinking of transferring when you get there, attending Wesleyan sight unseen doesn’t seem like the proper solution. I would respectfully decline the wait list offer and either go to Bowdoin hoping for the best or seriously consider taking a gap year.
As for how to navigate the transfer situation should you decide that’s what you want, you will need to direct that question to the CC pre-med forum in time to get some feedback.
Sorry this admissions cycle has been so complicated for you.
When I suggested you visit Wesleyan right away I thought you lived nearby for some reason and not in Washington State! My bad. I agree with the others that a summer visit where you can’t see students is not helpful. My thinking is that if you stay in limbo trying to decide between the 2, you will not give yourself a chance to get excited about Bowdoin or mentally prepare for the transition to college. Ask yourself why you applied to Bowdoin in the first place.
As to why you got into top LACs, but not larger universities: it might be because you are male and males have an advantage at LACs. Just a guess.