<p>I got off the waitlist at Wesleyan,
But already accepted an offer at Middlebury.</p>
<p>Could someone tell me in what way Midd and Wes differs??</p>
<p>Besides the weather and general surroundings (southern New England weather is milder than Northern New England; Connecticut's population density is a lot higher than Vermont's) it may boil down to the preppy factor. Wealthy kids attend both schools; but, I think Wesleyan has a higher non-preppy quotient. There's more of a mix at Wesleyan. Midd is very big on the environment (so is Wes); Wesleyan is very big on worker's rights. Academically, you can't go wrong at either place; Midd is still the "go-to" place for language immersion. Wesleyan faculty are excellent across the board. The intellectual atmosphere at both schools is high; at Wesleyan, it is joined at the hip by a large number performing artists drawn to it's film, jazz, dance and theater programs. Wesleyan is often described as the most pretentious of the NESCAC colleges; the healthy number of prize winning writers and journalists among its alumni may make it more than a matter of pretense.</p>
<p>whose economics department and history department is stronger in your opinion?</p>
<p>A quote from this article: "Members of this clan are not so rare, being fairly freely distributed in colleges and universities around the world, but they are always to be found in the best economics departments among the best American small colleges -- such as Swarthmore, Wellesley, Williams, Amherst, Grinnell, Carleton, Pomona and, in his case, Middlebury."</p>
<p>I'd be hard put to name a NESCAC college that didn't have an excellent history or economics department. Wesleyan's John C. Bonin specializes in Eastern European economies and gets quoted quite a bit:</p>
<p>Also, this article by Howard Bodenhorn a professor at Lafayette College is often cited:
<a href="http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eeconed/issues/v28_4/4.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/issues/v28_4/4.htm</a></p>
<p>Wesleyan (along with UChicago) has highest percentage of undergraduate History majors who go on to get PhD in History. Must say something good. <a href="http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2005/0509/0509new1.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2005/0509/0509new1.cfm</a></p>
<p>i would say definitely go to middlebury. i've visited both and the enviorment at midd seemed more positive and upbeat in my opinion</p>
<p>when did you find out from Wesleyan? I'm also on the waiting list.</p>
<p>I don't know that much about Middlebury, though I visited it when looking at colleges, and I wouldn't know where to start talking about the positives at Wesleyan, but as a current student, I will say this: I absolutely love it here, and the general attitude is one of people being happy. This is really an ideal college experience, and that's the prevalent mood. In my experience, the environment has been very upbeat; personally, I'd think people could stand to be a little less cheerful all the time, actually, but that's something entirely different. =)</p>
<p>Club Midd does have its own skiing slopes if that's what you're into.
Personally I like wes more.</p>
<p>One of my criterions for picking a college was that i didn't want it to be smaller than my hs (2200+ kids) and middlebury is smaller. Wes is a good size with enough people so you'll meet new people and not know everyone in your class in a matter of a few weeks. That's just something personally that I like. I mean wes also offers a tuition free masters program for students in sciences there for undergrad (if you get into the program) which was a factor for me and wont' be for you since you're not going to be doing a science major.</p>
<p>The size was an issue for me, and yes the students at midd are more preppy than those at wes. Wes is more like swatty while midd is more like amherst and williams, if you have to make a comparison.</p>