<p>Is anybody familiar with this program? How difficult is it to get in? How does it coordinate with the rest of the university?</p>
<p>Not difficult to get in, but the trimester system that CSS operates under does present challenges, perhaps more mental than real. Because the rest of the university is on a semester system, you basically see the same people over and over again in every tutorial. Great if you like the sense of "community within a community" and the access to great teachers that it offers; not so great if Wesleyan's diversity was its chief selling point for you.</p>
<p>CSS students take many regular classes with non-CSS majors too. </p>
<p>Just wanted to point that out.</p>
<p>There is a competitive application process, but there's a great deal of self-selection in that basically everyone who applies has really thought it through and is very serious and has solid academic reasons for wanting to go CSS. So, if you really want to do it and have done reasonably well in your first year classes (and why are you applying if you haven't?!?), you will probably get in.</p>
<p>Could you please explain a little bit more about what the CSS is and what it entails?
Thank you!</p>
<p>Look at the thread "Current Wesleyan Freshman - Ask Me Questions!" and read post #16 by Johnwesley. It should help.</p>
<p>wmass11 - you can read that and I'll throw this in:</p>
<p>CSS is part of an interdisciplinary program called, "The College Program", that has been in existence since 1959, involving small classes that meet once a week, usually three of them, one in Economics, one in History and one in Government. In between the times that classes (or tutorials, as they are referred to in CSS-speak) meet, students are expected to read tons of assigned material and prepare short papers. You are admitted to the program sophomore year and for the rest of your time at Wesleyan your electives are pretty much at a minimum.</p>
<p>At one time they were taught on a non-graded basis and were considered highly experimental. Nowadays grades are made available for grad school purposes and both COL and CSS, are considered pretty intense academically. They each have their own academic calendar and at one time even had their own dormitories (until about 1980) which led some to call The College Program Wesleyan's answer to Oxbridge. </p>
<p>Less cloistered now than they once were, COL and CSS still have a distinct character and appeal. I think they appeal to people who don't need or don't want a lot of academic advising and who can manage "free" time efficiently. A typical week goes by very fast and the unprepared can fall behind in the reading very easily.</p>