<p>Hi, I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with the College of Social Studies program at Wesleyan. What are your thoughts? How intense is it? I've heard it referred to as the "College of Suicidal Sophomores!" I'm also interested in how it differs from other interdisciplinary type majors, and what the specific benefits or disadvantages of it are.</p>
<p>advantages:
-small classes
-lots of social interaction outside of classes (both with classmates and with professors)
-you become really good at reading, writing and arguing
-no grades your sophomore year
-cooperative intellectual atmosphere
-very interesting books/discussions that aren’t limited by the constraints of a single discipline
-each class helps you understand the material of the other classes better
-strong support structure
-free food and booze (ok, not really free.)</p>
<p>disadvantages:
-no but really, small classes.
-requires at least a little bit of self-motivation and discipline
-hard to go out on Thursdays, at least sophomore year.
-more reading than you can imagine.
-your sophomore year you have less opportunities to take outside classes you are interested in, less opportunities to tailor your class schedules to your interests (arguable)
-the curriculum is mostly determined for you and is heavy on dominant (ie white, European) perspectives</p>
<p>it’s different from other interdisciplinary majors because of the ‘collegial’ aspect, meaning that you take all of your classes within the college, as opposed to choosing random classes in different departments. also, you apply to be in it during your first year of college.</p>
<p>Thanks for your insights!</p>
<p>How many students elect the college of social studies each year? Do most students stay with the program or do some change to easier majors? I read somewhere that this college is on a trimester system whereas the rest of the college is on 2 semesters? Is this still true?</p>
<p>30 students are admitted each year, the amount of applicants varies. This year there were 59 applications, much more than other years. a couple of people (like 1-2) change to other majors during or after sophomore year. </p>
<p>The trimester schedule works like this: The sophomore year has 3 classes that are 8 weeks long, which you take in succession, in addition to a regular semester-long class the first semester. Then you have two weeks off before comprehensive exams. The fact that these classes are on a different schedule doesn’t preclude you from taking classes outside CSS. Typically people take 1 non-CSS class first semester of sophomore year and 2 classes second semester, but it’s up to you (a normal course load is 8 credits a year, and you will take 5.5 credits within CSS sophomore year). </p>
<p>Junior year is different because you have 2 7-week classes, and one semester-long class. Then you have 1 semester-long class during senior year. </p>
<p>This is more detail then you really need to know before applying, but it’s all available on [the</a> CSS website.](<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/css/]the”>College of Social Studies - Wesleyan University)</p>
<p>Posting on my mom’s account at her behest</p>
<p>I was a CSS major and thought it was an excellent experience. My advice is to take a lot of social science classes your freshman year and figure out if you’d rather have broader knowledge base or are in love with one of the social sciences–I.e. if you love history, be a history major and don’t waste your time.</p>
<p>The main skill takeaway is a) you’ll be an awesome writer from writing a ton of papers and b) you’ll learn how to manage a lot of reading, mainly in the sense that you pick up an understanding of what you need to actually absorb vs. what you can skim to reference later. </p>
<p>People who read every assigned page thoroughly are going to be stressed and miserable, so it’s great to be on that ball quickly rather than slog through 700+ pages of boring material every week just to use 10% of that for your paper. Its a great skill to have (especially if you’re going to law school), but nobody actually tells you that that’s what you’re supposed to do. </p>
<p>Basically, CSS teaches you to work smarter not harder. And given that it’s all pass/fail your sophomore year, you have plenty of time to learn how to do that.</p>