Forming the apply list, Wesleyan is up there...need your help.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wesleyan University
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<p>Nigiri, he’s a classical pianist. He’d planned to be a philosophy major but is now doing a double major in philosophy and music. I think there are a lot more band/jazz/improv/ethno musicians at Wes than classical, but he’s finding his niche. I’m sure your son would find musical soulmates there as well.</p>

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<p>Skie, That sounds really great. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Nigiri, as a compliment to Wes, has your s considered Vassar? It has the same off beat, not-quite-establishment feel that Wes has, great rep, world-class profs, gorgeous campus and a great music program. I think it also might be slightly easier to get into. And, frankly, Middletown is just as big a hole as Poughkeepsie… There were homeless people sleeping in doorways on the streets in Middletown when I visited.</p>

<p>Vassar has a slightly higher girl to guy ratio (I think it’s something like 57/43), but the difference, to me, isn’t noticable. Just a thought.</p>

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<p>Vassar is on my radar but not in his yet…I think it is a good idea to look.</p>

25

<p>For some reason Vassar still has that “girls’ school” rep, even though they’ve been co-ed for 40 years. A lot of people don’t consider the school initially, until they check out the stats. I think Vassar is on par with Wes education-wise, even though Wes has a slightly higher national profile. The quality of the applicants is virtually identical from an academic perspective. They have similar retention rates and similar grad rates. The character of both is definitiely far-left anti-establishment, though Vassar students tend to me more idealistic and Wes students tend to be more politically active. At least that has been my experience.</p>

<p>Also, Wes is about twice the size of Vassar. Don’t know if that will make a difference or not. Vassar has no grad students, so Wes has a bigger research budget. Vassar is farther from town than Wes is, which could be a good or bad thing, depending upon your opinion of the town.</p>

<p>Finally, Vassar has a much cooler school mascot than Wes has. Ths Cardinals? Feh… How many colleges name their school teams after a beer manufacturer? The Vassar Brewers. (Matthew Vassar made his fortune in beer).</p>

<p>Anyway, food for thought…</p>

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<p>

actually, Vassar’s nearly as big as Wesleyan at 2,400 u/g – but, who’s counting? :wink:
[Vassar</a> College || About](<a href=“http://admissions.vassar.edu/about.html]Vassar”>http://admissions.vassar.edu/about.html)</p>

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<p>Penelopepitstop:</p>

<p>And Duke is named for a tobacco family (cough, cough). It’s always something!</p>

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<p>Hi johnwesley - yes, you’re right. If you <i>only</i> count undergrads the two schools aren’t too different in size. </p>

<p>It’s kind if deceiving to count the students that way though, since a person is a person who takes up space and resources whether they are graduate students or undergrads, and I’m not sure why anyone would be driven to make that minor distinction, but yeah. Thanks for pointing that out.</p>

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<p>The ‘blue devils’ is a tobacco-related mascot name? I don’t get it.</p>

<p>and it isn’t as much fun, anyway.</p>

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<p>Wes has enrollment of 3100 including grad students, while Vassar has 2400.</p>

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<p>

That’s an important point, Penelopepitstop, and one that I often make regarding UChicago, Columbia, and – Pomona. :)</p>

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<p>Good point johnwesley. Actually, now that I think about it, an argument could be made that graduate students are a significant distraction for the faculty and detract from the undergrad experience. While their presence tend to open the research purse-strings a bit more than at undergrad-only colleges, they also demand a larger percentage of the professors’ time and tend to make professors harder to access for the average undergrad.</p>

<p>Wes has 'em. Vassar doesn’t. To 2bizee’s point, perhaps Wes doesn’t have twice the number of total students. Maybe it just feels that way. In any event, I’d use this fact as contributing factor in my decision if I were deciding between the two schools – all other things being equal, which they aren’t, really. </p>

<p>Wes has a higher national profile. It has better facilities (though Vassar’s facilities are top-notch too). I think Vassar has a more attractive campus. I don’t think there is a significant difference in the qualities of the professors, the student body or the education. Wes probably has a more competitive athletic department, which isn’t really saying much, but I was equally impressed with the athletic facilities at both. Vassar has a better theatre department. Vassar gets the edge in living conditions, but Wes has the edge in food options (ACDC @Vassar is ok, but the meal plan is too restrictive and the hours of operation aren’t long enough). </p>

<p>Vassar, according to the raw numbers, is actually harder to get into, with a slightly lower acceptance rate (25% v. 27% if you average the past several years), though anecdotal evidence suggests that Vassar may be slightly easier to get into for some. Vassar retains a statistically insignificant larger percentage of returning sophomores.</p>

<p>If I had to prefer one town over the other, I guess I’d go with Middletown over Poughkeepsie, but not by much, and I wouldn’t be caught in either of them alone at night.</p>

<p>I’m sure these are all arguable points, which just underlines the importance of visiting the various campuses to get a first hand feel for the school. After visiting both, from my perspective, I’d tend to think that a student who was comfortable at one would be almost equally as comfortable at the other, with one caveat. </p>

<p>The Wes students I interacted with were higher-energy and somewhat more engaged in the specific conversation I was having at the time. I’m not sure if that comes across correctly or not, but I got the feeling that they were a little too enthusiastic about minor details than I was comfortable with. I still loved it there, but the environment at Vassar was a little more laid back, a little less EXCITED TO MEET ME!!! It may have just been the cross section of kids that I met, but the Vassar students gave me enough space to feel comfortable before engaging me. That was really the only substantial difference I felt between the campuses. I could have been very happy at either school.</p>

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<p>I dunno, I realize I’m biased, but Vassar is one of those schools that just don’t show up well in photographs, IMO: <a href=“http://www.stateuniversity.com/assets/logo/image/4629/large/vassar.jpg[/url]”>http://www.stateuniversity.com/assets/logo/image/4629/large/vassar.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^^</p>

<p>Also, Wes’ admit rate went WAY down this year (to 22%). We’ll see if that’s a fluke or if it holds next year.</p>

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<p>While it wasn’t my intention to shill for Vassar in the Wes forum, and I’ve already expressed my love of the Wes campus, and it is beautiful in its own right, I can’t let that challenge go unanswered john. Here are some pics of the campus. It is universally acclaimed to be one of the most photogenic campuses in America.
<a href=“http://amykane.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/vassar2.jpg[/url]”>http://amykane.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/vassar2.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/10/1023_college_tutions/image/vassar.jpg[/url]”>http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/10/1023_college_tutions/image/vassar.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.aavc.vassar.edu/images/news/Jan2009/campus.jpg[/url]”>http://www.aavc.vassar.edu/images/news/Jan2009/campus.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.aavc.vassar.edu/connecting/sendcard/images/summer-sunset.jpg[/url]”>http://www.aavc.vassar.edu/connecting/sendcard/images/summer-sunset.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Weskid, everyone’s admit rate went way down this year. When we start talking about admit rates in the low to mid 20’s, I think the point is that both schools are equally as selective. A review of the range of SAT and GPA scores will underscore this fact.</p>

<p>My initial purpose for joining this thread was to provide Nigiri my thoughts on similar schools to Wes that his s might consider. I didn’t mean to get into a debate on the subject.</p>

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<p>

That’s, kind of, not true:
[Williams</a> College?s Applications Drop 20% as Economy Takes Toll - Bloomberg.com](<a href=“Politics - Bloomberg”>Politics - Bloomberg)</p>

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<p><em>sigh</em></p>

<p>Right back atcha john…
<a href="http://www./college-resources/college-trends/college-acceptance-rates-hit-record-lows/">http://www./college-resources/college-trends/college-acceptance-rates-hit-record-lows/</a></p>

<p>[ok, collegeconfidential doesn’t like my link to campus compare dot com, so it won’t host this link. Just remove the asterisks before /college-resources and type in campus compare . com without the spaces and it will take you to the link]</p>

<p>You’ll see in the link that the overwhelming trend among virtually all selective colleges was a significant decrease in acceptance rates, with very few exceptions. If I had included the word ‘virtually’ in my generalized statement, would you still have felt the need to correct me? And did your correction have any bearing at all on the fact that both Vassar and Wes saw decreased admit rates this year? Which was kind of the point of the conversation…</p>

<p>I fear the answer to this question john, but is everyone at Wes as pointlessly argumentative as you are?</p>

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<p>penelope - welcome to college. personal experience and anecdotal information will get you but so far before someone, somewhere challenges the information you’re putting out (in this case, your contention that all colleges experienced an increase in selectivity this past year, when in fact, selective LACs quite conspicuously as a group, did not; or, that Wesleyan is twice as big as Vassar when twice as big as Vassar would mean almost 5,000 students!)</p>

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<p>Point taken john. So your answer is yes, everyone at Wes is just as pointlessly argumentative as you are… That’s too bad.</p>

<p>My suggestion would be to get it all out of your system in the next 4 years or so. When you get to the real world, you’ll discover that by making OCD-type minuscule corrections that have no bearing on the topic of discussion – like the fact that Williams saw a decrease in apps when the general point of the conversation was that Wes and Vassar and almost everyone saw an increase – makes you appear a fuss-budget who offered the correction, not to add anything to the conversation, but to stroke his own self importance. </p>

<p>It isn’t attractive. You won’t get a lot of girls that way. IMO.</p>

<p>Your point is acknowledged, but it has absolutely no bearing on the conversation, so it is, by definition, pointless.</p>