<p>I visited Wesleyan for three days (during finals week, nonetheless), and I really loved my time there. I met professors I liked, students I really dug and even that guy from O'Rourke's diner. I ended up applying ED-II and feeling really good about it until a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm debating putting my app back into the RD pool, but am feeling pretty torn.</p>
<p>I'm from the West Coast, and my concerns are related to both the weather (I generally get sick a lot in the cold) and whether or not I got a realistic picture of Wes. When I was there, most everything seemed awesome--random students I met took the time to talk to me and tell me about their experiences, professors got me really excited about their classes, the program houses seemed sweet--but I know that nowhere is perfect, and that I definitely didn't see all of Wes.</p>
<p>So...any CURRENT OR FORMER students on here want to chime in? Perhaps we could get some comments about getting into classes (I hear that this is tough in popular departments/programs like psych, film and Science in Society), winter, your experience with the school when you visited vs. when you were actually a student...I don't know, anything. Warm a guy's feet up, if possible.</p>
<p>P.S. My academic interests: Pre-med, Science in Society, Environmental Studies, Psychology, Religion (sp. Buddhism), maybe some Film classes for fun</p>
<pre><code> My other interests: Outdoorsy things (Long Lane Farm, Outhouse), volunteering at the community health center, peer counseling, COOKING, the Film Series, running but not on the XC or track team (is there a running club?), yoga, meditation, exercise/fitness/health and wellness in general
Misc: From California (Bay Area), multiracial and looking to explore that aspect of my id, formerly upperish and now lowerish-middle class, not that into partying at all, want to live in CA after I graduate, the other school I'm seriously considering is Pomona College
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<p>In that case, now’s the time to do the East Coast.</p>
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<p>We moved from the South to further north than Montreal and Minneapolis. It’s a change, but you learn to adapt. And, hopefully, thrive. The whole family is out doors far more during winter than we were in South Carolina because the place is wired for the climate. It’s being indoors during winter that creates the health problems. Get outside and, well, there’s nothing like going out and getting an Arctic blast in your lungs to make you feel alive. If you’re an active person, winter is great, especially since you would get to do winters without having to scrape the ice off your car windshield in the morning before driving/skidding to the office.</p>
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<p>So, let me see if I got this straight: the concern is that because you didn’t encounter ANY problems at Wesleyan during an extended visit at a time when student life was less-than-ideal, and because it’s a given that there are problems to be encountered eventually, no matter where you go, you are going to encounter some unknown problems at Wesleyan when maybe it would be better to encounter the known problems you observed during a less-than-idyllic visit to some other college(s)?</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be facetious or sarcastic here, and I hope my response proves that, because my very straight-up response to that is that, at those other colleges where you observed various flaws or shortcomings, it is impossible to know whether you’ve observed all of them. In other words, if we assume that there are shortcomings and unwanted surprises that await you at Wesleyan…we should also assume that shortcomings and unwanted surprises await you at every other college.</p>
<p>The fact that you observed some shortcomings doesn’t mean you observed all of them. The unknowns out there are equal across all the colleges, including the ones where there are also known issues. I think you’re making a mistake by comparing known issues with some colleges to unknown issues at Wesleyan and thinking that maybe “devil I know is better than the devil I don’t know.”</p>
<p>Algebraically speaking, if X = the range of unknown issues you’ll encounter in college, it would have to be equal across all of them. (Don Rumsfeld, see below, spoke eloquently to this point.) Therefore the way you’d factor the concerns and negatives for each college would be to assign some value for the known concerns and negatives and then add X for the unknown concerns and negatives. At Wesleyan, the sum total would be X, as there’s nothing to add to it. Everywhere else it would be X + some additional value; making Wesleyan the best choice for this particular metric.</p>
<p>You’re wise to assume that there will be speed bumps and potholes along the way and that your experience at Wesleyan will not be as perfect as your visit. (For starters, you’ll actually be taking those exams, not just visiting while others take them.) That’s very realistic thinking on your part. I think your cold feet comes from the unrealistic view, implied from what you wrote, that this same harsh reality isn’t equally in force at the other colleges where you gleaned for yourself what at least some of the drawbacks will be if you were to matriculate at those other colleges.</p>
<p>Finally and in general, I think it’s natural to get cold feet. Most high school seniors have never had to make a commitment like this before. It’s not choosing one college that’s difficult. It’s saying “no” to all the others that’s sad. That’s tough to do, but you’re going to face that eventually. Converting your EDII application to RD allows you to push that off to the future but you’ll still have to come to that judgment day and feel the grief and loss you’re probably now anticipating if Wesleyan accepts you. That means you’ll go through this again. Yuk. Deal with it now and get it over with so that if and when you get that acceptance letter from Wesleyan you can immediately move to embracing your choice…which, from everything you wrote, sounds like a well-considered one.</p>
<p>(Disclosure: I’m not here to plug Wesleyan. I’m just poking my nose in to see what’s going on, so choosing Wesleyan wouldn’t validate me in some way. And that’s why I stuck to general points and didn’t address the parts of your post related specifically to Wesleyan, like programs of study and such.)</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful reply, D’yer Maker. I think you really hit the nail on the head in analyzing my apprehensions.</p>
<p>I guess I should have voiced some of my actual concerns about Wesleyan, just to be more clear: Offerings in the College of the Environment/ES department seem a bit scant with regards to my particular interests (food systems and urban development); the lack of socioeconomic diversity concerns me (on my tour, my guide made some offhand remark about just charging anything you want to your student account so your parents can pay for it–which would not be a reality for me) financial aid sounds inconsistent, at best; I’ve heard the party scene can get a bit out of hand (read: the Sex Party, which I guess has now been toned down and renamed “Ultrasound”); I’ve heard getting into classes is often a problem in the departments I’m most interested in (Psych, Science in Society, English, Film, ES); and I’ve also heard that many professors are not as accessible and open to developing relationships with students as admissions materials makes them out to be. </p>
<p>That said, I really did love my visit to Wes and the majority of people whom I met. I got a really good vibe from the place, which is something I’ve never felt when visiting schools before. I also really dig Wes’ product image, if you know what I mean (countercultural, artsy, political, intellectual but also down-to-earth and relaxed); though I’ve heard differing opinions on how much Wes really lives up to this reputation (naturally, of course…everyone has their own singular experience). </p>
<p>Edit: Upon re-reading my second paragraph, I see that I used the phrase “I’ve heard” like ten times. So maybe someone in-the-know can chime in and tell me whether or not they think “I’ve heard” correctly!</p>
<p>We are visiting Wesleyan next week, and I was excited about it (for my son), until I just read a review. What concerned me were the comments on a strong drug (particularly marijuana) scene, and a strong bias against people with moderate/conservative views. While our family is open minded on all counts, a prevailing “politically correct” and pro drug culture sounds unappealing. Was that review totally off the mark, and are people openly accepting of others, no matter what? I hope so. Did you have an opinion on that staranise, or anyone else?</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who applied RD, but reads a lot and talks to a lot of people, ED cold feet is just something that happens, you fell in love with a school but because you’re a rational person, you understand that nowhere is perfect and as that thought occurs to you you’re wondering if you made the right choice. From everything I know about Wesleyan, it seems to match up with your interests very well. As to your specific concerns I do not know any more than you about a lot of them, but I do know that socioeconomic diversity is a problem at a lot of top notch schools, but that one tour guide isn’t indicative of a whole class, both economic status-wise and sensitivity-wise. I, for one, have applied as a financial aid candidate and am about square in the middle of middle class for my area. On a related note, could you elaborate on what you mean by “inconsistent” in regards to financial aid?</p>
<p>Busdriver11 - I would make a few comments here. First of all, there should be a clear distinction made between official school policy and overall student culture; the Wesleyan admninistration doesn’t mince words or pull any punches:
<p>The problem, as you can see, isn’t that there is too little acceptance of others at Wesleyan, but, that there may actually be a little too much acceptance. The prevailing attitude seems to be “live and let live” and indeed, for most students, if not the majority, pot use, in and of itself, is a non-issue. The issue is having the freedom to decide what to do and where to go for themselves, which is why the iminent banning of Beta House (ironically, the last all-male, hold-out against the admission of women boarders) is gaining such traction at the moment.</p>
<p>But, as most contributors to this forum will tell you, that freedom also includes the freedom to say, “No.” and not suffer any repercussions from doing so.</p>
<p>I know nothing of you nor of Wesleyan, beyond its reputation. But google the terms reactive devaluation and buyer’s remorse. You will realize that your emotional reactions are so common as to have names, and have been the subject of considerable academic research.</p>
<p>Luigi and UT, I really appreciate what you guys had to say. Made me feel a lot better, actually, and I’m starting to feel excited about going to Wes again (I ended up sticking with ED).</p>
<p>To answer your question, Luigi, by “inconsistent” financial aid, I really just meant not the best financial aid. With tuition rising and whatnot, I know that the costs of a Wesleyan education are high. That said, my estimated aid package (estimate b/c my family hasn’t finished their tax returns yet) was not bad at all, so things are looking okay financially. </p>
<p>And to try to answer all of your questions, busdriver (which I really shouldn’t be doing, since I haven’t really been a student yet) the marijuana scene, while strong, is certainly not something that your son wouldn’t be able to abstain from–just as johnwesley explained. I get the sense that weed is just very visible at Wesleyan, not that it’s consumed by an overwhelmingly higher proportion of students than at any other artsy, liberal, fairly wealthy liberal arts college. With regards to political matters, I’ve HEARD (again, please note that you’re hearing this like second or third-hand) that while conservatives might feel alienated by the general sentiment of the student body or of certain professors (really this will be the case at the vast majority of elite schools–there’s no getting around that), there is a strong, active and vocal chapter of college Republicans, and most of them feel they are treated civilly. </p>
<p>But really…visit. Visiting is the absolute best thing you can do when trying to decide between schools. It’s what sold me on Wesleyan and steered me away from other places that, on paper, I thought I’d love.</p>
<p>I happen to like the framework for how the campus community dynamics get defined: communitarian v. libertarian. I think it’s a useful framework for addressing the age-old question: “Will I be an outcast because my politics may differ from the more widely vocalized political vibe on campus?”</p>
<p>This poster, on another forum, is under the impression that Wesleyan is tilted communitarian (basically, that it’s more important to be engaged as part of the community). I had very much the opposite impression of Wesleyan…while agreeing with his assessment of Swarthmore being more communitarian than libertarian and Oberlin being more libertarian than communitarian. I only know some Wesleyan grads and spent a day on campus, mostly reading magazines in the admission office waiting area while my son visited classes. The question’s not personally relevant to me (and I doubt my son has been awake nights worried about such things), but it’s still of interest.</p>
<p>D’yer Maker - that’s wild. I can understand where the Oberlin poster is coming from; they are competing values, to some extent. Although, I’m a little surprised that they would see more than an ounce of daylight between Obie and Wes in that regard. For example, I’ve always felt that Williams and Middlebury exemplified the commmunitarian ideal, camped-out as they are, in deep snow for much of the year. The trope was always that if you didn’t arrive already knowing how to ski or lace on a pair of snow shoes, you would learn soon enough or be forever banished to the library on weekends. </p>
<p>To that extent, yes, there is a huge market for communitarian sentiment at Wesleyan, but it’s not just one community we’re talking about, here; there are literally dozens of different communities at Wesleyan, some not always clearly distinct from each other. The one thing they have in common is a need for augmentation, coalition, revival, or some combination of the three, and that’s where the libertarian aspect comes into play: they can’t gain converts without demonstrating that they can play well with others.</p>
<p>Hope this helps (I have to admit that was something of a head-scratcher, for me. :p)</p>
<p>I am an alum from long ago and my son will be a first-year student at Wes in September and all the data I have matches precisely with what JohnWesley is saying here. Certainly the incoming class of 2015 thus far seems to be composed of students representing a wide range of interests and opinions, and there is no one “type”. In addition to what has been said before, people should remember that the Admissions staff, who “casts” the “players” for each “role” in the many iterations of the “Wesleyan Experience” each year, makes sure that there is no one type. If you read the Wesleying blog, for instance, you will see many examples of the different kinds of communities and subgroups which exist now on campus as well as the new ones which emerge with each arriving first-year class. </p>
<p>Last fall, I took part in a focus group of eight parents of college-bound high school seniors. We were being asked about our impressions of the various schools our kids had toured over the past few months. Of course, I spoke about my son’s enthusiasm for Wesleyan and the fact that his second and third choices were Swarthmore and either Hamilton or Haverford. As the discussion went forward, I was stunned at the comments of a few parents on the line who remarked that they thought that Wesleyan was “too wild” and “extremely liberal”. </p>
<p>So where do they get these ideas? Some of the college guides are the source–like the so-called “Insiders Guide to the Colleges” produced each year by the Yale Daily News. It describes Wesleyan as “an ultra-liberal school where political correctness is not just commendable but necessary” and quotes a student as saying if you come to Wesleyan you’d better bring “weed–you’ll make lots of friends.” This type of over-the-top running commentary distorts what Wesleyan is and mischaracterizes what this university community aspires to being. Parents and prospective students, please do better research, through examining blogs like Wesleying, or the online issues of the Wesleyan Argus, or the many articles written by President Michael Roth, as well as what Wes students say here on CC–you’ll be in a better position to make an informed choice based on a wider pool of data!</p>
<p>Good thing my son, who will also be a Wesleyan Freshman in September, and I, both took the Wesleyan stereotypes from college guides with a grain of salt, so he interviewed and visited last summer. Son is conservative (although not socially so) and does not drink or take drugs at all…yet, he found Wes to be the best fit for him academically and creatively. He’s open to all viewpoints, looking forward to engaging academic and social discussions on many topics in college, and he expects that those who are more liberal than he and in the majority at Wesleyan politically (both students and faculty) will be as well. </p>
<p>(also, he has expressed to me that he’d find it dull to go to a school where everyone is exactly like him–where is the education in that?)</p>
<p>I’m finding this whole topic very illuminating, the study of a community within a school has some extraordinary insight to offer, even if the truth about one’s experience at a school can really only be seen by attending.</p>
<p>If this isn’t prying too much, (and if it is, just say so) was the financial need met more or less than your federal EFC? I ask because my federal EFC is extraordinarily high for my family’s income, and whenever I use an aid calculator the institutional EFC is always much lower.</p>
<p>@Luigi: No, I’d be totally happy to share my FAFSA vs. institutional methodology financial aid experiences with you.</p>
<p>I’ve actually gone through this college app game before (I took a gap year, then reapplied), and the FAFSA EFC was consistently lower than the actual EFCs I received from the schools I applied to. That said, financial aid awards can range like crazy between schools (for example, Carleton asked for about $6000/yr from my family and some of my other schools were $19-20k/yr). It’s kind of hard to say whether your FAFSA EFC will accurately reflect any of your actual EFC(s) from the schools to which you are admitted, as different schools have different ways of tabulating their aid awards (some look at your bank account statements, some don’t charge tuition to families below a certain income ceiling, etc. etc.). If your EFC is so high because of your assets, you might want to mention your family’s costs and/or debts, if they have any, on your CSS profile or directly to financial aid offices.</p>
<p>The short of what I’m saying is that the FAFSA EFC is not entirely reliable, at least in my experience. Then again, we didn’t do the best job on our FAFSA…</p>
<p>No I appreciate it, I think our situations don’t necessarily correlate (I think I’ve narrowed down the discrepancy between the institutional and the FAFSA to medical expenses), but it’s very helpful to hear from somebody who has been through the process before. I wish all this wasn’t such a toss-up.</p>
<p>Those were really great posts, very helpful. Yes, reading guides that say things like this were alarming, as morganhil said: "So where do they get these ideas? Some of the college guides are the source–like the so-called “Insiders Guide to the Colleges” produced each year by the Yale Daily News. It describes Wesleyan as “an ultra-liberal school where political correctness is not just commendable but necessary” and quotes a student as saying if you come to Wesleyan you’d better bring “weed–you’ll make lots of friends.”</p>
<p>But I have a feeling that is ridiculous exaggeration. We were very impressed with the school when we visited last week. No hint of drug culture or any sort of discrimination. What a classy place Wesleyan is. You students fortunate enough to attend or get accepted are getting a first rate education and the experience of a lifetime.</p>
<p>You may not like my comments, but drugs and binge drinking are rampant at Wes. Political correctness rules the day. Students are wealthy and self-absorbed. The admin is smug and condescending. Classes are hard to get. The career resource center is terrible. Read about the war the admin is waging with Beta house. I don’t like fraternities, but this is over the top heavy handedness. For what we pay, just not very impressed.</p>
<p>You may be right about all those things. Apparently, Career Services is now expected to prepare people for graduate school as well as draw top-flight investment banking firms to campus. The former was once the exclusive province of the faculty, but, as times have changed (and, the economy has worsened) there have been complaints.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that you would be simultaneously against drugs and binge drinking AND against the administration’s “war against Beta”. Those “smug and condescending” administrators, despite their overly obtuse use of language, are only trying to get Beta to join the other major houses (DKE and Psi U) in allowing Public Safety to make regular inspections on the premises. It should be noted that virtually every other NESCAC college hopped on the PC bandwagon and banned fraternities a long time ago.</p>