<p>Observr…and you would be? Student? Parent? Curious since your last post here was 4 years ago.</p>
<p>My daughter will graduate Wes in May. She has loved all aspects of her four years. She was a non-drinker and she NEVER experienced any problems what so ever socially. She had different groups of friends as she progressed thru the years and is still friendly with kids she met during her first year. This is college folks and no matter where your kids go there will be alot of drinking and pot smoking. I don’t know what world you live in where you would expect other wise. When I was in college in the late 1960’s there was.</p>
<p>This is a university where my daughter has had fantastic professors who constantly stimulated her to think creatively, to write beautifully, to speak effectively. The liberal arts education was all she and we hoped for and more.</p>
<p>She had a chance to study abroad for a semester and travel while in Europe. She met and has stayed in touch with students from all over the world. This was a Wesleyan program in Madrid. The program was beautifully run with a Wes professor at the local university to help the kids maximise their time abroad.</p>
<p>I have never heard her say that there was any intolerance in the classroom towards kids with less than liberal philosophies. What made class interesting was the give and take of debating really bright kids with different takes on things from all types of backrounds. Yes Wes is very liberal as are most LACs and it is quite politically correct.</p>
<p>From my vantage point President Roth is a great leader for Wes both as an intellectual and the school’s head cheerleader nationally and internationally. He has kept a strong hand on the economics during these hard times and has championed an eclectic mix of interdepartmental studies and new programs.</p>
<p>If anyone has any specific questions or concerns I would be more than happy to respond as a P"11". I will remain on this link until she graduates and moves on to grad school.</p>
<p>Thanks, Class11dad!</p>
<p>I agree with your statement re drinking and drugs…unfortunately prevelant at most colleges. I see that your daughter was a non-drinker, as is my son. Did your daughter ever live in the substance-free dorm? If not, did she ever seek out other non-drinkers, and if so, how?</p>
<p>We have a close family friend whose son went to Wesleyan and his experience was very similar to your daughter’s (although he was not a non-drinker so he really couldn’t fill us in on how any of that worked if you weren’t).</p>
<p>No she never sought out other non-drinkers. She went to all of the frosh parties and dances at the frats and social clubs,she just didn’t drink. Nobody hastled her at all and never did. She did not segregate herself because of her disinterest in drinking. She lived in Clark and had no interest in a substance free living arrangement.</p>
<p>Now that she is over 21 she does have a beer or some wine when she goes to a party, but she is of legal age.</p>
<p>Thank you for the input, class11dad. My son doesn’t have problems hanging out with drinkers, but he thinks it would be nice to have some non-drinking friends as well, and he’s certainly found that they can be hard to find (it’s not like you walk up to a new potential friend and first thing say "hey, do you drink?) That is one of the reasons he’s very interested in the substance-free dorm.</p>
<p>I am a freshman at wes and we are currently on spring break so i thought i’d chime in and give my input on my year so far. Coming in, I was pretty nervous about starting a brand new life with a bunch of people that i didnt know. However, the administration does a great job with freshman orientation by having the RA’s basically force the freshman to get to know each other through hall activities. Then, at night when people just got to know each other a bit, there is usually a dance or some sort of party for the frosh to go to which really helps break the ice.</p>
<p>Overall, I have definitely enjoyed my experience at Wes thus far. The students really care about academics, but everyone also seems to have a relatively chill attitude and it’s definitely not too stressful (barring exams-time). While marijuana is definitely not impossible to come by, I can safely say that there are only about three or four people on my hall of about 12 that regularly use it. People definitely respect those that don’t smoke weed. As far as politics are concerned, it shouldn’t be a surprise that people are mostly socially liberal, but once again, people (from what I’ve noticed) really do respect differing opinions and ideals of others. I have made a ton of friends here, and the party/drinking scene is a lot better than I expected (meaning that there are a lot more beerpong/dorm parties than I thought there would be). As for the academics, the classes are pretty challenging, but I don’t feel the need to spend every waking hour of the day studying to get the best grades.</p>
<p>Wesleyan is a kick-ass school with a reputation that is hard to beat, and it was definitely a good choice to come here.</p>