<p>hi,</p>
<p>after doing some online college search, i'm really interested in wellesley. but a huge part of my college decision is how liberal the school is. i'm sure its liberal like any other college, but i've heard rumors that it's not as liberal as most.</p>
<p>so does anybody know how liberal/green/glbt friendly wellesley is compared to other colleges?</p>
<p>thanks :)</p>
<p>I would say Wellesley is fairly liberal. Mostly we get questions asking whether conservative people can survive at Wellesley, and I tell them yes they can. It's not an extremely liberal school, but the conservatives are more likely to feel maligned.</p>
<p>Wellesley has gotten noticeably greener throughout my four years here, but there's still room for improvement. The college has worked to make campus wide events greener. Instead of passing out bottled water during reunion, alums got reusable nalgene-like bottles that they could refill. There have been campaigns for shorter showers, less food waste and energy reduction that have had moderate success. Within the last semester, motion sensor lights have been installed in stairwells of academic buildings, and "misers" turn the vending machines on only when someone goes to one. The college was a recipient of multimillion dollar grant, a lot of which is being used to replace the windows in the Science center, and make them more environmentally friendly, as well as revamp the heating systems.</p>
<p>Wellesley is extremely glbt friendly. Someone compiled a list of glbt friendly schools, and the thing no one understood was why Smith wasn't on it (Wellesley was). Not qualifying as glbt myself, I can't give you a rundown of the real glbt experience at Wellesley, but I leave the Wellesley bubble and I don't quite understand how the rest of the world is so intolerant.</p>
<p>Despite the snooty town with million dollar homes and the no men thing, Wellesley is the most diverse school on the east coast. There are all types of people there.</p>
<p>Anyway, one person's "too liberal" is another person's "too preppy", so I would come visit</p>
<p>Isun, how would you define "being liberal"? What is YOUR liberal mindset? (These are not trick questions, btw.)</p>
<p>When I visited Wellesley for the accepted students' day in the spring, the Democratic club was busy promoting itself by selling cute pink buttons/pins with a donkey on them (I bought one). I don't remember seeing the Republican club anywhere, if one exists.</p>
<p>^^It does exist. I see them around in their sweatshirts every once in awhile. They had George Allan, aka the guy from Virginia who called that guy "macaca", as their speaker this year, which was met with some degree of controversy. Some more conservative members of campus complain of being maligned by some liberals on campus, but in my opinion the maligning goes in every direction. </p>
<p>As far as how liberal it is, I would definitely not say that Wellesley's student body is notably focused on environmental issues as compared with some other colleges. That's not at all to say that the topic never comes up--it does, most assuredly--but it's not a hotbed of environmental activism. Women's issues and glbt, etc. friendliness are definitely big at Wellesley. I would say there is quite a bit of support for universal healthcare, although I have also had some disagreements with people over it as well. </p>
<p>Overall, I would guess that Wellesley is really pretty liberal in the grand scheme of things. By reputation and some anecdotal observation, I would guess that places like Oberlin, Smith, Wesleyan, etc. out-liberal Wellesley, but I have a hard time imagining that Wellesley is not as liberal as "most" colleges. I guess it depends on how one defines "most", but even among only highly prestigious universities and colleges I can think of many that seem to me to be less liberal in culture than Wellesley (based only on reputation of course, since I've only attended Wellesley). </p>
<p>As WendyMouse said, a visit is always very helpful. I hated Wesleyan when I visited and did not think I would fit in there at all, even though I (rightfully, in my opinion) consider myself to be very liberal. I feel very much at home at Wellesley, even though I probably am still further to the left than many Wellesley students.</p>
<p>In a similar vein, what's the general political leanings of Wellesley students with regard to the Obama vs. McCain presidential race?
will any Wellesley students vote for McCain in the upcoming presidential election? How much percentage?</p>
<p>^^Yes, some will definitely vote for McCain. I don't know how many--there hasn't been any survey--but presumably fewer than will vote for Obama. But not like 1% or anything...definitely more than that.</p>