<p>This will probably sound like a dumb question but, why does it matter about establishing a social life beyond the Wellesley campus? Are you talking about dating?</p>
<p>Probably, but also just forming friendships with male students. Basically, my parents and I are worried that I won't have enough fun at Wellesley (not just because of the social aspect, also because of the perceived academic climate--my parents find this more concerning than I do) and that if I don't find it relatively easy to move beyond a Wellesley bubble, I won't be maturing enough for the real world. I'm not the kind of person who will want to or will be able to just show up at a party and meet a bunch of new people, and if that's the kind of thing I need to do to move beyond my circle of Wellesley friends, that's a problem.</p>
<p>I guess maybe it sounds weird to keep harping on about it (I think we all see how social I am, posting on this forum at almost two in the morning on a friday night!), but it is a BIG concern of my parents and something that I will need to convince them about for them to really be okay with Wellesley.</p>
<p>My DD1 told me that there are students from Wellesley joining research group at MIT and work there during weekend. The case she noticed involve lab experiment and may be not directly applicable for you.</p>
<p>I wish you had another choice (mid-size university).</p>
<p>If you are planning to go to a grad school, LACs will prepare you a lot better than NYU. Graduating early is usually not recommended (except for financial reasons) on this board and elsewhere. Kids that I know at both Carleton and Wellesley are (were) very happy there and they are not "party" types.</p>
<p>I would cross NYU out of the list - financial advantages will be insignificant if you take the cost of living into consideration. Not having real "college experience" is not something I would give away.</p>
<p>I would take another look at Carleton and pick between it and W.</p>
<p>advantagious, one thing that struck me was that you said that Carleton would "be the easiest for me to just slide right in and make friends." In my experience, having good friends makes the difference in how happy you are. And although college is the time for challenges, I think those come automatically with college life. You're going to have experiences to make you grow whether it's Northfield or NYC. </p>
<p>When you do decide, as Carolyn said, don't look back--just forward. Good luck!</p>
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if I don't find it relatively easy to move beyond a Wellesley bubble, I won't be maturing enough for the real world. I'm not the kind of person who will want to or will be able to just show up at a party and meet a bunch of new people, and if that's the kind of thing I need to do to move beyond my circle of Wellesley friends, that's a problem.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There are many ways to meet new people, on and off of any college campus. Mainly, pursue activities that are of interest to you, and you will just naturally meet like-minded people.</p>
<p>I would not worry excessively about maturing. As Shadow stated in her very perceptive post #19, you can rise to the occasion when the time comes. Have confidence in yourself! :) When I first had a job working with the public, I was so shy that I had nightmares about the job. But I grew and did well with the public in that job and thereafter.</p>
<p>Make your choice in confidence, not in fear. You can do whatever you set your mind to! :)</p>
<p>cost of living point is a good one about NYU</p>
<p>I still think the order is Wellesley, Carleton, NYU</p>
<p>I think Shadow also gave excellent advice. I too enjoy getting people to come to my school.</p>
<p>The fact that you're worried about being overworked or not getting out and doing stuff is the first step to actually doing so and being happy.</p>
<p>The fact is, if you do a physics pset on your 21st birthday, you will probably would have done so anywhere if one was due then. Physics classes generally give 1-3 "late passes" a semester, so if you plan to take your birthday off, you can do so.</p>
<p>I took my prospie to watch me do Physics with my friends too.</p>
<p>My totally non objective opinion is, I think I liked Wellesley probably the most of all the campuses I visited with my daughter, and I would have been thrilled for her to go there, but she didn't even apply. And I would be very content if my daughters waited until after college to get serious about boys (FAT CHANCE). </p>
<p>Are your parents worried because you have not formed friendships/relationships with boys up to this point? You've still got your whole like ahead of you. You should focus on YOU right now, which school that you believe will help you become the person you want to become, and don't worry about the boys. There is still lots of time for that.</p>
<p>You won't have to stay inside the Wellesley bubble unless you want to. My D could have stayed inside the Smith bubble. She stayed on campus for part of the first summer, working with a very cosmopolitan multidisciplinary project funded by the National Science foundation. The second summer and Fall of her junior year she spent in Washington, D.C., with an internship on Capitol Hill. The second half of junior year has been spent on an "abroad" program in Hungary; while there she has visited or will visit Italy, Sweden, Austria, Romania, and Poland...she didn't go with the group that checked out Istanbul over Spring break. If you can't pry similar opportunities out of Wellesley, well then it just demonstrates Smith's superiority. :)</p>
<p>During the year, you can get into Boston easily...there's a 90-minute round-trip time penalty for the shuttle to/from, but it's laid out for you to be as easy as could be. Wellesley, the town, I admit, is a place where they roll up the sidewalks at five o'clock...which is why I prefer hip and happening Northampton.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice! I think that you guys are coming up with some good things that I hadn't thought of. This morning my mother asked me if I had had any epiphanies about the college choice and I told her that really the only thing I had thought of was that I thought her and my father had blown the social thing out of proportion and she agreed. They'll still need some convincing, though. I'm not really sure why they are SO stuck on it, but they are. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, datadriven, I applied to some highly selective mid-size universities and got either rejected or waitlisted :(. I guess I should have applied to some slightly less selective ones to, but they didn't really appeal to me, so...</p>
<p>Ha ha TheDad. We never did get to visit Smith. But I still have two girls that will be looking at colleges in a few years, so we'll get there next time around I hope.</p>
<p>But seriously, when we visited Wellesley, we took a walk by the lake and a swan swam up to my daughter. What colleges can match that? (And even the swan didn't move her to apply!)</p>
<p>advantagious: have you looked at the academic calendar at each school? do you plan to come home for the summers to work? do you want to be on the same calendar as friends? We LOVED Carleton, but DD decided against it for several things (better financial aid elsewhere, distance, calendar). The trimester calendar meant that coming home to work in the summer would be problematic (Carleton ends much later than local schools), and she would be out of sync with friends at other schools. (It's lonely at home if all your friends are off at school.) We did LOVE Carleton, though! :)</p>
<p>Advantagious, one other thought: You will have other opportunities in the future to live in and experience NYC or another large city. But you will never again have the opportunity to experience life as an undergrad at a top notch liberal arts college.</p>
<p>advantagious, you may get sick of all these data points. :) </p>
<p>I can't help myself, I have to add two more things. Regarding NYC, I lived there for 5 years (in my 20s, when I wasn't too decrepit to enjoy it), and I adored it--one of the best times of my life. But I've always thought it would be a terrible place to be a student in, because that's a time when you (ususally) have no money, and NYC has everything you might ever have wanted to buy or do--there's tempation everywhere.</p>
<p>anxiousmom had a great point about considering the calendar. I think there are disadvantages to Carleton's trimester system, but it has advantages, too. The 6 weeks you get from Thanksgiving through New Year's gives you a leg up on Christmas season work. That's also a great time to travel in the off season--my H and S are already planning on a Europe trip one mid-December. </p>
<p>Gee, now, instead of just having your two parents breathing down your neck, you have a hundred or so. ;)</p>
<p>Huh. Thanksgiving through Christmas off. IIRC the first two weeks of December are actually the slowest months of the year at Disney World. Probably most travelling places too. Weird breaks are great.</p>
<p>Wellesley has a "wintersession" which gives you a late January return (you will be stir crazy if you don't travel) or the opportunity to take a class/do PE/do a play if you come back right after New Year's. There's a $100 fee and you have to pay for your own food but I enjoyed it when I did it sophomore year. Junior year I took a trip course through MIT's IAP. First year I returned with my sister to her study abroad locale and got to do touristy things without the crowds (read: stare at the Mona Lisa because NOBODY was in the Louvre). Wellesley's year also ends later than most (third week of May) but it's not a big deal.</p>
<p>I loved being a student in NY lots of free and not too pricey things to do too. Rollerskating in Central Park, pay what you want at the Met. Museum of Art, the now defunct Bottom Line for great concerts in an intimate setting... Does NYU guarantee housing? Looking for apts. in NYC isn't much fun.</p>
<p>Alright all, unless I learn something really egregious (my father is emailing a colleague of his who is a fairly recent Wellesley grad (5 or so years ago)), I've decided on Wellesley. I realize that it was the place that I had the most positive visceral reaction to, and the thought of turning it down made me kind of sad, which are both good indicators that it's the right place for me. I know that I will have to push myself not to clam up and keep to myself, but I think that I can handle that responsibility. Thanks to all here for weighing in and making me reconsider Wellesley!</p>
<p>P.S: My father is already mapquesting Wellesley and figuring out whether it's faster to drive through the US or Canada and how the latitudes of Wellesley and Chicago compare!</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>:) :) :)</p>
<p>Congrats, advantagious! Doesn't it feel good to get that part behind you?</p>