@CALSmom hehe, I’m certain they did not. Although I’ve watched fewer than five minutes of the show, I just read the character profile on wikipedia and watched a youtube video of “Ted” moments. No overlap except being Jewish! I knew probably 30 guys at Wesleyan who had variations on Ted’s personality. Craig and Carter had ample source material for that character or at least the little bit I’ve now seen of him.
^True. The “Ted Mosby-type” who literally uses the word, “literally” a little too much has become a Wesleyan trope - at least among the male population. @wesleyan97, was there a woman in your class who always opined, “sonnofabitch” when she was frustrated?
Ah @circuitrider that would be Robin who used the word ‘literally’ a ton, not Ted. He was notorious for being the ‘corrector’ of the group.
@wesleyan97 lol we can start a whole thread here on HIMYM and Jewish guys at Wesleyan, eh?
@wesleyan97 that was a great soliloquy (thanks for the term @CALSmom and also for the tv show suggestion…).
I’ve tried explaining my kid about the vibe I felt at WES back in the day (around 1990…) with the disclaimer that they might be fantasies of mine due to my very limited exposure (and yes, “the greener grass…”). I will make sure he reads your posts as you did a much better job than I ever could.
So, if he has a specific question later on in the process would you mind if he PMs it to you? I doubt he will want to post one on a public forum…
Yes, I recall that episode! Ted’s response to Robin was “Figuratively.” The problem with that, of course, is that literally no one I know uses the word “figuratively” as an intensifier.
@notigering Yes, of course, but keep in mind that I’m two decades removed from the admissions game 
Thanks, I’m playing with three decades myself and sort of bewildered with how well “same difference” stands the test of time…
you’ve probably decided by now but here’s my 2 cents (graduate of wes 17). I was happy at Wes, but definitely wish I had considered other schools. I was disappointed with my education, for paying so much, many of my professors were visiting and could care less (maybe this was because I was in the sciences, but still unacceptable). also SO MANY OF MY FRIENDS CANNOT GET JOBS. Wesleyan’s name doesn’t do as much as larger universities do, or so I have seen based on my friend’s situations. Also I found students at Wes to be incredibly cliquey and closed-minded (they are all skewed to the extreme left). Night life and social scene took a real beating since I first came, without frats definitely not as fun.
I think if any segment of the Wes community has a right to feel bitter, it is the fraternity brother or hanger-on. You guys have taken quite a beating these last few years. The only exception I would take to your remarks would be the implication that your boys would have had any better job prospects as bio-chem majors at UDelaware or Maryland or any place like that. I don’t think you would. Socially, you might have felt more at home, but, academically, you would have been crawling over the bodies of a lot more people.
Have your friends practiced any of the graduate placement exams? How are they scoring?
@wesleyan97 wow. Your July 7 comment, while uniquely your perspective and not 100% reflective of my experiece at Wes in the 1980’s (I’m really old) made me so nostalgic for my time there.
Oh, hey! Me, too! Class of '84. I loved my time at Wesleyan.
I’ll always say this: I love these kinds of personal stories. They are so much more moving than the statistics and rankings that constantly get rehashed. If anyone has experiences they want to share please do.
My tenure at Wesleyan while starkly different from today’s campus still has relevance in that, looking back, one can definitely see where some of the seeds were planted. I was a member of the last all-male incoming class, When I arrived in the Fall of 1969, Wesleyan more closely resembled an English public school than a university: mandatory chapel attendance had only ended seven years before, a phys ed requirement had been dropped only the year before and nearly half the upper classmen took their meals at eating clubs. The outer edge of campus essentially ended at Wyllis Avenue and High Street. Beyond that, the campus disappeared behind the facades of a procession of stately homes, the back yards of which served as deeply shadowed grassy meadows. I can remember lots of moonlit walks lost in discussions, hashing out the political scene and the drama and tension of our own lives.
Those were the days of “the Wesleyan `hi!’” (as opposed to, “high”), when, if you passed someone (which was constantly), you were expected to offer some sort of salutation. The faculty had grown so rapidly due to Wesleyan’s endowment wealth that classes were often held in their offices, surrounded by walls stuffed with books and the detritus of the life of the mind. It is impossible to overestimate the enormous influence those intimate settings may have had on kids whose highest ambition might have been to find a job with a Hartford insurance company.
Then, Nixon invaded Cambodia and it seemed as if all hell broke loose. Kids from so-called, “rock-ribbed Republican” households all over the northeast and midwest seemed to grow beards overnight. The basement of West College was turned into a campus-wide communications center, tracking every bit of anti-war activity anywhere in Connecticut. Half my dorm floor piled into a van and rode to New Haven to sit in on the Bobby Seale trial in New Haven. I’m pretty sure it was the first time I’d ever set foot in a courtroom. When I look at photographs from that era, one of the things I find most striking is how old everyone looked.
@recentgrad17 I’ve heard the same disappointment about not landing the kind of jobs they expected from a couple of young friends who just graduated Harvard and Penn. Neither availed themselves of the help available through their universities’ career services offices. What type of job were you expecting with a science Bachelor’s? Science grads typically move on to graduate school in the field of their major or med school. Some with superior quant. skills go into finance. If representative of how you typically write, your comment does not reflect strength in that area, which will close some doors. Also, how could you not have known going in about Wesleyan’s overwhelmingly liberal atmosphere? It’s the one thing most people know about the school. As for the social scene, students at Amherst and Swarthmore who want conventional ragers have identical gripes, begging the same question I would like to ask you: “Why did you choose Wesleyan?” As for prestige, Wesleyan has taken a beating in U.S. News but its standing in the Forbes ranking as well as some revealed-preference thing whose name I can’t remember speaks to the continuity of the University’s quality and desirability.
Accidentally double-posted.
“also SO MANY OF MY FRIENDS CANNOT GET JOBS”
Chill! It is only the 10th of August. Not every gets an on campus offer - it often takes many top school grads 6 to 12 months to find the right job.
If international rep is the most important thing to you, Michigan is more prestigious than Wes in that context.
But that’s a terrible way to choose a college, since international rep is based almost exclusively on grad/PhD research output and awards.
I think in the US, Michigan and Wes are probably about equally regarded. So put reputation out of your mind as far as being a factor in your decision. Rather, choose based on cost and academic, social and environmental fit.
Regarding whether Wes is as prestigious as WASP, if I am splitting hairs I would have Wes in the next “prestige” tier with Carleton, Haverford, Midd, Wellesley, Bowdoin… but I would have a difficult time explaining that. Which should tell you that reputational rankings for schools of such similar size, academic offerings, selectivity (the largest quantifiable differences may be in selectivity, though in the end the students are probably still of similar caliber overall…) and known quality are silly.
Quality, fit and affordability are what you should concentrate on. Hype is irrational and fleeting.
I think the distinctions are especially silly when the comparisons involve, as they increasingly do, the STEM departments of various prestigious LACs with their many times bigger research university (RU) counterparts. Currently, there are two threads running on CC that essentially pose the same question, “Which is better for computer science?” and - believe me - Amherst does not fare any better than Wesleyan in those debates: