<p>that Wesleyan is filled with left-wing nutjobs who literally shove their ideologies down your throats. That Wesleyan is 90% gay. That Wesleyan is filled with radicals.
I'm a straight, politically moderate guy. I don't care about homosexuals or what they do as long as I'm not involved. How would life at Wesleyan be for someone like me?</p>
<p>please, for your own sanity, take all of the crazy stuff you hear with a very large grain of salt. I’m also straight, and only moderately liberal. are there people who shove their ideologies down your throat? sure, maybe 5 of them. easily avoidable on a campus of 2,800. there are those types of people at every school. are there gay people? sure. maybe 5% of the student body. I think I might have one gay friend (and I’m not sure if he is). Wes is liberal. left-wing nut-jobs? far from it. </p>
<p>Wesleyan has the reputation it does because of a very small minority. teeny tiny. I wouldn’t worry. just as one example, Wesleyan has about 700 varsity athletes. thats 25% of the student body. many of them are econ majors going into investment banking after graduation, and party hard at the frats with wishful freshmen girls. sound like your description? didn’t think so. Wesleyan has all types of people, it’s just that the extreme niche is the one that gets the press.</p>
<p>Life at Wesleyan is what YOU make it. Want to party at the frats every weekend? go for it? Want to just hang out with people and watch movies, play games, go to lectures? you can do that, too. want to do drugs at eclectic? go for it. want to stay up til 4am discussing philosophy? happens too. want all male friends? all female? all athletes? all hipsters? it’s all possible, which is what makes Wesleyan so great.</p>
<p>may I ask where you heard this from?</p>
<p>Yahoo answers and friend’s mom.</p>
<p>no offense, but Yahoo answers make Wikipedia look like a scientific journal (you catch my drift?)… has your friend’s mom been on campus? know a Wes student? </p>
<p>my doctor asked me if I lived in the naked dorm when I went most recently. there is no naked dorm. some WestCo students decided to play a prank on a nytimes reporter years ago and the rumor stuck. that’s how these things get started and how people like your friend’s mom might create misconceptions…</p>
<p>go to <a href=“http://www.u%5B/url%5D”>http://www.u</a> n i g o.com/wesleyan_university/ (remove the spaces I put in…CC blocks the web address otherwise) and read the description, and see if that matches up to the idea of a nut-job radical school… I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!</p>
<p>Heh, I know I shouldn’t believe what others tell me. If I did, I wouldn’t have made a thread asking about the rumors. I just wanted to double check.</p>
<p>You might want to read the Wesleyan Argus, the student newspaper, or other sources directly connected to Wesleyan. The articles run the gambit, the same as Bowdoin or Williams or any other LAC. All kinds of kids go to different schools for different reasons. My son was on a visit to another school and it was those kids who had never been to Wes, who were saying that it was a radical, alternative school. Based on the comparison between the two schools, my son chose Wes. He liked the fact that people were different, compared to other schools where everyone was the same. I think at Wes, there is a group for everyone. He is happier with his choice everyday. Are you going to WESFEST?? Don’t rely on others to form your opinion… see it yourself. </p>
<p>And what do mom’s know?? coming from one…lol</p>
<p>I’ve heard the whole pot smoking radicals theory too, but actually what worries me the most is what I’ve heard from the kids at my high school who have gone there…that it is essentially a jock school in disguise, with lots of varsity athletes (in fact every student I know that was accepted is a varsity athlete, and some got in because of it-- none of them were particularly academically qualified for such a prestigious school)</p>
<p>@ vonnegut24: you have to realize that the NESCAC schools offer the most comprehensive athletic program of any D3 school… 29 varsity teams at Wes. that’s 700 varsity athletes - fully 25% of the student body. however, Wes is larger than all the NESCACs except Tufts, so at Amherst, close to 40% are varsity athletes. if you want the “jock school” vibe, you can seek out that scene, but as I said earlier (post #2) the awesome thing about Wes is there is almost every “scene” available, and you make the school what it is. you can hang out with only athletes, and it’ll be a real jock school. you can hang out with only hipsters, and it’s a hipster school for you. etc. etc. </p>
<p>yes, some “scenes” are larger or more prevalent than others, but you really can find your own environment in which to live and learn.</p>
<p>(also, NESCAC schools have “tips,” or athletes that get in that otherwise wouldn’t. Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams have the fewest - 66 per year, and most of the other schools in the conference are around 75-80 tips, I believe.)</p>
<p>Yeah, Wes is definitely not a jock school in disguise. You can definitely find that hard-core, stereotypical jock vibe if you want (especially at DKE and Beta), so if you only know athletes, I could see why they might feel that way about Wes. But that scene isn’t really part of the general campus feel if you don’t seek it out – this was true for me even when I lived in Clark, the “jock” dorm. </p>
<p>The thing is, while there are stereotypical “jocks” MANY Wes athletes don’t fit that stereotype, so it’s not like 25% of the school is what you invision when you say “jock.” While I’d say that on a whole Wes athletes are more conservative (in terms of style, not necessarily politics) than the general student body, most of them are smart, interesting, passionate about something other than just their sport, etc. Most of the time, I can’t tell someone is an athlete unless they tell me.</p>
<p>In general, I agree with smartalic34: Wes is what you make of it. Yes, if you want a big school, big-sports, big-Greek scene type school, Wes won’t make you happy. But if you’re generally into the idea of a liberal leaning (not that conservatives can’t find their place) LAC, Wes is big enough that you’ll be able to find your nitch, whatever that may be.</p>
<p>If the students of Wesleyan managed to literally shove their ideologies down your throat, I would quite frankly be very impressed.</p>
<p>im considering both wesleyan and haverford. which school has a “nicer” student body? which school would you prefer and why?</p>
<p>A scale of niceness? Well, Haverford is about half Wesleyan’s size, so on the whole, I’d like to think that within the Wesleyan student body there are just as many “nice” people. There are some a$$holes too, but, presumably that’s part of the experience of going to a larger school. You have to look at colleges a little bit like buying a pair of baby shoes; you’re still growing. What may be within your comfort zone at age 17 may be less than challenging by the time you are 21.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you’ll find very friendly students at both places. Both schools will have their share of snooty people as well, but that comes with the territory of an elite LAC. I am a Wesleyan student, so I am partial to Wes, but for me, the friendly students are what stood out to me and convinced me to apply ED to Wes a few years ago. Wes students go the extra mile to helping out prefrosh and frosh who don’t know their way around yet.</p>
<p>Yeah same here. One of the things that stood out to me the most about Wes (as opposed to other schools) was how nice students, proffs, and other staff were. For example, i went up to visit Amherst one time and they made us wait in a cold, bleak white room while the first tour ended. Then we had to sit around some table for a boring Q&A. In contrast, I went for a tour of Wes and the admin office had breakfast out for everyone, all of the tour guides had really great attitudes, and they were willing to stay afterward to help with any questions. Everyone pretty much had a great time (even though it was like below zero out). In another situation, i went to stay over for the weekend for the TAP program a few months ago. The students let me and some friends crash with our sleeping bags pretty much where ever we wanted (we hit up International House, West Co, and Low Rise in one night).</p>
<p>If you’re looking for some sort of “nice” quota from schools, there’s no better indicator than the feeling you get when you’re surrounded by the people of a specific campus.</p>