<p>Which NESCAC schools offer the best social life? I know most of the schools don't have Greek life, so are there good spaces to have parties and social get togethers. Which schools have the best policies towards partying? They all have great academics so which is the most fun, and the best balance between work hard and play hard? Are any more wild than others?</p>
<p>Can only really speak to Wesleyan... and it's definitely great for parties and music. Check it out: AURAL</a> WES</p>
<p>With the possible ecception of Tufts (which isn't really a LAC), Wes has the best social scene in NESCAC, bar none. It has the facilities, a mixture of dorms, wood-frame houses, fraternities (yes, fraternities) and newly-minted concert spaces. It has the location: a blue collar town mingling with politically active students and college professors; a little bit edgy (especially at night) but, nothing a normal 18 year old can't handle. It has the student body -- smart, laid back, diverse, and highly talented. You really can't ask for more without relocating to New York City.</p>
<p>Cons -</p>
<p>You're in a real city, albeit without the club scene of say, a New Haven or aBoston (both of which are in easy driving distance, btw) with real cops. So, you do have to be aware of making too much noise and attracting the otherwise unwanted attention of Middletown's Finest. Fire drill busts do occur, especially in the dorms -- so, learn to stash that bong (or, keg or bottle of wine.) </p>
<p>Tufts has Boston and its transit system. Cons: it stops running at 1:am. Also, I've heard complaints that Tufts social life doesn't really revolve around Tufts itself.</p>
<p>Williams has great scenery and a gung-ho, slightly jocky, student body. And snow, snow, snow.</p>
<p>Middlebury is very similar to Williams, without the gung-ho-ness.</p>
<p>Amherst... Amherst basically has MassMoca and other parts of Northampton.</p>
<p>
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Amherst... Amherst basically has MassMoca and other parts of Northampton.
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MassMoCA is actually in North Adams (not Northampton), and is therefore close to Williams (not Amherst). Even so, I don't think MassMoCA contributes greatly to the Williams social scene. </p>
<p>Probably the best choices for NESCAC social life are Wesleyan (see above), Tufts (access to Boston), and Amherst. Amherst College itself may not be particularly exciting, but it provides access to the much larger 5-College community. Male Amherst students are greatly outnumbered by the female students at Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith, which may be good or bad for socializing, depending on your gender and sexual orientation.</p>
<p>North Adams [slaps forehead.]
Well, with the Clark Art Insitutute and the Williamstown Summer Playhouse right at your doorstep, it's understandable why MassMoCA might be an afterthought.</p>
<p>One unique thing about Wesleyan is that seniors live in woodframe houses, where they throw great house parties every weekend. There are a couple streets that turn into a big block party nearly every weekend night. It's great. And yes, there are also frat parties, which are a great option to meet a ton of people frosh year.</p>
<p>are the frats a big part of the social/party scene? also, if you are a non-drinker, will you be alone on saturday nights or will you have plenty of people to hang out with who also have no interest in drinking?</p>
<p>Frat parties don't have to be your social scene by any means. And people do go to them without drinking, and have a good time (I've done it myself). I mentioned the frats because the original poster mentioned a general lack of Greek life in NESCAC schools. Wesleyan does have fraternities, but they aren't a dominant force in social life on campus at all. </p>
<p>I've said it before, but one of my favorite things about Wesleyan is that no one will ever question you for your personal choices-- you can not drink, do drugs, or whatever, and it will not be an issue at all. There will be plenty of people to hang out with.</p>
<p>Connecticut College is also a NESCAC without frats.</p>
<p>FWIW, yesterday's <em>Argus</em> contains an article on Middletown bars. It lists four, including "Gatekeepers" which, like O'Rourke's, is located in the old North End part of town:
The</a> Wesleyan Argus - Middletown watering holes fill students’ nights</p>
<p>Tufts, by far... I can only speak definitively about Tufts, Wesleyan, and Bates.</p>
<p>I lived and worked at Tufts for 3 months last summer; the undergrad campus is in Medford/Somerville, right next to Boston, you got Davis Square (probably one of the best college atmospheres I've ever seen) a 5 minute walk from campus. I didn't have a car for most of my time there, but you can just take the subway Red line into Boston, it's really convenient. People go out into Boston all the time, whereas at least at Wesleyan the majority of kids stay on campus. You basically get all the advantages of the big city on the weekends but with the privacy and intimacy of a small liberal arts campus on the weekdays. It's pretty sweet.</p>
<p>On the other hand, (no offense to anybody from the schools) unless you want to major in seasonal depression and alcoholism, you probably want to stay away from the Maine LACs. I stayed for a long weekend with a friend, not much happening there.</p>
<p>Wesleyan is kind of in the middle. There's some stuff to do, maybe wander into Thai Gardens on Middletown's Main Street once in a while, but otherwise, it's pretty subdued and lowkey.</p>
<p>Wesleyan "subdued",are you kidding me? Wes rocks everyday and especially from Thursday thru Saturday nights.</p>
<p>I'm gonna agree with danalynn...while you certainly CAN have a low key social life at Wes if you want to, there are also always many parties (in dorms, senior houses, jr. apartments, the frats, etc.) Thursday-Saterday. There's not a ton to do off campus (though as John Wesley points out, there are the bars), but there is so much to do on campus it's hard to be bored. I mean, if you want a city, Tufts is def. your best option, but Wes is great for a campus-centered social life.</p>
<p>To the OP, just take everything in stride. Wesleyan is not going to be as awesome as some people will make it sound, nor will it be as bad as others make it out to be. It's just like any other school.</p>
<p>Basically the responses you're going to get will range from Wesleyan being the most inclusive, happy, rockin' university ever (which it is not at all) to "WesTech" being surrounded by a bunch of dirty hippies and incompetent professors, stuck in the sketchiest town in the middle of nowhere(which it also isn't). The reality is somewhere in the middle. My personality probably fits better with Tufts, but I know many people who have a great time here on the weekends.</p>
<p>^^^I kind of agree, in the sense that, Wesleyan is -- when all is said and done --a liberal arts college, which means, that a majority of the people there are studying a majority of the time. And, between the townspeople (many of whom get up at the crack of dawn) going to bed early and the students "squidding" in the libraries, Middletown can be pretty spooky most nights of the week.</p>
<p>That being said, it could be far worse :):
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/</a></p>
<p>How is Middletown as a college town, then? Is the social life at Wes mainly campus-based, or is it a mix?</p>
<p>As late as the the 1970s, there was a tradition of Wesleyan students escaping campus on the weekends to visit bars. That all stopped when the old B.F. Goodrich tire plant closed on what is now the site of the Williams Street hi-lo rises, and the last of the old neighborhood bars closed. What followed were several decades during which the neighborhoods deteriorated and there didn't seem to be a lot that could attract students downtown.</p>
<p>But, slowly that seems to be changing. Middle-class homeowners are moving back. The neighborhoods have stabilized. And, the bars are reopening.</p>
<p>However, I wouldn't quite call Middltown a college town yet. Unlike the 1970s, the drinking age doesn't start until people are almost ready to graduate. That gives them two to three years to acquaint themselves with the city's streets while they're still sober. If they take the time, they'll find some pretty good restaurants. </p>
<p>And, something else. Never underestimate the rise of hipster culture on the Wesleyan campus and the role it may have played in a reappraisal of Middletown's gritty, reality-bites, counter-counter-cultural advantages. After all, nothing quite keeps your head screwed on tight as the occasional, "Wesleyan sucks!" shouted from a passing car. :p</p>
<p>My family and I visited Wesleyan this past October thinking that Middletown was a "dump," as some of our friends had described it as such. In reality, it's not a bad town at all. The main drag has some really great ethnic restaurants (my brother and I both wanted to go to schools with at least one Indian restaurant within a five-mile radius), including Italian, Mexican, Thai, and Indian. The campus itself seems to be self-sufficient in terms of entertainment, but Middletown doesn't look like too bad of a town to venture off into. In fact, we ran into a large group of Wesleyan students at the Indian restaurant we ate in, and they told us that students do go into Middletown for dinner.</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd say that Middletown is not the most thrilling location, but having a real downtown two blocks from campus is really cool. People do go out to dinner frequently-- there is a surprising number of really good restaurants on Main Street. In addition to the types of food gg0624 mentioned, there's also Vietnamese, Japanese, vegetarian, American, and French. And probably more I don't know about. There's also laser tag, and a multiplex movie theatre. There's a great bike shop and several coffee shops, and a few great breakfast places (O'Rourke's is the most famous). Quite honestly, I don't understand why people say Middletown is so terrible-- it's not.</p>
<p>There is plenty of stuff going on on campus all the time. Social life does not revolve around Middletown, but it is really nice to be able to get anything you need within an easy walk from campus.</p>
<p>haha how no one mentioned trinity college in this thread is beyond me.</p>