<p>oberlin vs. brown vs. weslyean u vs. vassar vs. bard</p>
<p>can you guys tell me more about each of these schools?
i'm having a difficult time trying to decide which school to go check out.
thanks : D</p>
<p>You should probably check them all out. They all share locations along the artsy, quirky, learning-for-its-own-sake spectrum. Bard has a nice, secluded, woodsy, campus a short train ride from New York. Brown is a sprawling Ivy League university. Vassar occupies a walled enclave on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie while Wesleyan merges unobtrusively into a blue-collar neighborhood in a small city. Oberlin has an attractive campus in a small conservative town. What else do you want to know?</p>
<p>I'm glad you decided to post this on all the individual colleges' forums...it can only help you :)</p>
<p>haha thanks tetrisfan. i decided that cc people are pretty knowledgeable.</p>
<p>to be honest - weslyean is first choice right now...politically speaking, how conservative is the student body?</p>
<p>Oh Wesleyan=waaaay liberal</p>
<p>beauitful. im already loving weslyean.</p>
<p>Brown has the best name recognition / prestige value. After that, Wesleyan is probably the most prestigious of those... though with the generic name "Wesleyan" its name recognition in the general population is fairly lacking. Wesleyan and Brown probably also have the best sciences of these schools. Bard is trying to increase it's sciences right now, though historically they've been more humanities focused, I believe. All of the schools have a "liberal" or "quirky" vibe.. but each in a subtly different way that's hard to pick up unless you visit each campus. For example, Brown is certainly politically fairly liberal - but campus politics isn't infused into every discussion, into daily life, like it is at Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Since I only go to Wesleyan, and don't have any close friends at Oberlin or Bard or Vassar, it's hard for me to say. But basically I couldn't imagine a better liberal arts college experience than Wesleyan has provided me :) The student body is passionate, liberal, quirky, intellectual. The professors are really gosh darn smart (and good teachers!) The campus just feels homey, which is a feeling I didn't get when I visited Brown or Vassar (though they were each pretty in their own way). The architecture is eclectic and interesting. Middletown is a great city to be in, IMO - it's in just the right location to make either Boston or New York fairly accessible, and even more so Hartford and New Haven. And the restaurants are fantastic. And there are so many extracurriculars, and everyone's involved in something. And... I mean, I could keep reciting stuff, but if you have any specific questions, you could ask them :) Seriously, wesleyan is awesome.</p>
<p>excellent!
what are the most popular majors at wes?</p>
<p>and are there any schools with the smiliar atmostphere? kind of like "quirky" vibe?</p>
<p>Sugasugaa:</p>
<p>Vassar, Brown and Oberlin are three of the schools that I think are the most like Wes in terms of vibe (Bard, according to the one friend I have there, is rather more intensley artsy), so by looking at all of these, you're on the right track. Based on my own experiance and those of people I know, some other schools (at a range of selectivity, since I don't know your stats/if you're on the lookout for safties and such) you might like are:</p>
<p>Carelton, Pomona, Haverford, Skidmore, Goucher, Reed, Swarthmore.</p>
<p>(I actually made a more extensive version of a "if you like Wes, you might also like..." list [url=<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/407021-if-you-like-wes-you-might-also-want-consider.html%5Dhere%5B/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/407021-if-you-like-wes-you-might-also-want-consider.html]here[/url</a>], which you might find helpful.</p>
<p>re: social life: i am not a party person, i like hanging out with friends, watching movies, that sort of thing. what dorms would be good for me? are there other non-drinkers and non-smokers? do people party all weekend, or there people who just want to hang out too?</p>
<p>your thoughts would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>sorry, that question was about WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.</p>
<p>A great dorm to be in for non-drinkers is Butt A/Butt B/ Butt C, particularly because each contains many substance-free halls. Even so, you don't need to live in the Butts to find people who don't drink/smoke. There are plenty of people on campus that don't do either. I'm an example. Many people are content with just chillin' instead of partying. At the same time, you don't need to drink to party. I know that I've never had to.</p>
<p>I never thought I'd be a party person before I got to Wesleyan, either, but the wes brand of parties are a little something different :) For example, this weekend I'm planning on going to a "Barn Dance" party with a country band coming and playing and everyone doing the old time contra/country dance thing. It should be great.</p>
<p>But there are still a lot of things going on on campus that definitely don't involve drinking or parties. Wesleyan has a lot of diversity (in some ways) among its student body - there are definitely some people who party every friday and saturday (and even thursday) night. And then there are people who get together with some friends and hang out or watch a movie. Most people are kind of in between. They go to parties occasionally, but spend much of their time just hanging around and spending quality time with friends. But don't worry, you will never be in want of things to do that aren't intense parties :) Check out wesleying.blogspot.com (a student blog) to get a sense of the kind of events going on on campus.</p>
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<p>thank you very much weskid!!</p>
<p>Can anyone give some insight as to how Brown’s open curriculum compares to one similar to Wesleyan’s–at Wesleyan the majority of students major (concentrate, whichever term is preferred) in diverse areas. For example, neuroscience (pre med), international policy, and film studies. Is that also common at Brown, or even possible due to it’s larger student body?</p>
<p>you can’t go wrong with wes. people are passionate, creative and embrace a wide variety of interests - friendly place - professors who care about students and are accessible - always something happening on campus…</p>
<p>Wesleyan certainly sounds promising. My sole concern is that, living literally in the middle of nowhere for the entirety of my life, I really want to go to college in a large-ish city with a cool music scene, museums, public transporation, etc. I only drove through Middletown, which seems cool (lazer tag is totally enticing!), but as if there’s really only restaurants. Wesleyan’s supposed to get good bands since its inbetween New York City and Boston, I believe?</p>
<p>well, that’s the irony of it. Middletown is not for the casual tourist, however, it does represent an unusual mash-up between the rich, the famous and the ordinary. It’s not unusual to see Hollywood celebrities eating a hamburger at O’Rourke’s Diner, right smack in the poorest section of town. And, Brian O’Rourke treats them all the same as his regular customers (which is to say, extremely courteously.) I once saw the head coach of the New York Jets buying a “grinder” at Neon Deli (non-New Englanders call them submarine sandwiches.) </p>
<p>Clearly, without Wesleyan, Middletown would not be known for much except its brownstone quarries, an unusually long Main Street and political feuds worthy of the Borgias – and that’s been the object of some send-ups in the national press. It’s not a major urban center, and yet I wouldn’t call it a complete escape from everything, either. It is the former county seat and as such still hosts a lot of legal proceedings, including the upcoming trial of Wesleyan’s former chief investment officer. As one commenter on the student paper put it:</p>
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</p>
<p>You can’t get that outside of New York, Los Angeles – and, Middletown.</p>
<p>Thanks, that was really helpful. I didn’t realize that Middletown was all that popular, in a sense. From your description, it kind of sounds like Middletown parallels Wesleyan in it’s precedent-setting-esque atmosphere. Hahah, “secrets” and “mystery.” </p>
<p>What are “typical” Wesleyan campus events? And, slightly off topic, how intense are Wesleyan sports? I know it’s Division 3, so it’s less competitive than 1 and 2. I’m possibly interested in playing either field hockey and/or (most likely “or”) softball.</p>
<p>okay, let me dial that back a bit. 
Middletown can also include:</p>
<p>Eerily Quiet School Nights
A Real Lack of Foot Traffic After Normal Business Hours
Simmering Race, Class and Generational Resentments</p>
<p>some of which were covered in the recent NYTimes article:
[Middletown</a>, Conn., Is Uneasy With Return to the Spotlight - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/nyregion/10middletown.html?scp=5&sq=wesleyan&st=nyt]Middletown”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/nyregion/10middletown.html?scp=5&sq=wesleyan&st=nyt)</p>
<p>For “typical” campus events, I’d check out the events calendar on the un-official student
blog: [Events</a> – Wesleying](<a href=“Wesleying: Wesleyan’s campus blog | wesleying.org”>Wesleying: Wesleyan’s campus blog | wesleying.org)
On campus activities are almost non-stop. It goes without saying, there is a fair degree od “pre-gaming” that goes on from probably Thursday night onward; it is easily avoidable and not necessary to fitting in or anything like that.</p>
<p>Sports can be fairly intense; I’ve heard it compared to having an extra lab class, in terms of time commitment. A lot depends on the coach, of course. Juggling practice with dining hall hours seems to be a recurring complaint.</p>