<p>Best thing about going there? Worst thing?</p>
<p>Be specific please, I love the little stories about random stuff people love/hate about their colleges...</p>
<p>Until you wait for other people to come check this thread and answer, you may consider these sources somewhat useful to your concern as well..</p>
<p>college pr0wler or students review (no space, whole name for both)</p>
<p>I've actually already read the Pr0wler, and it left me with a very good impression of Wesleyan. I was just looking to see if I could get feedback that matched.</p>
<p>Why won't CC let you write Pr0wler? Random...</p>
<p>The website ***** has a space for exactly this -- students say what they think are the best and worst things about Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Edit: U N I G O is the website :)
CC wouldn't let me post it.</p>
<p>I don't think Students Review is very accurate, in my opinion, and I'd stay away from it. College Pr0wler is better but still does not do nearly as good a job as Unig0 or the Fiske guide.</p>
<p>briefly:</p>
<p>cons: many many hipsters, hippies, environmentalist/activists, liberals, basically very little variation and room for discussion. oh and we are one of the most expensive schools in the country. </p>
<p>pros: all the great things about the usual small liberal arts college- small (humanities) classes (unless youre taking intro science lecture classes), great teachers with a decent amount of personal contact, etc</p>
<p>^^hi there...</p>
<p>pros: </p>
<p>one of the best student bodies in the country (wes really is kinda a weird place, but that means that people are free to express themselves even more than at the typical college; on top of that, everyone that I have met is truly intelligent) </p>
<p>small classes (most of mine were 15 or less)</p>
<p>super easy access to professors (they're practically begging you to stop by during office hours)</p>
<p>great housing (on the whole, our rooms are larger than most other colleges I've checked out and senior housing is fantastic)</p>
<p>super easy to party (I don't think it's easy to comprehend how important this is until you've visited other colleges where you face harsh repercussions just for wanting to experience "college life")</p>
<p>cons: </p>
<p>expensive as balls (the school, not the area)</p>
<p>not the best city (goes without saying, can be sketchy)</p>
<p>little grade inflation (unfortunately we're not like the ivies or some of the other top LACs: if you want above a B+, you will need to work quite hard for it)</p>
<p>"one of the best student bodies in the country"
totally not. it's interesting, it's quirky, but it's definitely not any kind of ideal, at least in my experience.</p>
<p>"small classes (most of mine were 15 or less)"
most upper level classes are, most lower level ones aren't. it usually boils down to that.
the problem with classes seems to be both lack of selection and lack of available seats. actually, the lack of seats in desirable classes is what's really annoying. modern middle east history has a 60-person waiting list</p>
<p>"super easy access to professors (they're practically begging you to stop by during office hours)"</p>
<p>absolutely true. every one of my professors ever knew my name, and i think i've seen almost all of them at office hours. </p>
<p>"super easy to party"
true that. but this is something which definitely leads to abuse, vis-a-vis heavy drug use among certain sectors of the wesPublica</p>
<p>We disagree on the student bodies then. But I forgot about the second point you make - it can be very difficult (stupid difficult) to get into certain classes, to the point that there will often be only one section and if you don't get it you're out of luck. Still, I think the school is trying to account for this by taking into account how many times in the past you've tried to get into a certain class, but my other choice that I turned down had several sections of almost every class. I guess that's just the difference between an LAC and uni.</p>
<p>i definitely agree that freedom is one of the greatest pros of wesleyan. i'm not just talking about partying, but our lack of gen eds and the variety of choices students get to make in general. other pros- student body, professors, (most) dorms, olin&sci li.
cons? cost of school, meal plan (the plan, not the food (which is mediocre)), lack of variety in political views, and grade deflation.
a note on partying and such- you really don't get to appreciate how lax wes until you visit other colleges. also, campus security at some colleges search drawers& refrigerators w/o warrant and ignore students' rights. trust me, if that happened @ wes.... haha i don't even know how i would finish this sentence.</p>
<p>for me, the pros outweigh the cons by far.</p>
<p>well, let's face it, the last eight years have not been an easy time to find people who admit to voting for George Bush or who support his policies. Especially, among young people. Perhaps, during the Obama administration it will once again be in vogue to rake liberals, environmentalists, and pointy-headed scientists over the coals.</p>
<p>^^ i don't know where you're from but the view from washington d.c. is kind of the opposite of what you wrote. "liberals, environmentalists, and pointy-headed scientists" haven't been NOT raked over the coals (let alone listened to) all this time. for an administration which refused to heed the advice of experts/technical specialists/career bureaucrats/the voice of reason, the aforementioned made easy targets. big oil was run for a while by the vice president and is hooking up senators with free house renovations and new jacuzzis (I see you Ted Stevens) so who cares what the environmentalists think? all the latter do is sit around their geothermally heated homes reading arne naess and helping their kids prepare their applications to wesleyan, anyway. </p>
<p>obama's appointments so far make me tremble with expectation. one would think that competency would be the primary criterion for any presidential appointee; the bush years rejected this part and parcel.</p>
<p>I think to some extent you are correct; the debates within intellectual circles (like Wesleyan) have always been between the radical Left and liberal Democrats. Conservatism has become less and less about ideas and more about an emotional attachment to American exceptionalism. Take a look at Cheyney's exit interview with PBS host (and Wesleyan parent), Jim Lehrer; it all boiled down to "Who cares if we're unpopular so long as the American military supports us?" Thoughtful, David Brooks-like, people probably abound even at Wes, but it would be hard to differentiate them from liberal Democrats. </p>
<p>In any event, I think Wesleyan should continue to recruit the smartest h/s grads they can find regardless of political outlook. My point was that they do a pretty good job considering how embarassingly few conservatives there are with good ideas right now.</p>
<p>Wait, are you saying thoughtfulness and emotionalness go along with being Conservative? In my experience it has always been the Liberals that are emotional and thoughtful (I think I'll refrain from saying what traits I think mark a Conservative at the risk of sounding mean).</p>
<p>^^you're right. <em>thoughtful</em> conservatives are exceptions to the rule, IMHO. But, they do exist, which is why I used David Brooks as an example. :)</p>