<p>can any current students give me more of an idea of what the environment at wesleyan is like? i love everything i know about the school, but i have yet to get any first hand accounts.</p>
<p>Well what do you want to know about? I'm a Freshman right now and I'm loving it. Do you want to know about the people? The party scene? The academics?</p>
<p>pardon the intrusion -</p>
<p>the people, i have heard a lot of things, ranging from quirky and very weird to conceited and unfriendly. What's your impression?</p>
<p>also, my friend told me that Wesleyan has 'gender-neutral' bathrooms. Is this true? If so, that's pretty awesome.</p>
<p>Thanks </p>
<p>ps- hearing about the party scene and academics would also be helpful</p>
<p>I don't think you can generalize the student body with any of those terms. Of course, you will find your cocky and conceited people, but the campus is so diverse that you are much more likely to find amazing, intelligent, and somewhat quirky people. Personally, I haven't met very many people that I dislike.</p>
<p>The party scene is just as diverse as the student body. Usually there are senior house parties every night from Thursday to Saturday. Anyone can usually go and they're a lot of fun depending on who you're with. Frat parties also happen on these nights. If you're just looking to get drunk, that's where you want to be. This doesn't mean that frats are the only place to get alcohol, though. If you want to drink, you won't have any trouble getting what you need. The same goes for smoking. The literary societies also throw parties from time to time, and they're usually very quirky....one of them is the annual Sex Party. And if you're not looking to drink or smoke, the film center is always playing a movie and there's plenty of things to do in the dorm or with friends and whatnot.</p>
<p>thank you, bravery. i guess i was just looking for a general feel of the campus, which you did a great job of giving me. i know you've only been there a short time, but is there anything you would change about wesleyan? oh, and i've also heard it's atmosphere is a little like brown's, would you agree?</p>
<p>haha, no worries about intruding, rjmxc.</p>
<p>"gender-neutral" as in coed? That's pretty cool....</p>
<p>I love Wesleyan to death but unfortunately my parents don't like Wesleyan so much. But of course that's not going to preclude me from applying...</p>
<br>
<p>also, my friend told me that Wesleyan has 'gender-neutral' bathrooms. Is this true? If so, that's pretty awesome.<</p>
<br>
<p>Yes, it's true. But, not because they were trying to be PC, but because most of the dorms at Wesleyan were built when it was all-male. Because there is only one bathroom per floor, it's just easier to act like adults rather than run up and down a flight of stairs every time you have to pee.:)</p>
<p>To clarify about gender-neutral bathrooms: This next explanation might seem a little strange before you get to Wesleyan, if you haven't been exposed to transgender issues before, but makes a lot of sense once you're familiar with the topic. Basically, Wesleyan would like to make sure that everyone feels safe in their own dorm. Each dorm should be a safe space for all visitors. For transgender students who don't fit clearly into the gender binary of "male" or "female," it can be very unsettling to have to choose either a male or female bathroom. For this reason, the bathrooms are not "co-ed," which implies it is a bathroom for either of two genders (male and female), but rather gender-neutral, which means that regardless of gender, anyone can use the bathroom. This may seem like a fine distinction, and in some ways, it is... but language can make a fairly large impact in breaking out of a negative cycle. :) Also, many of the dorms (such as Clark and Fauver, and some halls in other dorms) have more than one bathroom per floor, but still have gender-neutral bathrooms available, because it's important that everyone feel comfortable and has a safe space. Of course, if someone in a dorm does NOT feel comfortable using a gender-neutral bathroom, accomodations will be made as well! This usually involves making some bathrooms in a dorm gender-neutral and others single-sex. Like I said, everyone should feel comfortable and safe.</p>
<p>As for the party scene, I'd like to differ from Bravery just a little bit - you can totally enjoy the party scene (and not just "movies" and "hanging out in the dorm") even if you don't drink or smoke. People at Wesleyan are totally cool about not pressuring you, and I have tons of friends who regularly go out and party without consuming the least bit of alcohol, and have just as much fun as the students who do drink.</p>
<p>Also, I would argue that students at Wesleyan are fairly quirky, a bit weird, sometimes "conceited" (but mostly in a slightly elitist, intellectual, "we know we're probably more intelligent and interested than most people in the world, and it's kind of true" way), but definitely NOT unfriendly. In fact, compared to other schools when I was visiting colleges, the friendliness of the student body was what really stood out to me. Students go out of their way to meet new people, help out when they see someone have a problem, etc.</p>
<p>My general impression is that Wes students are very laidback and very passionate. If you think these two qualities are contradictory, then you just haven't been to Wesleyan yet :)</p>
<p>thanks alot madjoy</p>
<p>"but language can make a fairly large impact in breaking out of a negative cycle."</p>
<p>very true</p>
<p>Madjoy, just to clarify, these are pretty much student initiated policies; each dorm decides for itself how to label the bathrooms?</p>
<p>At the beginning of the year, in most (and I think all) dorms, some of the bathrooms are labelled multi-gender and some are labeled as single-sex for either males or females, by ResLife. In the next couple of weeks, the RA gets feedback from residents on the hall (in a blind vote) about what type of bathroom the residents would prefer. If it is not unanimous, accomodations are made. However, there will always be at least one multi-gender bathroom in a dormitory, I believe.</p>