strong programs? + social scene

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wesleyan University
1

<p>Hey, I have some questions about Wesleyan academics.</p>

<p>What would you say are the strongest departments? The weakest?</p>

<p>And how strong (how broad a course offering, the quality of the teaching, the opportunities available) are the programs in international relations, English, and foreign languages?</p>

<p>Also, what is the social scene like? Would everyone be able to find his/her own niche? What are Wesleyan students generally (and I know that's a very broad term) like?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Because Wesleyan has aspects of both research university and LAC imbedded in its DNA, the question always arises, "Compared to who, or to what department somewhere else?"</p>

<p>In terms of breadth and depth of offerings as well as teaching skills, I would say Wesleyan's strengths (in alphabetical order) are: American Studies, Astronomy/Astrophysics, Bio-Chem/Molecular Bio, Classics, Dance, Earth Science, Economics, English, Film Studies, Government, History, Music, Neuroscience, Physics, Psych and Sociology.</p>

<p>Now, that was just off the top of my head and based solely on things that I read in the media about Wesleyan and things I've managed to pick up from the student run livejournal site. I'm sure if I had a catalogue in front of me I'd be hitting my forehead over some obvious omission.</p>

<p>Weaknesses are a problemmatic because, as I said, "Compared to whom?" But, compared to Wesleyan's own high standards, I would have to pick out Math as being somewhat schizophrenic in its split between theoretical (Topology) and applied (Computer Science) math. One gets the feeling that between the faculty's own research interests and all the math related prerequisites imposed by other departments in the university, that the Math department must serve many functions and many masters. </p>

<p>And there is the whole Romance Languages conundrum; so many people come to Wesleyan with four, five and six years of French and Spanish that there is little demand for the introductory courses. A proposal to eliminate them led to a big brouhaha last year. Not sure how that played out.</p>

<p>Socially, Wesleyan is one of the easiest LACs in which to find a niche; it is both small enough to have a sense of community and large enough to contain many sub-groups (preppies, nerds, jocks, hipsters, gays, straights -- all abound.)</p>

3

<p>And also people who don't choose to think of other students in terms of those 'subgroups.'</p>

4

<p>They didn't eliminate intro French/Spanish. They caved to student demand -- and there's still considerable demand from people who want to pick up a new language in college... which should be encouraged.</p>

5

<p>thanks for the update, Matt. </p>

<p>monoe - I will go even further and say, that for most people, their first week at Wesleyan will probably be the last time they think of themselves as part of a "subgroup", as the mantle of just being a "Wes kid" slowly obliterates traditional lines of demarcation. NOthing illustrates this better, IMO, than the number of fraternities that would exist nowhere else but Wesleyan.</p>

6

<p>I think all the 3 programs you mentioned are strong at Wesleyan. Their course offerings are broad IMO. You can take a look at what they have this year:</p>

<p>English: <a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/course/englc.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wesleyan.edu/course/englc.htm&lt;/a>
Foreign Languages: Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish as well as Arabic, Dutch, Hindi, Swedish, Georgian, Swahii, Korean, Portugese (for Spanish speakers) and American Sign Language.</p>

<p>I know some of the professors from English department are really good. And they have different writing programs/ conferences.
All the kids I know that are taking languages and I myself enjoy the classes. They're lots of work and fun :)</p>

<p>For international relations, you have to take a bunch of classes from different departments, mostly government, history and economics, which also have a broad offerings and good professors. The problem is the government department has just tightened its major requirements, so it's really hard to get into upper division classes now when you're a non-major. </p>

<p>Social scene: it's not that hard to find friends here, and a group that you can call your niche. some complain that true diversity doesn't exist, but it's better here at Wesleyan than at most other campuses IMO. </p>

<p>You didn't ask about this, but what I love about Wesleyan is that people are really intellectual and passionate without being competitive.</p>