<p>What is Wes life like for people who don't smoke and rarely drink? </p>
<p>I know that many people on this forum have said that Wes has "no pressure" to drink or smoke, but what do the non-drinkers do on weekends? How big is the population of non-drinkers and smokers? Do they feel isolated from the social scene? </p>
<p>Do they tend to hang out with others like them, or just deal with being surrounded by drunk people? When does the "weekend" typically start (aka, when do people start drinking heavily)?</p>
<p>I don’t drink or smoke and I feel that I’ve harassed people on CC pretty thoroughly about this issue, so I can give you a very educated answer despite being a prefrosh like you. Here is what I have found out:
There are plenty of people who don’t drink or smoke, and it is definitely not necessary to live in a sub-free dorm to find them. Something unique about Wes (compared to other schools I looked at, such as Haverford) is that there is no social divide between drinkers/partiers and nondrinkers/nonpartiers. Neither is really looked down upon at all, and people have friends with different social habits. You won’t be forced into a “bubble” just because you don’t drink and it really won’t limit you socially at all. You can go to parties without drinking and still have a great time, if that’s what you want to do, and there are tons of sub-free activities too. One advantage of Wesleyan being an artsy school is that there are many plays, concerts, comedy shows, dance performances, film screenings (a free film is shown every night Thursday-Sunday, which is very popular) to attend, all of which will be sub-free. The Center for Fine Arts also gets a ridiculous amount of visiting performers (professional performers) due to its proximity to New York and Boston. Students get really reduced rates for tickets to the Center for Fine Arts shows. Also, the many themed program houses on campus are required (I think) to sponsor a certain quota of events during the year, all of which will also be sub-free, and the student board which runs the student center sponsors a bunch of awesome-looking subfree events like an Iron Chef competition, De-Stress Parties during final exam season (with chocolate and yoga and stuff), open mic nights, etc. And of course there are many well-attended lectures and speakers like at any college… So there is definitely a lot of stuff going on outside the “drunk party” norm.
I have talked to subfree people at Wesleyan, Vassar, and Haverford (I don’t know if those are places you’re looking at or not), and the people from Wesleyan were by far the most enthusiastic about how being subfree does not limit you socially and how there are so many things to do on campus that it’s really not an issue at all. As long as you’re not opposed to others doing it, you’ll be good.
The people who do partake in the getting drunk do so usually starting on Thursday night, since most people have no classes on Friday. So the “weekend”, in that sense, is Thursday-Friday-Saturday – most people take Sunday to study.
Here are some other forums in which people have discussed this, which I think you would find useful:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586491-transfer-wesleyan.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586491-transfer-wesleyan.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586135-does-everyone-wes-party.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586135-does-everyone-wes-party.html</a>
So yeah. The way I looked at it was: There are going to be drinkers and non-drinkers at every school, so the question is where are both communities more integrated, and where can non-drinkers have a fulfilling social life and not be limited by their lifestyle? And Wes fits the bill.
Feel free to message me if you’d like
Hope to see you in the fall!</p>
<p>Last Thursday, my youngest daughter stayed overnight for WesFest (while I worked from the Inn at Middletown). Wesleyan was very excited about her and the feeling was mutual. When she got back in my car Friday afternoon, she was unusually perturbed. Though there was no pressure whatsoever, she felt surrounded by drugs and alcohol. Shes generally both casual & ambivalent about drug & alcohol use among her friends, so I was really surprised by her reaction. I pointed out that this is pretty typical behavior at most colleges but she felt uncomfortable.</p>
<p>She did speak to someone who was in a substance free dorm and felt comfortable that that might be an alternative. Ultimately, after staying overnight at Amherst College two days later with a close friend of her sisters who attends the school, she chose Amherst. </p>
<p>With that one exception, she loved everything about Wesleyan even the food.</p>
<p>i dunno, it’s probably too late to change your D’s mind, but, staying overnight at Amherst on a non-party night (or, attending one of their “social dorm” parties) after attending Wesfest is sort of deceptive. Not to say, she won’t be happy. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Its wonderful that youre a Wesleyan fan. So am I. I was simply providing first hand experience from a few days ago that addressed the ops question. </p>
<p>One of my friends graduated from Amherst before attending Wharton for his MBA. His daughter (who weve known for many years) is the current Amherst Junior I was referring to. She in turn is a close friend of my older daughter who is currently a Junior at Brown. All of us are quite familiar with each school, (drug & alcohol use included), and quite comfortable with the decision to attend Amherst which by the way she was at all day on 4/20 (National Pot Day). </p>
<p>There are certainly things I personally like better about each school individually but those issues arent relevant here and Im satisfied that my $200,000+ will be well spent!</p>
<p>I don’t drink or do drugs, and I did feel a bit “surrounded” by drinking while I was at WesFest. My host went out to party Friday night, but I stayed back at the dorm and hung out with some other prefrosh. But I think that my experience was not representative of the Wesleyan social life as a whole. It just so happened that my host’s social circle likes to go out partying on the weekends. While it was a little uncomfortable being attached to a group that’s into partying, I think that at Wesleyan, those of us who don’t drink/do drugs/party will find others like us. After all, being a prefrosh visiting during WesFest is very different from being a freshman student on a typical weekend.</p>
<p>From what I have heard, WesFest isn’t an accurate portrayal of life at Wes. They make it a very party atmosphere to attract prefrosh (although obviously there are some who are not attracted to that scene).</p>
<p>Regardless of who is right or wrong in this debate, I understand that Wesleyan has an active AA chapter on campus and that the weekly meetings are standing room only. </p>
<p>So Flying Pig should feel relieved in that the problem is being addressed and, based on AA attendance, seems to be decreasing. But when you get there in August, FP, be sure to watch for people falling off wagons.</p>
<p>You might even kick them a couple times when they hit the hallowed ground.</p>
<p>I didn’t have quite the same experience about wesfest. though my host and his roommate did pregame and there was some alcohol at a room party, it didn’t really seem like I was surrounded by it. I actually had to make the effort on my own to go out to the real parties, and I met up with friends at a senior house without my host. I got the sense that it would be fine to be sub-free there, but almost in spite of wes’ social scene rather than because of it. I did meet both current students and pre-frosh who were sub-free.</p>
<p>ok so I stayed over during Wesfest on Friday night and while there was definitely a good amount of alcohol (and some drugs) around, I did not find being completely sober uncomfortable. There was no pressure or even a second glance when I turned down an offer for drinks. Also, while there were many people who were clearly drunk, it seemed to me that most people just drink socially rather than to get wasted. Everyone I spoke to was still completely coherent, just a bit more hyper than usual. As someone who does not drink or often attend parties where there is alcohol and drugs, I really did not feel that being sub-free at wes would be a problem at all.</p>
