<p>I have just recently visited Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Although I felt that the information session and tour was very informative, the Wesleyan that I saw today did not seem like the Wesleyan that is supposedly one of the highest ranked Liberal Arts universities in the US and one of the most intellectual universities either. The tour guides did not seem especially enthusiastic about Wesleyan and did not show as much, for lack of a better word, love for their university as the other universities that I visited earlier. I had previously thought of Wesleyan as a university that I would definitely apply to, but now I am not so sure. Can anyone provide me with more detail about the academics at Wesleyan, particularly in the humanities, languages, and any pre-law courses of study? Also, I would like to know how much students enjoy themselves at Wesleyan. </p>
<p>There are ~300 actual Wesleyan students on campus right now. Your tour guide is probably missing her friends as well as family at this point. The university president writes a blog and this week’s seems especially relevant as far as the OP’s question is concerned:[Roth</a> on Wesleyan](<a href=“http://roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/]Roth”>http://roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/)</p>
<p>I learned the hard way to never judge the quality of a college by the tour guide. I have been to great colleges that had very poor tour guides, monotonous, robotic, unemotional and even cynical and I have been to quite a few poor colleges that had terrific tour guides that were enthusiastic, cheerful and full of school spirit. The other thing is that it is very hard to get a feel for the campus during the summer session. I would not write off Wesleyan because of this one visit.</p>
<p>Let’s be honest-- people love a tour when they feel they would want to be friends with their tour guide. You had a crappy guide late in the summer who has probably given three tours a day for the last 8 weeks while the whole place feels dead.</p>
<p>To be honest, I visited Wesleyan last summer as a part of my job and was enormously impressed and somewhat surprised that it slipped under my radar when I was applying. I thanked my lucky stars that I got into Brown, because had I not, I realized I would have preferred Wesleyan quite a bit to my other choices, only I didn’t know it back then.</p>
<p>A) The academics at Wes are great. What specifics do you want to know? I mean, from my personal experience, most of my classes (many in the humanities) have been small, engaging and challenging. Since you are interested in the humanities and languages, have you heard of the College of Letters? It combines philosophy, history, literature and a language in one seminar-based, inter-disciplinary major: [Wesleyan</a> University - College of Letters](<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/col/overview.html]Wesleyan”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/col/overview.html)</p>
<p>Wes, like many schools, does not have a “pre-law” major (though we do have a couple of very good classes on the law – one of my biggest disappointments is that I didn’t take American constitutional Law with Finn, it’s supposed to be one of the best classes at the school). We do have a good law advisor at the career center, and most people who want to go to law school, do. Law schools do not look for pre-law, or any specific major at all.</p>
<p>C) Most people I know LOVE Wes, and can’t imagine themselves anywhere else. Seriously. I’m a rising senior, and so far college has been the best three years of my life. </p>
<p>As others have said, don’t dismiss Wes (or any school), because of one tour guide. For one thing, during the summer, the admissions department is more likely to take what they can get, which might occasionally mean someone who shouldn’t be a tour guide. Also, as others have said, while summer at Wes can be totally awesome (hi Mad!), it can also be very lonely if none of your friends are around and you live somewhere without a very active social scene. So even if your guide actually loves Wes, their enthusiasm may have waned by this point in the summer.</p>
<p>I don’t know if things have changed, but The Gatekeepers book suggested tour guides at Wesleyan are picked almost randomly. In contrast, at a couple other schools I’m familiar with tour guides go through a highly selective inteview process and are highly trained. If you just plucked a random student from these other schools, had them lead a tour and give their personal impressions, you may get different portrayals of these other schools. And from the book, that seemed to be about what Wesleyan was doing.</p>
<p>D1 visited Wesleyan, must be about 6 years ago by now, she was not impressed. But did she get a “best face forward” portrayal, along the lines some of the other schools presented? Not sure.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies, they’ve really been helpful. You guys have raised some good points indeed and I’ll definitely keep them in mind.</p>
<p>Weskid: They actually informed me of the College of Letters on the tour, although they never really went into detail. It sounds fitting, though.</p>
<p>Monydad: I’ve seen that book “The Gatekeepers” around, but have never picked it up. I guess this would be a good time to do that. Thanks :)</p>
<p>(a sidenote to modestmodelody: I visited Brown today and I loved it! …that’s all)</p>
<p>moneydad: Actually Wes has changed their tour guide program in the last few years, so it is now selective. I’m not sure how that translates to the summer though. </p>
<p>Lilika: If you loved Brown you definitely should keep Wes in mind. I know very few people who loved one and did not at least like the other (I know there are some exceptions, but not many).</p>
<p>As post #3 said, don’t count out a school just because of one person. Maybe that person had just gotten broken up with or realized that they wouldn’t be able to go home before school starts. You never know.</p>
The university president writes a blog and this week’s seems especially relevant as far as the OP’s question is concerned:[Roth</a> on Wesleyan](<a href=“