<p>After reading Diplomat's posts regarding her perspective of WC (shown below), I have to admit, I was intrigued to see if current Wellesley students felt the same way.</p>
<p>.:. [start quotes]</p>
<p>"Ok, I have not so much a question but a critique. I was accepted at Smith, Wellesley and MHC. I am choosing MHC, but I want to share a short story: when I had an interview at Wellesley, there was this student from Eastern Europe who was applying as a transfer student as well. She had a 3.85 GPA at her community college and had completed 74 credits. She had been in USA for 3 years, during this time she was physically abused by a family member and could not leave because then she would lose her education. She had attended a private high school in her home country, based on the British sytem, with 14 classes a semester and with lectures from Cambridge and Oxford University-the only problem she had was that she had Cs in Math, Physics and Chemistry-but these were not just A-level high school classes, they were classes that were taken by grad students in Oxford. As EC activities she had worked with war refuges, taught ESL to 138 students, worked with victims of female trafficking (sex slaves), worked with victims of domestic abuse, two internships, Red Cross, survived a civil war, witnessed a girl kill herself because of gender discrimination etc. I thought that I was never going to have a chance of being accepted at Wellesley with this brilliant young woman applying there. Guess what: Wellesley did NOT accept her. She is going to attend MHC in the fall. This says a lot about Wellesley: what diversity do they talk about? What emancipation of women do they dream? Who are these women who are going to change the world according to them (women who have never known what suffering is, or women like her who know what it means)? The fact that she was not accepted (and therefore her wit and strength were not cherished) shows a lot what Wellesley really is."</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>"Very easy: Wellesley does not advocate diversity as much as it likes us to believe; Wellesley is not open for every deserving,brilliant woman who is REALLY going to make a difference in the world so in other words, Wellesley is...snob. And I am sorry to say this but when I attended classes there, Wellesley women were somehow intolerant for individuals who are outside of their clubs (wealthy, white, legacies). Probably I found this in the only two classes that I attended, while the general atmosphere may not be like this. Please tell me, don't you think that she deserved to be accepted? I have achieved less accomplishments than her and I was accepted (oh yeah, I did NOT apply for financial aid, while she DID). And please forgive my limited vocab; English is my fourth language and I am not very fluent."</p>
<p>.:. [end quotes]</p>
<p>So I asked them, showing them the post, and these are their responses (and do take the time to read through them as they provide some very interesting insight to real experiences of students at our school):</p>
<hr>
<p>my thoughts on this..
Perhaps the poster did deserve to get in; I don't know her full
credentials, and she is not giving all them. Anyone can say that they
are so deserving to get into a school, that's why they apply. Perhaps the
original applicant was not as persuasive in in her credentials and
experiences as the one writing on her behalf.</p>
<p>We cannot consider the opinions of people who have just seen the college
as equally weighted as those who actually go [there]. personally I'm bothered by the generalizations that the poster in regards to the school made because I live outside them and I have met enough people who do and do not fit them. I did not like Wellesley when I visited. When I actually came and put in as much as I expected to get out that's when the school
actually mattered to me and omg I liked it. However, I am also too
stubborn to ever admit that the choices I make might be sub-par. I
expect to ge the best out of the choices I make and will defend their
outcomes. (so in this case, Wellesley)</p>
<p>Yes, you may have reasons for not liking or liking a school when you visit
or apply, or if you didn't get it. But at the end of the day those are
personal choices and how you respond are personal outcomes. I don't think
you can judge an entire institution and all of its students because of one
decision concerning youself.</p>
<hr>
<p>i was really shocked to read these posts - i understand the
pearls/upper-class/white girl thing, but on the whole I don't think that
that is really representative of wellesley. It certainly isn't what I
think of when I think of the school as a whole. (The pearls are
ubiquitous, but definitely not the upper-class vibe.:) I am also
surprised about the lack of tolerance she heard in the classes she
attended here - I feel that my classes are very tolerant of differing
opinions, values, religions, etc. I suppose that could be because i have
generally had pretty awesome teachers who are overwhelmingly liberal in
thought, etc, but that was a big surprise for me.
I was also really shocked that the girl she described did not get in to
Wellesley - that sounds like a woman who
will (and has already started to, from what she wrote) make a difference
in the world, and I am really shocked to learn that Wellesley would not
accept her but would accept others (like me, fake student extraordinaire).</p>
<p>I think that if this is the ubiquitous impression of Wellesley College,
then we should be a little worried. Re: the snob factor, that will be
present in most places, but especially places as Type A as Wellesley and
Wall Street/corporate i-banking, whatever, where a lot of Wellesley
students are headed. Snobbery is (probably shouldn't be, but it is) and
will be present just about everywhere, but I think that here the snobbery
is not based on your bloodlines or class status but rather on your ability
to double major in IR Econ and Chem with a 4.0 in each.</p>
<hr>
<p>I got rejected from Wellesley the first time... largely because my GPA in
highschool wasn't fantastic. It was good enough (I had a 4.2 weighted, but
a 3.5 unweighted in an IB program) and a little above average SAT scores.
This is largely due to the fact that I took the SAT a week after my father
passed away and I had to take 3 weeks off during my Junior year of high
school because of the emotional trauma involved with that. You can bet I
was involved in a **** load, I took 3 foreign language classes at a time
(Latin, French, Spanish), all my classes were IBs, I was editor in chief
of my school paper, I was on 3 varsity sports, I coached/assisted
paralyzed skiers on the weekends, I volunteered at a million places, I
received the highest leadership award at my school possible, blah blah
blah. Whatever it was, they didn't take me.</p>
<p>I agree with what has been said down below. And honestly Wellesley has
these negative attributes. In fact, every school has these crappy aspects.
They are rejecting qualified students left and right (because it is a crap
shoot, but this is everywhere). Wellesley is snooty, and some of the
students are super insensitive. Community disgusts me. However every
school has these elements of not so good things. Not to say that we should
settle with that, but everyone's experience is different and a lot of
times you have to cut through the crap to find those people who are
genuine and great, or those classes that are gems. Ultimately, the best
things in my life have come from transferring here. And I wouldn't say
that it is Wellesley that did it, but what I did with Wellesley. The moral
is, it kind of doest matter where you go, its what you do with where you
go that ends up meaning something. Wellesley needs to work on a lot of
things, that is for certain. And most people I meet who know me are
shocked I go here and not MHO actually. But I am thankful for the classes
I have taken here and the people I have met who have taught me to view the
world differently and dive into issues, even though there are superficial
people/aspects about this place that haven't had as much meaning for me.
However after 2.5 years here, I can honestly say there are some wonderful
things about Wellesley women and the opportunities available for women who
go here. The best thing we can do as students not just of Wellesley, but
of the world is avoid being superficial, and taking things for granted,
and not questioning the greater systems of oppression and ignorance and
blindness that are abound.</p>
<hr>
<p>Wellesley has problems, as all schools do. </p>
<p>I really don't think the first persons's comments were fair. There are so many amazing, talented women in our world. One school is not supposed to house them all. Furthermore, I found that the person's comments relating to the woman's experiences with tragedy, war, and loss to be problematic. Everyone has unique experiences. Some are more traumatic than others, but all are worthy. From what it sounds like this woman would have been amazing at Wellesley...who knows why the admissions office didn't accept her. Yet, to make a judgement call on the entire Wellesley community because of the rejection of one student is ridiculous. This person has a lot of unanswered questions about Wellesley..."what emancipation of women do they dream...who are these women who are going to change the world?" etc., if anything I hope that this person can realize that essentially every woman has to decide these things for herself, a place like Wellesley can help but it won't give anyone all the answers. </p>
<p>I also (personally) take offense when she speaks of "women who have never known what suffering is". To suffer in a traumatic way by death, illness, war (or many of the other dreadful things in this world) is horrible. This undoubtedly changes one perspective (and I can speak as one who has experienced death, suicide, and disease in my close family). Yet this is merely a CHANGED perspective, not necessarily a better one. I remember someone laughingly say "welcome to the club" when I told them of my mom's death. I realized at that moment that I had entered a sort of "club" of pain, grief, loss, whatever you want to call it. This club is exclusive (in a really unfortunate sense of the word) in terms of experience, but you do not need to be in it to "change the world" and "to make a difference". I would never wish anyone to suffer extreme loss or trauma in order to make a better contribution to our world. How she can say such things really troubles me. If anything it makes me sad. I certainly do not expect Wellesley to accept people based on how many different, traumatic life experiences they have accumulated.</p>
<p>I do have to agree that diversity at Wellesley dissapoints me. There are many more legacies than I had anticipated. Yet, I also assumed when I decided to attend Wellelsey that there was going to be an underlying tension/attitude/not necessarily snobbishness but motivation "to be the best" aspect to campus life. I have felt these things on campus. I have also been surprised by the lack of enthusiasm I have found in certain classes, the lack of interest and discussion in class. However, different things motivate different people, one cannot make sweeping generalizations of an institution after attending just a few classes. There are so many external factors that can affect one class at one time on one particular day. </p>
<p>okay. i think I need to getback to my paper! I just couldn't not say anything. Keep in mind tho, these are only a few impressions of Wellesley. I suppose it is up to us to re-enter the "real world" and to show those who make such assumptions of our school that we are not all snobby, white, void of life experiences, and rich. </p>
<hr>
<p>If Wellesley accepted everyone that was like that girl in #1, I certainly wouldn't be here. And #2 sounds like quite the snob herself with her "fluent in 4 languages" blah blah blah.
So it's not for everyone. I cried when I sent in my deposit because I thought that that was how it would be, full of snobs and legacies and girls who spoke 18 languages. But it's not and I couldn't be happier. Her crankiness doens't change the fact that Wellesley is the best decision I've ever made, and the fact that I'll have to leave in just one short year makes me want to chain myself to the fence.
Perhaps if everyone- ESPECIALLY those of us that go here- started to look at the FABULOUS things that Wellesley offers us and not just the things that we're unsatisfied with, we'd all live in a happier place.</p>