<p>I just want to say thank you to all of you for all your help in getting to this point.</p>
<p>I warm up to Wellesley a little bit more everyday. I didn't love it when I first got there, but I think that maybe I just needed time to adjust. It still isn't perfect, but the list of schools to which I'd be willing to transfer shrinks daily (from "I'll go anywhere but here" to "Well, if I transferred to Harvard, I'd still be really close to Wellesley"), leading me to believe that I probably won't be transferring at all. I'm finally starting to find a group of friends who I fit in with, although it took a little while. I'm outgoing enough to make acquaintances easily but shy enough to struggle with making close friends quickly- but I now know a lot of people and feel at home on my campus.</p>
<p>Socially, the single-sex environment is still difficult, but I'm starting to get used to it. Academically, Wellesley is wonderful- I've never felt focused before. I'm finally confident enough to participate fully in my classes and engaged enough to quit daydreaming and clock-watching during lecture. It's no wonder that my grades at Wellesley are better than my highschool grades :). </p>
<p>So thank you, parents, for all your help, advice, and comfort- I ended up someplace that's pretty great after all, just like you said I would.</p>
<p>elizabeth - it is good to hear from you and an honest appraisal of how it is working out. "Perfect" is probably not the right benchmark, anyway. I think many of us parents have found ourselves guilty of painting a picture of how our kids like their college environment which is so heavy on the wonderful aspects that we overlook the "what isn't quite so wonderful" parts. Not through any desire to dissemble, just "accentuating the positive." So your experience may be little different from what you might be feeling had you ended up at your initial "dream" school.</p>
<p>Re the single-sex environment, have you considered availing yourself of some MIT cross-registration to alleviate that a bit? I enjoyed it when I was at Wellesley and it had just started. And the engaging classroom discussion was the same back then - truly a gift, which many do not find. </p>
<p>If you continue to settle in and "bond" with Wellesley, I am confident you will be a proud alum, who will benefit greatly when it comes to the world of work or grad school by having been a - ;) - Wellesley girl.</p>
<p>Didn't know that was an option, beck. What schools participate? Having a chance to be part of the Olin experience, even on a one-class basis, seems like a real opportunity to me.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Olin welcomes students from Babson, Brandeis and Wellesley to register for Olin courses. All courses except for the first year Integrated Course Blocks (ICBs) are eligible for cross-registration with the permission of the Olin faculty member. BBW students should send a request for a course through their Registrar's Office to the Student Accounts and Records (StAR) Center. Cross-registration request forms can be found at the home institution.
<p>My son is a junior at MIT with a Wellesley girlfriend whom he met at a party sponsored by his frat, attended by Wellesley students. Both he and his gf are largely nondrinkers. I don't know how much emphasis on drinking there is at these parties, but you might ask other Wellesley students. You sound like a wonderful person! Good luck!</p>
<p>Some fo the MIT extracurricular activities may also be available to you. My son joined the MIT ballroom dance team this year at least in part to meet girls, and I know that at least some of them have been Wellesley students. Do you have a short term in January corresponding to MIT's IAP? That would be a particularly good time to try to take something at MIT because you wouldn't have to worry about going back and forth for classes on 2 campuses, and because people seem to be in a particularly fun mode at that time.</p>