<p>Hey everyone, </p>
<p>I'm a high school junior trying to decide what colleges to apply to next year. I visited Wellesley and I liked the educational opportunities the school has to offer. However, I'm worried that the students at the school may be to uptight for me. I am studious but I really like to have fun and I can go REALLY crazy and am really spunky at times. I love to karaoke for hours and I love to laugh at the most ridiculous things. So tell me, should I apply to Wellesley or should I just look elsewhere? And if I should look elsewhere, where should I look? I'm having a tough time finding colleges that fit (what I think is) my style-intelligent and hardworking but also wild and spunky! Help?</p>
<p>You need to look at the other “W” schools: Wesleyan and Williams.</p>
<p>^ agreed.
Also i would suggest Brown (intelligent and strange in a good way), and UPenn (intelligent and wild in a party way 
).</p>
<p>haha no offense intended. Actually, I am really interested in Brown but I’m kind of afraid I don’t measure up…I do well in my school but perhaps not well enough? 2 APs this year, about 92-93 average (9th and 10th grade included) and I’ve tutored younger children consistantly for about 2 years. President of my school’s environmental club this year, event organizer last year, near fluent in speaking mandarin, did community service in china, did 2 programs at the MoMA (I live in NYC), won 1 Regional Gold Scholastic Writing Award and I hope to do more in the future but I’m still skeptical. Yeah, not feeling very “wild” right now unfortunately! Damn, I am wiped out even thinking about all this, oi vay I can’t imagine what the first half year of senior year is going to be like! </p>
<p>BrownBear1, what do you think of my qualifications so far (oh and I got upper 600s on my SAT1s but I’m hoping those #s are going to go up when I take it again this may)?</p>
<p>It’s a free application. Just apply online and it has EE which is like EA, you will find out in Feb.</p>
<p>I was admitted to Wellesley this year. I turned it down for Barnard. You should look into it. I’m really excited. The main reasons I chose Barnard are the fact that its not a traditional womens college becuase of its affiliation/ part of Columbia.</p>
<p>hmmm yeah the thing is I didn’t really like Barnard because there was something about it…I just felt so suffocated when I was visiting the school. Sometimes you just get a negative vibe and that’s what I got from Barnard. I hope you enjoy your experience there though, I can see how many people would like it :)</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of Wellesley so I’m definitely biased. Wellesley is a life-changing experience; all the W women I have met are incredible, poised and successful. I’m sure you’ll definitely be able to find time to party it up (some of my W friends go to MIT frats) but at the end of the day, Wellesley is quite socially conservative.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has the reputation for being as fiendishly intellectual as Wellesley, but not quite as buttoned-down. The students are more on the “quirky” side.</p>
<p>I have personally witnessed Bryn Mawr Alumnae participating in Karaoke night, but have to admit that these ladies are my generation (class of '78), the machine is owned by a Bryn Mawr husband, and the party was in the family room. You may want to check out just exactly what happens on campus in person.</p>
<p>Barnard is a traditional women’s college…its affiliation with a co-ed school doesn’t make it non-traditional. Many (most?) women’s colleges have an affiliation with a co-ed or men’s school – see also Smith and Mount Holyoke with the 5 colleges; Scripps in the Claremont consortium, Spelman and Morehouse, the former Radcliffe with Harvard, Bryn Mawr with Haverford, etc.</p>
<p>One of my closest friends went to Wellesley and I would hardly describe her as uptight – I think there’s a stereotype of certain colleges, but there are different types of students everywhere! You won’t have a problem finding people who like to party at any college you go to (it’s endemic in 18-22 year olds).</p>
<p>My D was seriously considering putting Wellesley on her list of schools to apply to, but it fell out of her favor about the same time she fell in love with Bryn Mawr, which has now displaced W as the only women’s college she’s seriously considering. She offers a couple of reasons. First, she felt Wellesley was far more pre-professional, Bryn Mawr more purely intellectual. Second, she experienced a distinctly different vibe, Wellesley definitely more uptight and competitive, Bryn Mawr more laid-back and cooperative. It’s considered a violation of Bryn Mawr’s honor code to discuss your grades with any other student, which really cuts down on the competition; the goal, they say, is to compete against yourself to achieve your personal best, without constantly looking over your shoulder or ahead of you to see where you stand in competition against your peers. D finds that hugely appealing. Her emerging views of Wellesley were driven home when she accepted an invitation to attend a tea for prospective applicants sponsored by a couple of local alumnae, both high-powered, hard-driving successful businesswomen—an event she found stiflingly uptight, reinforcing all the stereotypes. Bye-bye Wellesley. The alums meant well, and perhaps some of the other girls attending found the event appealing and the alums suitable role models, but not my D.</p>
<p>Wellesley is a great school and has more resources than any other women’s college. It’s a great fit for some women, and no doubt there are a great many Wellesley students and alums who don’t fit the stereotype. But I do think there’s a discernible difference in the dominant campus cultures.</p>
<p>Thank you that was really helpful!</p>