Wellesley v Wesleyan Transfer

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello! I am transferring as a rising sophomore this fall and am lucky enough to have my choice between Wellesley College and Wesleyan University (and Brown if they let me off their wait-list, ahahah). I'm a bit lost. </p>

<p>A bit about me: I am coming from a small liberal arts college in the Midwest looking for a more academic environment, more student activities, a more fun environment, a great alumni network (I really gotta get a job you know), friendly students who are passionate and fun and whatnot, and a good location. I am going to be majoring in Sociology and Economics (could dabble in Environmental Studies but we'll see) and would appreciate stellar departments and approachable faculty that can set me up for internships, summer research, and so forth. It's a lot to ask for, but as a transfer student, I've already been around the block a bit and can't settle :)</p>

<p>I am transferring from my old school because it was too small, the location was really crappy, I wasn't academically challenged, and there was really nothing to do at all except drink heavily (which is fine sometimes but like come on). So I'm looking for a good atmosphere.</p>

<p>Anyhow, I'll break down my perceptions/internet-findings about the schools and my perceived pros and cons. Please correct me if/when I'm wrong and elaborate!</p>

<p>WELLESLEY
Pros:
-arguably better academics/name recognition/ranking/prestige
-no dumb boys
-MIT/Olin/Babson cross-registration
-Proximity to Boston for internships
-Beautiful campus (I visited during Thanksgiving and died a little, it was so beautiful)
-great Econ department
-Educational Studies department (I'm really interested in Ed research/policy)</p>

<p>Cons:
-social scene could leave something to be desired. Would I have to go to MIT/Harvard to have a decent time?
-too intense?
-cliquey prep school girls? (how will a normal girl make friends? quite concerned. Most of my friends freshman year were boys.)
-it's not Boston, I might grow to dislike the upper-class suburb of Wellesley</p>

<p>WESLEYAN
Pros:
-It seems like the culture is very progressive and liberal and laid back
-A bajillion artsy, music-y, cool things to do on campus
-Proximity to New Haven, New York (!!)
-slightly larger
-small town setting (so everyone will stay on campus and hang out with me)</p>

<p>Cons:
-According to my mother, "It's not Wellesley." Prestige factor?
-Less access to a big city than Wellesley
-Lesser academics? I don't know.</p>

<p>Help would be MUCH appreciated. Thank you CC! (Cross-posting in both college and general transfer forums)</p>

2

<p>Wellesley: Major con:
Not co-ed.
I would never let any child of mine go to a single-gender school.
The world at large is co-ed. You need to learn to deal with people of both genders. Throwing an arbitrary gender barrier around yourself is the antithesis of why you go to college.</p>

3

<p>@soze – <a href=“Why Women's Colleges Still Matter, and Attending Barnard Was the Best Decision I Ever Made”>http://www.bustle.com/articles/17702-why-womens-colleges-still-matter-and-attending-barnard-was-the-best-decision-i-ever-made&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Going to a women’s college could be an extremely empowering and valuable experience. I have attended co-ed schools my whole life. I don’t think I would suddenly forget how to interact with the opposite sex as a result of going to Wellesley. </p>

<p>I appreciate your comment, but disagree with your stance on all-female colleges.</p>

4

<p>Sorry if you feel you can only be successful if you don’t have to compete with men. </p>

<p>I on the other hand believe that women should be competing with men on an equal basis, it’s sad that you don’t feel the same. </p>

<p>Good luck to you, you’re going need it. </p>

5

<p>Wellesley is better known than Wesleyan? I think your mum/people around you may be saying that because it is and has been a women’s college, which makes the school very progressive and special amongst the colleges with unflattering histories as men’s colleges. Today, I think, the progressive thing to do would be to go co-ed. </p>

<p>That said, the academics at Wesleyan are NO LESSER than that at Wellesley (if anything, Wesleyan has the stronger program in the sciences – they have PhD programs in the sciences and math to complement the undergraduate experience in terms of research experience/opportunities.) You are looking at two highly regarded liberal arts colleges. Neither is the ‘obvious’ choice for everyone. Pick the school where you would feel more comfortable.</p>

<p>I also want to tell you about the experience of one of the economics professors at Reed. She went to teach at Wellesley because she thought Wellesley students would be as good as Reedies academically (which they are) and because of the access to the scene at Boston (Harvard/MIT etc), and a major increase in her paycheck. Although she was granted tenure at Wellesley in a matter of months, she left the school after a semester. Why? Because unlike at Reed, the students kept pestering her about what they should do/study/write to get an A. It was an awful experience, and it wasn’t worth the massive increase in her paycheck either. She came back to Reed.</p>

<p>Take what you may of her experience that I re-narrated. I have heard just wonderful things about Wesleyan’s academic experience (students are aware of their grades, but believe in a more learning type of environment). If I were you, visits to the schools would be in order.</p>

<p>PS I do not think it is wise or appropriate to dismiss men as “dumb”.</p>

6

<p>I don’t know any Wesleyan grads, so I can’t speak to that experience.</p>

<p>I graduated from one of the other “sister” colleges, and I have known several Wellesley grads from various different generations. The words I would use to describe them would be scary-smart, and driven. None of the Wellesley grads I’ve known would have dreamed of pestering a professor to know what was necessary for an A. They probably wouldn’t even have deigned to speak with anyone who behaved that way. Perhaps times have changed, or perhaps the Reed professor just had really bad luck.</p>

<p>Here is the link to the sub-forum for women’s colleges, you might find some useful ideas there: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/womens-colleges/”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/womens-colleges/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You also could poke around a bit in the individual institutions forums:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cc-top-liberal-arts-colleges/”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cc-top-liberal-arts-colleges/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

7

<p>@International95 – I agree with you–I honestly hold Wellesley and Wes with the same regard, but I think (and I definitely could be wrong) that Wellesley is slightly better known and more prestigious. I’m not terribly interested in the rankings because I know that they use terribly irrelevant criteria but it’s just a thought. That’s really too bad about the econ professor. I certainly hope Wellesley isn’t like that!
'm definitely planning on visiting Wes, I’m actually going this week and I’m excited to check it out! I’m going to try to talk to a professor and some students, if possible. </p>

<p>@happymomof1 – I have heard those descriptors used for Wellesley students, too, which is why I applied in the first place! Thanks for your well-wishes.</p>

8

<p>Regarding the location question: Wesleyan is in sort of a dead zone, far from NY and Boston, and New Haven is not an interesting city. In fact, being located there is pretty much the only bad thing about Yale. :slight_smile: Hartford is, well, boring. Wellesley’s location is definitely superior, with easy access to Boston and Cambridge.</p>

<p>I would think that the schools would be roughly comparable academically, but in my experience Wellesley students are more likely to be driven types. Which one would suit you better only you will know.</p>

<p>Women do not go to Wellesley to hide from men. It is not a convent. Soze’s idea that they are afraid to compete with men is simply ridiculous. Wellesley women are not known for being frail little flowers–quite the reverse. It is true that if you want to socialize with men–and most of the students do–you will need to be more proactive than in most coed environments.</p>

<p>The majority of Wellesley students did not go to prep schools.</p>

<p>I would not be at all surprised that a Reed prof would find the students in Econ at Wellesley comparatively obsessed with getting good grades. For one thing, grades at Reed are not routinely released, right? And the type of student who majors in Econ at Wellesley is often one whose goal is I-Banking in Boston or NYC. They are driven, and they need those grades to compete for the plum internships and jobs.</p>

9

<p>A fantastic dilemma! it would be nearly impossible for me to deciding for myself or advise my daughter because I think both of these schools are great opportunities, congrats to you! I (stupidly) talked my daughter into applying to Wellesley but she wasn’t as interested (she also mostly hung out with boys in HS, but not entirely.) I think you rightly disregarded the first comment–clearly they’d rather cling to wrongheaded assumptions than read your link. Also the poster her juliet who is getting a PhD from Columbia speaks highly of her women’s college experience. I’d also discount the the 2nd ‘not first hand’ report because–one semester, really? I would definitely take at least one class at MIT although it sounds like it would be a hassle. It would be great to get to know Boston. I don’t agree with this at all:</p>

<p>“arguably better academics/name recognition/ranking/prestige”</p>

<p>Maybe name recognition from being in more movies but I really can’t take name recognition among the general population seriously as a criteria. They do not have lesser academics, that’s crazy talk. </p>

<p>I’m a little bit in love with Wes, a student I worked with last season just did Wesfest and came away blown away by the quality of people there. I might be biased because I think of it as a mini Brown, full of brainy, diverse interesting people and a real intellectual bent. Tons of things going on on campus. </p>

<p>I don’t know about those particular departments, maybe zero in on that in case there is something surprising about one over the other. But mainly I would go on gut, how you feel, what culture/environment you want to be in more.</p>

<p>And fyi, my daughter is a non cliquey prep school girl. She didn’t find her prep to be cliquey. And she was on scholarship. Another assumption you can throw out the window.</p>

10

<p>My bad. It was a year. (a semester after she was granted tenure, I meant).</p>

<p>@Consolation’s assessment makes sense.</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>But Wellesley students can take classes at MIT and Olin if they wish.</p>

<p>The OP is interested in econ. That is one of Wellesley’s strengths.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I don’t believe that Wellesley graduates require your patronizing good wishes. They do just fine in the “real world.”</p>

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<p>@Consolation – I visited campus this week and definitely agree with your “dead zone” description…the campus and its surroundings definitely left something to be desired, in my opinion. Cool fact: I could have a dog senior year if I had a doctor’s note! The senior house thing would also be pretty cool. The campus and facilities at Wellesley seemed to be infinitely nicer, though–not sure how much that should play into my decision.</p>

<p>@BrownParent – your description of Wes students is really what lures me to Wes and is what is making the decision between Wellesley and Wesleyan so tough! Do you have any idea of what the social scene is like at Wellesley?</p>

<p>@NJSue – thanks for the back up :)</p>

13

<p><strong>Update!!</strong></p>

<p>I just got Wellesley’s FA letter, and it looks like the net cost is going to be roughly 10k more than Wesleyan (total, all 3 years combined). Is it worth it? I had just begun to slightly lean toward Wellesley because of its proximity to Boston, alumnae strength, and the strength of its Econ program. Wes is already a huuuuge stretch for me. Any thoughts? </p>

<p>Also, the timing of this whole thing is a bit insane. Wes’s deadline to respond is June 1 and they won’t offer me an extension, while Wellesley has until June 3…does Wellesley reliably match award offers? If the awards were the same, I’d go to Wellesley, but they are not (and I’d be happy to go to Wes). Any experience with tuition increase or FA in general with these schools? I’m going to post in the Financial Aid forum, too.</p>

14

<p>Hi transfer - are there any special programs that you would like to do while you are in school, for example, study abroad, or a summer program?</p>

<p>Wellesley has been very generous in funding my daughters summer and Wintersession activities, which could have easily cost more than $10K over three years.</p>

<p>So you might want to check into these type expenses to see if there are any potential costs or savings there.</p>

15

<p>I don’t know what your total loan amounts will be at either school, but I wouldn’t advise someone to choose one school over another based on a $10,000 difference (total over all the years of enrollment). If you’re already leaning towards Wellesley, I wouldn’t let that sway you.</p>

16

<p>The general idea is that when the cost of attendance increases, your financial aid will be increased to cover the additional costs as long as your family’s circumstances are pretty much the same. If paying for Wes is already a financial stretch, I would wonder if paying a $10k premium for Wellesley would be worth it. But I do think Wellesley would potentially cover that gap since it’s a very wealthy school.</p>

17

<p>Thanks to all–I had to make a decision today and chose Wes because I believed it would be a better social fit as well as a financial fit. It was hard to turn down Wellesley (a long-time dream school) but I know I’ll be very very happy at Wesleyan!</p>

18

<p>Great! Seems like a smart decision. It’s always hard to pick one between 2 good choices.</p>