Wesleyan Fit

I was accepted to Wes this year, and I’m between RPI and Wes at this point. I’m looking to study math and neuroscience & behavior (cognitive science if I go to RPI).
What sort of person would fit in best at Wes? What people shouldn’t go to Wes? I’m honestly afraid of an elitist vibe. I’ll probably be able to make a better decision after WesFest and RPI’s Accepted Students Day this weekend, but I’d like input anyways.

Congratulations! I am glad you will be able to go to WesFest and RPI’s equivalent day for admitted students.

I do not think you will experience an elitist vibe at all at Wesleyan. I think you will find it chill and welcoming.

At any college, there are many ‘types’ of people- and many people who fit into multiple categories! You will find your niche. The stereotype of Wesleyan is of liberal, social justice oriented, artistic, experimenting types… but that is just a stereotype, and, as noted above, you will find lots of different people.

A polytechnic university will have different academic emphases/ requirements and overall vibe from a liberal arts college. You will be able to decide which you prefer.

Don’t write off Wesleyan. I know two very successful people who went there for undergrad and neither of them is even the least bit elitist. (Actually, they both ended up eventually teaching grad school at Princeton for a time in 2 completely different fields) My sense is you can turn a Wesleyan experience into anything you want.

I’m not sure how your WesFest experience went, but I attended the event too and decided not to enroll. I got the impression that many Wesleyan students are very into liberal arts (which makes sense, it’s a liberal arts school), but that there is an almost anti-STEM vibe on campus. It seems like everyone is involved in theater/film; this could be good or bad depending on your preferences. Additionally, only 50% of students even applied for financial aid, which tells me that many students are quite wealthy if they can afford to pay the full $70k/yr (idk if this necessarily means “elitist” though). In terms of the use of substances, marijuana is very popular on campus; I was asked if I would like to “participate” but I declined, and they politely let me be (which is good! No pressure to do drugs there). I talked with the pre-health advisor and discovered that there is only one pre-health advisor and one STEM advisor on campus; aka there are only two people to serve ALL Wes students who want to go into STEM careers. I agree with the people who commented above that Wesleyan is a very open and welcoming community; with the variety of languages, ethnicities, and interests on campus, I’m sure you’ll find a way to fit in. The question is, do you mind working a little harder to find a group of people with similar interests as you (math and neuroscience, which aren’t as common at Wes), when you can attend a public university instead that has more intellectual diversity?

Hey, congratulations on reaching a decision that makes sense for you. I would only point out, for the record, there are twice as many STEM majors at Wesleyan than there are visual and performing arts majors (21% vs. 10% according to the last common data set) and perhaps it is the nature of the beast for the latter to stand out during a “festival” weekend? Also, it’s not that hard to find people interested in math and neuroscience. It starts by taking a class. “()/”

@seagreensoul , Wesleyan is one of the most well-funded STEM LACs in the country; there is a ton of research going on there, and a lot of kids go there particularly for the STEM opportunities. The campus is full of science kids.

As for advisors, I don’t know about other schools, but they have an advisor dedicated entirely to pre-health advising, along with the support of the program run by the health professions panel, in addition to the support a student would receive from his or her professors. Same with STEM. Those are just the people whose full-time job is to be an advisor in the Career Center. They do nothing else but that. This is a small school. You have to understand that the faculty are a big part of all this.

My D has had more support at Wesleyan than she’d ever really need. It started her freshman year, where she was invited to be a Math and Science Scholar. They met all the time her freshman and sophomore years to ensure the kids got off to a good start. It has included mentorship and all manner of follow-through. I mean, if I were on a mission to come up with things to criticize about Wesleyan, and I have a few, the Gordon Career Center, the number of advisors and the overall support STEM kids get there to make it to the next level, would not make the list. At all.

I attended a well-known large research university. There are resources there that sound impressive when reading them. But they are being shared by a population the size of a small city. I enjoyed my undergraduate years, but there is no comparison of the resources made available to my kids, who’ve all attended small LACs, to what was made available to me. You had to really go get it and be aggressive and push to the front of the line. My nephew attends my alma mater and is having the same experience.

I’m sorry, but you got a really inaccurate impression on your visit. I hope you didn’t make a decision on that basis. That would be unfortunate.