Wesleyan v. Cornell

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wesleyan University
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<p>Can someone help me make the impossible decision between Wesleyan and Cornell? I was admitted to the Cornell ILR school, arguably one of the best schools of its kind. How does Wesleyan compare to this, specifically in regards to International Relations? When I visited both, the atmosphere at Wesleyan seemed much nicer. Everyone was outside enjoying themselves, sitting on the lawn, etc. At Cornell everyone seemed to be studying (granted, it was a Sunday night). How do the night lives compare at both? How are the people (and the girls?) At the moment, I am completely torn. On one hand, I feel like I will be passing up the educational opportunity of a lifetime if I do not go to Cornell, yet I am not sure I would be as happy there than I would be at Wesleyan. </p>

<p>Someone help!</p>

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<p>Go to Wesleyan.</p>

<p>I chose Cornell for similar reasons over other places and I'm transferring out; actually, I've appled for transfer at Wesleyan as my top choice.</p>

<p>If you pick Cornell for prestige alone, trust me, you will regret it immensely. At Cornell there is a weird, sometimes toxic mix of two kinds of kids: out-of-staters who look up to Cornell as a big, prestigious Ivy (which it is in many regards), and New York kids who sincerely think of Cornell as a state school (which it also is). You will get here wide-eyed about Cornell and run into way, way too many kids who don't seem like they should be here.</p>

<p>There are other reasons as well: the social life of pretty much the entire school revolves around going to d-baggy frats and getting wasted, the kids aren't nearly as cool or interesting as at Wesleyan, and the girls suck. The ratio of men to women is finally 50-50 here, but that doesn't change the fact that the ratio of ATTRACTIVE men to women is 2:1 or worse, meaning girls' heads get inflated pretty quickly.</p>

<p>I feel there are a fair few hot girls on campus, but finding one who is NICE and down-to-Earth... well, good luck is all I can say.</p>

<p>I'm going to guess if you applied to Wesleyan that you think of yourself, in some way, as an artsy sort of person (even if you want to go into business). Quite frankly, Cornell is very, very rough on those types of people. That's why I'm getting out: this is a science and business school, and as an English major I'm treated, well, like ****. These are typical responses, no exaggeration, when I tell people I'm an English major:</p>

<p>"Really? You're the first one I've met."
"Wow. Uh... what are you going to do with your life?"</p>

<p>For one of the most common, generic majors in the nation. It's ridiculous.</p>

<p>I'm clearly biased against it because of my own experience, but I honestly think you would be happier at Wesleyan AND would get a better education. As I learned the hard way, unhappy kids learn poorly, and plus, the academic quality of Cornell isn't super high in all areas. It is in a few choice areas (such as weird agriculture majors and the sciences) but I have generally felt that any of the top 15 LACs could give me a better education in the liberal arts.</p>

<p>I'm sorry if I scared you, but I have hit myself SO MANY times over the past year over my college decision, and if I could use my experiences to help someone else make the correct one, I would feel much better.</p>

1 Like
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<p>Hey. I just visited Wesleyan at Wesfest last week, and I honestly fell in love with the school. I didn't think I would because it's rather small, and I was so sure I wanted a city school. But honestly, the people at Wes make up for that ten times over. They're interesting, funny, nice, friendly, and very down-to-earth. On the third night there, I found myself discussing chimpanzee estrus, primate lesbianism, and ritalin with another pre-frosh (She, an anthropology major...and me, a bio/pre-meddie). </p>

<p>Granted, Cornell is much higher in regards to its prestige. However, I'm a firm believer that college is a time to enjoy life as well as study. At Cornell, you can be assured of rather harsh competition and weekends spent only studying. At Wes, you can actually enjoy this short period of time in your life.</p>

<p>So yeah, mang. Wes all the way.</p>

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<p>Actually, I would argue with the idea that Cornell is much higher in regards to prestige. As an Ivy, it has more name recognition to the average person on the street (one of the more frustrating things about Wesleyan - we know it's a great school, and our future employers know it's a great school, but the random person who asks where you go to school will confuse it with Wellesley or one of the million other "wesleyan"-named colleges. Even if you're a guy.)</p>

<p>However, in terms of both admissions standards and academic prestige, Wesleyan and Cornell are pretty much equal. I know as many people who got into Cornell and not Wesleyan as people who got into Wes and not Cornell.</p>

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<p>Epsilone, I really hope that you do get into wes. I heard of someone who got into Wes but didn't get into Brown and decided to transfer to brown after freshman year, they got into Brown, decided that it really wasn't what they had wished and came back to wes for jr/sr year.
It really is an awesome place, I had such a blast at wesfest.</p>

<p>As sweetangel was saying, there is a lot of intellectualism on campus at wes. I got into a conversation on Affirmative action with a black freshman at wes and we were relating it to Psychology and neuroscience/behavior and philosophy.</p>

<p>Something interesting happened at this point, one of the prefrosh sitting next to me told me that she was considering Wesleyan and Cornell, and the conversation we had just had made her fall even more in love with Wesleyan. She said something along the lines of," I've always envisioned college to be something along these lines where people talk about what's important to them and actually care about things that aren't trivial. This is what I want college to be." I wish i was making this up, but it was just awesome to hear that.
You won't regret going to wesleyan if you can deal with people mixing up the name of your school :-P</p>

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<p>Also, how artsy is Wesleyan? Does one have to be into film, performance, art, etc. to fit in?</p>

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<p>Doubtful. The general idea I received of the school was that everyone was incredibly "unique" (Snap, that's so cliche) and eccentric in their own little way. The thing about Wes is that everyone's doing everything. Stereotypes are shattered the minute you walk in. </p>

<p>Personally, after four days at Wesfest I can honestly admit to experiencing a total paradigm shift. I met this girl who i considered, was a partyer. Typical LA, shallow, heavy drinker, etc. etc... I thought she fell into a very clearcut stereotype and I was wondering how in the world she got into this school. Then I actually talked to her and found she was ardently pursuing an English major, and her favorite authors included Dostoevsky (Russian philospher) and Keruouac (of beatnik renown). As I got to know her, my whole delusional presuppositions fell one by one. In retrospect, this is what I believe college should be like...discovering more about yourself and others and just simply gainging more perspective.</p>

<p>Basically, no one ever really falls into one "group" per se. </p>

<p>Furthermore, I found out from my host that the theater major students don't have to be required to participate in plays because they usually get an overwhelming influx of non-majors auditioning for performances.</p>

<p>Also, I am intent on joining one or two (or three) dance ensembles there. There are so many with varying styles and degrees of skill. There's a group for everybody. And, in case there isn't, it's very very easy to get the funding to create your own organization/group/club/etc. I am actually looking to start a dance group concentrating on traditional and modern filipino dances, because I was a little put off by the lack of my ethnicity's presence in the community. </p>

<p>And finally, I heard Wes was looking to start building a museum to house all the artwork and pieces and ish of its students because they just have so much to display that they need more space.</p>

<p>In general, Wes is pretty damn artsy. Can't wait, mang.</p>

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<p>To directly answer your question, Bravery, no, one does NOT need to be artsy to "fit in", because there really is no "in", and even if there were, no one would bother to try to "fit". </p>

<p>All the stereotypes floating around about Wesleyan students are pretty hilarious, because NO, we are not all militant vegans (in fact, I don't know a single one), and we are not all potheads (okay, I do know a bunch of those... but some of them also happen to be among the smartest people I've ever met, so they certainly don't fit the apathetic stoner mold). There is very little tie-dye attire on campus. We are not all into indie music. We do not all dress in hipster clothes. Middletown is actually a substantial town with a thriving downtown. People do not go to NYC or Boston with much frequency because they don't feel the need. "Normal" kids fit in just as well at Wes as the radical types, and I'd be inclined to say that there are many more of the former. Please, everyone... college kids are college kids and we're all basically the same. </p>

<p>That said, though, Wesleyan is a community of some of the most intriguing, multitalented and passionate people you'll ever meet.</p>

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<p>Well stated...jumble j. I, too, was at WesFest (adult with friend with son) and I was astonished by the fitting in/sterotype just bursting into mid air if you spend any amount of time and just listen and observe. I have visited every other NESCAC school sans Hamilton and never visited Wes because I assumed it was something that it was not. Shame on me! I was sooooo impressed by the many lectures and panels that we attended. One of the student panels which was for parents only was just terrific. Each panelist was so articulate, so vibrant and sooooo comfortable with themselves. For me, that was the reoccuring theme of the students with whom I had a chance to chat. These were people who are so comfortable in their own skin but at the same time honestly interested in other people. I encourage other people to not repeat my mistake and hope that you will visit Wes and draw your own image! Good luck to all of you deciding.</p>

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<p>Jumble, I know what you said is 100% true, which is why the decision is so hard. Graduating with 20+ thousand MORE in debt by going to wesleyan or going to a school which is much more affordable. Ack!
Decision deadline is so soon...</p>

<p>Welcome to the real world I suppose, yuck...</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/22/nyregion/22image.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/22/nyregion/22image.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>