Wesleyan v Tufts

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wesleyan University
1

<p>I'm a Wesleyan grad and my daughter's been accepted to Wesleyan and Tufts. Obviously, I'm biased towards Wesleyan with it's nearly Dunkin Donuts, but my daughter wants to make the most informed decision she can. Is Wesleyan or Tufts the right place for somebody who:</p>

<ul>
<li>Isn't a party person</li>
<li>Is interested in creative writing, history and visual arts</li>
<li>Comes from a small high school (76 in her grade)</li>
</ul>

<p>She's worried about large classes at Tufts, and about Wesleyan's distance from cities, which might offer intern opportunities.</p>

<p>She's concerned about Wesleyan's random roommate assignment system, since she's a quiet person. </p>

<p>They're both great schools, and what my daughter would love is the deal-breaker -- the one thing that makes it easy to choose between the two.</p>

<p>Any thoughts? Experiences? Advice? Fire away.</p>

2

<p>My S has similar interests and a similar background and had similar concerns in deciding between Wesleyan and Tuft.</p>

<p>What did it for him was the language and core requirements of Tufts. He does not want to take any more language classes and refused to review his 4 years of French to take the SAT Subject test or AP test to try and test out of the requirement. He didn’t like being constricted by the other core requirements at Tufts, although most Tufts students will tell you that they are not that difficult to fulfill. He understands Wesleyan’s distribution expectations that are required to be fulfilled for Honors etc., and will probably try and do that, but is happy that he doesn’t have to, to graduate. Your D may not have the same concerns, and Tufts is a great school too.</p>

<p>My S isn’t a party kid either, but neither was I until October of my freshman year in college… </p>

<p>When my S visited Wesleyan for an overnight, he liked the kids he met, and felt like he could find his crowd there. He is concerned that Wes is too small but coming from a very small high school, I think he will be just fine. </p>

<p>The first clue I got that Wesleyan was where he wanted to be was the big smile that lit up his face when he got his acceptance online. None of the other schools he was accepted to got quite the same reaction.</p>

<p>He just signed his Yes to Wes form that I will be sending in tomorrow.</p>

3

<p>One of the other considerations is that my daughter had a terrible overnight stay at Wesleyan – her host drank and drank and drank. At Tufts she had a fine overnight. My daughter knows that these were just random snapshots, but she can’t get that bad Wesleyan experience out of her head. </p>

<p>She was at Wesleyan over the weekend and at Tufts on a weekday, and that may have contributed to the difference between the visits. </p>

<p>She’s concerned that Wesleyan is more of a drinking school than Tufts.</p>

4

<p>About the partying, I’m going to post the two links that I just posted on another forum:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586491-transfer-wesleyan.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586491-transfer-wesleyan.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586135-does-everyone-wes-party.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/586135-does-everyone-wes-party.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>We know Tufts reasonably well and Tufts and Wesleyan were one of the final 5 to get serious consideration. Both are really good schools. He chose neither. But the reasons for choosing might be helpful to your daughter.</p>

<p>I’ll give my son’s perceptions. Tufts is pretty mainstream in terms of student population. He has worked with a grad student and/or professor there every week during his gap year and often stays overnight with one of his best friends there. [In addition, we know many faculty members and the president and have some feeling for the campus style as a result, which is not inconsistent with my son’s impressions.] Wesleyan is edgier. Politically correct to a farethewell (Tufts is PC, but a notch or two down). My son found the multi-gender bathrooms (not coed but multi-gender to accommodate LBGTQ (?) or something like that – please correct me on what multi-gender means in this context if you know) a bit off-putting. He stayed overnight on April 20th, which is 4/20 or 420 and thus has become International Marijuana Smoking Day and is celebrated with enthusiasm at Wesleyan. A noticeable proportion of the kids seemed to him to be hipster types – tight jeans, flat sneakers, artsy, smoking cigarettes. Maybe the dorm he stayed in was heavily that, and when I met him the next day, we certainly saw kids like that represented. Some kid was walking around the coed (or multigender) floor nude, which my son commented on a number of times. For him, the ultra-PC/hipster style just didn’t suit him. He just said something like, “These are not my kind of kids.” Clearly there are many kinds of kids at Wesleyan, but the overall sense he got was that there was not a fit. He could have seen himself at Tufts much more easily than Wesleyan. The son of a colleague visited Wesleyan the year before and said, “This is a great school Dad but can we get out of here. This place is creepy.” No value judgment here: Other kids clearly prefer the Wesleyan style. [Incidentally, a Wesleyan student who called him later told him that the dorm he stayed in was a “weird” dorm and, as I had told him, kids at all schools smoke pot, but by then, the decision was made.] Incidentally, he’s politically liberal and spent part of the fall campaigning for Obama. One of his closest friends is gay and confided in my son three years before telling anyone else, so his reaction to Wes does not come from social or political conservatism. </p>

<p>A key reason Tufts was not in the top 3 was the distribution and particularly the language requirements. In his case, he is dyslexic and languages are hard.</p>

<p>Both schools are very, very good with respect to learning disabilities, which is not true of all other schools, but in Tufts case, they would likely waive the three semester language requirement but instead require him to take 6 instead of 3 courses that enlighten him about non-US (or non-Western) culture. That felt a bit excessive to him. Wesleyan has no language requirement, which is part of what put Wesleyan in the final 3. I don’t know much about Wesleyan’s president, who has a pretty impressive CV, but the guy at Tufts is superb and is loved by students and faculty (who perceive his as really improving the school).</p>

<p>I think it largely comes down to what style your daughter likes and if the requirements would provide meaningful restrictions for to her (for many kids, I think the requirements would easily be met without meaningful effort). There is a small sample issue here – my son spent two days at Wesleyan so may be overgeneralizing from limited data, but his observations do not seem inconsistent with what I’ve read and heard.</p>

6

<p>^^yes, shawbridge. you and i have had this conversation. :p. the kids at Wesleyan start talking up Wesfest weeks in advance. It has acquired something of a carnival atmosphere. With that extra piece of information here and on another thread, it’s obvious your S stayed at Westco. What can I say? :smiley: To quote another famous Wesleyan alum, your son experienced a Perfect Storm of uber-Wesleyan.</p>

7

<p>^^ One of the great posts of all time!! Thanks for sharing shawbridge. Some of my favorite lines:</p>

<p>“…kids seemed to be hipster types – tight jeans, flat sneakers, artsy, smoking cigarettes.”</p>

<p>“Some kid was walking around the coed (or multigender) floor nude…”</p>

<p>“This is a great school Dad but can we get out of here. This place is creepy.” </p>

<p>That all sounds like Wes to me.</p>

8

<p>If you check Tufts on CC you can read about a girl who had an awful visit at Tufts, dumped by her host, surrounded by drinking which made her uncomfortable, meeting Tufts students complaining about their school. Any school overnight visit on a weekend night or during the special visit days can go like that depending on the host.</p>

<p>My S did not visit during WesFest and I’m glad he didn’t. He stayed on a Sunday night. No drinking, just hanging around in Butts talking with students. Half were ED admitted freshmen, the other half seemed to have been students rejected by Brown who ended up at Wes. All seemed happy with their college experience so far, and when they asked him where else he was considering, and he said Tufts, they immediately said come to Wes!!!</p>

9

<p>I think all overnight visits are idiosyncratic. At one school, my son’s host had two papers or tests the next day. Nice kid, but not ready to socialize. At Dartmouth Dimensions, the school inadvertently assigned 4 kids to one host, who was an extraordinary kid who made everyone feel at home. </p>

<p>My son was indeed at Westco, johnwesley, but not at Wesfest. It was a Monday/Tuesday. He said the kids were all nice and no one dumped him. But, the Perfect Storm of uber-Wesleyan was a bit overwhelming.</p>

<p>There are likely many kinds of kids at Tufts and Wesleyan. It felt to my son and my friend’s son that the mix was different and it gave life on each campus a different feel. I think a student could get an excellent education at either. But, the OP’s daughter might reflect on what feel she thinks she prefers. Some kids will go one way, some another.</p>

10

<p>I noticed similar things at Wesleyan as Shawbridge and the son. Everyone was very nice, but they did seem a bit more edgy than me and I just didn’t feel like I could fit in with the general college atmosphere (but then I met people that didn’t dress hipster-ish too, so I’m sure I could friends at Wes). Iunderstand ljean’s point of view too-- the visit is just a snippet of the college, and any one thing can become the deciding factor. I just happened to stay with kids at Wes that were drinking, but I’m sure if I had stayed with other kids they wouldn’t have been. It’s really just the luck of the draw.</p>

11

<p>My son is a freshman at Wesleyan and visited twice senior year of high school. The first was a weekday in October. We had a woman tour guide sporting a mohawk and the student answering questions in the admissions office was a queer (his word) hipster. Frankly, we thought the scene was weird, and Wesleyan fell down a few notches on his list as a result of that day. Fast forward to April, and Wesleyan was one of the best schools academically that accepted S, so off he went with his Dad for another look see. This time, he saw a relaxed, happy, “normal”, attractive student body, and felt he could fit in after all.
Now, a year later, to say that he is happy at Wesleyan is an understatement. We visited him in October and spent an afternoon with his dormmates, who are friendly, fun, and creative folks. I have read on CC that this year’s freshman are quite a bit more mainstream than their predecessors, which works for my son. He is a middle of the road kind of guy, and has definitely found his place at Wes.</p>

12

<p>calgirl: i certainly hope that after a year at wes, your son doesn’t find meeting a queer student “weird.” i also hope you don’t.</p>

13

<p>I was familiar with the term “queer” used by bigots in a derogatory fashion, not as a positive description. Also never heard of the word “ze” that was an option on the sign in card at the admissions office. The orientation of the particular student was a nonissue. </p>

<p>As for the tour guide, every other campus we toured had clean cut collegiate types leading us around. Our mohawk-sporting Wes guide is undoubtably a fine person, but in her public relations role, not the ideal choice to win over the middle aged moms.</p>

14

<p>Haha Wes sounds fun.</p>

15

<p>Calgal, glad to hear your son is happy at Wes. I’m curious what dorm he was in this year.</p>

16

<p>calgal: Why are you suggesting that the campus be whitewashed for potential students? Why shouldn’t the tour guides be representative of the diversity of the student body? One of the things I appreciate most about Wesleyan is its commitment to diversity - not as a catchphrase and not as an obsession with maintaining the “correct” percentage of African-American students in the incoming class, but as an actual value in itself. People are different, and Wesleyan isn’t about molding students into the perfect pre-professional. It’s about giving students the tools to be the best they can be - whatever that is. We have students who go to great med schools and law schools and are successful in Hollywood and we’re glad all of them are Wes alums - but we also have Tristan Taormino, a successful feminist pornographer, and Jean Pockrus '08, who was recently featured on the Tyra Banks show to talk about hir freegan lifestyle (i.e. dumpster diving and all that).</p>

<p>You mention gender and discuss “ze” as though it’s a completely ridiculous thing to have. But you know what? Transgendered and genderqueer individuals deserve to have a place where they feel safe and comfortable. In fact, one of my closest high school friends went to Tufts and is genderqueer, but never came out to anyone but hir closest friends at Tufts because ze was worried it was so unacceptable, even in the gay&lesbian support group. That’s not something to be proud of, IMO. Yes, that kind of more mainstream thing is good for some people - but it should be understood that at Wesleyan, for the most part, we view acceptance as a GOOD thing. Someone can not identify with the traditional gender binary of man/woman and still not have to worry about how in the world they’re supposed to represent hir gender on an admissions sign-in sheet. Someone can not identify with the traditional gender binary and still go to the bathroom in a public building without feeling unwelcome. How in the world is this a bad thing?</p>

<p>Some people at Wesleyan have mohawks. The vast majority don’t. The admissions office here would, I think, never deny someone a position as a tour guide just because of their hair styling choice. If someone is offended by that lack of discrimination, probably Wesleyan isn’t the school for them - this isn’t the school to be at if you’re pro-discrimination, even in its milder forms, such as this particular example.</p>

17

<p>I was faced with this exact same decision this year–my final 2 came down to Wesleyan vs. Tufts. I visited and stayed overnight at both schools, and for me it came down to the atmosphere and the people.</p>

<p>Essentially, I chose Wesleyan because of its openness–both of its academics and its social norms. I love Wesleyan because of the fact it’s weird. Now, if you met me, you might call me one of the new “mainstream” freshmen. However, you don’t have to have a mohawk, you don’t have to walk around naked, you don’t have to wear women’s clothing to appreciate the social oppurtunities that this “weirdness” creates–when the social norms are skewed or annihilated, there is no desire to conform and only the need to accept people regardless of their appearance or beliefs. The people I met at Wesleyan were amazing because 1) they were intellectual, as is to be expected at a highly selective university, and 2) they were completely down to earth and accepting. I want to be part of this social openness; similarly, I want to explore academically, and Wesleyan clearly holds the edge here over Tufts with no requirements.</p>

<p>I would conjecture that the atmosphere at Tufts is more similar to that of an Ivy League school–it is, after all, characterized as a place for Ivy rejects. Maybe your daughter would be off-put by Wes’ weirdness, and for a more typical collegiate experience I’d say go for Tufts.</p>

18

<p>Madjoy, Reread my post please. I never said I thought “ze” was ridiculous; where do you come off saying that? I said I had never heard of the term before. </p>

<p>As for the unconventional appearance of the tour guide, Wesleyan admissions was making a clear point about nondiscriminatory hiring, freedom of expression, etc. I got the message at the time. The institutional principles are sound, but they were not my priority that day. My concern was determining whether my child would make friends and find a comfortable home if he attended this college. We did not feel the “fit” on that first visit.</p>

19

<p>I’ve reread your posts a few times, myself. And the more I’ve read them, the more conscious I have become of the dichotomy you have set up, despite your protests to the contrary. The queer hipster, “weird” in your words, set against the relaxed and happy and normal people you encounter on your second visit. And then the first guide, the girl with the mohawk, set against the “clean cut collegiate types” who are better suited to lead around middle class moms.<br>
That said, I do know what you mean about fit and looking for a place your kid will be comfortable. I do appreciate that. But you’ve touched, perhaps unwittingly, a sensitive chord here, because there are those who would like to make Wesleyan, in a search of further selectivity and an eye on that endowment, a little more like its old rivals Williams and Amherst. Yet Wesleyan seems to be thriving on blurring the lines between the weird and the normal–your words not mine, but adequate to make the point.</p>

20

<p>Outside 1, you are correct. In making a whirlwind tour of four college campuses in 3 days, one ends up with impressions, stereotypes even, that lack substance, but nonetheless linger, and the particular set of experiences we had that morning were weighted away from the cultural mainstream I was expecting. The Wes my son experienced in the spring with his dad was more balanced; he had enough time to interact with a lot of students, and he was able to envision how he could fit in the campus community.</p>

<p>But getting back to this thread’s main topic, the very next campus we visited after Wes last fall was Tufts! I think Tufts, like Wesleyan, is a happy place where most students end up very satisfied with their education and overall experience. Personally, I do not like the core requirements much. I also found the campus to be very compact due to its urban location, comparing unfavorably to Wesleyan’s beautiful campus, and I also got the impression that walking up the hill on windy winter days would get old fast. Campus issues minor; core requirements not so.
Tufts and Wesleyan attract students at the same academic level, and I suspect that many students end up trying to choose between the two. Good luck to the OP, can’t go wrong with either school.</p>