<p>I've been going on and off about applying to Wesleyan EDII for a while now. </p>
<p>On paper, it is a perfect school for me. It has everything that I could want in a college -- both with academics and extracurricular activities.
When I visited last spring, I loved my tour and info session. I couldn't imagine seeing myself happier anywhere else. </p>
<p>However, when I came back this fall, something about the campus vibe seemed a little off. I'm not really into partying or and I'm not remotely interested in the drug scene. What would social life be for someone like me at Wes? </p>
<p>There really isn't any other school I can see myself happier at -- I'm just concerned about being unhappy with the social scene. Do I just need to get over it?</p>
<p>I can see how witnessing college partying can be disillusioning or something to someone who isn’t into that, and for those people it might seem to clash with the ‘intellectual’ image you associate with a selective school. partying in college is often a lot different than high school since it’s way more concentrated and ubiquitous–it’s hard to explain, but when you visit and you’re just sort of thrust into it without understanding its context it’s easy to get a warped impression. it’s going to be an adjustment no matter who you are, and one that you won’t make until you’re actually at college, so if you didn’t really feel comfortable during your visit, I think that’s ok. </p>
<p>that being said, I don’t think that this phenomenon is specific to Wes at all, and also keep in mind that you’re only seeing a sliver of an actual college experience. I think most would agree that compared to a lot of schools not only is there a lot less pressure to drink/do drugs, social life is relatively less focused on the act of imbibing substances itself so there’s more to do than just the typical stuff you would associate with partying. a huge amount of the night life here is centered around the music scene, for example, so most weekend nights I’m either going to a concert or a dance party. in other words, what big events we do have don’t require drinking or drugs. program houses (which includes several of the frats) are required to put on programming throughout the year, and since they can’t advertise parties that will have alcohol, there are tons of events going on that don’t involve drinking or drugs. this is assuming when you say you’re not into ‘partying’ you mean drinking, or the sensationalized, stereotypical view of ‘partying,’ like beer pong or animal house or whatever. </p>
<p>when people ask things like ‘what will my social life be like,’ I want to ask, what do you want your social life to be like? there isn’t one singular social scene or social experience. what you should be asking is if the school would meet whatever needs/expectations you have in the social realm. I know plenty of people that aren’t into partying or drugs that love Wes, but that certainly doesn’t determine whether you will. what is it about Wes that attracted you? what did you see that turned you off?</p>
<p>I would recommend you apply RD if you have reservations about it and decide later when you compare it to seeing social life at other schools. you may also discover more of what you’re looking for by april, so it might not be right to be making this decision in december.</p>
<p>As jarsilver mentioned, there are plenty of people here who have no interest in drugs or binge drinking and yet find the social scene to be just as fulfilling. So please, don’t be turned away by one misleading impression.</p>
<p>if it’s not too late, there once was a girl maned “flying_pig319” PM her and ask how she is doing. She had the same worry, she got in ED last year.
She doesn’t know me but everyone sort of knew her and that sort of worried me how did it all go.
I am a mom, that’s why… not creepy stalker or anything. Or maybe a little bit, I’d get attached to some of the posters and tend to follow what they are up to.</p>
<p>I’ve tried calling her out on Wesleying (the Shoutbox) to no avail. Hopefully, this means she is too involved and challenged and having a fantastic time to pay her dues here. ;)</p>
<p>so how are you doing? Im interested to know as both I and my husband are Wes 1985 graduates. Im interested as to how the school has changed. When I went it was ultra liberal and the party scene definitely centered on drugs, as opposed to alcohol in other schools. The administration allowed students even to smoke pot in the dining hall on certain days like Zonger Harris Day, weird. There were many drug holidays there, But on the other hand everyone was super smart. I managed to get through fine and did like it. But Im curious to see if they have clamped down somewhat on that. Is also very beautiful there. My daughter applied last year but id not get in, even though she was a double legacy. She just didnt wor hard enough in hs to get in there. My younger daughter though would be able to get in I think. But Im not sure I would send her there if the drug scene is the same as when I went…</p>
<p>mom, if both of you came out alive and doing decent living now, not like rolling joint with your kid like some of folks from the era I know, your kid would be fine because she got your gene and value in somewhere. Drugs now are stronger but so are the kids. They got more escape plan and better resources if they are taught how to use them, and I bet you did well.
In other hand if you have been hyper sensitive about it because of your experiences, it might backfire.
Anywhere in colleges, there are drugs, booze and random relationships.
If there aren’t and been forbidden, look what you’ll do after graduate… i. e. Stephanie Meyer twilight saga.
If she gets in, let her stay over and let her choose.
I’d go in two beat.
If you are still concerned, join the “find flying_pig 319” party!!</p>
<p>mom3939: It’s definitely been clamped down on! The only time I’ve seen large groups of students smoking opening in public is 4/20, and that’s only on the hill, the administrators are even making a token effort to cut back on that.</p>
<p>I mean, it’s still liberal, and I would imagine that pot is slightly more prevalent here than at other schools, but these days alcohol is still the most prevalent thing on campus IMO, harder drugs than pot tend to be limited to certain groups, and there are plenty of non-drug/alcohol related things to do as well.</p>
<p>mom, and that’s where and how you two met and you are together ever since?
I did hear from other Wesmom kids tend to get “married” there and stay together instead of drunken casual hook up.
Now isn’t that something to consider if you got a daughter.
How does her dad feel about?</p>
<p>my sense is the scene is pretty similar. what’s changed is the amount of push-back from the administration; there are far more fire safety inspections (which many people assume to be excuses to locate and seize bongs and other contraband; and, they are far less likely to “look the other way” during public acts of “blazing”. Also, the Middletown police are more omnipresent than they were in the eighties.</p>
my mom was astonished when she saw people smoking on the hill during wesfest. people still smoke on the hill. it’s not like they ‘look the other way,’ but psafe have better things to do than to patrol the hill and check what people are smoking. hey, we have like 5 sunny days a year, we might as well enjoy them.</p>
<p>the university has definitely made concerted efforts to shake the druggy image, but in totally dumb ways. case in point: zonker harris day and duke day had to be renamed, even though the names themselves are on the surface pretty harmless. (they still happen, they just have funnier ‘official’ names now.) a less superficial example is fire safety violating their agreement with wsa by having unannounced inspections.</p>