Wesleyan vs WUSTL(Washington University in St.Louis)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
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<p>Hey! I am an international student and I hope you could help me out on choosing which school to attend! Thx~~~~ </p>

<p>Wesleyan and WashU both are great schools and I've been struggling ...</p>

<p>I'm interested in international relations/studies and other social sciences with some future interest in law, but I'm mainly UNDECIDED and I might be end up doing something completely different. (But I do know that I do not want to do engineering!)</p>

<p>I cannot do campus visit since I live abroad.Sad...</p>

<p>Things I'm considering:
-Academics!! (I really care about this, whether I could get enough attention from the professors, how intelligent and hard-working are my peers,the flexibility to choose courses/majors, name recognition for future jobs/graduate school(really important for me since I have to pay for my tuition after graduating!!))
-Quality of life (social life(really care about it...is students friendly toward international students??how's the peer pressure...nervous about it..), city(is it easy to get to other places/internship opportunities..))
-Study Abroad programs/career center/alumni network</p>

<p>BTW I am a girl who loves music, good food , traveling and making friends~I really hope to find a place I am comfortable with in the next four years~</p>

<p>I'd appreciate some comments on the strengths/weaknesses of each of these schools and I'm grateful for any and all insights or comments you can give! </p>

<p>Thank you everyone!!</p>

<p>p.s. I posted on both forums so...hmm..just throw your opinions at me!</p>

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<p>Can anyone help me out here~I would really appreciate it！！</p>

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<p>Hey! If you’re undecided WashU is perfect for you! You can switch in and out of majors/schools within WashU, double major with ease and many students have a second majors in the Business school which has been ranked in the top 5 for 2 years in a row now. In terms of employment, WashU and It’a business school probably offers you more name recognition and employment opportunities as an International student. Academically, WashU is very sound and I cannot comment on Wesleyan. WashU’s dorms and food are ranked in the top 2 in the nation and when it comes to quality of life, WashU is as good as it gets.</p>

<p>PS: I chose WashU over Wesleyan, CMC, Middlebury, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, UC Berkeley, RICE and few other great schools.</p>

<p>I can’t really comment on Wesleyan since I go to WashU, but you can definitely message me if you have any questions. </p>

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<p>Also, WashU just has so much more to offer in terms of fields of study, and research opportunities. Many undergrads participate in research with the grad school and, WashU being a world class research institution with a a great pre med and psych program among many others, these are great opportunities for students. As an International student myself, I chose to attend a mid sized university as opposed to a small university just in order to be able to mingle and interact with a lot of different people. I personally wanted college to be different from High school and as an international student , I didn’t want to get stuck with a small group of people that I may or may get along with. Also, WashU s definitely a growing school that is rapidly rising up the ranks and gaining name recognition in and outside of the nation. It’s a top 15 national university whereas Wesleyan seems to have declined over the last 2 decades and has slipped down the ranks. It is part of the “little three” with Williams and Amherst, but today, Amherst and Williams are on a whole level or 2 above Wesleyan. </p>

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<p>It seems like you are leaning towards Wesleyan at this point, but I just wanted to jump in and say that part of the reason I became interested and visited wash u is because of it rankings on the princeton review. It is ranked for best food, best dorms, best quality of life, happiest students, others.
Wesleyan on the other hand is ranked on the “Birkenstock wearing, tree hugging, clove smoking” list and is also on the “Happiest students” list ( at 16, while WashU is at 9). </p>

<p>Obviously these lists might not mean anything to you, but when I visited wash u I found that it exceeded my expectations even with knowledge of the princetom review lists. </p>

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<p>By the way, I figured you were leaning Wesleyan because on the other thread you posted you said you were leaning towards a very small school atmosphere.</p>

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<p>My son will graduate from Wash U next month, in poli sci, and will attend law school in the fall. When he was college hunting 4-5 years ago, we visited Wesleyan. He didn’t particularly like Wesleyan and didn’t end up applying there, because of too much of the “Birkenstock wearing, tree hugging, clove smoking” vibe. </p>

<p>Wash U is definitely the more selective, prestigious school. But that is not a sufficient reason to pick a college. Is there a significant cost difference between the two?</p>

<p>While WashU is larger than Wesleyan, it is still a relatively small University, with about twice the number of undergraduates. My son has gotten a very personal education there. He also didn’t want to attend a huge University, and looked at LACs and small to mid size Universities. I don’t think WashU is big enough to be too concerned about it feeling too big. Personally, I would be more worried about fitting in at Wesleyan, since it attracts a more specific type of student, and I think an international student would be less likely to be that type. When my son visited it, he didn’t think he was the Wesleyan personality type of student, and didn’t apply. I don’t mean this as a negative about Wesleyan - it is all about finding what is the right fit for an individual student. There are numerous external websites which contain student reviews of colleges. It is worth searching for those sites and reading the reviews for both schools to try to figure out which school feels like the better fit. </p>

<p>I’m sure that Wash U will have some larger classes than Wesleyan does, with more than 100 students in some cases, if that is a big factor for you. But WashU also has plenty of very small classes as well. My son once had a 4 student class. He has had a lot of ~15 student classes, and a lot of 30-45 student classes. I just checked, and WashU and Wesleyan have about the same % of classes that are 20 or fewer students (68% for Wesleyan vs 66% for WashU), there is a bigger difference in the % of classes that are 50 students or more, although the absolute numbers are still small (5% for Wesleyan vs 10% for WashU). </p>

<p>My son’s pre-law advising at Wash U has been great (his advisor has a JD.) The poli sci department is very strong, and offers a huge range of classes each semester, so my son has a hard time picking which classes to take since there are so many interesting ones to choose from. Wash U will offer a lot more classes, in a lot more areas, than Wesleyan does, because of its larger size. And its majors are all strong, across the board. </p>

<p>WashU’s campus is much prettier than the Wesleyan one, IMHO. The facilities are great, including food, dorms, etc. It is on the outskirts of the city of St. Louis, in a nice area with the restaurants of the Loop a short walk from campus. However, it is easy to get into the city and to the airport via the public transportation system. For one my son’s classes he had to go to a courthouse to observe trials, and it was easy for him to travel to the courthouse via the MetroLink. </p>

<p>Based on your criteria, I would definitely lean towards Wash U, but I don’t pretend to be unbiased. Good luck with whatever school you choose - both are great schools and you will get a great education either place.</p>