Opinions about Wheaton College, Norton, Ma
<p>I train there occassionally with Coach Manjicotti and Souza; their track program is phenomenal, year in and year out the best in DIII.
I would never go to school there, though, from what I've seen, the campus isn't too great and it doesn't seem like the students have any fun. Norton is a *<strong><em>ty town, too. . .I live in the town next to it and it's fairly common knowledge that Norton is an absolute *</em></strong>hole.</p>
<p>Academically, Wheaton is a good school - especially strong for biology, the arts, communications. They do have a very strong internship program. They give a slight preference to males in admissions because they are trying to balance out their male-female ration *(used to be all female). Submitting SATs are optional. Dorms receive varying grades from those who have visited. I'd compare Wheaton to Skidmore or Goucher - probably a bit stronger academically than Goucher but a bit weaker than Skidmore. But, still a very decent school.</p>
<p>I found the campus to be very nice - as nice as any we visited in the northeast. I do agree that Norton leaves much to be desired, but it is convenient to 2 airports, Amtrak (for NYC/DC), malls, Boston, Providence, the Cape, and RI beaches.</p>
<p>If you want a feel for student life you can read the school paper here:</p>
<p>The two big complaints seem to be the food and nothing to do. Just like life at home. ;)</p>
<p>We attended a Wheaton open house for juniors last spring. I was not especially impressed by the students on their panel or the attitude of the administrators who spoke. Instead of focussing on Wheaton's strengths, I often had the feeling that the subtext was always "you think we are not as good as first tier colleges but really we are." The students who spoke recited achievements and prizes/scholarships they had earned but conveyed little sense of individuality or passion for their school or their studies. This was not the case at most other institutions we have visited, but, on the other hand, these were mostly in a higher ranking category. </p>
<p>I must admit, though, that I have often heard good things about Wheaton's academics and internships.</p>
<p>This raises a problem we are still struggling with --a fairly steep drop off from "top" schools to the next category. We plan to investigate Skidmore and perhaps Goucher more thoroughly.</p>