Where to apply?

College Search & Selection
41

I’m a current Wesleyan student and stumbled across this thread. My interests are similar to your daughter’s and her list looks a lot like mine did. Hoping my experiences/thoughts can be helpful as you guys parse through things.

As a high school upperclassman, I was dead-set on doing poli sci and/or international relations in college. Accordingly, Georgetown was my number one and everything else was essentially a back-up plan. After getting deferred EA, I shifted gears and starting thinking more carefully about where I’d actually be happy. I decided I wanted something small to medium in size, with a real campus, and a culture I felt I could fit into (I.E not very greek and generally friendly/curious student vibes). Other upsides were academic flexibility and strong poli sci and history programs.

Those criteria led me to apply to several of the schools already on your list – Brown, Wesleyan, Vassar, Tufts, and William & Mary. I also applied to three schools outside of the north east: Tulane, Emory, and UChicago. If you’re willing to consider schools further away, all three are worth looking at; if not, that’s fine. Narrowing down the list is good. Lastly, I applied to American. Other people in this thread have already said it, but: American seems to fit your daughter’s criteria pretty well – it’s a decent Georgetown back-up and has tons of resources/opportunities for poli sci kids.

I ultimately ended up at Wesleyan and am incredibly happy with how things turned out. Wesleyan is, for me at least, a great fit. It’s the right size for me (with about 3k students, you feel known/comfortable, but there are always new folks to meet), it has the right culture for me (I’m maybe less alternative than some of the kids here, but the vibe is more friendly than it is hipster), and the academics are fantastic. My classes have been consistently small and engaging. All of my profs know my name and genuinely cared about teaching. Obviously college is hard and stressful wherever you go, but Wes feels like the right place for me.

Wes probably has two programs that would interest your daughter: government (which is just what we call poli sci) and the College of Social Studies (CSS). Government is one of the most popular majors and has a fantastic array of good profs and interesting classes. CSS is a small, multidisciplinary program that blends poli sci, history, econ, and philosophy. Government is super strong a Wes, but you can find comparable programs at other schools; CSS is more unique. Regardless, great options for someone with your daughter’s interests.

Other notes about academics: Double majoring is easy and common, so you could potentially do govt and CSS or one of the two and something else entirely. Additionally, Wes has a mostly open curriculum, giving folks the space to take classes in fields they might not otherwise explore. I, for example, took a data class last year and think I’m going to pursue a minor in data analysis. Never would’ve happened if I wasn’t able to take classes like that for fun.

On the social end, there’s a ton of active clubs and orgs on campus. Getting involved in fun stuff is really just a matter of showing up and seeing what you like. This may be a bit too specific, but Wesleyan has a really successful mock trial team which may interest your daughter. There are also more political/activism orgs than I can count.

I’m not sure if I can think about drawbacks to Wes that would be super applicable to your daughter. It’s not in a big city, but your list seems to indicate that you’re interested in other similarly situated schools. It’s not a great fit for conservative students, but that doesn’t sounds like an issue for your daughter. I guess you said that Vassar felt a bit too hipster for your taste and you might feel similarly about Wes. That said, I don’t consider myself apart of that crowd and have fit right in; there’re social spaces for all sorts of people at Wes (and at most schools, including Vassar).

Your list looks pretty solid to me. Maybe cut Carnegie Mellon – Pittsburgh is kinda far away and it is not similar to the other schools you’ve listed. Three others that I think might be worth checking out are Middlebury, Haverford, and Lafayette (listed in order of selectivity). All three are LACs with friendly and interesting vibes.

Let me know if there are any Wes questions I can answer! :slight_smile:

3 Likes
42

Is CSS still on a trimester system?

43

Yep, for sophomore year.

44

Thanks for your input. We are visiting Wesleyan next weekend, she attended to a virtual visit and liked it, she is exited about it, and i am much happier with that possibility (much closer to home).
I will tell her about mock trial, it is her favorite club in school and i am sure she would like to do it in college. If we have any questions I will for sure ask you!!!

45

Lots of great suggestions here. My only advise would be as things open up and you are able to make some visits is try and see a few different flavors of what she likes. With my D19 we started with over 50 and I found some of the best nuggets of insight into what was important to her came from some of the schools that likely weren’t a good fit. At the start of the process the preferences seem to focus on things like Size, location, etc. But when it get’s down to the final selection other criteria might start percolating to being more important. Best of luck with your journey

1 Like
46

While you’re on your tour, ask about the Allbritton Center. It’s one of the buildings on campus, and it houses the following:

  • Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life
  • Jewett Center for Public Partnerships
  • Patricelli Center for Social Entreprenneurship
  • Service Learning
  • Sustainability Office

One or more of these may appeal to your daughter. There is information about the Allbritton Center on the Wesleyan website. Also different at Wesleyan is that it has a College of the Environment and a small, student run farm. Another unusual resource to Wesleyan students is “Kid City”, just off Main Street and only a few blocks from campus. It’s one of the best “children’s museums” to be found anywhere, and Wesleyan Psych majors sometimes do research projects there. On Main Street, a block from RJ Julia Book Store, which is also the Wesleyan book store, is St. Vincent de Paul Middletown, which runs community outreach including a soup kitchen and the Amazing Grace Food Pantry. Sometimes Wesleyan students volunteer here. A few doors down is the Buttonwood Tree, a live music venue.

Something else worth asking about on the tour is where Wesleyan students can use their meal cards. There are dozens of excellent ethnic restaurants on Main Street and last I knew, Wes students could use their meal plan cards in a number of them. One of my favorites is Puerto Vallarta, which serves authentic Mexican food (not Tex Mex). It’s worth looking at the list in advance to see which one you might like to try for lunch or dinner while you’re in town.

Enjoy your visit.

2 Likes
47

As far as the money talk goes, it isn’t necessary to open the books and share a lot of information as some suggest. You just need to come up with a top number and possibly a preferred range. You might also discuss whether or not you’d expect her to take a really good deal at a comparable or near comparable school even if it isn’t her first choice. Even with estimated price calculators, you don’t know the final numbers until acceptances are in. Some schools that only give need based aid have more and less generous ideas of what constitutes need.

1 Like
48

It makes sense, Vassar is not really full of the preppy kid type. I spent a few years growing up in Poughkeepsie ten minutes from campus, the town isn’t great, you’re right about that, but as you’ve seen the campus and town are pretty separated. Given it’s pretty high on her list, she should apply, though it’s not a college that interacts with the town, if that ends up being important. You have a few colleges that would be considered more preppy, so hopefully your daughter has some good, different choices for college.

As for narrowing down the list, you can take out schools that are maybe stem focused like CMU, Lehigh, maybe even Tufts (they do have a good Intl Relations program) and the larger schools that others have suggested.

1 Like
49

Do not confuse size of the college with the size of classes. Even at a HUGE university, classes can be small (or tiny) as early as freshman year. I was at a relatives graduation from a Big Ten U (the year before covid) and was shocked to be introduced to so many professors who were hugging my cousin, shaking the hands of all the family members, etc. Cousin was in a small department at an enormous university-- and in a seminar of 12 or 15 students, it’s hard NOT to know your professors!

First year psych, bio, econ- these will typically be large lectures. After that- it depends. But I wouldn’t be slicing the salami between a 5,000 person U and a 10,000 person U, especially if the grad programs, professional schools, etc. are physically located on a different campus.

All campuses can be dangerous if students don’t have a safety mindset. We toured rural campuses where students leave the dorm fire exits open with a rock so they don’t have to remember their student ID’s and sneak in through the back- and the campus newspaper is filled with “police blotter” stories about stolen laptops, wallets, a registered sex offender being caught hiding in a student lounge. Any college kid needs to be mindful of safety, whether in a tranquil suburban neighborhood or what some people perceive as a “dangerous” neighborhood, especially if that perception derives from an observation that the area is not majority white.

I am always leery of picking a college based on wardrobe. Wearing a cashmere sweater doesn’t disqualify you from having a social justice mindsight; having multiple piercings doesn’t mean you are a liberal or a progressive (just take a look at any white supremacist rally- tattoos, piercings, etc.)

1 Like