<p>I noticed a lot of people lurking (like i was), so i wanted to know if anyone had any comments on wes..</p>
<p>I applyed RD, and I was wondering why you guys choose wesleyan.. also, anyone visited yet? WHat's it like? social life, campus, city, etc.?</p>
<p>Wes is the epitome of a liberal arts education. Academically and philosophically it shines.</p>
<p>Campus is sorta a mixed bag- some pretty buildings, others ugly (the arts buildings for example). Middletown is quiet, and kind of in a decaying movement... but still a lot of cafes and shops. Not large by any means, but a reasonably sized town. Most of the social stuff is on campus.
Wes is a great school. No required courses and high-quality education. You can't beat that combination. Plus, my mom went there! haha, that's why I applied.</p>
<p>Ummm, why did you apply if you knew almost nothing about the school?</p>
<p>The URL may change after today's issue, but I found this aricle amusing:</p>
<p>The new site is completely robust - articles will never be moved or deleted when new issues go up. :)</p>
<p>Xmatt - thanks for the new and improved online Argus. My new PC navigates it beautifully!</p>
<p>ap1687 - I used to feel the way you did about the CFA (Center for the Arts) buildings until I realized their architectural significance: each building is constructed like a modern day Greek temple, with no steel beams suspending anything. That isn't just a limestone veneer you see on the outside (like most modern buildings) rather, each solid stone wall bears the weight of the roof and floors above it. And, for the most part, what you see on the inside are the exact same stones that adorn the outside. Like a medieval castle. I just find it a very romantic concept, despite how modern the buildings indeed look.</p>
<p>Everyone should read "The Gatekeepers"!!</p>
<p>I actually LOVE the way the CFA looks... what I dislike about the campus is that it is sort of in a U shape instead of an O shape (I don't know if that makes any sense at all). Basically, there is this big hole (a football/baseball field) in the middle of campus, and I think it destroys the flow.</p>
<p>Gatekeepers was amazing!</p>
<p>ap1687: I never claimed to know 'nothing' about wesleyan.. if you read my post, I just wanted to know what others who had visited thought of the campus, social life, etc. Obviously I knew a lot about wesleyan (without actually visiting) since i spent the time/money to apply there. Just wanted to get a few more perspectives..</p>
<p>anyway, if others also thought this.. sorry for the misunderstanding.</p>
<p>bjrwrh - yes, much has been written about the donut hole in the middle of the campus, especially now that construction is about to start on the new campus center. It's a space that is peculiar to small LACs that began life playing sports literally in their backyards. Eventually, the gym gets moved and the athletic space gets filled in with another row of academic buildings. The problem in Wesleyan's case is that the land ends at the foot of a small hill, over which the stately Observatory was built. Sure, there's ample room for another row of buildings (a bluprint did exist once for a kind of Versailles-like enclosure, consisting of walkways, landscaping and such.) But it seems to me, it would come at the expense of a certain rural feeling that the extra setback gives to Foss Hill (and vice-versa, to College Row, when looked at from the Observatory.) It's the only vista quite like it among colleges I've seen. And hopefully by getting rid of the parking lot that was once behind College Row, visitors will not notice the new elevator stuck to the Chapel's backside, like an artificial limb. Or, not as much.</p>
<p>Andrus Field is also the oldest continuously used football field in the US. The next oldest is Amherst's. I don't think they're anxious to give that one up.</p>
<p>FWIW, the new master plan involves removing the North College parking lot and landscaping it and building pathways where it used to be. Apparently they're also going to construct a path along the very base of Foss Hill (currently the area becomes a completely untraversable swamp in heavy rains or spring melting).</p>
<p>i have heard that wes is planning on getting rid of the senior houses and replacing them with more dorms. is this true, and if so what will the new housing option be?</p>
<p>That is a canard. Wesleyan is actually building several new woodframe houses on Fountain Avenue. See: <a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/masterplan/housing.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.wesleyan.edu/masterplan/housing.html</a></p>
<p>The recent fervor among students has been the reduction of "off-campus" housing, ie, the number of students granted exemptions from the residency requirement. This in turn is the result of new dorm construction on the old rugby field, Fauver Field.</p>
<p>The total change is:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Selling off In-town Apartments which were a good 10-15 minute walk from the main block (and actually farther OUT of "town" than anything else Wes owns)</p></li>
<li><p>Building new freshman (residence hall) and upperclass (apartment style) buildings on Fauver</p></li>
<li><p>Building new senior houses on Fountain and Warren</p></li>
<li><p>Selling off of a few very isolated or dilapidated houses on Hamlin, Knowles, and other very outlying streets.</p></li>
<li><p>Consolidating Physical Plant offices in the newly-acquired Long Lane area, freeing houses for senior housing.</p></li>
<li><p>Completing several other ongoing construction projects, freeing up houses that had been used as subcontractor offices to revert back to senior housing.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>There will be a net gain of something like 150-200 beds, including several new houses coming online. They're decreasing the ability to live off campus (ie, not in university-owned housing) but they're NOT phasing out senior woodframe (university-owned) houses.</p>
<p>Are the Fauver dorms any farther from the center of campus than any of the other housing?</p>
<p>They're closer. Fauver Field is one of several playing fields near the center of campus that for decades couldn't be budged because the only open space available nearby was owned by the State of Connecticut. After years of wrangling, Wesleyan bought "the land next door" (about 150 acres) and has been slowly moving the athletic department out of their century old buildings and greenswards that abutted academic buildings and dorms. As Xmatt has pointed out, the very center of campus is itself the oldest collegiate playing field in America (more Little Three football games have been fought there than there have been annual games played between the Big Three (HYP) anywhere--including, the Yale Bowl) and will probably be the last to leave, if ever.</p>
<p>xmatt, thanks so much for the clarification</p>
<p>My son was accepted ED at Wesleyan. He was debating whether to apply to Wes or Tufts ED. He chose Wes for a couple of reasons. Wes has less graduation "requirements"; 1/3 of the freshmen get single dorms (which he definitely wants); freshman are permitted a car on campus; Wes is a very accepting tolerant community. His perception is that the students there are probably super friendly, accomodating and understanding. There might be a similar atmosphere at Tufts, but with all the stereotypical comments about Tufts being the Ivy reject school (and I think Tufts is a great school) he didn't want to be with people who didn't really want to be there in the first place...does this make sense?? </p>
<p>Tufts of course has Boston and that was the tough part of his decision because he really wanted to be near Boston, but the single dorms, car and Wes community won him over. </p>
<p>Wes is also a little closer to home on Long Island.</p>
<p>i visited wesleyan about a year ago and was struck by the crazy kids on campus. one of our tour guides was from india and you could tell juts how very excited he was to be there. then, since that was the time the whole chalking scandal was finally blowing over, some loud guy was rollerblading behind our tour group writing moderately offensive phrases on the sidewalks. and as we passed one of the dorms, a couple of guys wearing just their boxers jumped out of the window and had a baba ganoush fight about 30 yards away from us. the admissions officers (several of whom are also recent alums) encouraged everyone to take as many seemingly absurd classes while at wesleyan to get a feel for absolutely everything you could possibly be interested in before settling down with a major. plus, their theatre department is quality, the film dept. put out josh whedon of "buffy" fame, the kids and faculty are politically overactive, the campus is vegetarian- and piercing-friendly, and its only 2 hours from nyc if middletown doesnt arrest your interest as it should. the graduates ive met are doing really powerful things with their lives and just burst with two kinds of passion: heartfelt and loud, or quiet and sincere.</p>