DS’17 applied and was accepted to Wooster. Other than what I have read in CTCL, the website, and here on CC we know no one who attended Wooster. The forum here has not been very active. We are planning to visit on one of the admitted student weekends in April. He applied on a whim. Since getting accepted DS has done some research, and it has moved up on his list. What is the town like? Is the Princeton/Wooster comparison accurate? My concern is the current fraternity culture, and general overall vibe at the college. Any changes over the past few years? Thanks in advance.
My Daughter was just accepted there and will also be attending the Admitted Students Weekend. Wooster was not high on her list until she visited last fall. We were both blown away by the beauty of the campus, the down to earth students and the tremendous facilities. It really is one of those “hidden gem” colleges you hear about. We did a lot of research, too, and people we talked to, from the high school counselor to alums all gave Wooster very high marks. The thing that my D loves the best, is the chance to do real research in her senior year. When we visited, one of the professors showed us actual products that are on the market that came directly from senior IS students at Wooster. That was really cool. One of the only negative things we heard from some people was that the location of the college is a bit isolated. It is in a very rural area, but not far from neighboring towns. We also asked a few Seniors on campus if they ever felt isolated, and they said the only way you would feel that way is if you stayed in your room all the time. They said they never had a problem finding fun things to do. We didn’t really hear much about Greek life, but it didn’t seem like a big part of campus life. I guess you won’t form your own opinion until you are actually there, but if your experience is anything like ours, you will be duly impressed. Best of luck!
@momsthebest I sent you a message privately.
In general, I would say (as the parent of a sophomore), the city of Wooster has two “parts” - downtown (walkable from campus) has some cute (and good) restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and uptown (which is accessible by the campus shuttle or by car) has box stores (walmart, panera, etc.). It’s not as fancy as Princeton, NJ but it’s more “real world” and less sheltered (which is either a pro or a con, depending on your perspective - for me, it’s a pro). The frats are not residential and they are not national. There is a Greek presence but it is not an overwhelming majority. According to my sophomore (who is home this week for Spring break), “it does not dominate campus life. You can be involved activities or go to parties whether or not you are connected to Greek life, and the frats that Wooster does have are not super-exclusive. The people in the frats have tons of friends outside the organizations.” (Full disclosure: my child rushed and was offered a spot but opted not to join but is still good friends with all the members of the frat and there are no hard feelings between them.) Biggest recent change is that Wooster has a new president, Sarah Bolton, who was a Dean at Williams College. She has made a good transition onto campus this year and the community seems happy with her (and vice versa). There is a lot of new investment in infrastructure and upgrading going on (new buildings, etc.). President Bolton is very active and visible on campus and seems eager to listen to students as she works to improve the college. Wooster has definitely been a positive experience for our child, who is thriving academically and socially. I hope you have a terrific visit to Admitted Students Day!
Wooster has a lovely campus, and greek life is “non-traditional” as they are not affiliated with nationals and much more low key, from what we understood, greek life does not have a dominant presence on campus at all. Some of the nicest interactions we had on campus were with Wooster kids – they were warm, engaging, and kind.
In terms of the town, there is a several block area which has great farm-to-table restaurants, steak place, breweries etc., and our favorite hotel, the St Paul, which is a European style renovation of a smaller hotel – for a few blocks, Wooster is very hip, though it is an area which would be more of a bike ride than a walk from campus. My kid looked very hard at Wooster as an athletic recruit, and found much to love. We also know some kids of professors who attend Wooster kids. Congrats to your son!
@Tomfc1, @janjmom, @Midwestmomofboys , thank you all for your helpful and informative responses. From what each of you describe it seems like Wooster will appeal to my S, who tends to favor a smaller school environment. He says he is not interested in Greek life, but his interests may change once he arrives, makes friends, and settles in at college. I’m glad to learn that fraternities do not dominate the social culture at Wooster.
I will share my impressions after our visit.
@momsthebest would love to hear your impressions! My son is a junior who has interest in Wooster. We haven’t toured yet, but plan to this month. Any insight is helpful! Did the admitted students weekend sway him one way or another? Thanks!
Would also like to see the update. My son is also junior and I think this might be an option for him. Curious how “rural” it feels. He thought Grinnell was too rural by way of comparison.
@Booajo Wooster does not feel rural to me at all. It is in a small city of almost 30,000 people. Although it is not an “urban” campus, there is a city street running through it.
The outskirts of the city have some farmland and could be considered rural if you head in one direction, Wooster is only one hour from Cleveland and 45 minutes from the Canton-Akron metropolitan area. On Saturday my DC and a group of friends went to a minor league baseball game in Akron. They had such a good time they are planning a return trip next weekend. Last year they went to opening day at the Cleveland Indians (on a bus trip organized by the college activities board).
@momsthebest how was the admitted students day and did your son make a decision??
Our visit to Wooster was lovely. It is a beautiful campus in a very nice small city. We got to Wooster by taking a scenic, back road drive through Ohio from one of the highways. Compared to some of the towns that we drove through, I agree with @janjmom that the city of Wooster is not especially rural. It has a modern, vibrant feel to it. The weather was great, and there were groups of people walking about. The downtown is very nice with several good restaurants. We arrived in town early Saturday evening, and the most popular places already had a twenty five minute wait for a dinner table.
We waited until the next morning to visit the College. I could tell that both DH and DS were impressed with the look of Wooster. It is a well kept campus. There are a lot of buildings, and somehow it seems like there would be a lot more than 2,000 students here. Despite being Sunday, the campus was not dead. There were students walking around, going to and from the dorms, library and student center.
I thought the Admitted Student’s program was well-organized, and informative. There was quite a large group of attendees for this event; the chapel was pretty full by the time the introductions started. A student group performed folk music on stage while people were filing in. There were the requisite campus and dorm tours, as well as a city tour by bus. Bagpipers played after everyone returned from the tours, and there was a panel with students and their faculty mentors talking about their student research experiences. There was a lot of talk about the APEX program, and ways that students can get involved in research. This seems to be a hallmark of the education there. My son spent the night in the dorm with a current student. He met other students and said that everyone seemed nice. There was a reception for parents in the evening at the Wooster Inn , which is a charming place at the edge of the campus overlooking the golf course.
On Monday there was an academic fair with representatives from most of the academic departments. Afterwards there were still additional tours of the library, APEX and other areas on campus. We went to the APEX presentation. I liked the fact that students could research opportunities such as internships, study abroad, and careers all in one area, without having to walk to various offices on campus. The APEX center is located in the basement of the main library on campus which makes it very convenient for students. We ended our day with lunch in the dining hall. DS didn’t have too many opinions about the food.
All in all, I liked Wooster very much, and we had a good time visiting and learning about what Wooster does to prepare students for life after college. It is an academically strong institution, with a host of sports and club activities for students to get involved in. No decision yet, but it is certainly among his top three choices.