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I drove to Wesleyan this weekend from Albany, NY... got out of school after 3rd period which was nice.

I arrived just in time for the tour, looked around to scope out my competition ;-). The campus really is beautiful, if you're interested in Wesleyan, I'll just say that the viewbook pictures really don't even do it justice.

The tour went really great, the kids were all really friendly, and one moment that really got me laughing was two kids in a tree who threw leaves down on us when we walked by. The university has great facilities and beautiful dorms, especially for such a small college. Its facilities blew the other LACs I've visited out of the water. I couldn't believe it on the tour, I was so positive that I wanted to go there.

The info session was an info session... didn't learn too much, didn't ask many questions. Unfortunately I didn't get to have an interview, but for all interested in applying, it is strongly recommended.

My friend Tom goes to Wesleyan and is a freshman there. I met up with him and his girlfriend, Katie, at his dorm right after the info session. I had to stop and ask a guy in a skirt where Wesco dorm was... kinda weird...

Anyway, you cam tell that Wesleyan is a really active place just by walking through the dorms. There are political and especially pro-gay things all over the dorms, and I thought that was great.

I walked through Middletown a little with Katie which was just OK. The town is kind of lame, but a cool thing is that all seniors live in off-campus housing. Basically all of the houses immediately surrounding the campus are senior houses, which makes for good parties.

When Tom got back from lacrosse practice, we went to the cafeteria, and I started to meet kids. The food was pretty good in my opinion, but the kids were not. For such a laid back place, the kids seemed very high strung. I would have to call them annoying. In all honesty, I could not tell the guys from the girls a lot of the time... guys wore nail polish, girls had hair shorter than my crew cut... the GLBTQ presence on campus is very visible.

After dinner, we went to a play with 3 actors and only about 35 people in the audience. It was very well done, but very intellectual as well. I enjoyed it, but I knew it wasn't something I would be able to see all of the time.

We went to a movie after the play. There are great movies running every night, I checked the movie schedule. Kids watched the movie, ate food, drank beer, it was a decent time.

Throughout all this time, I realized a couple of things. There are LOADS of things to do on campus. We could have done about 5 different things that entire time, and I think it's great. You can go to parties and get wasted every night if you want, or you can see a movie, concert, play, or go out to dinner every night if you want. In my opinion, that's what college should really be about.

I also realized that I couldn't stand the kids at Wesleyan. You could tell that there were many rich kids, but far left of center, and to some extent, pretentious. They were all annoying, loud, politically correct, and uncomical from what I could see. Many were very cynical and intellectual as well. I really, really did not like the kids there, and I'm glad that I stayed overnight. I wouldn't have realized it otherwise.

If you're at all uncomfortable with a visible gay presence on campus, don't come to Wesleyan. I'm not a homophobe, I have gay friends and hold nothing against them. However, Wesleyan is VERY gay, and openly so.

In conclusion, there are tons of things to do on campus, and the kids are all really active. I'm sure the academics are strong, and from what I heard, financial aid packages are generous. However, if you are anything close to normal, I doubt Wesleyan would be the place for you. It is very liberal, artsy, and especially gay. Take all the freaks from your high school, throw them into a square half mile, and you have Wesleyan. If you're into guys wearing nail polish, skirts, and lipstick, more power to you. However, being a normal, heterosexual, white, suburban kid, I could tell that Wesleyan is not the place for me and will not be applying.

Assess what you really want from a college. Being fairly liberal and open-minded, I thought that I wanted a liberal and diverse campus. By liberal and diverse, I didn't think that PR and other college review books meant what I saw at Wesleyan. I'm going to start looking for more conservative campuses, and I don't mean Bush loving either. Just a place where I can tell guys from girls.

Hope this review was of help.

-Jeff

By Jadore (Jadore) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 11:45 am: Edit

This was very very helpful. Thank-you!

By Wjk323 (Wjk323) on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 09:17 am: Edit

yeah that was pretty good...
thanks for the info..

By Songman (Songman) on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 11:24 am: Edit

Reba616.Thanks you confirmed our feeling when the student tour guide went on a diatribe about Wesleyan's rich kids and leagacies. She then told us all about how the administration was trying to eliminate the reputation of being a gay school. I will say this if the administration is trying to attract more conservative heterosexual students they ought to start by listening to their own tour guides give a tour! To each his own.this school is not for me!

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 11:31 am: Edit

Reba- Excellent review. Thanks for your report!

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 12:55 pm: Edit

Reba, great review. My son felt exactly the same way that you did. He is an athlete and they were quite interested in him but he felt that he would not be comfortable in that environment. He is now in a school that is considered a good environment for gay students but it apparently it is not as "in your face" as Wesleyan is. My son did send a note to Wesleyan communicating his views on their campus and I suggest you do. They are one of the few schools who send a survey if you do not follow up on a visit or inquiry which I think is great.
I still think Wesleyan is a wonderful school and it is building its athletic teams as well as focusing on the majors where they don't have as many kids. It's just that the type of kids there are more similar to those at Oberlin, Bard, Antioch and some kids just don't want that atmospher whereas they can enjoy Brown, NYU, CMU where the same element exists, but the schools seem to be large enough or have enough diversity the other way to balance. I think for now Wesleyan is slightly off the center balance which is not necessarily a bad thing, but does limit the school in the type of student it attracts.
My son also did not like Wash & Lee and Davidson for the opposite reason.

By Slacker007 (Slacker007) on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 04:18 pm: Edit

Thanks. This was very helpful. More people should post reviews of their college visits.