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Hi there! I started this thread because a few rising seniors have emailed me asking questions about Wesleyan and it seems there a couple of myths I'd like to clear up for you. (And feel free to ask ANY questions, because there are WesKids on this board who are more capable at answering these questions than I am).

So if any of you guys have any questions or any interests about Wesleyan, feel free to ask.

By Macadamiamin (Macadamiamin) on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 04:47 pm: Edit

What do you hate most about Wesleyan?

By Xmatt (Xmatt) on Friday, June 04, 2004 - 02:50 am: Edit

Here are the three things I dislike most about my school:

1.) The tap water. For some reason, Middletown has some of the worst tap water ever.

2.) Self-segregation of athletes. A good 20-25% of the school belongs to what we affectionately call "Sports Wesleyan", in which they eat, sleep, and generally just spend all their time with their teammates and other athletic compatriots, while the rest of the school more closely resembles what you'd expect "Wesleyan" to be like. I know plenty of the sports kids and some of them are rather unaware that anything is amiss, while some are actually quite resentful of what they perceive to be a bunch of pretentious pseudo-intellectual jerks running their school.

3.) Science-phobia. Obviously this is not a problem among the quarter or so of the students who are involved in a science or math related major. However, I hear a lot of other people harping on how hard science is and how they could never ever do it. I also hear plenty of new students rejoicing at never having to take science or math again. Admissions statistics show that the vast majority of admitted students took the science trifecta and math through calculus, so clearly some of them are able to handle this. If they don't want to take it because they're more interested in humanities or social sciences, fine - but if they don't want to take it because they don't consider it as valid an academic discipline as Gender Studies or whatever, then I reserve the right, as a science student, to be offended.

PS: You have a maine.rr.com e-mail address... are you from Maine? I grew up and went to high school in Portland...

By Tkdgal (Tkdgal) on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 11:59 am: Edit

How are the newspaper/literary mag at Wes? Do you know anyone on either staff?

By Ziplocky (Ziplocky) on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 08:07 pm: Edit

The newspaper is called The Argus and you can find it on the Wesleyan website (I don't know if I can post links or not).

If you read a few back articles, you'll get the feel that it's definitely a more laid back kind of paper. WeSpeaks are the opinion articles written by students and they're extremely popular. The paper is defintely read.

By Ah213 (Ah213) on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 11:22 pm: Edit

Hey, what high school did you go to in Maine? Deering?

By Xmatt (Xmatt) on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 02:17 pm: Edit

Yep, Deering. I graduated in '03.

By Madjoy (Madjoy) on Friday, June 25, 2004 - 10:35 am: Edit

I love Wesleyan. At the moment, it's my top choice. When I visited it, I just loved everything about it, from the dorms to the dining halls to the classes I sat in on to the students I spoke to...

Unfortunately, my parents are kind of worried because of Wesleyan's "liberal" reputation. That doesn't bother me, since I kind of have a reputation around school as a wannabe hippie, but I was wondering... Do you find the liberal environment at Wesleyan constricting, at all?

By Recordingwater (Recordingwater) on Sunday, July 04, 2004 - 06:37 am: Edit

Hmm about the athletics deal...

Is there really that much resentment towards athletes on campus? Because if I went there (if I got in!) I'd probably want to play soccer, but I don't know if I'd want to be part of a team where you basically could only hang out with each other...

By Girlx (Girlx) on Sunday, July 04, 2004 - 05:05 pm: Edit

Could you explain what the seminar colleges are (you know, College of Letters, College of Social Studies, and Science in Society)?

By Girlx (Girlx) on Sunday, July 04, 2004 - 05:06 pm: Edit

(Sorry, I forgot to ask this in my last thread.)

And what sort of students does Wesleyan have? Is it all rich, preppy kids? How's the diversity, ethnically and socioeconomically?

By Xmatt (Xmatt) on Sunday, July 04, 2004 - 05:49 pm: Edit

Madjoy: It's not very constricting. I was part of the liberal intelligentsia in HS too and if anything Wesleyan made me more conservative because despite the overall leftist nature of the students, there are plenty of students and profs who are outspoken about questioning and interrogating applications of this polity both on campus and in the world at large. This is why I balk when people say it's a monolithic campus. It's hardly that, except perhaps in its choice for the '04 presidential election.

Recordingwater: There isn't really -resentment- towards athletes from students. What I meant was that a lot of athletes themselves don't seem to be all that keen on branching out beyond their teams. It's only really noticeable in a couple of sports (football, hockey, lacrosse) -- soccer not so much. I rowed crew for a season and all the crew guys kind of hung out with each other all the time. I had other friends so I often wasn't with them when they were doing their team fun and stuff (also, I don't really drink at all, and that was usually what team parties involved). The team didn't give me a hard time about it, and my friends didn't either...you can definitely befriend whomever you want to.

Girlx: COL and CSS are special programs that you have to apply to your freshman year. They begin in your sophomore year.

CSS is an interdisciplinary program involving history, economics, government, and philosophy (which they call "social theory"). A lot of the reading involves classic European philosophers of the 19th century (like Locke, Hobbes, etc. A former high school Lincoln-Douglass debater like me would be in hog-heaven with this program, even though I didn't apply...). Some of the students complain that while it is rigorous and in-depth, it focuses too much on Europe. In the coming years they will be adding a unit on the post-colonial era. As a sophomore you take 2 CSS classes a 1 tutorial per semester, leaving you with 2 open credits to take elsewhere. The classes themselves rotate on a trimester basis and deal with the four subject areas - I'm not an expert on the format of it, but it ends with "comprehensives" in all 4 areas on it after the sophomore year (hence "College of Suicidal Sophomores"...though most of them I knew semed to rather enjoy it in a perverse way).

College of Letters is a slightly less intense program which involves foreign languages, literature, history, and philosophy. You are required to go abroad in the spring of your sophomore year, so you need to be competent in one of the European languages before that time (usually this means you need to have done 4 or 5 semesters worth of it, so being prepared out of HS is important...). There are 2 COL tutorial per semester and a few electives that you get to pick from the foreign lang. departments. You can take cross-listed COL classes if you're not in the program but you need to be in the program for the tutorials. It's SLIGHTLY possible to double in COL and something else; it's impossible with CSS. CSS and COL both give written evals instead of grades to sophomores. CSS grades juniors and seniors, COL doesn't. They both feed top law schools pretty substantially as well.

By Thinkingoutloud (Thinkingoutloud) on Tuesday, July 06, 2004 - 08:04 pm: Edit

Have you read "The Gatekeepers", a book about the admission process at Wesleyan? What do the students and faculty think about how that book portrays the school?

By Xmatt (Xmatt) on Tuesday, July 06, 2004 - 10:13 pm: Edit

I actually read it in my dorm room while I was at Wesleyan. I do wish I had read it beforehand. However, I think the admissions staff does stand by it as a faithful account of the process. It's also probably the best "insider's account" of the process in general. Ultimately it's really more about the process than it is about Wesleyan; that is, it's not really a book about the soul of the school (though I guess that would be interesting, if difficult t write). I still recommend anyone who's applying to a really selective college read it. It's entertaining and insightful.

By Arangatan (Arangatan) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 09:50 pm: Edit

What's it like being a sci major at Wesleyan? I am thinking of majoring in Neuroscience and I definitely wanna go to med school, I've heard Wesleyan is the most sciency of the liberal arts colleges, but still - do u feel that u have enough opportunities for internship opportunities n enough prep for med school i guess? Also, are there are a lot of other sci majors.. and are they very stressed out? i'd like to go to wesleyan cuz i'm hoping that being surrounded by non premed majors will decrease the stress level.

By Arangatan (Arangatan) on Saturday, September 11, 2004 - 11:32 pm: Edit

BUMP

By Xmatt (Xmatt) on Sunday, September 12, 2004 - 11:55 am: Edit

I've spent most of my time in the astronomy department, which doesn't overlap the premed scene that much. However, I know that there are a lot of possibilities for research internships on campus, even for people who aren't the cream of the crop of the science students. Staying at Wesleyan and working in a lab was probably the second most common summer experience that I heard of, after canvassing for the DNC.

In my experience, it's the social sciences people who are usually the most stressed out. They have tons of reading and papers. The thing about science classes is that the amount of work is very predictable and consistent, so science majors who can manage their time correctly are generally pretty calm and under control (with a few exceptions).