Wellesley College Top Questions

I never thought I'd end up at a women's college - and a lot of my friends felt that way too. I actually know very few people who were set on attending a women's college when they looked at schools, most were just looking for a small liberal arts college and decided that Wellesley was a good fit. And for me, a most of my friends, it's been a really great experience. Classes are for the most part excellent (and small!), and the professors are very accessible, and love to talk with students. The social life, on the other hand, can be a bit...lacking. If you're looking for wild partying on the weekends, you won't really find it at Wellesley, although there are plenty of people who go to MIT/Harvard parties. Wellesley's about 40 minutes from Boston/Cambridge by way of the exchange bus, which goes to MIT every hour during the week, and slightly more often on weekend evenings. So the city is certainly accessible if you want to go, but it travel there and back does take a fair amount of time. I've heard from some that the sense of community at Wellesley is lacking, which is not something I've experienced, but I know is an issue that the administration is trying to address. For the most part, people seem to find community by joining clubs, sports teams, or societies (which are pretty much sororities, although the administration denies it). I really like Wellesley's size -- small enough that you recognize faces when you walk around campus, but big enough that there are plenty of new people to meet. That's good, because there is really NOTHING around campus. The "ville" has a CVS and a Gap, and those are pretty much the only student-affordable stores in town. We're very close to rt. 9, where there's plenty of stuff to do, but is mostly inaccessible if you don't own a car. Wellesley's administration, quite honestly, thinks it knows far better than students about what's best for the school (and us). Often, they're wrong. Wellesley as a school is very image-conscious, which means it does things like start a reusable thermos program, and then fail to buy appropriate equipment to WASH it...and then keep it in dining halls and not tell students anything about the problem. Stuff like this is a sadly common issue. The most recent controversy was several months ago when students discovered during pretty much the last planning phase that the administration was planning to end the health center's overnight program. Instead, it is creating a partnership with a local hospital to take Wellesley students. This is a big problem because it creates a barrier that might stop students from utilizing health services, and kinda screws over the administration's policy that allows dangerously drunk students to spend the night at health services (they will have to pay to take an ambulance to the hospital). This is mitigated by the fact that health services is totally incompetent. They destroyed most of the hearing in a friend's ear, and told another friend with severe conjunctivitis in both eyes that her eyes were just irritated and she'd be fine. (she found out they were wrong when she temporarily lost vision in both eyes and had to be rushed to the hospital)

Wellesley is really an amazing place to be. It's incredibly close to Boston, but far enough away where you can pick and choose when you want to go and get dressed up for the city, but can always call the quiet town of Wellesley home. I also really love the all women's environment. It's incredibly empowering. Wellesley, I feel is a perfect size. It's small enough to make students feel like part of the community- a name and not a number; but large enough to allow for all of the same opportunities found at a large institution. When I tell people I go to Wellesley I either get one of three reactions; the first is from an educated and successful person- "wow, that's pretty amazing", "congratulations", "you'll go far in life" the second is from a person who thinks they're intelligent- "why would you go to an all girl's school" and the third comes from an idiot- "what's wellesley?" I spend most of my time on campus in my dorm- it's where my Best Friends live.

The best thing about Wellesley are the professors. They are wonderful and honestly want you to succeed. I love the size of our school because the largest classes on campus are 60 students but most classes have between 15 and 30 per class which is amazing compared to a big university where you can have between 200 and 700 students in an intro class. This does mean however that we have less resources to do things like make a proper acoustic performance space for music unlike universities like UVA. The town is kind of stuck-up, since it's a wealthy area, there isn't much that caters to the students besides the local CVS, Lemon Thai and pizza place. The only place in town to buy clothing that isn't designer is GAP, but there's a shuttle to the mall and shopping centers in Natick every Saturday. I don't feel isolated since we're an hour outside Boston and there is direct busing to both there and Cambridge. It's not like Whitman which is totally isolated. Many important things in the college are run by the students, which I think is a good thing. The campus is pretty safe, though you should always be careful, but we don't have many incidents. There is a lake on campus, and the campus in general is beautiful. You are required to take PE twice before you graduate and you can take sailing or canoing as your PE along with karate and lots of other things. I love Wellesley, if I didn't I wouldn't be going there.

The best thing about Wellesle is the small class size that allows for interaction with other students and the professor. However, students don't have strong opinions on anything, or at least don't express them strongly. Students are more politically correct than I'd like. Wellesley is just the right size. I spend most of my time on cmpus, when not in class or work, in the Scince Center "Mini Focus"-computer area. The biggest recent controversy on campus was the closing of the overnight infirmary. Wellesley has very little school pride. Wellesley has an unusually beautiful campus. Students probably complain most frequently about lack of sleep.

Wellesley is a small school where you can have a really close experience with the faculty. The work load is intense but we all work to help each other achieve what we need to. No one will every shy away from an extra study session. Crazy new experiences, reliving old traditions, and becomming women who will make a difference in the world is what we do.

Wellesley is the top all women's college with an huge and extremely supportive alumni network. Wellesley Alumns are always looking out for current Wellesley students. You definitely have to try harder for a social life than at other schools, but focusing on your work comes very easily. The town of Wellesley is not a college town. It is very wealthy, but provides students with lucrative babysitting opportunities. However Boston, a huge college city is only a 20minute drive away. There is a huge diversity on campus. Students complain that the work load is too much and students are too stressful.

As everyone knows, Wellesley is an all-girls school. I'll be honest, for a lot of people that's a big down side. But frankly, you stop noticing. Everyone here has so many different opinions, so many different stories (and Wellesley hosts so many different parties) that you don't feel the lack unless you're obsessing about it. Boston is REALLY close to Wellesley and the town of Wellesley is right next to the college. But when you're on Wellesley Campus, you're ON Wellesley Campus. It's not a mix of the campus and the city like some colleges. And the campus is gorgeous. There's no two ways about it. The campus is absolutely one of the most beautiful campuses that I visited. It's big enough to not feel confined and small enough that you get where you can recognize everyone.

Wellesley feels like a boarding school for adult woman, some might even call it similar to a prison. They hold your hand and tell you what you can and can't do. Unless you have a car or want to spend your life on the commuter rail or deal with the inconvenient bus schedule, you must live on campus all four years. Wellesley, the college, expects this, yet for some reason all the living spaces are still dormitory, style and very depressing and isolating. Not to mention it doesn't really teach one how to 'live' with others, because you are very separated. It also makes for much less social atmosphere as well as it ups the depression and stress levels. Many woman like to cook, that is NOT a possibility in this living style. No matter what others say, DO NOT store your food in the refigerator, for even though all dining halls on campus are free to students, girls feel the need to steal other's food. That is just lame, not to mention rude, especially for those with food and stomach issues. When I lived on campus I was either in class or in my room hiding from the rest of the campus or outside working out. I rarely did anything "community" oriented. Food at wellesley....is HORRIBLE. Not to mention the dining hall workers never know what is actually in anything so when you ask for specific allergens they don't know. While it is in a very pretty suburb of Boston, Wellesley, the town, is NOT a college town by any meaning of the word. It is a dry town and only 2 restaurants have a liquor license and if you want to drink you have to eat. The down closes down at 9pm, well CVS is open until 10 (I believe) but Starbucks even closes at 9pm. I think Wellesley spends too much on its 'image' to the public and not enough on making the campus a better place for students to live. They are even closing the overnight infirmary, that is going to be very bad for many students.

The best thing about Wellesley is that the professors really care about their students. I haven't been in a single class where the professor seemed like they were just trying to make it through the hour so they could move on to more important things. The classes are small and the professors really seem to be interested in the students' views on the material and any questions or comments they might have. The school is the right size for me, but it is on the smaller side in terms of student body. However, we are a vocal lot: recently there was a huge uproar about the administration's decision to get rid of the overnight infirmary and instead have agreements with local hospitals to save beds for Wellesley students. The students were not happy with this decision. But every so often, the administration does something really cool like have a fireworks display on the last day of classes to celebrate our new president (we also had a fireworks display last year for our previous president). When I tell people I go to Wellesley, the reaction is either "Wow, that's so impressive!" or "Wellesley... is that still an all girls school?... are you sure you don't mean Wesleyan?" But Wellesley students have an extreme amount of pride in their school.

The number one thing you will hear from every Wellesley student is that they "love their classes." This is the honest truth. The caps for the largest classes are at 35, most are below that. All of my professors know my name and meet with me when I want. TA is a word you will never hear at this school because they don't exist. You might have an SI, but they sit in on classes and will hold review sessions before exams ALONG WITH the professor's review sessions. Basically, Wellesley is all about the academics. The ville is the town in Wellesley. It closes at 9:30 and is dry.