Wesleyan University Top Questions

we're weird, but it's a good weird. Don't pay attention to the first, second, or third things you hear. It's after that the stuff matters. If you know what you want, and it looks like it's hear, you can probably find it. If you don't have any idea what you want, and don't care to figure out, might want to mosey another direction. I love the place, or maybe it's mostly the people. either one works. night night

The town can be scary, because sometimes there is violence in communities near the school, but it's still fairly safe. Walking can be a little rough because a lot of drivers in the area are a little reckless. The dining provider isn't very vegetarian friendly, if you don't want to gain a lot of weight, but there are ways around it. Also, the art department is really disorganized, so if you think there's a chance you'll want to study art, you'll need Drawing I, 2 levels of a chosen field of art, and 1 art history class by the end of sophomore year, so don't hesitate. It's easy to want to take a lot of stuff, but don't spread yourself too thin. It's good to pick classes based on the workload in the syllabus. Don't take 4 classes that are reading/writing intensive and nothing with tests. Balancing classes with tests and classes with papers is a really good idea.

Not a good environment for everyone, and the winter is incredibly bleak. Also, a lot of crime in the community and on campus. I've had my house broken into twice. The police in middletown don't like us much either, and recently broke up a house party with dogs and tear gas. They try not to tell you this when you're applying, but community relations outside of the arts community are terrible.

I'm glad I decided to attend Wesleyan.

Wesleyan is definitely the place for me. I think if I had to pick one word to describe a Wesleyan student, it would be caring. They care about everything-- the environment, genocide, children, politics, technology, and most importantly, each other. I love Wesleyan so much because of the people I have met there and how much we all care for each other and look out for one another. It's definitely a great place to be.

I despise the Boogie Club and their random appearances in the ST Lab at 2 in the morning while I'm trying to write a paper. Big shout out to Dave the burger guy. He's by far the most positive thing on campus.

Come to Wesleyan. It is glorious.

Two words: Foss Hill...you'll be glad you came here.

Wesleyan is not a big state school--very few students go to football games, there are fewer options for courses or potential majors, and we do not have as much money as the larger universities. However, I really do think that most students could be successful at Wesleyan, and have a really amazing experience.

Wesleyan combines serious intellectual pursuits with a quirky and independent student body. This combination leads to tensions that may never be fully resolved, but it also creates a dynamic, exciting atmosphere that I feel truly fortunate to have experienced.

As long as you're open minded and intellectually curious you'll fit in here. My hometown was incredibly close-minded and conservative, so it was a bit of a culture shock coming here, but now that I'm there I can't imagine spending the next four years anywhere else.

The food is SSSSSSOOOOO expensive.

Just because I didn't mention it before, the housing situation is great at Wesleyan. Over your four years here, you get to move up from a dorm to a program house to an apartment, and finally to a senior woodframe house. We students complain, but we really have it good.

i took the time to write how god fucking awful this place is. thankfully i have moved on and gotten jobs that are completely unrelated to my degree and use absolutely nothing that i "learned" in college.. what i am saying is, i have a fucking life, and i STILL took the time to write this shit in the hopes of sparing some poor soul a shitty decision to go to this fucking school. before you go to wesleyan, consider asking, and seeing if u can get a straight answer: what is the minority retention rate? what is the minority job placement rate? what the hell happened with the cross burning in 2003 and why was the kid able to sue his way back in? why did the only black dean "resign" after she expelled the kid who sued his way back in for burning the cross on foss hill? why is it so hard to get out of the excessively expensive meal plan? why is it so hard to get out of the excessively expensive housing plan? why do middletown residents hate wesleyan and wesleyan students so much? why is it that the public safety announcements only announce the race of "attackers and thieves" when the suspects are african american males? why is the school brochure covered with ethnic faces but when u get to campus theres all 10 of us on campus? why are the majority of ethnic students at wesleyan so fucking pissed all the time? why is malcolm x house no longer a safe space for students of color? why the fuck do white kids crash the qpoc (queer people of color) meetings? by what percentage does the tuition rise every year? (hint: when i entered it was 28k/yr.. when i graduated it was 52k/yr) why does the financial aid office refer you to sally mae, which has much higher interest rates than the rest of the market, and fail to inform you that wesleyan gets a kickback on the interest rate the same way a used car salesman does? why does wesleyan with hold your transcript after you have graduated if you still owe money to your student loans, which are independent of them? especially when you need the transcripts to apply for grants and scholarships that would allow you to pay the money you owe in the first place? seriously wtf. how many students know the names of the staff on campus? stop someone and ask them who so and so thats mopping the floor is named and see if they fucking know.. if they do ill give you my diploma! oh wait its useless and you cant even wipe ur ass with it either!

Not bad. The most important part, the academics, is a definite plus. The people are generally smart and interesting. The social scene is a bit of a let down. Not much independence is gained but still a pretty good college to attend.

lots of these kids are rich northeasterns but don't let that scare you! there's a niche for everyone here!

Fuck I'm almost done here and I have to say I've enjoyed my time here but I feel pretty much done with all this. I've made some of the closest friendships I've ever had here but at the same time people can be pretty insufferable sometimes. Don't go here if you don't want to be around people who question every single thing in society (and this is coming from a Philo major). I'm excepting a lot of liberal ideas here, which are the one thing people here are pretty dogmatic about, but in general people here can't just go with the flow and accept life the way that it is. I suppose that's the hallmark of what progressivism is, so if that's your bag this might be the perfect school for you. But I have to say people can definitely be dicks here. For instance a while back a guy wrote some relatively controversial Wespeaks that espoused some fairly conservative/libertarian/Ayn Rand-y/racially-questionable ideas. People disagreed with him, of course, and that's fine, I disagreed with him, too. But then he was at this party this one time and the hosts were like, "You need to leave." What the shit is that?! Wesleyan is supposed to be about tolerance and diversity, but people here think they can make an exception for people who break their notions of tolerance and diversity. But unfortunately this means a lot of average Americans would feel unwelcome here because their opinions would be considered intolerant by the average Wesleyanite. Now I don't want to say that this is everybody here, but the lunatic fringe is definitely pretty prevalent here and it's creepy.

Some students have been jumped, some property damage occurs, some students don't really care, the administration occasionally lacks simple logic in dealing with particular student issues (usually academic, but also social), but where none of this ever could possibly happen--go there, and good luck. Wesleyan is a safe and vibrant place, if that is a concern, and the academics are particularly excellent.

Housing and food are both pretty great.

kids aren't that hardcore about drugs here. there's the stigma that Wes has for being a pot school, and sure it's available almost whenever and wherever you want, but it doesn't take away from social life. it's not intimidating and kids are aggressive about it - it's there if you want it but there's no judgement passed for accepting or declining. drinking is still pretty big, but also not necessary to have a good time or to make friends. other drugs are available but at least slightly more underground. either way, i don't consider myself a big user and i don't think it affects my lifestyle much at all