Wesleyan University Top Questions

Many Wesleyan students are interested in being a representation/voice for consistently marginalized populations of normative society.

No stereotype is ever true (that's the nature of a stereotype) but many Wesleyan students do fit this description.

Yes. But not all at once. The extremes at either end tend to be more vocal. Most people sit refreshingly and easily in the middle. They may be hipsters or vegan or even whiny, but its a small part of the larger and more interesting parts of their personality. The people described above do exist, but are infinitely more complex and palatable for it.

There are some kids like that, but Wesleyan is actually a pretty diverse place with lots of different types of people. That's what I liked about it. Almost everyone is very open-minded and inclusive of other people.

There are definitely very liberal students on campus, but the best part of Wesleyan is that there are people of all types here. It's very easy to find people with similar interests no matter what your interests are.

1. It is true that pot is a common and acceptable leisure activity at Wesleyan - maybe more so than most schools across the country - but not much more than any small, east coast, liberal arts college. A non-smoker can DEFINITELY go through four years at Wes without feeling out of place or excluded. Social life there is varied (and AWESOME) and one will not have a hard time finding a niche within it. 2. Sometimes, yes, like when the Red Sox won. And at the naked parties, which you don't have to go to. But there is no naked dorm and nobody forces you to get naked. 3. Middletown is not my favorite town. BUT, for a college experience, it's kind of perfect. You stay on campus most of the time, which helps to create a dynamic and self-sufficient community. And when you need a break Middletown provides the essentials (movies, restaurants, shops). 4. I found that this stereotype was fairly accurate. The academics at Wesleyan are great, but like any university, you have some large classes, some bad professors, etc. The students at Wesleyan seem less competitive than other prestigious universities, and are still interesting, smart, and talented in so many ways. I found the student body to be a unique, stimulating and exceptional group of people.

yea....the hippies can definitely be annoying and overbearing about their supposed righteous causes that nobody besides them cares about....but they're nice people...

No, not at all. There are definitely hippies around, and they're not hard to find, but there's a whole mix of students. The fact that the entire student body isn't preppy, like say at Amherst or Conn College, makes others think that we're polar opposites at Wes. But I love that we have a little bit of everything, all types of people.

Not in the sense that everyone is artsy and hipster, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't a big part of the school. That said, there are a lot of people that play sports than the "stereotypes" lead on, and a lot more of a culture around them as well.

1. Those qualities are here, but in far more limited amounts than they would have you think. There is a fairly healthy amount of activism, but it often falls victim to the jaded and ironic attitude that a lot of students have. Actually, if the cause is legitimate, students will actually rally behind it, but a lot of times it's sort of masturbatory and ineffective. As far as sticking it to the man goes, Wes students will do this, but only so long as the repercussions don't actually threaten their cocoon. This isn't the Wesleyan of the 1990s: rather than throw Molotov cocktails into the administrative buildings, we write editorials in the campus newspaper and have conversation hours with the President. And I guess some of the things that happen at Wes might be considered "weird," but most of it is really great (even when it is extraordinarily annoying) and adds texture and variety to life here. Wesleyan is an incredibly creative school, and though that often leads to too much individualism, it also creates a really stimulating environment. 2. This is kind of a dumb comparison. I guess part of Wesleyan - the part that made it a University - would like to think of itself as a Little Ivy or whatever, but the truth is that we just don't have the endowment to even think about calling ourselves that. We're not as selective as Ivies, or even Williams and Amherst, but I know for a fact that the education that I've received here is comparable to, if not better than, that received by my friends who attend Ivies or the other two of the "Little Three." 3. Though of course there is always the occasional dumbass, Wesleyan students are generally very smart and invested in their educations, even when they pretend not to be. The majority of students take their work at least pretty seriously, but there is amazingly little competitiveness.