Wesleyan University Top Questions

Some departments are stronger than others, but the professors are dedicated and here for the students, not to do research and let TAs do the teaching. Students study hard and not competitive, but often helpful to their fellow classmates. The education at Wesleyan is learning for learnings sake.

Students are surprisingly pathetic. They are very full of themselves and enjoy pretentious musings. There are definitely unique classes at Wesleyan but I do NOT think that is a good thing. What will future employers think if they see classes like "Chicana Lesbian Literature," "Delicious Movements for Forgetting, Remembering, and Uncovering," "Writing as a Cultural Performance," or "Introduction to Puppetry." I mean, seriously, what kind of people take useless, ridiculous classes like these? The student experience is really varied because of the very lax general education expectations. Note that these are expectations, not requirements. Some students are able to coast through their entire experience taking BS classes, but others have serious courseloads and these latter students have to work very hard. I've taken a serious courseload every semester and have to study at least 3 hours a day every weekday. Preparing for tests is intense. One weekend I spent 24 hours studying in the library. That is definitely not to say that everyone works this hard but if you take serious classes and want to do well in them, you will. But it is easy to get away with not doing either of those things. The crazy liberal-ness on campus also pervades the classroom. Professors are very liberal and always assume that they are speaking to an entirely left-wing audience. I've been in science classes where professors have mocked President Bush and have had to tell government professors that their comments about conservatives are offensive. Most people will be very poorly prepared to get a job outside of college but there are enough good classes and extra-curricular opportunities that if you are really motivated, you can prepare yourself effectively for a good career. The one positive thing I have to say about Wesleyan is the research relationships that I've had with professors. I have had the opportunity to get deeply involved in primary research projects and form strong personal relationships with a few professors, which has been incredibly valuable. The sciences at Wesleyan offer a great mix between the intimacy of a small, liberal arts school and the research opportunities of a larger university.

Professors usually do know names, the exception to that would be intro. science courses. My favorite class has been Modern African American history with Renee Romano; My lease favorite is the Archaeology of teh African Diaspora class, which is slow. Students seem to work hard Sunday through Wednesday and then party hard from Thursdays through Saturday. Students do often have intellectual conversations outside of class. Students do not tend to be as competitve here as at other schools. Wesleyan's academic requirements-- there are none, so it is easy for students to take classes that interests them versus something that is required. The learning seems to be geared toward learning for its own sake, versus in preparation for employment, which can be viewed as either good or bad.

The professor/student relationship depends greatly on the student. Generally speaking, I found it was up to the student to initiate the relationship. In an environment with so many people seeking up-close interaction, if you did not do the same, you could easily remain anonymous whether you wanted to or not. I certainly found it easier to get to know professors in the smaller classes, particularly once I declared my major. It was through a Psych seminar that I met the now-retired Karl Scheibe, who advised my thesis and remains an important figure in my life. This experience will vary greatly depending on the student and the department.

Academics at Wes are the best I could have imagined. My classes tend to be on the small side (around 20 students), although I've had a few big lectures. In any setting, the professors are incredible. Taking advantage of office hours is a great idea. The film department is great--well known profs, great lecturers, and lots of famous alums! I'm currently taking Westerns taught by Richard Slotkin. He's pretty legendary, but unfortunately he'll be retiring after this semester.

My academic experience at Wesleyan has been a largely positive one. It's certainly an environment of "co-learning," meaning I honestly think I've learned as much from my fellow students here as I've learned from the professors. Not that I haven't learned a lot from my professors, but so much of the learning I've experienced at Wesleyan has taken place outside of the classroom; the late-night discussions I had in the study room of my freshman hall are now late-night discussions in the kitchen of my senior house. The setting may have changed, but the tough issues that members of my class have been grappling with since we got to Wesleyan in 2004 are still pervasive, and we still work through them with discussion and discourse.

As a government major at Wesleyan, my biggest frustration as an underclassman was just getting into high-demand classes. I think that this is a common complaint - while class sizes are capped to be small, it is hard to get into courses in really popular majors, especially as an underclassman or non-major. One cool thing about Wesleyan is that there are hardly any requirements outside of your major, so I was able to take a lot of really varied courses (ie. Theater and Music of Indonesia, Westerns) Students study pretty hard/often, I think, but generally also manage to balance having a social life. Intellectual conversation definitely happens outside of class, but students aren't particularly competitive. Most Wesleyan students are really excited about whatever they're learning, which results in a culture that cares more about the education that we're getting rather than on how we'll use it to earn money in the future.

A lot of professors knew my name, even though I was only around for 2 years. I don't know if they'd remember mine now, but I wasn't that big into academics. I didn't do a thesis, although I still find that I learned a lot of advanced stuff at Wes. I enjoyed having the academic freedom to take a lot of cross-disciplinary classes, as someone who never really knew what they wanted to do with their life, I enjoyed that. It helped me discover that I liked Poetry, and also that i am very very good at Logic problems. One of my favorite classes was a seminar of Religious and Philosophic readings of Kafka. It was taught by a visiting professor who looked like Santa Klaus with a Jarmukle. He was really great and intellectually stimulating. I was a pretty crappy student, trust me, and he said that he gave me the first A+ he's given in 20 years. That's how great that class motivated me to be. It is extremely typical college fare, I know, KAFKA! Get over it. And obviously take Richard Slotkin. Believe the Hype.

CLASSES ARE AWESOME. Profs all knew my name. I e-mailed one recently (he was my professor in a 30-person class that was outside my major) to tell him that an article in the Times reminded me of him, and I was surprised and flattered to learn in his response that he actually remembered me. I used to get coffee with one of my music professors, and drinks with another. Wes's academic requirements are great. Ars gratia artis. Most look at the Wesleyan experience as their last joyous and educationally-hedonistic pursuit before they have their soul sucked out of them by the working world.