Wesleyan University Top Questions

The professors also amazing. You may not know it, but these professors are on par with those that teach at the best Ivy League schools and unlike those professors, the ones at Wesleyan are not preoccupied with their graduate students or their research: YOU are their greatest priority! Science classes tend to be a bit larger than humanities classes. But once you declare a major (in March of sophomore year), your classes will definitely decrease in size. As a freshman, I never had a class with more than 30 students. And my smallest class (Russian Language) had 10 students. Also, this is not a school where what is said in the classroom stays in the classroom. I have had passionate academic discussions with people in the dorms at 1am. It is really an unbelievable academic environment. For Wesleyan students, work comes first. There is no pressure to go out and party if you need to finish a big paper or study for a big test. Reading Week at Wesleyan is not four days to party, it is four days of study time/time to just chill. All the classes at Wesleyan are unique. Of the ones I have taken, Philosophy of Religion and Fairy Tales were the most mind opening. Wesleyan classes are ALL about learning for the sake of learning. If you want guidance on what profession you may be interested in, it isn't going to come from inside the classroom. But that's not a bad thing. The only thing that I do not love about the academics is the general education requirements. While the requirements are tame in comparison to some schools, Wesleyan requires all students to take 3 classes in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences each. It's not bad but there are just SO many interesting courses that sometimes the requirements get in the way of what you really want to take.

My first semester I had relatively uninspring classes, but that is only because I was nervous that Wes would be over my head so I signed up for easy stuff. Big mistake. I learned that yes, the school is as difficult as I had thought but, more importantly, that those challenges are manageable if you are motivated. Especially when you open yourself up to the fantastic faculty and students, all of whom are ready and willing to talk to you.

My teachers all know my name by now. The intellectual community is very active outside of class and students are genuinely fascinated by what they study. I'm a double major in art and government. I would tell everyone to take the government major RIGHT NOW. The teachers are the most amazing group of scholars, and they disguise the most interesting classes in the university with painfully dull names. "American Constitutional Law" in most universities is as dry as it sounds; at Wesleyan, it completely changed my point of view and made me decide to study government. Hard to get into higher level seminars w/o being a major but really, really great. The art major has taught me a huge amount, good and bad. The other art majors have provided me with the most fullfilling intellectual relationships of my life. The faculty is a collection of tallented, though often difficult, working artists, and classes can be very hard to get into. If a teacher doesn't like you, forget it, you won't be an art major. The younger teachers are generally awesome people who are easier to work with than the tenured faculty. Also, you will definitely learn what it means to be a working artists and to sort through a range of critisisms. Overall, way too personalistic, but a good program if you want to put up with a lot of bullshit.

Small yet diverse classes, good professors, strong curriculum. Pretty much everything has a liberal slant though (but it's not too overwhelming).

Academics at Wesleyan are very strenuous. They take up a great deal of time. Since I play lacrosse at school as well it becomes very important to balance work, sports, and fun. It is possible to get everything done, but its a chore and finals week is hellish.

The resources at Wesleyan are phenomenal. There are many, many wonderful professors and strong departments. Wesleyan is a very intellectual place - most students are incredibly self-motivated, and like to learn. I have several close relationships with professors, and we have shared many meals together. Students work very hard, but, at least in humanities classes, they are not competitive with one another. They work hard because they want to learn, want to master their subject, want to challenge themselves or their professor. Wesleyan's academic requirements reflect the nature of academics at Wes. Although there are General Education Requirements, students do not need to fulfill them to graduate; they need only to fulfill them if they wish to receive University Honors after writing a thesis in their senior year. I have to say, I have been a little bit disappointed with the African American studies department at Wes. After this year, the department will be losing some incredible tenured professors, and their shoes will be nearly impossible to fill. Over the past few years, the department has made much use of visiting professors, none of whom I have found to be very inspiring or informative. It is also difficult to form substantial relationships with visiting professors, because their status is only temporary. Also, because the department is interdisciplinary and only roughly 25 years old, it is not taken very seriously, by either the administration or by other students. It offers some really wonderful classes, and I do not regret for a second my choice to major in AFAM, but the department needs some work, some resources, and some administrative assistance.

Wes, as you know if you are reading this, is one of the highest-ranked liberal arts schools in the country. It goes without saying that the academics are unparalleled. What I love the most is that no matter what subject you study, and no matter what classes you take, every single department works hard to offer at least one course relating the department topic to certain controversies that go on in the real world. For example, I can't think of one department that doesn't have a class relating to Sexism or Race Relations or even Socio-Economic relations. Even the economics department has a class on the economics of gender. Class sizes are generally not too big, unless you're taking a film course, and even my intro lectures to courses such as literature only totaled up to about 60. Kids typically do work on most weeknights in the library, but Olin usually turns into a social scene if you stay on the first floor. I know (and may be guilty of) people who actually consider what they are wearing before heading to Olin on weeknights, because you never know who will be there to distract!

Small classes, no manditory gen-eds, few brown-nosing former valedictorians. Most kinds at the school are extremely bright, but probably weren't as grade-grubbingly ambitious as many peers. The athletes, you can tell, REALLY don't seem to fit in. Education geared MUCH more to learning for its own sake, not to getting a job. Many graduate without defined career goals.

professors are great, classes are perfect size. you can eat lunch with them or only see them in class, but it's your decision. i love that there are no required classes, this is college, i want to study what i want to study. education is geared towards learning for learning's sake...people are supremely intelligent and there is no competition about grades, which i love.

Professors for the most part know your name. Of course, it is not a one way street. Students have to make an effort to get to know the professors too, but I think it's probably much easier at Wesleyan because of the small size of the school. I love Wesleyan's requirements because basically there are none. I am a very eclectic person, and I have a lot of interests in varied subjects, so next semester for instance, I am taking an econ course, a dance class, rowing for fitness, a math class, an astronomy class, and a political science class. Because there are no requirements outside your major (and I only have three math classes left to complete my major requirements) there is a lot of opportunity to explore other areas of interest. Of course, this depends on your major. I think Neuroscience majors, for example, have more required credits than most majors. And of course if you're premed you have all those requirements, so it differs depending on what you want to study, but overall there's a lot of freedom in the courses you can take.