Wesleyan University Top Questions

I matriculate in fall 2015

The best aspect of Wesleyan is undoubtedly the students. There are so many different kids on this campus that there is an opportunity to learn from everyone about anything from music to computer programming to physics back to philosophy. the student body is not just diverse, but the students are dynamic. We tend to push each other and challenge each other. There is a unique sense of community on campus that comes from both its size and the way in which social barriers are broken down by the administration. I like to think of Wesleyan as a microcosmic socialist society, once we are on this campus, all students are essentially equal. Based on year, we are all offerred the same housing and meal plans, given the same opportunities to get into classes, and represented as equals on campus. The social status of one's family is often superfluous to their life at Wesleyan. Students are able to get to know each other without feeling the pressure of social barriers that draw people to those that are most like them. The students as well as the structure of the university and their policies creates a community unlike others that I have seen on college campuses. Though wesleyan is small, we definitely suffer from large classes. Though you may find large intro classes anywhere you go, the intro classes at Wesleyan are often too large and tend to become more of a burden because of their size, however, these classes are only in certain subjects and past very basic intro levels there are many opportunities to take incredibly small classes with as little as 3-5 students.Very few students have negative things to say about our school and most complaints are directed towards the administration, as our student body is one of the most active and politically aware regarding university policy and action. In addition, our student council has legitimate power within the administration, enabling our voices to be heard when there is an issue. Most student complaints are petty and unrelated to their opinion of social life at wesleyan. Our food options are slightly limited but there are restaurants and viable options for eating very close to campus. While I would not consider Middletown, CT to be a real college town, it does provide us with anything we might need, coffee for finals, sustenance for daily life and entertainment for recreation.

I think Wesleyan is a school where anyone can find their niche. Whether you are an athlete, an aspiring journalist, a hipster, a drinker, a smoker, a nerd, the student body president, or any combination of the above, there is a place for you to excel and be happy. No matter what your interests or activities are, the one thing that connects Wesleyan students is their desire to learn and to be challenged. You are just as likely to meet the captain of the basketball team who is an English/Neuroscience double major as you are your class vice-president who tutors local high school students. There are numerous ways for students to get involved in both the Wesleyan and Middletown communities.

I haven't been here very long, but I love Wesleyan so far. When I visited, I was impressed by how open and approachable everyone I met was, and that hasn't changed. In high school, I avoided talking to people I didn't know, fearing awkward conversations. But here, everyone has such an interesting perspective to share that I love meeting new people and hearing about their experiences. The basics: Wesleyan's size is perfect-- not so big that you get lost in the crowd, but big enough so that you're always encountering new people. The academics are wonderful, although it can be a little difficult to get into popular classes. Tons of extracurriculars. Lots of social opportunities no matter what your scene is. It's hard to balance everything sometimes, but I'm never, ever bored. One unusual thing about Wesleyan, as compared to other similar LACs, is that we're encouraged to get off campus and get involved in the community. For instance, as a work-study student, I get paid to tutor local elementary schoolers. Many (most?) Wesleyan students participate in some sort of community service. The most interesting experience I've had so far was Snowpocalypse 2011. On Halloween weekend, it started snowing heavily, and electricity went out across Connecticut for three days. With our computers and phones dead and classes canceled, students congregated in the halls together, playing board games, eating perishable food, and just generally bonding. It turned what could have been a nasty situation into one of my favorite times here so far.

An atmosphere where finding your academic and social passions are cultivated.

Wesleyan is a prestigious liberal arts college located in central Connecticut. For a liberal arts school, its student population is sizable; we have 2,800 undergrad students, which, I believe, is a perfect size because Wesleyan is small enough where you can go to a meeting or a party and recognize somebody you know, yet large enough to meet somebody new.

It's a very diverse school, and I mean that in different senses. The town is nothing to speak of, but that only means that the campus yields richer events and experiences. The campus is pretty - prettier than it used to be, although now apartment buildings are taking the place of woodframe houses, which used to be the standard housing for older students. School pride could be better. The sports teams are generally very good, but it can seem very divided between those who do sports and those who don't. People work very hard, but they also play hard, too. Extracurriculars are important to most students.

The best thing about Wes is how friendly everyone is. The worst thing is to be mean to somebody. Conversations with strangers are a frequent occurrence while waiting in line at weshop. I love the size of Wesleyan- I am always meeting new people, but there's also a good chance that I'll see someone I saw one night at a part who I would like to see again.

Wesleyan is a place unlike most places. For the most part, people are good-hearted and have good heads on their shoulders.

"You go to an all-girls school?" is the reaction of, hmm, 70{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of people when they hear that I go to Wesleyan. No, Wesleyan is not Wellesley, and there are plenty of boys at Wesleyan. Some have also heard about the clothing-optional dorm. I'd like to clear this up a little - although limited residences (and I'm sure, private residences) have the option of voting to be clothing-optional, Wesleyan students don't walk around naked. Although, a few walk around barefoot in the good weather, and there is the occasional streaker. And one of my favorite moments at school was when the entire library decided to trick an afternoon tour into thinking that Wesleyan studies naked. (If you were on that tour - we keep our clothes on most of the time and we have a great sense of humor and community.) I think the reason I came to Wesleyan and the reason I don't regret that decision is the fact that there are so many amazing souls on campus. The kind of people that you just connect with - that remember witty inside jokes and have wisdom and experiences a lot of people our age don't. Every semester is a different experience, and it is what you make it. I know you probably hear this a lot. However, it is the truth. The people you hang out with, where you live, what you spend your time doing, what classes you pick, what food you eat, where you travel, are all things you can mold at Wesleyan to give you the best time ever.

I wish more people new what wesleyan was or where it is.

I think that the best aspect of Wesleyan are the students. With one word I would describe the student body as pasisonate. Wesleyan attracts students that are not only passionate about learning but about using that knowledge to make an impact on the world after college. I have never been in another envirnoment where there has been such a genuine desire to, in loss of other words, make the world a better place.

If you are going to go to a small liberal arts school, Wes is a good choice. Just try not to fall too deeply into the bubble. One of the biggest problems with Wes kids is that they lose perspective.

the campus is beautiful and i felt like at home. my friend from a big state university told me that there is a family-like atmosphere. i would describe wesleyan as family if i had to choose one word.

Well this is an all-encompassing catigory isn't it? Hardly a simple survey question, more like an application for admission. Anyhow, to put it really simply, Wesleyan is incredibly cool (if you don't believe me ask our president. Holla). It's a great place to go if you want to be challenged and engaged, are comfortable having your views and assumptions questioned, and if you are open to meeting new and interesting people. Wes is not too big and not too small, it's a liberal arts school with a baller science program, and it's got a real campus and a small town set up with out being in the middle of nowhere. But I'm a tour guide, so you would expect me to love wes, right? Things that are sometimes problematic: It's a little bit like summer camp in that you get to live in a hip little bubble and discuss race, class, and gender issues while drinking coffee in Victorian houses and then maybe go see your friend's experimental music performance without much regard for what is going on in the world around you or that no one else regularly tries to use the pronoun "ze." Sometimes students self-segregate along racial or cultural lines which makes it harder to meet certain people. Sometimes we get too caught up in the semantics of things and it prevents frank discussion from occuring because people are worried about offending their classmates or sounding somehow prejudiced.

wesleyan has a very diverse student body in almost every way -- racially, ethnically, religiously, socially -- but not politically. everyone has basically similar political ideas. the school is a little under 3000 students undergrad, making it a pretty big small school -- small enough that you start recognizing familiar faces, big enough that you dont know who they all belong to. Middletown is pretty shitty. Theres a strip of expensive restaurants and some basic stores for hardware etc, but otherwise its just an angry industrialized blue-collar town that doesnt really like the pampered liberal liberal arts kids who live uphill and reportedly have strange parties with strange drugs, have strange ideas about political activism and come from places that, for the most part, are strange, by Middletown standards. But not to worry! there qre so many things to do on campus and so many people to meet that you wont really care what middletown thinks. one thing that bothers me is students' apparent desire to be upset by anything that they can logically be upset about. don't get me wrong -- wes students are, for the most part, remarkably happy people that do a variety of wonderful, beautiful things for the sole sake of making themselves and people around them happy -- but they also like to protest things that dont need to be protested, and try to make even the most irrelevant problems into political issues. for example, the school introduced a new food provider this year. people agreed almost unanimously that the food was better than it had been in past years and was certainly above college food par, low as that standard may be. but people still complained tirelessly about the new food provider and its politics; they mistreat workers, the food is not local enough, etc. On the one hand, it was nice to see students trying to make a pretty good system better. but on the other hand, I would have rathered see them protesting unjust wars, unscrupulous governmantal economic decisions, genocide in africa, or any of the millions of issues that are more important than making a good college food system a little better.

hokay, so as far as I can tell, as long as you're not looking for an engineering or linguistics program, you should make out okay. If you want dance, film, language, or polisci, you may become a very happy person, at least until finals, where everybody goes a bit crazy. I don't know if it's size or something else, but the University is one notch below having enough happening. Some nights are just slow if you don't want to get drunk, which I don't. The campus lacks a real center, so meeting people can be tricky if your hall isn't close (says the mild introvert). However, once you do find people and know them, they're 99 percent wonderful.

There's a lot of tension, sadly, between Wes and the rest of Middletown because a lot of people from the town accuse students of being over-privileged white kids. Especially when a student drops a Sour Patch Kid on the ground. All hell broke loose.... But it's a fun town anyway. Certainly very easy to get a lot of food off campus, and frequently not much. Typhoon has great lunch specials, and It's Only Natural has the best sweet potato fries. As for the school itself, it's awesome. The professors are really laid-back, for the most part, and really cool. A good number of people, because it's easy to find your friends, but not hard to avoid someone if necessary. The new campus center's a huge disappointment, but maybe not so much to incoming students who didn't get comfortable to the old set-up. If you want food on campus, the S&C in Alpha Delt is the best food on campus, and Pi Cafe's a nice pick-me-up.

Wesleyan is truly a wonderful school for someone to be individual. If you're very radical, you will fit in at this school. But if being an outspoken liberal is not your thing, there is no need to worry. If you can defend your stance on an issue you will not be despised.

Wesleyan students, as a whole, are extremely engaged and affable people. Interesting people, interesting interests. The campus is contained as far as social life goes, but there is enough going on any given night that it is easy to stay entertained-- if you aren't working your ass off.