Wesleyan is a very accepting welcoming place. My son has found that students are accepted as being more than just one thing unlike in a high school - the mens rugby team attends events to watch teammates involved in Shakespeare productions, musical performances, large theatrical performances, community outreach projects, academic awards/presentations and dance recitals. There are many LGBTQQI sponsored events on campus such as a clothing swap, speakers and concert but, according to my son’s friends who are part of this community, for most kids that is just one welcoming group along with their academic, athletic, performing, theatrical, community outreach, environmental, or other interest groups they are involved in. Middletown also has one of the largest PrideFests in CT attended by Wesleyan students and faculty. Middletown PrideFEST — Middletown Pride.
My son is triple majoring in math, cs and physics. The open curriculum makes this feasible and he finished the math major sophomore year and is currently taking math graduate courses. He has had amazing experiences researching with professors including a paid summer fellowship on campus.
I think having a city such as Boston nearby greatly enriches any college experience, especially for diverse students, and at Tufts that seems not to come at the expense of a tight-knit community.
Which gets us back to whether Wesleyan/Middletown represent some sort of “bubble”. I think it is, but it’s largely self-imposed. There are a hundred ways to get off campus and people figure it out when the time comes. But Wesleyan is an interesting place in its own right and the kids can’t wait to get back to campus even after only a few days away.
I think Tufts’ proximity to a city does have an impact on the tightness of community but not necessarily one that’s discernible for underclassmen. It’s partly the city and at some level, students who choose that environment.
For students who may be interested in a dating pool (for lack of a better term) that may be limited at their school, access to a major city with lots of college students is a plus. More than a handful of such students at Boston schools whom I know have found kindred souls through dating apps. As a parent, that can sound alarming, but it’s a normal, good thing.
This is a fascinating read to me as my son just decided to do ED2 to Wesleyan as opposed to Tufts after not getting into ED at Brown…he also put in for it a day or two late, so that is definitely possible, just put in a form.
For my son, it is the open curriculum at Wes that appeals to him. He’s a very academic kid though ultimately also a music kid so both Tufts and Wesleyan had a strong appeal. He also is interested in film scoring…so both have appeal there as well. Although he initially wanted to be closer to a city in the end out of anywhere we went he felt most at home on our tour of Wes, as I think he picked up on the community vibes. So, fingers crossed.
My guess is that both of these schools might be a great fit for your son. I wonder if he might close his eyes and be able to visualize himself more one place than the other? Maybe that is a silly way to do it, but I think when it is really close sometimes a gut check matters.
I didn’t say Tufts is mainstream. I said it’s a little more mainstream than Wesleyan. There is probably a somewhat more creative vibe at Wesleyan.
Can I suggest your child use the websites Niche and Uni*go to get a better idea of the vibe he is looking for? These are both excellent colleges with all kinds of students. But the deadline for ED2 passed 3 days ago. He really needs to ask if they will still accept an ED 2 app.
This is a good point that I don’t think has come up on this thread. IMO Wes’s curriculum isn’t open in the traditional sense, but it’s flexible and broad in terms of the requirements (similar to many LACs): General Education Expectations < Wesleyan University
Tufts gen eds are relatively onerous, including 6 courses in language/culture (although one can test out of some of those requirements).
All of this talk of Tufts being more mainstream than Wesleyan University suggests to me that Tufts must be very mainstream indeed. I’ve crisscrossed the Wesleyan campus dozens of times over the space of the last few years and nearly always the same thought crosses my mind: “Where are all the weird students?”
Interesting. I too, am a Wes alum, and I remember lots of “weird” students, it was great. I have not been back in more than 30 years, but my feeling having gone through the college admission process recently with D21 and D24 is that the “weird” students tend to not apply to the highly selectives in such great numbers as in the previous generations (or maybe they apply but are not admitted??). Less weird, more driven overall, seems to be the vibe at a lot of places we visited, from Tufts to Brown to Vassar to Barnard. I’ve seen more of the non-mainstream type at places like WWU, Lewis and Clark, Reed and Mount Holyoke, in recent visits. I would imagine Bard might fit that bill, too.
Yes, we didn’t visit those, but that would be my assumption, too. I was quite surprised by how mainstream UCSC was, a place I remember being pretty weird back in the day, so that completely broke the stereotype I had in my mind.
