Feedback on Wesleyan Admitted Students Day(s)

[PJSwimmer]

We thought the Admitted Student Day was great! My son sat in on a really interesting American Studies class in the morning, met people at the mixer for already committed students, spoke to someone for about an hour at the Office of Civic Engagement. Very interesting Master class lecture for us. The day got him even more excited about attending (he is committed ED). We did get the schedule a couple of days before – went to my son’s email.

[circuitrider]

@PJSwimmer

We did get the schedule a couple of days before – went to my son’s email.

Whew! My fingers were crossed that there was not some sort of system-wide failure regarding the schedules. It’s possible some of the students’ emails went to spam - who knows? I would just reiterate to the parent who came away with the impressionn that Wesleyan students aren’t academic enough that there was a panel devoted to Academics; the overwhelming majority of Wesleyan students are devoted to their studies; and if you randomly wind up at a panel devoted to Student Life, you are apt to get an earful from Wesleyan students on - student life.

Thank you so much, @PJSwimmer for your feedback.

[cquin85]

Oh, I’ve seen plenty worse dorms than the worst at Wesleyan, and in our experience they were all very clean and well maintained inside.

And “housing” extends to the large collection of wood frame houses which the school keeps in excellent repair, and program housing which is also fantastic.

Most people who experience 4 years at Wesleyan usually cite housing as a plus.

[cquin85]

@beefeater

But some of his comments didn’t exactly acquit him or Wesleyan very well, in my opinion. He was asked a question about campus protests and D26 noted that he gave sort of a non-answer to it. My wife and I both thought the answer was fine since he’s the pres and has some limitations on what he could say. But D26 wanted to real opinion versus the hedge.

I’m not the guy who spends a lot of energy defending Roth because I know he sometimes, to quote the British, “puts a foot wrong” when given too much time with the mic. That said, in case his name doesn’t give it away, he’s Jewish, and the issue of what is happening in the Middle East is extremely polarizing and there are many rational people who don’t agree with all protester message points on the matter. IMO, it’s quite unrealistic to expect him to discuss it and, again IMO, he shouldn’t. That said, Roth is exactly the kind of guy who might do it anyway. Still, if you really look into it, Roth and Wes handled the protests about as well as any school and President in the country, and he is also, again IMO, on the right side of history in terms of how to balance the competing values of protest/free speech and “safe spaces” from offense. But I can’t fault him for punting on that topic.

@beefeater

I was more surprised by his own personal story of trying to get into a senior-only class as a freshman. FWIW, D26 is comparing Wes to Haverford with the strong honor code. This was basically the antithesis of that where a student might try to lie to get into a class. This was a small thing, but I thought pretty telling about how Wes students might have a much more independent streak versus one focused on community. Just a little anecdote as we tried to get a real feel for the college.

I have no idea about what his senior class story is, but as a parent of child who could win an Olympic gold medal if Rule Following were a sport, there is nothing about Wesleyan that promotes or tolerates dishonesty. This has come up before - the point about Haverford having an honor code - and I just dismiss it entirely. Haverford has its problems, and while I would say that the idea about Wesleyan having a group of students with an independent streak is insightfully correct, that did not in any way manifest itself over my D’s four years as a lack of community. Quite the opposite. I saw a ton of campus support for all matter of student activities and pursuits, whether it be dance, theater, musical and other artistic performances, sporting events or protest. Like any school, Wesleyan has its challenges. Lacking a strong sense of community is not one of them.

I’ve always taken these day-of visits with a grain of salt. It’s one person saying one thing on one day. Just my $0.02.

[cquin85]

@CFP

Sure, it’s impossible to know what students will say and it’s important to be transparent, but if the chosen students are complaining cant imagine how the other students are feeling.

My D who recently graduated from Brown had tour guides, student panels and personal connections in the student body who complained about things. We did not make the inferential leap that everybody must be just as unhappy as were they, and I’m glad we didn’t. While my D had her own list of complaints, none of them were related to the things she heard from other students.