(cont.)
- What do you think is working for the kids that are happy there that did not work for you?
I think the social aspect is the biggest determining factor for why some students thrive at Wooster and others do not. If the social scene had been more vibrant I probably would have stayed, I could've dealt with the disappoints in academics and research, but I couldn't take everything else. Many of the friends I had that really loved Wooster tended to be more introverted. They were satisfied with mostly staying in their dorms on the weekends and watching TV alone, going to the occasional craft night. Along the same lines of people who I feel thrive at Wooster are those who are very very very passionate about their academics. I mean the type of people who are so dedicated that they are happy to do extra homework during every Friday and Saturday night.The other people I noticed that loved Wooster were on the complete other end of the spectrum: the partiers. If you like to get drunk to have a good time (or smoke weed. People smoked weed in my dorm ALL THE TIME which was another reason I was happy to leave), then you will likely find the social scene more appealing. As I said before, most of Wooster parties are people binge drinking in dorm rooms (again this is all from personal experience), but I imagine this would be more entertaining if you were drunk and not just sitting there soberly like myself. To clarify, I am not trying to judge these people or mock their life style choices in any way. If any of this makes them happy then that is all that matters, but the social scene simply did just not for me, not do I believe it works for a lot of other people.
Also, I found the campus to be very small, which became pretty claustrophobic. If I had a car I'm sure I would've enjoyed it a little more. The only problem is that there is virtually nothing to do in the immediately surrounding area, so you have to drive 20 minutes to an hour to find a bigger city, and this can be pretty dangerous considering all of the rural roads that lead in and out of Wooster. Still, I found that people who had regular access to a car so that they could get off campus seemed to be happier overall.
Alright so that was a lot of writing! I’m sorry it was so long but I wanted to be as thorough as possible to answer all of your questions. I am still more than happy to answer any additional questions or to clarify if anything was confusing/poorly worded, ect. Also please excuse any typos or misspellings, this was a lot to write and I don’t have any time to proof read too well. In conclusion, this is all just from my personal experience. I know many people at Wooster that would disagree with my negative comments, but I also know many more that would strongly agree with what I had to say (several of my friends actually ended up transferring as well, or are currently thinking about it). Thank you all for reading and again, if you have any further questions I am still more than happy to answer them. I only ask that no one attacks me my experience or tries to deny it, because I had a very difficult time at Wooster and writing about it all on here was very hard for me to do, so if you disagree with anything I discussed please do so respectfully. Thank you so much!