Help me compare Wesleyan and Tufts

momrath
Wed, 27 Oct 2004 20:55:02 +0000

Mom55,
My son studies Art and Art History at Williams. He also considered both Wesleyan and Tufts. Had he not chosen Williams Wesleyan probably would have been his second choice although they are very different in character and environment.

Tufts is on the outskirts of Boston, really more like a suburb. To my son it was the worst of both worlds, neither city nor country, but some like the accessibility to Boston. Tufts has an affiliation with the art school at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts that is very appealing, but again, son felt that it was too inconvenient. Arts at Tufts per se are not a strong suit.

Wesleyan is a rowdy and raucuos campus – a little run down and in a dismal town – but the kids have a lot of fun. It’s known for its wide diversity – political, sexual, cultural – and outspoken and lively students. The studio art facilities are quite good. I don’t know much about the art history department, but it is reasonably well respected. Boston and New York museums are within a couple of hours.

Williams is unarguably the best LAC in the country for art history. Renowned professors, alumni (The top curators of many US museums are part of what is known as the “Williams mafia”.) and world class museums. The art department is fairly strong: beautiful facilities, talented and accessible faculty. They put a lot of emphasis on process, which is good, and have instructors who can teach many media. The Clark museum, which is right on campus, has an astonishing collection of impressionism (some 40 works by Renoir, Degas, etc) as well as other representative works of just about every artist and period so it’s a wonderful teaching museum. There are also the Williams College museum on campus and MassMoCA in a nearby town. The college museum, which also has a respectable collection, offers a program under which the kids can act as docents and learn the museum trade from the inside. MassMoCA is a showplace for contemporary art.

Williams is located in a profoundly beautiful rural setting – not for everyone, but those that like the out of doors really enjoy it. Sports are big (smart athletes like your daughter abound). Italian although available is underdeveloped. Specialists in Italian art are plentiful however so study abroad opportunities in Italy are very common.

In addition to Wesleyan, other LACs that my son considered because of strengths in art and/or art history are Swarthmore, Skidmore, Hamilton and Kenyon. None is as good at both as Williams is, but all have strength in one or the other.