How prestigious is Wesleyan?

Colleges & Universities Wesleyan University
1

<p>I know Wesleyan is part of the “Little Three” but how well-known is it in the outside world? Where does it stand in terms of prestige when applying to medical/graduate school in comparison to other universities (such as Brown, Dartmouth, Yale etc.)?</p>

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<p>N-Grams present a simple way of illustrating the number of times a word or a phrase appears in print over a specific time:</p>

<p><a href=“Google Ngram Viewer”>Google Ngram Viewer;

<p>But, no one would argue that a small college gets as much press or chatter as even a moderately larger college or university:</p>

<p><a href=“Google Ngram Viewer”>Google Ngram Viewer;

<p>Much less Yale:</p>

<p><a href=“Google Ngram Viewer”>Google Ngram Viewer;

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<p>In case you asked:</p>

<p><a href=“Google Ngram Viewer”>Google Ngram Viewer;

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<p>How well-known is it amongst graduate schools or employers?</p>

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<p>Among graduate schools (especially law and medicine) it is extremely well known and compares very favorably to other top schools (Amherst, Brown, etc.) Graduate schools do not parse rankings as closely as those here on CC. Among employers, it will vary depending on location and the field.
The point is, you don’t need to worry about medical and law schools - they are well aware of Wesleyan. </p>

<p>While unverified, this list: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1190895-mean-lsat-score-undergraduate-college.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1190895-mean-lsat-score-undergraduate-college.html&lt;/a&gt;
if accurate, shows that Wesleyan students score well.</p>

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<p>Wesleyan is more prestigious than schools like Colgate, Colby, Oberlin, Bucknell, Lafayette, Trinity, Bard, Skidmore etc. </p>

<p>Wesleyan is not as prestigious as schools like Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford, Vassar, Carleton, Bowdoin, Grinnell, Hamilton etc.</p>

<p>I would say that Wesleyan just misses the mark for a top liberal arts school (top 10 or 15) but is nonetheless still a good school.</p>

<p>Almost no liberal arts school (with the exception of like Williams and Amherst) has big name recognition among the general public. This is because the masses are largely ignorant and are only aware of schools with big football teams or the ivies. </p>

<p>However, the important people (employers and graduate schools) will all be familiar with the strong liberal arts schools including Wesleyan.</p>

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<p>^^An N-Gram of the post-WWII period shows a consistent lead by The Little Three compared to some of the schools you mention with a noticeable bump for Amherst in the mid-1960s. If anything, Wesleyan seems slightly ahead as of recently:</p>

<p><a href=“Google Ngram Viewer”>Google Ngram Viewer;

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<p>Prestige is not equivalent to the US News & World Report rankings. Wesleyan has long been a top LAC, and if you were to go by USNWR rankings, Wesleyan has been a top 10 school for most of its history. It’s only in the past couple of years it has fallen out of the top 10, largely due to economic reasons, and only this year fell out of the top 15. </p>

<p>Prestige is something built over time, and graduate schools aren’t waiting for the yearly rankings to see if a school “gained” or “lost” prestige. If you were to go by US News, all of the top 20 or so are pretty much equivalent in prestige, as they all shift around rankings over time but generally occupy the top spots. You could make a case that Amherst and Williams are slightly more prestigious than the other LACs but graduate schools don’t really make such distinctions when it comes to graduate admission. Regardless, Wesleyan has been a top 10 school for most of its history, and this is how it is perceived by graduate schools. </p>

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<p>Agreed.</p>

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<p>“Wesleyan is not as prestigious as schools like Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford, Vassar, Carleton, Bowdoin, Grinnell, Hamilton etc.”</p>

<p>Except for Williams and Swarthmore, Wesleyan is MORE prestigious. It’s just not as well endowed or endowed per student (Haverford) as the others listed. Indeed, Wes is the largest of the “Little Three.”</p>

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<p>Wesleyan is an extremely prestigious school. It’s got a reputation for a tremendously creative student body. Basically, it’s a school where the name matters to people who matter in your future; and if the name doesn’t ring a bell, likelihood is that person isn’t making any major decisions for you.</p>

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<p>Graduate schools do not care about prestige. Law schools use LSAT and GPA. Ph.D. programs look at rigor of undergrad program, so Reed gets 30% of grads into elite Ph.D programs versus 10% fir Harvard.</p>

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<p>^ This comparison should be made by department. E.g., Harvard leads in economics, they’re tied in political and social science, Reed leads in biology, hard science and math, psychology (I checked just a few). Harvard leads in majors Reed doesn’t offer. :wink: Which PhD school is not considered; grain of salt!</p>

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<p>I don’t know how prestigious it is. I graduated from there and I don’t usually wake up feeling snooty.</p>

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<p>Wesleyan is very prestigious. There is often added prestige when considering a school in the northeast, especially New England. Graduates often go on to Ivy league medical and law schools. Wes is relatively near NYC and Boston, a positive academic and social factor. Many people have heard of Wesleyan but not Grinnell or Carleton. That said it may not be the best school for every student, but ot is a highly prestigious school.</p>

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<p>I believe that JP Morgan once remarked, “if you have to ask the price of a yacht, you likely can’t afford one.” </p>

<p>This discussion strikes me as analogous. </p>

<p>If you have to talk about whether a school is prestigious, well…</p>

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<p>Swatgrad wrote:

</p>

<p>Really, homie?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/135705-warning-or-so.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/135705-warning-or-so.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Not as prestigious as circuitrider would like, nor as prestigious as it once was, when it was a peer of Williams and Amherst. Still very good of kind, but within a more crowded field. </p>

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<p>Dear Professor Scarecrow (btw, I think I had you when I was an undergraduate), fair-minded men and women may disagree:
<a href=“Top 10 Ivy League alternatives”>http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/07/top-10-ivy-alternatives/4354659/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

<p>@Circuitrider
We are looking at Wesleyan for this fall., But are concerned by repeated instances of rape at Wesleyan… What are your thoughts about this?</p>

<p>Wesleyan’s Rape Factory > <a href=“The Strange History Of Wesleyan University's "Rape Factory" Fraternity”>http://www.buzzfeed.com/hillaryreinsberg/the-strange-history-of-wesleyan-universitys-rape&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Recent rape law suit > <a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/14/justice/wesleyan-university-rape-lawsuit/”>Wesleyan University student alleges rape, sues fraternity, members - CNN;

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<p>These terrible instances of rape, have occured elsewhere, to suggest any college or university is rife with type of behaviour is wrong, Wesleyan is certainly no more prone to this than any college. All college have issues and the administration do their utmost to prevent and resolve, I don’t think it does anyone any good to suggest any one college has any more or less occurance.</p>

<p>On a more cheerful note, Wesleyan is clearly fine school and to circuitrider’s point, Wesleyan should be on an Ivy-Alt list, but remember Fiske himself, is a Wes alum.</p>