How prestigious is Wesleyan?

Colleges & Universities Wesleyan University
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<p>@Englishman
I agree. But the instances of rape seems to be repeating itself at Wes. I am sure the administration is working to help prevent it. And Wes is a great school, it is a shame that the have such repeated bad publicity of late. As a side note, Amherst also had it’s quota of rape and suicide. I guess it happens everywhere …</p>

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<p>@Englishman. It’s worse at Wess. because its left and pro-feminist politics are a huge part of it’s identity and a selling point for the school.</p>

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<p>^^I agree. Crime of any kind always comes as a shock when it occurs on an otherwise peaceful campus known for its progressive politics:

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<p>Bubinsky-allow me to repectfully disagree.
I am at Wesleyan now but last year I was accepted by Bowdoin, Haverford, and Vassar.
If you are really looking for law school or medical school’s admission data, the CSS program(great for prelaw) and Neuroscience and Biochem here are extremely strong.
<a href=“Undergraduate schools-Which are most commonly found at top Law Schools? - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/331960-undergraduate-schools-which-are-most-commonly-found-at-top-law-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;
please check this list of top law school admission percentile statistics carefully before you say that Wesleyan is not so good. Sure, we are not in line with Williams or Amherst now, but we are obviously in the same tier with Bowdoin, MIddlebury and Pomona.
And if you do take ranking seriously-I remember that back in 2005, CMU was still top 5 on that list, look what has happened since then. Does that make it a worse school? The ranking changes every year so that people read it. And I would not consider it as an objective and sensible measure of prestige, unless it’s a difference of 30 or 40.</p>

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<p>LOL

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<p>Read more: <a href=“Mayor de Blasio’s son, Dante, begins touring colleges with visit at Wesleyan University – New York Daily News”>Mayor de Blasio’s son, Dante, begins touring colleges with visit at Wesleyan University – New York Daily News;

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<p>After reading this article, I can’t help but being alarmed. <a href=“The Wesleyan Argus | To the admitted students”>The Wesleyan Argus | To the admitted students;

<p>Here is a few line I quoted from the article:</p>

<p>Most colleges will spend a lot of time telling you what is so wonderful and unique and incredible about them – that’s what this literal “Wesleyan Festival” is designed for: to convince you all that this is the perfect place for you to spend your college years.</p>

<p>But here’s the thing: this is far from a perfect place.</p>

<p>This is a place where your legitimacy as a student might be questioned daily based on your race.</p>

<p>This is a place where, depending on how much money your family has, you might not even be offered admission at all. Take a good hard look around you while you’re here, and think about the fully qualified students who aren’t here.</p>

<p>This is a place where sexual assault happens, frequently, and is then dismissed.</p>

<p>This is a place where cultural norms permit violence against and violations of the space and well-being of women, trans* students, students of color, queer students, and many others marginalized groups.</p>

<p>This is a place where the administration targets trans* student activists for punishment.</p>

<p>This is a place that provides a lush material environment for its students with dividends from investments in coal and oil, weapons, agribusiness, and predatory banks.</p>

<p>This is a place that stands by and feigns helplessness as its subcontracted custodial firm is overworked and that intimidates the people (many of them poor people of color, women, immigrants) who maintain the campus.</p>

<p>This is a place that institutionalizes class divisions between students and between the university and the surrounding community.</p>

<p>I’m an international student who is waitlisted at Wesleyan. I’m torn between going to Wesleyan on an unaided basis and attending Colorado College with about 20k of financial aid. I am not sure to what extent the issues identified above are true? Thank you in advance for your information.</p>

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<p>Some things are true (to a degree), others are grossly exaggerated and/or false. It’s an article timed to coincide with WesFest (admitted student days), to stir the pot, so to speak. </p>

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<p>Hi, smartalic34. Thank you for your response. Could you please be more specific about which are true and which are false?</p>

<p>And I still wonder why Wes alums would make these comments on their own school. Why exactly did they want to stir the pot? :"> </p>

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<p>This article is written in an inflammatory way to get your attention. The point is that if you want to change the world, come to Wes and come make Wes better. The last paragraph essentially explains this: </p>

<p>" If the problems listed above anger, intrigue, or motivate you, please come here. If you want to contribute positively to this community through your presence, please come here. If you want to take a fierce and focused role in making desperately needed change happen at Wesleyan, please come here. If you couldn’t care less, consider picking another school."</p>

<p>Do not take it at face value. Wes is a place where each one of the listed items is discussed and criticized at length on a regular basis. People here do care about this agenda. It is a liberal and active campus, so there is a lot of self-criticism (and self-flagellation) whenever Wes invariably fails to reach all of its ideals. </p>

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<p>^^^This is a rite of passage at Wesleyan. If you’ll notice, approximately half the co-signors are graduating seniors (technically, Americans don’t consider themselves alumni until after they’ve left campus for good) the others are rising seniors. Typically, every graduating class at Wesleyan considers themselves the keepers of a sacred flame of activism, social consciousness and a generalized concept nearly universally referred to as “weirdness”. This was a handing of the baton to the incoming first-years.</p>

<p>As to the truth of any particular one of their talking points, you would have to read years of opinion articles in the student newspaper as well as the student-run blog, Wesleying, to put them all in the proper context. The piece about maintenance workers is one example. Maintenance workers at Wesleyan are unionized. Every so often they have to negotiate a new contract with an outside contractor. Whatever the merits of their grievances this go-round, nearly everyone agrees they are among the highest paid blue collar workers in the surrounding county.</p>

<p>I could go on, but I think you get the general idea: Wesleyan has an activist community. Other schools do, too. I think, however, you’ll find Wesleyan alumni will generally give them a fairer hearing than a lot of other places:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/dartmouth-college/1635158-dartmouth-students-take-over-president-s-office-demand-response-to-freedom-budget.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/dartmouth-college/1635158-dartmouth-students-take-over-president-s-office-demand-response-to-freedom-budget.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^^A propos of which the Mayor is quoted as saying,

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<p>Read more: <a href=“http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/mayor-de-blasio-talks-college-tour-son-dante-blog-entry-1.1756074#ixzz2z6WJA5Us”>http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/mayor-de-blasio-talks-college-tour-son-dante-blog-entry-1.1756074#ixzz2z6WJA5Us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thank you Pickwick and circuitrider for the information.</p>

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<p>These particular Wesleyan students are trying to bring pernicious social ills to the forefront of discourse. These are problems widely dispersed through society and are not any less present at peer institutions, although they may be less discussed elsewhere and quite exaggerated here. There is simply nothing happening more frequently at Wes than anywhere else. I can see as an international student this would be confusing and disturbing. This approach will not be shared with the entire school population, as you can see the limited list of signatures. I had a call yesterday from a student at Wesfest who is really impressed by the intelligence and accomplishment of the students there. She has already had her consciousness raised and stereotypes broken having her eyes opened to new ideas from one student run session she attended, and remarked to me how much she would learn from her follow students. </p>

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<p>Thank you BrownParent for your information.</p>

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<p>Wesleyan is not as prestigious as its admissions requirements would lead you to believe. A student would be much better off going to Boston College than Wesleyan, for a multitude of reasons.</p>

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<p>Any particular reason why you believe that, @AgilityAce‌?</p>

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<p>For years I recruited and conducted training classes for a prestigious investment banking program in NY. I can tell you first hand that kids coming from schools like Notre Dame, BC, Georgetown, UVA, UNC, William and Mary, Wisco, Illinois, Holy Cross, Penn State, Colgate and Bucknell were far better prepared and intellectually more flexible than kids coming from schools like Wesleyan. Overall, I found NESCAC graduates to be very sheltered, as bright as they were. Colby and Bates would be my pick of those schools.</p>

<p>Colgate and Bucknell share similarities to Wesleyan but the social atmosphere is much different. As far as New England goes, I still believe that BC and Holy Cross turn out the best kids in terms education, social skills and the ability to transition to real-world situations. You cannot compare the total college experience of Wesleyan to a school like Boston College. </p>

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<p>@AgilityAce‌

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<p>Most of the universities on your list are 10x Wesleyan’s size, so I’d be surprised if you interviewed Wesleyan grads even close to the same proportion. The fact that you interviewed any at all during your short time at this bank would be a testament to the prestige of the Wesleyan name.</p>

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<p>I joined this bank in 1986 after graduating Notre Dame and became a partner in 1993. I recently retired to pursue some humanitarian interests. Parents and students need to consider college as a total experience not just which schools rank by admissions selectivity. I am going through the selection process now with my eldest and I see this with his friends’ parents failing to see the whole picture. If you have the grades to get into Wesleyan, you can certainly get into some of the schools I mentioned where the reputation, social atmosphere and vast alumni network will prove invaluable. </p>

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<p>@AgilityAce‌

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<p>You seem to be arguing two different and contradictory points at the same time. Either Wesleyan attracts students who are at least as capable as Notre Dame or it doesn’t. Which is it?</p>