Middlebury vs. Wesleyan

badaro
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:03:17 +0000

Is this a serious comparison of the 2 schools, or cocktail banter amongst partisans with too much time on their hands? I have had an opportunity to spend a reasonable amount of time on the 2 campuses, and find they have radically different attitudes. Wesleyan students take pride in “Keeping Wesleyan Weird,” and to their apparent satisfaction do just that (often it seems for its own sake). There is no apparent desire for weirdness at Middlebury (it probably gets in the way of studying and partying, although the Quidditch thing may smack of weirdness to some). These are schools with similar student profiles but, it seems to me, very different social attitudes and priorities. Anyone from a city larger than Cedar Rapids will find the restaurants near both schools a huge disappointment. The scores, grad school stuff…all hair splitting. Who cares? If you’re a prospective student make sure you spend enough time on (any) campus to get the feel of the place.