<p>Also, be aware that so-called “objective criteria” can be misleading. For example, in the Stone Age, before widespread reliance upon the Internet for research, library size was a rough measure of a college or univeristy’s academic heft. Anyone looking at a description of Pomona in any of the current standard texts would walk away with the impression that Pomona had 2.4 million volumes for an LAC the size of Swarthmore (you can see where I’m going, here) but, that’s really 2.4 million volumes for all 6 Claremont campuses compared to Wesleyan’s 1.3 million.</p>
<p>My nephew, born and bred Back East, lives in the L.A. area and is thriving. His parents cringe, however, whenever he calls home while driving on the freeway. 
Similarly, Californians have been shaping Wesleyan’s campus culture for at least two decades now, culminating in the unveiling of it’s Film Studies building last Fall, paid for largely by California alum.</p>