<p>I just got back from visiting WashU and really loved it. From what I saw the students were nerdy, but still fun + there is a large music scene. However, I have heard it is really pre-professional. I am more interested in exploring many different academic disciplines and love to learn…which makes it seem like Wesleyan in CT would be a better place to go. I am not really sure if washu students are all about intellectual discovery instead of deciding what to do and sticking with it, so it would be great if a current student could comment on the ‘arts’ side of washu! </p>
<p>Honestly, your greater dilemma down the road is going to be between choosing what type of environment suits you better: an LAC vs a University (and this would not be the thread for a Pros/Cons list), not Wesleyan vs Wash U specifically. </p>
<p>But, given that Wash U is a University with more than it’s faire share of pre-meds/business students/engineers, there is a healthy amount of what you refer to as intellectual exploration and the ‘arts’ side of ‘arts&sciences.’ Firstly, you have dozens of majors in humanities and social sciences, many of them are really really strong. Secondly, Wash U is pretty unique in that you can easily double-major either within ArtSci or across the different academic colleges here. That in and of itself clearly exemplifies intellectual exploration. Somewhat building on this point, a lot of people enter Wash U wanting to be pre-med or an engineer (or, even English or poli sci) and end up switching to something else due to the ease of doing so and changing interests. Lastly, there isn’t really a “core curriculum” in Arts&Sciences as you might find at other colleges; although there are distribution requirements to encourage background in multiple disciplines, you get to pick and choose how you want to fulfill those distributions… which gives you the freedom to really craft your schedule how you want. </p>
<p>Another way of looking at your question is that if you are looking for true exploration, which I interpret as encountering diversity in opportunities and student interests, you’re probably going to find a lot more of that at a school like Wash U than a small liberal arts college. While Wesleyan (for example) obviously has science/pre-med majors, schools like that will not have a Business program, or an Art school, or an Architecture program, or even as many different majors in the liberal arts/humanities/social sciences as a larger school like Wash U (which isn’t even that large to begin with). So, if you really want true exploration, you’re going to encounter much more opportunities for that here, as opposed to an LAC where you’re more likely to encounter a lot of the same type of person.</p>
<p>Feel free to ask specific questions about majors or other programs that are more humanities-based, as I think there are a couple wash u students lurking on the boards that can answer them.</p>
<p>A lot of it will be the classes you take and the people you surround yourself with. Part of the reason why I chose WashU (I was also deciding between a LAC and small universities) was that it strikes a nice balance between a humanities-based LAC and a larger university.
At WashU, if you take an intro to business class, for example, you’re going to be in a pre-professional atmosphere. However, the vast majority of classes are liberal arts based and the focus is decidedly more “artsy” - if you’re taking, say, introduction to british fiction, you’re probably going to be more in the “arts” element.</p>
<p>For example…I came in undecided arts&sciences, thinking I would maybe major in history or biology. I’m in my second year and now I’m majoring in Computer Science (I transferred into the engineering school), minoring in Finance (business school) and also minoring in Archaeology (arts&sciences school). I would NEVER have guess thats what I’d end up studying, but it was just a result of being able to take a pretty wide range of classes and finding subjects I had no idea I was really interested in.</p>
<p>I think I’m kind of a “poster child” for your question. I am a freshman right now who came in completely undecided… and am still completely undecided.</p>
<p>I’m in Text and Tradition and I can say the two classes you have to take as part of the program (Classical to Renaissance Literature and Early Political Thought) definitely make you think and analyze texts. I dropped Lit after like a week (not because I didn’t like it, but because my workload was super disproportionate on Wednesday nights :P) but I can tell you that I’ve never thought more in any high school class than I do in Early Political Thought.</p>
<p>Our curriculum definitely fosters intellectual exploration as well. We have The Discovery Curriculum where you have to take a certain number of classes that fulfill 4 broad disciplines. You have to take at least 3 classes (with some exceptions if classes are more credits, but let’s just say 3) in each discipline and 2 of them have to be “clustered,” meaning that they kind of “go together” (i.e. Macroeconomics and Microeconomics, Calc 1 and Calc 2, Human Evolution and Cultural Anthropology, etc…), so you pretty much have to get at least a bit of in depth knowledge in stuff outside of your major. For more on that, you can go here:
[Coherent</a> Coursework and Clusters | The College of Arts & Sciences](<a href=“http://college.artsci.wustl.edu/clusters]Coherent”>http://college.artsci.wustl.edu/clusters).</p>
<p>Also, I regularly have “intellectual” conversations with my friends about philosophy and politics. It’s kind of cool :)</p>
<p>Yes, there are a LOT of premeds. Theres a gen chem exam going on right now and there are maybe 10 people on my floor out of about 40 not taking it. However, you’ll also find a good amount of people who are not pre-professional. I have a friend who’s going to get his PhD in philosophy after graduating this year… so yea… complete opposite of “pre-professional.”</p>
<p>As for the arts, I have yet to see any shows but I know Hairspray is being performed in a couple of weeks. The a cappella here is AMAZING! You should YouTube The Amateurs aksljslag they’re insanely talented. No, we don’t have Lin Manuel Miranda as an alumnus, but I picked WashU over Wesleyan anyway ;).</p>
<p>P.S. Sorry for the novel and bringing up a slightly older thread :P</p>