Wellesley or Northwestern?

guitargal
Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:10:32 +0000

Hi,

I thought I would add my thoughts to the NU vs WC discussion. I attend a public high school in the Midwest. Our hs enrolls about 1400 students. As for name recognition I can tell you that everyone at my high school is aware of the colleges and universities in the Midwest. Many of our high achieving seniors apply to and are accepted at Northwestern, Notre Dame, UChicago, Kazoo College, and UMich. The last 5 years we have sent our students to Duke, UPenn, Harvard, Stanford and Yale. All of the schools I have mentioned have great name recognition in the Midwest.

Two years ago my brother was accepted ED to Amherst College. When he told his friends that he would be attending Amherst, they thought he was referring to Elmhurst College in Illinois. Practically none of the student body at our high school had heard of Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin and the other LAC in the East.

Everyone at my high school (faculty, counselors, and students) knows Wellesley College. Wellesley is viewed as a great school…an unattainable school. We don’t have many students applying to Wellesley for two reasons: 1. The female students at our high school believe they have little or no chance of getting into Wellesley. 2. The idea of attending an all women’s college does not seem appealing.

When I received my letter of congratulations from Wellesley, I became very emotional and I had to share the news with my friends. Everyone was happy for me and shared in my joy. When my brother received his letter from Amherst, he wasn’t able to experience the same kind of emotions and support from his friends because they had no idea there was an Amherst College.

Northwestern is seen as a top-notch university. We send our students to NU every year. But in the Midwest, Wellesley College has a certain aura or awe factor attached to its name.

Lenacleff, I know you will decide the right college for yourself…for the right reasons. Good Luck!!