Wesleyan University Spring 2013 Transfer Thread

kimonoxx
Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:02:45 +0000

I think it probably does include spring & fall applicants. I know last year there were about 580 applicants for the fall, which means there are probably about 100 applicants for the spring.

@momofzag: I can definitely share my experience at Hamilton with you! I think a lot of the more liberal students at Hamilton were/are also interested in Wes. But keep in mind every person is an individual, and my own perceptions/experiences at Hamilton are certainly different than some other students here. I have many friends who are extremely happy here and would absolutely choose Hamilton if they had the chance to do it again. The main frustration I had my freshman year was the social divisions on campus – the “Dark Side” (Kirkland campus) and “Light Side” (Hamilton campus) largely divide the school into the stereotypically artsy/musically-inclined students and the athletic/science-oriented students. It felt like two separate campuses to me. However, at Wesleyan, their cafeteria is literally divided into one section for athletes and one for non-athletes, which is something to consider. At Hamilton, there are also plenty of people who are involved on both sides of campus at Hamilton, for example, jocks who are in a cappella groups, and frat boys who are Art majors. However, the Greek life is also MUCH more prominent at Hamilton than they advertise in their tours, which, for some people, is an attractive quality, but personally, I really wanted to engage with a very socially independent group of students when I went to college.

Although I initially applied to transfer for those reasons, they really didn’t bother me much this year. I think it just takes a while for some people to find their niche. However, I’m still applying to transfer, mainly because of the Arts program. I’m a Studio Art/Dance major, and the Arts department here is just not very strong. However, the Sciences here are very strong (as are the Sciences at Wes–but I think Hamilton probably has a higher chance of getting into the student research programs over the summers, if you are interested in that, because Wes is a bigger school), and the writing programs here are exceptional (we are #2 in the country for writing.) Another thing to keep in mind-- I have a friend who transferred to Wesleyan from Hamilton, and he was experiencing frustration with the larger class sizes than the ones at Hamilton, and the less single-student attention.

So there are definitely pros/cons to both schools, and for me, the pros for Wes outweigh the cons. If you have any more questions/more specific questions to certain majors/aspects of campus life, please feel free to ask!