<p>When I studied abroad, there were about 6 Carleton kids on my program (since it was run by St. Olaf, which is kind of a “sister school” to Carleton in a way, though it has a completely different atmosphere), so I got to hear a lot about what the school was like.</p>
<p>To begin with, they’re not all that different in a lot of key ways. Of the students in my study abroad program, the Carleton kids seemed to have had the most similar college experience to my own.</p>
<p>That said, a lot of WesKid’s assessments are right on: Wes is a little bigger (which I think is nice; especially by the time you’re a senior, it’s great to still be able to meet some new people sometimes), the weather is different, and the trimester vs. semester thing is a big difference that a lot of people don’t think about when applying to schools.</p>
<p>Wesleyan doesn’t tend to offer pre-professional programs specifically, but the CRC is great at directing kids toward law school and business school. (By the way: law schools don’t just want to see pre-law kids. For example, someone I knew here from Wes Amnesty Int’l was a film major who is currently attending Columbia Law, a top law school.) If you want to get into law school, a Wesleyan degree will help you. Then again, a Carleton degree probably would, too. But as WesKid said, don’t discount film at Wes. A degree in film from Wesleyan is actually about as good a bet at success as anything; the Wes film alum network is rumored to be extremely helpful.</p>
<p>Also, I think the reputation is slightly off. While Wesleyan definitely has a little more of an urban/hip/LA-NYC kind of feel, possibly from its proximity to New York City, making it a bit less outdoorsy/preppy/New-Englandy than a lot of top LACs, the hipster thing doesn’t pervade the campus. Maybe the campus music scene, but to fair, the somewhat hipster popular Wesleyan bands are actually pretty good (MGMT has gotten pretty big, and Boy Crisis and Bear Hands and Red Wire Black Wire are on their way up). But seriously, the campus is much more diverse than that; that vibe tends to be focused around Eclectic (a literary society). Overall, there’s certainly a liberal atmosphere, but it’s not overly artsy.</p>
<p>In fact, there’s a huge science contingent. Of liberal arts schools, we have one of the best (possibly the best?) scenes for undergraduate science research. It doesn’t sound like that’s what you’re interested in, but I’m just saying, Wesleyan is not all “artsy.” And we do have some truly top-notch academics, in everything from econ to math to sociology to molecular biology & biochemistry to film to Russian lit; we just know how to have fun and maybe (hopefully) help the world a little bit on the side. In general, I think people at Wes are pretty laidback, too.</p>
<p>Oh. And one thing I hate to be honest about: reputation. Wesleyan has a great reputation among a lot of people who matter (for example, admission committees at pretty much all grad schools ever) but not necessarily the general populace (including some prospective employers), even in the Northeast (it gets confused with Wellesley constantly). Like I said, for people who know it, they know it’s a great school. But a lot of people haven’t heard of it.</p>