Hamilton or Wesleyan?

[Anonymous]

WAS>Pomona/Wes>Bowdoin>Middlebury>the others

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WAS>Pomona/Wes>Bowdoin>Middlebury>the others

WASP is together. Pomona is more competitive and more sought after than literally all the other schools. Not sure why people keep on trying to separate the same schools with different skins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WAS>Pomona/Wes>Bowdoin>Middlebury>the others

WASP is together. Pomona is more competitive and more sought after than literally all the other schools. Not sure why people keep on trying to separate the same schools with different skins.

It’s a boomer. No student today thinks Wes>Bowdoin or that Wes is analogous to WASP. Wes dropped quite a few years ago and DCUM has barely caught up to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WAS>Pomona/Wes>Bowdoin>Middlebury>the others

Wesleyan is at the bottom of all those schools. It’s great if you have a theatre kid, but people with genuine careers will do better at any other LAC.

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain what’s with the historic eliteness to Wesleyan? There’s not a single standout program there that clarifies to me why everyone is riding on its past prestige? Every other top LAC has easily identifiable academic programs that make them well known, but Wesleyan just…doesn’t?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:colgate = wesleyan > middlebury = hamilton

i am a boomer and I am very involved in my firm’s new grad hiring - these schools and their reputations are often discussed in open forums. If Wesleyan’s better days are in the past, there are still old folks like me in positions that matter that still view wes and colgate as a significant tier higher than middlebury and hamilton. and as another poster said, not even close

And I knew immediately you were a boomer from this ranking. Middlebury places way better than all these other colleges. Middlebury is up with Williams, CMC, and Amherst placement

Midd is a fine school, better than Colgate and Hamilton in my book, but in no way a peer of Williams and Amherst, and just tiny bit lower than Wesleyan, and Bowdoin for that matter.

I think perhaps this poster was talking about placement in finance/Wall Street, in which case their statement is correct. Middlebury, Williams, and CMC are the top small colleges for jobs in finance. Search around this forum for several rankings/analyses that demonstrate this. Also note the absence of Bucknell in these ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WAS>Pomona/Wes>Bowdoin>Middlebury>the others

WASP is together. Pomona is more competitive and more sought after than literally all the other schools. Not sure why people keep on trying to separate the same schools with different skins.

It’s a boomer. No student today thinks Wes>Bowdoin or that Wes is analogous to WASP. Wes dropped quite a few years ago and DCUM has barely caught up to it.

+1, current students apply more to Wes because it’s an easier admit. The other colleges are basically lottery admission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what’s with the historic eliteness to Wesleyan? There’s not a single standout program there that clarifies to me why everyone is riding on its past prestige? Every other top LAC has easily identifiable academic programs that make them well known, but Wesleyan just…doesn’t?

Wesleyan has historically had a very strong science program as compared to other SLACs, and still does. That is because it is larger than other SLACs, grants PhDs in the sciences, and has excellent science facilities, giving undergraduate science majors many more opportunities than are available at the smaller LACs.

It provides great support for kids who want to get MDs or PhDs. At one point in my department in a top 3 medical school we had a senior faculty member, a junior faculty member (me), and 2 residents who had graduated from Wes.

I’ve rarely meet faculty members or trainees (resident or fellow) from other SLACs, but Wes alumni of all ages are all over the place in medicine.

If you aren’t in science or medicine then you might not be aware, but this is truly a “standout area” for Wesleyan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what’s with the historic eliteness to Wesleyan? There’s not a single standout program there that clarifies to me why everyone is riding on its past prestige? Every other top LAC has easily identifiable academic programs that make them well known, but Wesleyan just…doesn’t?

Wesleyan has historically had a very strong science program as compared to other SLACs, and still does. That is because it is larger than other SLACs, grants PhDs in the sciences, and has excellent science facilities, giving undergraduate science majors many more opportunities than are available at the smaller LACs.

It provides great support for kids who want to get MDs or PhDs. At one point in my department in a top 3 medical school we had a senior faculty member, a junior faculty member (me), and 2 residents who had graduated from Wes.

I’ve rarely meet faculty members or trainees (resident or fellow) from other SLACs, but Wes alumni of all ages are all over the place in medicine.

If you aren’t in science or medicine then you might not be aware, but this is truly a “standout area” for Wesleyan.

Don’t forget the theater program. Lin Manuel Miranda, Bradley Whitford, Beanie Feldstein, etc. Even though theater isn’t the reason most kids apply to Wes, I think it’s a big part of what makes it famous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what’s with the historic eliteness to Wesleyan? There’s not a single standout program there that clarifies to me why everyone is riding on its past prestige? Every other top LAC has easily identifiable academic programs that make them well known, but Wesleyan just…doesn’t?

Wesleyan has historically had a very strong science program as compared to other SLACs, and still does. That is because it is larger than other SLACs, grants PhDs in the sciences, and has excellent science facilities, giving undergraduate science majors many more opportunities than are available at the smaller LACs.

It provides great support for kids who want to get MDs or PhDs. At one point in my department in a top 3 medical school we had a senior faculty member, a junior faculty member (me), and 2 residents who had graduated from Wes.

I’ve rarely meet faculty members or trainees (resident or fellow) from other SLACs, but Wes alumni of all ages are all over the place in medicine.

If you aren’t in science or medicine then you might not be aware, but this is truly a “standout area” for Wesleyan.

This is where my ?s form. Wes isn’t a top 20 grad feeder for any of the sciences, and I was being generous and tried to include CS, Psych, and Math just in case I missed something. It isn’t even in the top 40 for almost any of those. It also isn’t unique in its premed matriculation- all of WASP and most top 20 LACs have a better med school acceptance rate with a very similar amount of students applying to med school (Wesleyan is around 50 applicants per year, and most WASP schools are a similar number, Amherst has a higher applicant total and acceptance rate).

Lastly, I work in the sciences. I’ve been to various national conferences and do work in Optics. Wesleyan grads are nowhere interesting to be found or anywhere more common than other grads. I’ve frankly met way more people from Williams, Pomona, and Mudd than the 2-3 Wesleyan grads I can recall.

I’m more convinced that Wesleyan had a bit of an overstated reputation due to its “Little Three” affiliation and hasn’t really found its bearing in a program or outcome that’s unique. Reminds me a lot of Haverford, which has a similar history of being compared to the top lacs (it was seen in a similar light to how swarthmore is today) but hasn’t rediscovered or realigned its strengths with the times.

[Anonymous]

This is from the Wall Stret Journal. Sorry for the paywall: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/top-colleges-high-paying-careers-finance-tech-consulting-d1c22601?st=QmupKt&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Wesleyan is at #20 in this section of the ranking: Top 20 Private Colleges for Finance Salaries.

They’ve had a historically strong Econ department.

[Anonymous]

Wesleyan has been very aware of its changing perception and its national reputation. Id ask anyone interested to read their strategic vision:https://www.wesleyan.edu/beyond2020/original_wesleyan_2020.html. The school certainly suffers to peers due to its small endowment with a graduate student population. If it went guns blazing, and sold itself as a lac with graduate research opportunities, it’d get much further these days. Kids crave research and it’s what all the LACs have been talking about for at least the past decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what’s with the historic eliteness to Wesleyan? There’s not a single standout program there that clarifies to me why everyone is riding on its past prestige? Every other top LAC has easily identifiable academic programs that make them well known, but Wesleyan just…doesn’t?

Wesleyan has historically had a very strong science program as compared to other SLACs, and still does. That is because it is larger than other SLACs, grants PhDs in the sciences, and has excellent science facilities, giving undergraduate science majors many more opportunities than are available at the smaller LACs.

It provides great support for kids who want to get MDs or PhDs. At one point in my department in a top 3 medical school we had a senior faculty member, a junior faculty member (me), and 2 residents who had graduated from Wes.

I’ve rarely meet faculty members or trainees (resident or fellow) from other SLACs, but Wes alumni of all ages are all over the place in medicine.

If you aren’t in science or medicine then you might not be aware, but this is truly a “standout area” for Wesleyan.

This is where my ?s form. Wes isn’t a top 20 grad feeder for any of the sciences, and I was being generous and tried to include CS, Psych, and Math just in case I missed something. It isn’t even in the top 40 for almost any of those. It also isn’t unique in its premed matriculation- all of WASP and most top 20 LACs have a better med school acceptance rate with a very similar amount of students applying to med school (Wesleyan is around 50 applicants per year, and most WASP schools are a similar number, Amherst has a higher applicant total and acceptance rate).

Lastly, I work in the sciences. I’ve been to various national conferences and do work in Optics. Wesleyan grads are nowhere interesting to be found or anywhere more common than other grads. I’ve frankly met way more people from Williams, Pomona, and Mudd than the 2-3 Wesleyan grads I can recall.

I’m more convinced that Wesleyan had a bit of an overstated reputation due to its “Little Three” affiliation and hasn’t really found its bearing in a program or outcome that’s unique. Reminds me a lot of Haverford, which has a similar history of being compared to the top lacs (it was seen in a similar light to how swarthmore is today) but hasn’t rediscovered or realigned its strengths with the times.

+10, Wesleyan has not been a household slam dunk WASP peer for decades. It really isn’t much different to Hamilton now, may be worse.

[Anonymous]

Wes is probably a tier above hamilton and just below the tier under WASP. Hamilton is a tier above Wes for creative writing.

[Anonymous]

OMG you are all ridiculous. Consider yourselves very lucky if your kid gets into either school.