Why don't more kids want Wesleyan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan is very progressive-liberal. You really have to want this kind of intolerance-in-the-name-of-tolerance mindset to be happy there.

I have noticed among my kids' peers, there has been a dramatic decline of interest in the LACs among boys and even many girls who just want a non-political environment to study and have fun for four years. It's unfortunate but the schools have themselves to blame.

This is spot on accurate. Kids are exhausted with the political climate and it's wrecking their mental health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan is very progressive-liberal. You really have to want this kind of intolerance-in-the-name-of-tolerance mindset to be happy there.

I have noticed among my kids' peers, there has been a dramatic decline of interest in the LACs among boys and even many girls who just want a non-political environment to study and have fun for four years. It's unfortunate but the schools have themselves to blame.

I think just the opposite: you "have to want this kind of intolerance-in-the-name-of-tolerance" to cross schools like Wesleyan off your list out of fear of them. It's a complete fantasy, so only people who really want to believe in it will find it a problem.

I don’t so. It sounds awful if you are not super lefty.

Wesleyan Is Too Liberal For Our Own Good: Why Shutting Out Conservatism Is Detrimental to Our Education

https://wesleyanargus.com/2024/02/05/wesleyan-is-too-liberal-for-our-own-good-why-shutting-out-conservatism-is-detrimental-to-our-education/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, the title of this thread is "Why don't more kids want Wesleyan?" I won't go into all the details, but I'll tell you that if you look through other threads, talk to alums, and look at online surveys, you'll find that my kid is not the only one with this impression. Not fed by me. Of course different kids have different experiences and move in different crowds. I like the school and we know multiple happy kids there. I'm answering OP's question and giving one data point based our DD's visit and her conversations with many current students. If you'd like a thread where no ill is spoken of impressions of the school by prospective students, feel free to start one!

“Drugs permeate daily life” is pretty specific—and it’s just not true. And, honestly, “look through other threads” is pretty hilarious as a source of evidence. “I’m making an unfounded assertion based on other unfounded assertions I found on this anonymous forum known for unfounded assertions!” LOL.

Now, if you had said, “my daughter doesn’t like weed,” maybe you’d have something—it’s certainly true that weed is as prevalent as alcohol at Wes, so if your daughter is looking for keggers and doesn’t want to see marijuana use at parties, Wes absolutely would not be for her. I’m guessing that this is true of most schools now, but my current direct knowledge is only of Wes, so I won’t make any assertions based on second- and third-hand internet rumors.

[Anonymous]

Well, to be fair, I also mentioned online surveys and other methods. Here's just one of several that suggest that weed use, in particular, is more widespread at Wesleyan than at other top LAC's. Straight from recent student surveys ("Note: No ranking list reflects The Princeton Review's opinion of (or rating of) the colleges. A college's appearance on a ranking list in the book is entirely the result of what its own students surveyed by The Princeton Review reported about their campus experiences as well as how they rated various aspects of their college life."

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=reefer-madness

[Anonymous]

Wes has long been known as a druggie school.

[Anonymous]

people are so embarrassing. this has the opposite impact she wishes it would.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both pomona and wes aren't all that impressive when it comes to academic horsepower of their students

Pomona has 1766 undergrads
436 freshman
155 freshman submitted sat
only 116 have sat above 1500

Wes has 3805 undergrads
824 freshman
335 freshman submitted an sat
only 83 have above 1500

Have you done this analysis for other colleges? I’d be interested to see you post it for all of the Top100 or so.

Are people really looking at what percentage of students have an SAT higher than X before committing? What a weird grinder/striver mentality.

My high performing DC wants to be around others like them. If you had a 1590 first sitting SAT as a sophomore, linear algebra as a soph you too would understand.

[Anonymous]

The little three is dead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The little three is dead

No one cares. Why do you keep posting about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan is very progressive-liberal. You really have to want this kind of intolerance-in-the-name-of-tolerance mindset to be happy there.

I have noticed among my kids' peers, there has been a dramatic decline of interest in the LACs among boys and even many girls who just want a non-political environment to study and have fun for four years. It's unfortunate but the schools have themselves to blame.

I think just the opposite: you "have to want this kind of intolerance-in-the-name-of-tolerance" to cross schools like Wesleyan off your list out of fear of them. It's a complete fantasy, so only people who really want to believe in it will find it a problem.

I went to Brown in the 1990s and even back then we made fun of Wesleyan for being so open minded that their brains fell out. The 1990s were a relaxed decade in contrast to today's world but there was still a hard-core intolerant left, mostly butts of campus jokes among us regular liberals. Wesleyan seemed to have a stronger political correct and activist vibe compared to even Brown, and plenty of kids interested in Wesleyan were also interested in schools like Hampshire or Oberlin rather than Bowdoin or Amherst, which were preppier. I don't think most Wesleyan students were like the cliched stereotypes but stereotypes exist for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Wesleyan was on metro north, it would be much more highly desired.

Seriously, even bridgeport would be better than being in middletown.

Ideally wesleyan would be in norwalk or stamford.

Agree that if Wesleyan had better access to public transport, it would be more people's #1. But disagree about Middeltown being terrible. It really isn't. Have you been? There's a sad strip mall area outside of town that you pass on your way in, but that's not Middletown proper. The town itself has a pleasant downtown and some nice restaurants, all walkable from campus. I think people just drive through the strip mall bit and assume that's all there is.

It's a pretty nice place, but Yale is very lucky that it's so easy to get to New York. Really, Wesleyan should lobby something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone want to go to a college the size of a high school.

Just as your intellectual capacity increases and you can see this progression: day cares tend to be very small, elementary a little bigger, middle schools much bigger and high schools are even more so. Why do you then suddenly want to be among less number of students?

Massive high schools suck though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The little three is dead

Wesleyan is more likely to be described as a Little Ivy these days, along with several other schools. This is from a recent Forbes article:

"Many of the so-called Little Ivies are on this list, including Williams College in Massachusetts, which cracked the overall ranking’s top 10 for the first time this year, as well as Bowdoin College in Maine, Hamilton College in New York and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. . . .

"Little Ivy Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. . . . ."

https://share.google/Rh9aLTvSxFeQiUjDq

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, to be fair, I also mentioned online surveys and other methods. Here's just one of several that suggest that weed use, in particular, is more widespread at Wesleyan than at other top LAC's. Straight from recent student surveys ("Note: No ranking list reflects The Princeton Review's opinion of (or rating of) the colleges. A college's appearance on a ranking list in the book is entirely the result of what its own students surveyed by The Princeton Review reported about their campus experiences as well as how they rated various aspects of their college life."

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=reefer-madness

True but Skidmore, Reed and Pitzer are all far above Wesleyan in the top ten of this survey poll on "reefer madness". Wes wasn't #1, top 5 or even top 10 just to put in perspective.