Wesleyan vs Lafayette

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neither? WASP+Bowdoin +Middlebury are really the only decent lacs

I'd add Bucknell.

No one else would. It isn’t a prestigious liberal arts college and is in a dump of a town. Maybe great for rich white kids with daddy’s money

[Anonymous]

Both are ivy league, rich prep rejects. So it doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Lafayette is more pre-professional than Wesleyan. Wesleyan is a more “out there” liberal arts-focused place with more over the top rich folks. There is plenty of wealth at Lafayette too, but Daddy is more likely to be a C-suite exec or business owner instead of an entertainment industry professional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lafayette is more pre-professional than Wesleyan. Wesleyan is a more “out there” liberal arts-focused place with more over the top rich folks. There is plenty of wealth at Lafayette too, but Daddy is more likely to be a C-suite exec or business owner instead of an entertainment industry professional.

I think you got it backwards. The wealthy c suite execs are the ones with the capital to send their kids to Wesleyan to get arts degrees.

[Anonymous]

Wesleyan is a great school, despite the fact that kids there skew heavily to the wealthy/private school demographic. This is in part due to the low endowment, which forces Wesleyan to pick up lots of full-pay kids, etc. But it's a very good school and has a strong reputation in my field at least, and in my wife's (I'm an academic in the humanities, she is a writer). I think the demographics there obscure to some extent how good the school is, if that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan is a great school, despite the fact that kids there skew heavily to the wealthy/private school demographic. This is in part due to the low endowment, which forces Wesleyan to pick up lots of full-pay kids, etc. But it's a very good school and has a strong reputation in my field at least, and in my wife's (I'm an academic in the humanities, she is a writer). I think the demographics there obscure to some extent how good the school is, if that makes sense.

Are we talking about the same institution with a $1.7 billion endowment for just 3,000 students? They keep the high private school/ wealthy crowd out of greed, not necessity

[Anonymous]

DD is considering Lafayette. I keep reading it’s a little fratty/bro-y, but what are the female students like?

DD is super into sports, both playing and watching. She’s academically interested in history and policy/politics/government. Leans progressive but is not at all political or activist in personality. (Steering clear of schools that attract a protest-oriented student body.)

Oh, and she grew up in a suburb of a small, down to earth, midwestern city. Excellent public school with lots of rigor, but no experience with the more elite/sophisticated NYC/DC crowd.

Open to hearing about the female student body at Wesleyan, too. Our hunch is it’s not a fit, but that’s just a guess at this point.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of legitimate reasons like school culture, specific opportunities, or major why you might prefer one over the other. But when you ask a broad question like "better," it's hard not to go to the basic stats.

Wesleyan is much more selective (under 20%) than Lafayette (over 30%) and has a more high-performing applicant pool.

Use CDS to compare the number of students who submit scores to see how different the populations are:

Wesleyan enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1300-1500 with roughly 71% of them submitting scores.

Lafayette enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1350-1470 with roughly 45% of them submitting scores.

"Better" is really about fit and is very subjective. But reputationwise, selectivity, performance of applicants, Wesleyan is definitely a cut above Lafayette.

[Anonymous]

They both are in blue collars cities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of legitimate reasons like school culture, specific opportunities, or major why you might prefer one over the other. But when you ask a broad question like "better," it's hard not to go to the basic stats.

Wesleyan is much more selective (under 20%) than Lafayette (over 30%) and has a more high-performing applicant pool.

Use CDS to compare the number of students who submit scores to see how different the populations are:

Wesleyan enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1300-1500 with roughly 71% of them submitting scores.

Lafayette enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1350-1470 with roughly 45% of them submitting scores.

"Better" is really about fit and is very subjective. But reputationwise, selectivity, performance of applicants, Wesleyan is definitely a cut above Lafayette.

In the grand scheme of things, and especially using the SAT score metric, these schools are about the same.

"This school is 1300-1500 and that school is 1350-1470, so obviously the former is definitely a cut above the latter." Puhleaze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is considering Lafayette. I keep reading it’s a little fratty/bro-y, but what are the female students like?

DD is super into sports, both playing and watching. She’s academically interested in history and policy/politics/government. Leans progressive but is not at all political or activist in personality. (Steering clear of schools that attract a protest-oriented student body.)

Oh, and she grew up in a suburb of a small, down to earth, midwestern city. Excellent public school with lots of rigor, but no experience with the more elite/sophisticated NYC/DC crowd.

Open to hearing about the female student body at Wesleyan, too. Our hunch is it’s not a fit, but that’s just a guess at this point.

DD sounds more like Lafeyette than Wesleyan. There are a lot more blue-haired activist weirdo types at Wes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of legitimate reasons like school culture, specific opportunities, or major why you might prefer one over the other. But when you ask a broad question like "better," it's hard not to go to the basic stats.

Wesleyan is much more selective (under 20%) than Lafayette (over 30%) and has a more high-performing applicant pool.

Use CDS to compare the number of students who submit scores to see how different the populations are:

Wesleyan enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1300-1500 with roughly 71% of them submitting scores.

Lafayette enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1350-1470 with roughly 45% of them submitting scores.

"Better" is really about fit and is very subjective. But reputationwise, selectivity, performance of applicants, Wesleyan is definitely a cut above Lafayette.

In the grand scheme of things, and especially using the SAT score metric, these schools are about the same.

"This school is 1300-1500 and that school is 1350-1470, so obviously the former is definitely a cut above the latter." Puhleaze.

My point was that though the scores look the similar, the difference in the number submitting is huge. I have no skin in the game but I work in academia and reputation of the students at each school is quite different and these stats back it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of legitimate reasons like school culture, specific opportunities, or major why you might prefer one over the other. But when you ask a broad question like "better," it's hard not to go to the basic stats.

Wesleyan is much more selective (under 20%) than Lafayette (over 30%) and has a more high-performing applicant pool.

Use CDS to compare the number of students who submit scores to see how different the populations are:

Wesleyan enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1300-1500 with roughly 71% of them submitting scores.

Lafayette enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1350-1470 with roughly 45% of them submitting scores.

"Better" is really about fit and is very subjective. But reputationwise, selectivity, performance of applicants, Wesleyan is definitely a cut above Lafayette.

In the grand scheme of things, and especially using the SAT score metric, these schools are about the same.

"This school is 1300-1500 and that school is 1350-1470, so obviously the former is definitely a cut above the latter." Puhleaze.

My point was that though the scores look the similar, the difference in the number submitting is huge. I have no skin in the game but I work in academia and reputation of the students at each school is quite different and these stats back it up.

as an academic, how are the lacs viewed? Like is there differences in WASP versus Bowdoin/Middlebury/Hamilton versus these schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of legitimate reasons like school culture, specific opportunities, or major why you might prefer one over the other. But when you ask a broad question like "better," it's hard not to go to the basic stats.

Wesleyan is much more selective (under 20%) than Lafayette (over 30%) and has a more high-performing applicant pool.

Use CDS to compare the number of students who submit scores to see how different the populations are:

Wesleyan enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1300-1500 with roughly 71% of them submitting scores.

Lafayette enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1350-1470 with roughly 45% of them submitting scores.

"Better" is really about fit and is very subjective. But reputationwise, selectivity, performance of applicants, Wesleyan is definitely a cut above Lafayette.

In the grand scheme of things, and especially using the SAT score metric, these schools are about the same.

"This school is 1300-1500 and that school is 1350-1470, so obviously the former is definitely a cut above the latter." Puhleaze.

My point was that though the scores look the similar, the difference in the number submitting is huge. I have no skin in the game but I work in academia and reputation of the students at each school is quite different and these stats back it up.

as an academic, how are the lacs viewed? Like is there differences in WASP versus Bowdoin/Middlebury/Hamilton versus these schools?

DP. The differences are minimal. WASP students on average will have marginally better stats and marginally better outcomes, strong emphasis on "marginally." But the differences between these schools is very small. If you cloned the same high-achieving student and simultaneously sent him to one WASP school and one of the aforementioned schools, I'm pretty sure the kid would have the same life.

Incidentally, for all the talk of Wes being a rich kids' school, its financial aid is phenomenal and punches far above its weight. For us, Wes's FA was better than Yale, Dartmouth, Penn, and Bowdoin. My DS, however, chose a WASP school with an equivalent FA package lest people think I'm biased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of legitimate reasons like school culture, specific opportunities, or major why you might prefer one over the other. But when you ask a broad question like "better," it's hard not to go to the basic stats.

Wesleyan is much more selective (under 20%) than Lafayette (over 30%) and has a more high-performing applicant pool.

Use CDS to compare the number of students who submit scores to see how different the populations are:

Wesleyan enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1300-1500 with roughly 71% of them submitting scores.

Lafayette enrolled first-year SATs (25th%-75th%) are: 1350-1470 with roughly 45% of them submitting scores.

"Better" is really about fit and is very subjective. But reputationwise, selectivity, performance of applicants, Wesleyan is definitely a cut above Lafayette.

In the grand scheme of things, and especially using the SAT score metric, these schools are about the same.

"This school is 1300-1500 and that school is 1350-1470, so obviously the former is definitely a cut above the latter." Puhleaze.

My point was that though the scores look the similar, the difference in the number submitting is huge. I have no skin in the game but I work in academia and reputation of the students at each school is quite different and these stats back it up.

as an academic, how are the lacs viewed? Like is there differences in WASP versus Bowdoin/Middlebury/Hamilton versus these schools?

DP. The differences are minimal. WASP students on average will have marginally better stats and marginally better outcomes, strong emphasis on "marginally." But the differences between these schools is very small. If you cloned the same high-achieving student and simultaneously sent him to one WASP school and one of the aforementioned schools, I'm pretty sure the kid would have the same life.

Incidentally, for all the talk of Wes being a rich kids' school, its financial aid is phenomenal and punches far above its weight. For us, Wes's FA was better than Yale, Dartmouth, Penn, and Bowdoin. My DS, however, chose a WASP school with an equivalent FA package lest people think I'm biased.

So interesting! I don’t have a lot of exposure to lacs, so it’s kinda repeated on this forum that
Williams> amherst, swarthmore>>> Pomona. Interesting to see that it doesn’t even matter to “lower tier” lacs!