Wellesley College

Date: Jul 08 2005
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)

Recently, I have been accepted and decided to attend Wellesley College. I had orginially applied to eleven schools, unnecessarily over-worried that I would not be accepted anywhere. Luckily for me, I was not as crazy on my transcripts as I seemed - I got accepted to ten of my schools and at my eleventh school, I was waitlisted. It could have been much worse, I suppose, and so I found myself trying to figure out of my top four choice - Dartmouth, Smith, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and Wellesley- which would I see myself commiting to for possibly the four most important years of my life.

An all-girls school was, I admit, at first a significant drawback of Smith and Wellesley and then I discovered other things about them that I loved. Forgive me, but we all know that coed or male dorms just don't compare when compared to female dorms. Now, take any dorm you would ever move into on campus into all-female dorm? Who wouldn't love that? Smith's housing plan - really, a housing, rather than dorm community- was a great reprieve. However, when I thought of my academics the top three were Michigan, Dartmouth, and Wellesley. I also realized that I come from a small, rural, Southern town and so the biggest adjustment would be to go either west or midwest.

I not only did not recieve enough financial aid from michigan but realized that going to michigan - and with all the other things important to me (medium-sized, more liberal-arsty, undergrad attention, and over-all atmosphere) - just wouldn't make me happy; I am not a small fish in a big pond, I'm not even a small fish in a small pond. I wanted to be comfortable - able to branch out and see new people, but not so overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude and size of my campus and surrondings and new classmates that I couldn't get it together. So, finally, the showdown.

The Ivy calling was never my big calling card for Dartmouth. I actually had a strong attachment to it for other reasons. I had gone to Dartmouth to visit for a few days, met some amazing and funny and talented and outgoing people, ate some of the best dorm food I ever have (some of the best food, in fact, in particular a delicious sandwich called the New England Gobbler which I attempted to remake in my own home on several occasions),and I ended up having one of the most amazing experience of my life and I visited it well before Wellesley.

Wellesley seemed to be by far the runner-up and without much of a chance for being picked. However, during the Spring Open Campus, I just made a connection with the smart, intelligent women at Wellesley, the gorgeous campus surrondings (it is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen), the abundant oppurtunities later on I would have (fantastic study abroad, exchange programs, cross-registration, and intershps as well as, most importantly

the [alumna] network

), the vast resources for fun and games, wide variety of clubs and organizations, the caring and impressive faculty, the quaint and clean dorms, the community spirit of the campus,the charming campus traditions, and the proximity of Boston won me clearly over.

I later found out I could spend a semester or year up at Dartmouth through a Wellesley exchange program to get a feel for the experience I might have thought I'd be missing by not going, as well as the chance to meet up with my Dartmouth buddies and compare and contrast and grow and consort! I got the best of both worlds, with a little icing on my side. I learned to compromise, open my mind even after incredible experiences, to meet new people and expand out, to learn to narrow down broad choices, and to have fun.

Don't stress out during the college visit and college looking/selecting process. You must choose schools that you will think will make you happy and have what you want and can bring something to you as well as some place that you really think you can contribute to. I truly don't regret my decision and I hope that if you are an intelligent, hard-working, motivated, and fun-loving young woman you should honestly and seriously consider Wellesley.

No. There are no boys. But sometimes Wellesley women date men. If they want to. Because they know what they are attending Wellesley for and they know that anything they want - a high paying job, a decent living, studying latin american studies, researching gandhian principles in India, reading poetry in Paris, or getting and marrying the cute Babson guy along with 2.6 kids and a white picket fence right after college - is within their reach and whatever they do with what they leave Wellesley with - a first-rate education, lasting friendships and mentors, a vast alumna networking connection, a degree, self-confidence, self-worth, appreciation, a sense of humor, skills, compassion for others, knowledge of books, cultures, and life lessons, and self-knowledge - they will truly make a difference in the world, somehow.