StudentsReview :: Wellesley College - Extra Detail about the Comment
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Wellesley College

How this student rated the school
Educational QualityA- Faculty AccessibilityA
Useful SchoolworkA+ Excess CompetitionD+
Academic SuccessB+ Creativity/ InnovationC-
Individual ValueB+ University Resource UseA
Campus Aesthetics/ BeautyA+ FriendlinessB-
Campus MaintenanceB Social LifeD
Surrounding CityF Extra CurricularsB+
SafetyA
Describes the student body as:
Friendly, Arrogant

Describes the faculty as:
Friendly, Helpful, Arrogant

Female
ACT:28
id='quarter' class='snapshot' style='color: #001397; line-height:80px';float:left;
SAT1480
Bright
Lowest Rating
Surrounding City
F
Highest Rating
Useful Schoolwork
A+
She cares more about Surrounding City than the average student.
Date: Oct 24 2009
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
Wellesley was a fantastic experience for me; however, I wish I'd done some things differently, and I was poorly served by their advising system. If you are organized, able to understand and articulate your academic needs, are good at navigating systems, and are willing to forgo the "typical" college experience of parties, sports, free time, and frats, this school is for you. If you want to become an all-powerful, high-achieving doctor, lawyer, or businesswoman, you will fit well here. If you're a little strange, a little introverted, and a little off-kilter, you may find your niche in the sciences, but not anywhere else.

I

fell through the cracks
with the advisor system. Perhaps they've changed it, but when I attended, first years chose an advisor after their first semester, out of only four professors they'd had, which wasn't a very well-designed system.

I almost failed math and chemistry, and I don't remember anyone being very concerned about this, despite assertions about how "supportive" the college is. I would have benefited greatly from an advisor who said to me as a first year "you need to go to tutoring, do this, do this, make sure this is signed, enroll in this type of class…" because coming from a chaotic high school larger than Wellesley, I had learned to avoid any administration, and I really had no idea that I was supposed to ask for help.

Most of the faculty are wonderful, approachable, and are there because they genuinely want to teach. The only professor I encountered who was not like that was Patrick McEwan in the Economics department. He was my "advisor," because he was the only professor with whom I'd taken an econ class at that point. I'm naming him here because when I went to him to ask for a recommendation to study abroad on the Spain Program, he said, "Well, you don't have much to recommend you as a student, but I think everyone should have the chance to go abroad, so I'll sign it." I left crying, and again, didn't report it because I didn't realize that professors weren't supposed to insult students. I found him generally arrogant and unhelpful, and saw him only twice thereafter, when I needed some forms signed so I could graduate. I've heard similar experiences from my friends, as well as some rumors our year about serious impropriety on his part.

My friends had spectacular experiences with their advisors, including one whose thesis advisor invited her to go to a shooting range.

The reviews are right about a social life; Wellesley is a dead and silent place after 8pm on a Saturday night. I was one of those who spent the weekends in the library, or in the common room studying with my friends; but during the winter, you don't want to leave the dorm anyway. If you join clubs, societies, or sports teams, you'll have friends. If you are set on partying and debauchery, there's a regular contingent of girls who go party in Boston and are familiar with all the frats.

The dorms are a mixed bag; some on the edge of campus were built in the early 1960s, and are horrible, dark, soulless, poorly-designed boxes with wall-to-wall carpeting, while others are beautiful victorian buildings with hardwood floors. Make sure to ask to see the "New Dorms" on the tour.

I wish you luck reading this, and urge you to think through the decision. Although I think going to a womens' college was generally wonderful, I do feel I missed something by not having boys around.

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