Looking beyond the stately brownstone buildings and well-manicured lawns, students observe that a strong sense of activism and open-mindedness pervades Wesleyan University‘s campus. This is a place that “pushes you to think critically about yourself and about the world,” says 2016 grad Bulelani Jili, from South Africa, a College of Social Studies major.
That spirit of critical inquiry has been a core university value since its founding in 1831, when its first president, Methodist educator Willbur Fisk, declared the goal of its teachings to focus on “the good of the individual educated and the good of the world.” Wesleyan no longer maintains a religious affiliation.
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Today most undergraduates live on the university’s 316-acre campus, set on a hill overlooking Middletown, a city of about 48,000 along the Connecticut River. With about 2,800 undergraduates, the community is close-knit but not excessively so. “I know everyone’s face, but I don’t know everything about everyone,” says senior Courtney Laermer, a biology and government major from Princeton Junction, New Jersey.
Students live in a mix of dorms, apartments and themed houses such as the Women of Color House or Art House. Seniors typically move to the coveted wood-frame houses on the southern part of campus.
Just over 1 in 5 of those who apply are admitted. In 2014-15, Wesleyan stopped requiring most applicants to submit SAT and ACT scores, and nearly a third of those who joined the Class of 2019 didn’t. More than 90 percent of students come from outside Connecticut, and about a third are students of color.
“Different groups mix and match very well,” says Henry Martellier Jr., a sophomore from Brooklyn, New York, who is interested in mathematics and economics.
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Students appreciate the 8-to-1 student-faculty ratio and the close relationships that can develop with professors, though doing so “still requires a certain amount of initiative,” says junior Henry Prine, an American studies major from Burlington, Vermont.
The university offers 45 undergraduate majors, along with a handful of master’s and doctoral programs. The open curriculum means that students only need to complete classes required by their major, though the school encourages them to fulfill certain general education courses in math and the sciences, arts and humanities, and social and behavioral sciences. Undergrads can enroll in student forums, small, for-credit courses taught by their peers, on topics like mass incarceration or food justice and sustainability.
Most agree academics are rigorous, but the environment isn’t cutthroat. To relax, undergrads can catch a show from the student-run theater group Second Stage or see movies put on by the Wesleyan Film Series, which is affiliated with the university’s film studies program. The outing club organizes camping, hiking and other trips throughout the region. In the winter, many students enjoy sledding down Foss Hill near the center of campus.
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Some students say Wesleyan can at times feel a bit insular, while others wish it had more diversity. But typically “when there are problems, there’s a lot of organizing and activism to change them,” Prine says.
Indeed, students are passionate about politics and social issues. Undergrads can get involved in a range of local and global volunteer activities through the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships. And the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship offers grants for enterprising students and alumni who develop businesses and ideas that help others.
Working with the Patricelli Center, sophomore computer science major Alvin Chitena recently founded Zim Code, which works to engage disadvantaged young people in computer programming in his native Zimbabwe. Here, he says, “if you have an idea, you always have someone you can talk to.”
Connecticut College Road Trip:
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Colleges 2017” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
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Connecticut College Road Trip: Wesleyan University originally appeared on usnews.com
