Wellesley College Top Questions

As Wellesley is a Liberal arts college, learning is mostly geared for its own sake. Of course Wellesley has the Center for Work and Service to help guide students with jobs and internships, but I feel that Wellesley requiring students take, for example, foreign language, math, science, multicultural class, etc. is a great way of learning about everything, and not just sticking to science courses if you plan to be a doctor or something. Wellesley is really competitive. The grading policy, of which I was not aware of until after I accepted Wellesley's offer to attend, also makes competition a little higher. (The grading policy states that the class average cannot be greater than a B+) Just about everyone is up at 2-3 in the morning studying or completing assignments or some other ridiculous hour. In particular, science majors, like me; science course are like a two courses in one- one lecture and one lab so it requires more time. Another thing I absolutely love- even as a first year- all my professors know me and my name. This is why I preferred going to a private school- smaller campus. Had I gone to a state school, I'm sure I would not be able to say that all my professors know my name. I've even gone to a professor's house for something not academic, I keep in touch with professors even if I am not taking any classes with them. It's great to have this kind of opportunity available to students.

Professors are usually really great. I'm undeclared, but most likely a history major, and I've found that the professors in that department in particular are really superb. Both classes I've taken have been taught by professors who were really eager to hear (and actually listen to) the opinions of students. Even though neither of the classes were technically conference style classes, they were both conducted that way. My Athenian democracy professor told me that he couldn't imagine why anyone would choose to do anything with their lives other than study ancient Greece and Rome. I thought it was absolutely incredible that he was so passionate about what he was teaching. That class was also great because a lot of the stuff we were learning was really groundbreaking, new information, some of which the professor had discovered himself. Students study A LOT. Literally, in any kind of common space you go, you will find people studying. Students are really competitive, although it's definitely possible to find people who are more relaxed. And classes actually DON'T have to be NEARLY as stressful as people make them out to be. They're challenging, sure, but not insane.

Academics at Wellesley is first-rate. All of my professors know me on a nick name basis, which really goes to show how personal the learning environment becomes. My favorite class this year was an American Politics class. My professor structured the course around the current presidential election and so we did most our learning from current New York Times articles. It was truly amazing to learn first hand. My least favorite classes have been as a result of new professors who don't really want to learn about their students. Class participation is probably the main way of learning- the girls in the classes are so smart- we really learn from each other. Professors are amazing- and most invite students to their houses for all sorts of events; my spanish teacher this semester invited us to her home for Cinco De Mayo- it was very important to her that we learned about that aspect of Spanish culture. Wellesley is definitely the place to be if you want an education.

All my professors learn my name. They're smart, interesting lecturers who know what it's like to be a student struggling to get by with mounting work loads and incorporate that into their lectures and assignments. Students can be crazy sometimes, super competitive, everyone wanting to prove they have the biggest workload and thus deserve the most praise and pity. But not everyone is like that, some people realize how much they don't like always comparing themselves to everyone else and try to avoid it. The education isn't geared toward a specific job like a business school or tech school, but the education we get prepares us well for graduate school and is broad which allows us to apply for any number of jobs that may or may not coincide with our major.

Profesors know my name, but don't know how to pronounce it, but I don't blame them! My favorite class so far was organismal biology. The professor was exclent and made the class more intersting by connecting what we learned to her area of expertise. One of my least favorite classes was a class on the history of art in China, Korea, and Japan. The professor had an impossible to understand accent and refused to write almost anything on the board. The material was also taught in a pretty boring way, so the only thing that kept me alert in class was the attempt to figure out what she was saying. Class participation is rather common, but for some professors getting students to participate is like pulling out teeth. The most unique class I've taken was introduction to enviornmental studies. There was one discussion session a week and one lab, where we went on field trips to places like the local recycling center and a LEED certified "green" building. I don't spend much time with professors outside class, except for a few review sessions and a short meeting to discuss grades. Wellesley has to many distribution requirements; I don't think it's necessary for students to take 3 classes in arts and literature, for example. The education at Wellesley is geared towards learning for its own sake.

I know all of my professors names and they know mine. Every member of the faculty is here because they love to teach and we are here because we love to learn. Professors welcome you into their offices and when you are a firstie it is frightening, but before you know it your poli sci professor is asking you if your sore throat is gone yet. It is an amazing environment to learn in.

Exremely rigorous. A's do not come easily in any shape or form. Wellesley academics shape you into an extremely well-rounded, intelligent and hard-working woman. As a result sevreal companies recruit on campus.

In a word: rigorous. Very. Wellesley is geared more towards homework, as opposed to class time, so while you spend less time in class than some schools, you do have to put in your hours doing homework. There are distribution requirements that have to be fulfilled, but that's normal for a school like Wellesley. The emphasis is in finding what you're interested in, not about finding a job. So if you're like me and don't really know what you want to spend your life doing, the distribution requirements don't really mean anything. All the professors hold office hours and they're very careful about them. If you go in, they'll be there. They greatly encourage students to go in and talk to them. It's the way they know that you're interested, or you're struggling. Every professor learns your name quickly because of the small class sizes. All the classes are small, which I didn't think would matter when I was picking a school, but it really does--especially the language classes.

Academics at wellesley are very much what they advertise. Small class sizes and personal attention is always granted if you approach the professor. They are always happy to help, well for the most part. Many students have outside the class room relationships (in the friendship sense) with many students. Classes and students are very competitive and stress out way too much. Most students study FAR TOO MUCH and should get out and do some good for their bodies. Some of the academic requirements are a bit much but nothing horrendous. Wellesley is place to go and LEARN, not get a job. People need to RELAX and know that the world will NOT come to an end if you don't do every single piece of reading a professor assigns. Two words: THAT GIRL.

The professors get to know everyone's name in the class. Most of the classes have less than 20 students. I was in a larger class (Greek Mythology) which had almost 50 students and our professor still learned almost everyone's name. It definitely helps that the students are encouraged to participate in the class so the professor is forced to call you by name at least a couple times in the semester. Students study all the time. There is always someone studying. Even on friday night when you just want to play your music and hang out with your friends, campus police will inevitably come knocking on your door telling you that there was a noise complaint from a student trying to study for an exam on monday. It can get ridiculous sometimes. But it just means that the students really care about their work. It also means that the students are super competitive though. But we're really competitive about stupid things, like who slept the least, who has the most exams and papers due in one week, and who has had the least amount of time for eating (not to mention who got an A on last weeks midterm). The most unique class I've ever taken was my Italian Women Directors class this semester. There is literally no other class like it in the U.S. Our professor brings in the e-mails she gets from people outside of Wellesley asking about the class and the syllabus (which is posted online).