Wellesley College Top Questions

Athletes definitely tend to stick together. They are the most carefree group of students. Non-athletes don't care about sports..... Guest speakers are always popular. Everyday there seems to be something going on. Everyone leaves campus to have fun. Whether is be a party are a different college or just to go hang out in Bosotn. There is no greek life. There are a few societies, which are basically sororities, even though they claim not to be.

Wellesley is very low on parties. They banned our biggest parties a few years back but now they have them- just really controlled. Most people go into Boston or Cambridge to party (again here's where the senate bus comes in). For boys there's MIT, Babson and Harvard. For girls you got all of Wellesley. My closest friends ended up being my floormates 1st year and people I met in orgs. If you're awake on a Tues, you're prob studying. If there's a boy on-campus with no girl attached to him- everyone will wonder why.

Tons of campus organizations to get involved in and continue to compete outside the classroom for who is more of an overachiever and going to take over the world. Students are involved and most social conflicts arise from these acitivities. Students don't leave their dorm doors open and like 5 people go to sports events. More go to guest lectures. Dating= non existent unless you have a boyfriend from high school, you're willing to settle for a huge loser, or you are gay. my closest friends and I met by living together and bonding over our misery and trying to make fun of the situation while making the best of it. I don't go out much but people do drink at frat parties at MIT and Harvard. I try to get off campus as much as possible but with classes and homework I usually crash friday nights and just watch a movie and pig out.

Social life at Wellesley can be lacking. One has to make a very special effort to have a social life off of campus. I have a very good time with my Wellesley friends, but it usually includes dinner and a movie. Very often we also have parties on campus, people who are "party people" can find a party on most weekends. In addition, Wellesley girls tend to spend a good amount of time at Harvard and MIT, at one frat or the other. Ive found it quite difficult to make Harvard and MIT friends, but others have found it easy. So I guess it depends. As far as activities and extracurriculars go, you can find something for any interest. Groups on campus are plenty. Im fairly active on campus, and I love it. Most people at Wellesley are involved in extracurriculars. Students at the dorms are very friendly. People do keep their doors open, and become fairly attached to their resident halls. However, every dorm differs. The West side of campus is well known for its great resident life. I lived on the East Side first year and people keep their doors closed more often, but are still very friendly. There is always something exciting going on on campus as far as speakers and events go. There is always a great speaker coming, and its hard to keep up. However, as far as parties and social events go, we do OK, but Wellesley is not a party school.

Club sports teams, especially ultimate frisbee and rugby, seem popular. A lot of people become involved in reslife or student government, too. I'd say those are the most popular extracurricular activities. I'm in an a cappella group and a dance company, and I met my closest friends through both of those, particularly a cappella, since we rehearse together almost every day. I especially love my a cappella group because each member is so talented, and has a really distinct personality, very quirky. I like a cappella parties so much better than frat or society parties because they're more intimate and because I like the people better. Students leave their rooms unlocked all the time, although people who live in singles tend to lock them more, I guess because they don't have to worry about accidentally locking out their roommate. A lot of the cultural shows on campus are extremely popular, more so I think than athletic events or plays. People really seem to embrace opportunities to learn about other cultures. Some people make it a point to party every weekend, and sometimes there are parties on campus, usually hosted by a society, which is similar to a sorority, that they can go to, but for the most part, they go off campus. When I go off campus, it's usually to take a ballet class, go shopping, or to go out to a cute restaurant. I especially like the atmosphere at Harvard Square. Generally speaking, Wellesley girls don't party that much. I know lots of people who have never even tasted beer before.

Wellesley is full of traditions, and has hundereds of different organizations. There are always free lectures going on, theater productions, and crew is a big sport. Students leave their doors open, and my roomate and i almost never locked the door all year. I met my closest friends during orientation week and the bonds grow from there. There are 4 of us that are almost like family, and i have never had such close friendships. there are always a handfull of wellesely women that end up transfering to coed institutions after their first year, because of the lack of males, or feeling isolated on campus. I found getting off campus with a few other girls actually really easy. if you want to explore boston, meet guys, and have a social life, you have to put forth the effort. Wellesley tries to make this easier for us with the bus systems which take wellesley students into boston every hour. from any of the bus stops you can then take the subway or taxi anywhere in boston. It takes homework, effort, and always helps to have friends with you. I found wellesely to be a both a stimulating academic enviorment, but also a safe one that i always returned to when i needed to focus. It does feel seperate from the rest of boston, but that is why i would go out every weekend even for just a movie with the girls.

Students shut their doors and are not open to making new friends after their first year.

Students are willing to talk to one another and are pretty open to meeting new people. Some students are primarily concerned with academics while others like to go into Boston every weekend. Your social life here is what you make of it.

Depending on where you live (dorm), you can either live on the floor/dorm that always locks their doors or leaves their doors open so you can stop by and say hello and vice versa. First semester I lived in the former scenerio. Second semester, I lived in the latter. So I can only say this- open your doors!! Now I don't mean 24/7 but when you are in your room and can afford to reply with a hello to passing floormates, then you should open your door. What most women worry about when they accept to attend Wellesley is where they will find their guys. When I came to Wellesley, this wasn't even a problem- I liked both women and men. My problem would be whether or not someone also liked women. But sometimes it is very easy to tell whether someone was not straight. There are plenty of parties hosted both here at Wellesley and nearby colleges (Harvard, Olin, Babson, MIT, Boston College, Boston University etc.) for students to go to and look for their guy/woman. There's the Wellesley Exchange bus that runs by Harvard and MIT so that people from those schools can come to Wellesley and the other way around. It's definitely not like we are trapped in an enclosed "women only" environment- there's ways to meet other people.

I've already talked about this somewhat. There is a group for pretty much everyone. I play Ultimate, which is AMAZING. The game, the team, pretty much everything is awesome. Most of my friends also play (as do both of my roommates for next year). I spend most of my time hanging out/doing work with the team. I made a bunch of friends at the beginning of first year through my FYM (first year mentor) group, many of whom lived on the same hall. Their hall was really social, mine a lot less so. There are no first year dorms, but the hallways with a lot of first years tend to be a lot more social than those with more juniors/seniors. The mix is nice, though, since I've met some upperclassmen that I would never have met otherwise. Sports are really not a big deal at Wellesley, people generally don't go to sports games unless they happen to be friends with the Athetes. Our sports teams are not great, although teams tend to be very tight-knit. We also have 4 societies, three of which are like traditional sororities, and one of which is a Shakespeare Society, and is known to be a little strange.