(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

I'm back -- got back at about 1:30 this yesterday morning and skipped my first two class periods to sleep in, shower, and eat before going to school and realizing I'd forgotten the notebook that has all my homework in it. Oh, yes. No lunch for me because I had to drive home and get it.



First things first: JetBlue is the best airline EVER. Really good, comfortable seats as far as airplanes go, tons of legroom, and best of all, TV. With thirty-six channels. Oh my God, heaven. Because I had a red-eye, I ended up watching bits and pieces of "Wraiths of Roanoke" and "Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God" on SciFi, but seriously, best airline ever.

I ended up getting to Wellesley at seven am on Sunday morning, which is not really the liveliest time ever, but it gets worse when you realize that there was literally no one from the admissions department out and about, and when I called the number that they were like, "Call anytime! No, really!" I got voicemail. I ended up sitting at the campus police station for three hours until one of the admissions officers finally called me back and apologized profusely and said they were at Alumnae Hall setting up, so I could go over there. I did, and ended up wandering around with another prospie and her mother for a while before we went back to Alumnae Hall for registration.

Well, I wasn't on the list, but I did have a nametag, so they gave that to me, and then I got sent over to the person on the other half of the table, and then they shuffled me off, but I had a ton of paperwork to hand back, so I had to go stand in line again just to hand that in, so that was fun. Completely missed all the tours, but did eventually end up at the luncheon. Sitting at a table with a couple of girls and their parents who knew each other and were only talking in Korean. I don't speak Korean. I don't even speak Japanese, and I am Japanese. *rolls eyes* However, despite that, several other people came over, one of them an alumna, so that was good.

Panel with current students, which was interesting except for the bit I fell asleep during (I was really tired), then I ended up on a tour of the science building, which was also pretty interesting. Panel with several admissions officers (fell asleep during part of that, too -- at this point I'd been awake for more than twenty-four hours; I don't think I got more than an hour or so of sleep on the plane), which didn't do much for enlightenment because people were asking standard admissions questions (but how much is the SAT worth? What's the average GPA? Etc, etc). Back to Alumnae Hall for meeting our hostesses.

Mine bailed. I had no hostess. I was supposed to be in Lake House, so the student in charge took me over there to get the other three girls settled before taking me to Bates for the hostess that had volunteered to take someone, and here's where it gets fun: one of the hostesses was sick, one was not in her room, but the third one said, "Oh, I was supposed to have two prospies! My roommate wanted one too," so I was with her and her roommate. Which was, you know, not bad, but the other prospie, C., wanted to be an astrophysics major and K. (hostess number one) was a physics major who was also interested in astrophysics. So they ended up talking astrophysics. Now, as you know, I'm looking at an anthro major, so I don't think they really new what to do with me. Hostess Number Two was a math major, and she was very nice, and we talked about the school while C. and K. were talking physics. However, she had to go very soon afterwards.

We all wandered around in the dark for a while -- walked around the lake, and saw the topiaries, which was really cool, and then C. and I went to the Wellesley at Night performances, which was actually really good -- I keep saying that I hate saying this, but it's true -- all the women were so damn confident that I was amazed. I'm a performer, so I'm aware of performance on the level of the art, but all the women who performed were so confident in what they were doing. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. And yeah, the performances were really good too, but I keep coming back to that confidence thing.

K. came back to pick us up and took us up to the Observatory for the next hour and a bit, which was pretty cool -- I mean, I'm obviously not an astrophysicist, but I do write one, which I could have mentioned but I wasn't sure how to do so without it coming out weird. We saw stars! It was very cool. Also freezing, because we spent about an hour with the 12-inch, which is operated the old-fashioned way, with ropes and whatnot, and I amused myself by fantasizing about what my Spaceforce MC would be saying about the facilities (she'd be the astrophysicist).

(This thing also made an appearance. Y'all can amuse yourself with that for a bit. As a sideline, C. and K. both saw it counter-clockwise and I and the student there who wasn't a physics or astro major (J.) saw it clockwise, but all of us eventually figured out how to make it go one way or the other. It has to do with focusing your eyes.)

Picked up HN2 (her name also begins with a C, so that would be...confusing) and went over to J.'s dorm for chocolate cake, which is always a hurrah, and back to Lake House. Cue hostesses being all, "You need to see this! It's cool!" for a bit, and then sleep. WHICH WAS REALLY BADLY NEEDED.

In this case, you would understand why my first words on waking up the next morning were, "How did you all get up and get dressed and I didn't notice?" Hauled on clothes, didn't put in my contacts, and went to go drop bags off at Alumnae Hall. C. and HN2 went to their classes (mine wasn't till 9:50) and I ate bits of breakfast (read: muffin and tea) in the Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center, then went to find the building where my class would be, then, after a bit of arguing with myself, put my contacts in and went back to Alumnae so I could get my jacket out of my duffle and put my sweatshirt in. It's a really cute jacket, and I hauled over to MA, so I might as well wear it. Found the bookstore with a couple other prospies, then went over to Pendleton for the class.

It was World War II in Europe, and it was really interesting. I took notes. I mean, I also talked with a student about Wellesley before the class started, but the class was so fascinating that I took notes and was curious and interested and all my other usual, "Yay, history!" stuff. Went back to Alumnae for the farewell -- whatever, which was pretty pointless, because my shuttle back to the airport wasn't for another four hours.

Yeah. I ended up walking over pretty much every inch of campus and took a lot of pictures, which is unusual for me -- I have very few pictures of either Stanford or Brown -- then sitting around outside in the Academic Quad and doing homework. That's when you really get a feel for the school, doing homework there. *wide eyes* Then I walked around some more, then went to the bookstore and stayed there for half an hour (look, I managed to hang out in the Brown bookstore for more than an hour. I can kill time at bookstores VERY WELL) before buying things and heading back to Alumnae to wait for the shuttle. There was one other girl and an admissions officer, who as it turned out had gone to Stanford, and wow, I bet she hadn't expected to get quizzed on Stanford when she got a job at Wellesley. *shifty expression*

Then back to the airport, where I checked in (hurrah, not having to check luggage) and realized that Logan Airport sucks when it comes to restaurants. Man, I was actually ready to eat airport food and there was nothing. I had frozen yogurt.

JetBlue again on the way back, which meant TV, only nothing was on so I ended up watching Stargate SG-1 (the ep with Lorne! I like Mitchell better) on SciFi, two CSI:Miami eps in a row on A&E, then saw Two and a Half Men on CBS before seeing CSI:Miami "Bang, Bang, Your Debt", then more CSI:Miami, then a really interesting documentary on the History Channel. However, I only had hearing in one earbud, which I didn't figure out until all the way into CSI:Miami 6x04. Then I got out at Sea-Tac, where I waited for another hour and a half for the shuttle to come take me back to Ellensburg, where I got in at 1:30 in the morning.





I'm superstitious, if nobody knew that about me -- I mean, I won't open an umbrella indoors, I won't walk under a ladder, I get really nervous about the little things that you tend to brush off as you get older (don't you and a friend go on opposite sides of a pole because it'll break your friendship up, don't step on cracks), if I spill salt I will throw a pinch over my shoulder, which ought to be awesome if I ever spill salt during Foods -- and I know people talk about just knowing the college they're visiting is the right one, so I know this isn't just me, but I really did get the feeling that Wellesley didn't particularly like me all that much.

With Stanford and Brown, I did get the impression that they liked me, so to speak. I have a less clear impression of Stanford because it was longer ago, but I know I didn't really have problems when I went there. With Brown, it gave me a single and a really great workshop leader and friends and suchlike. When I went to the University of Washington, it was raining when I was on campus. It stopped raining pretty much as soon as I got off campus. That should tell you something about how the U-Dub feels about me.

Wellesley wasn't quite that obvious. There was the four and a half hours early thing before the program started, my hostess bailing on me, and the four hours after the program ended thing. There was also the effectively abandoned by my hostesses part, as well as the part where I was with sciences people, not humanities types. (Plus, you know, the breakdown at the beginning of the program where I was standing outside Alumnae Hall crying.) The school was not welcoming.

I mean, I wouldn't say it hated me. Nothing blew up and the weather was nice and I didn't get sick and my period didn't start until the day I got back from Massachusetts, I just got the definite impression that the school either didn't like me or didn't know what to make of me. You know?

That said, I do still like the school, but -- I mean, aside from the superstition stuff -- the biggest problem for me is that there is no band. Major problem. Another thing is that the campus felt really, really isolated, and I'm from Ellensburg, I live in the middle of nowhere, it takes a lot for me to feel isolated. And going along with that, Wellesley just felt way too academics-oriented. I knew that going in, but I didn't expect it to be so...obvious. It was so quiet, and that may be because I was there on a Sunday and a Monday, but it was a big shock compared to Central, Stanford, and Brown.

The all-women's thing was a slight problem for me, but not in the way I expected. I mean, hi, I'm the last person you expect to go to college to get laid or get a boyfriend or a husband or something. On another level, I'm bothered slightly that there aren't men just because there...aren't men, and I'm used to guys being around. (There's a level where I'm bothered because of fairness, but that's not a major issue at all.) The biggest issue, to me, is that -- and this sounds hugely arrogant, I know -- is that I'm used to being, for lack of a better word, special. I'm used to being the youngest in a class, or the oldest, or one of only a few girls. It's not about being the smartest; that's never been a major issue for me. But it was kind of a shock to be somewhere where it's all girls, and I hadn't expected it to be. I mean, I like being the girl playing with the boys, especially when I'm the one being slightly more savage about things than them. And since I'm not interested in being a math or sciences major, that's not going to happen all that easily, and especially not as an all-girls school. I never considered that until I visited Wellesley.

That said, I did like the school, and I'll still be applying, but it's definitely not my first choice. If anything, it's pushed Brown to my first-choice school and made me a whole lot warier of all the small lib arts colleges on my list. Based on location alone -- I mean, I appreciate how close to Boston it is, but -- I'm definitely leaning harder at Brown than Wellesley.



If some current college student or someone who went to college would like to weigh in, it would be very welcome.

Comments

[limmenel.livejournal.com]

I think the way a school feels is very important. It tells you a lot about yourself and how you expect yourself to act if you ever do go there. I'm not talking so much about the superstitions (since I'm not, except jokingly), but... if it doesn't feel welcoming the first time you step foot on campus, then that impression will possibly linger for the rest of your time at the school. First impressions, right?

And I think it makes an incredibly big difference having men in your classes. There aren't really as many guys in the English program at my school as there are in, say, the math or physics program, but the few guys who are in my classes are always really interesting, because they look at things differently. It's a new perspective.

Also, y'know, and all girl's school is not preparing you for the Real World after college.

And the location matters. Unless you're going to have a car, it doesn't matter how close you are to a big city, you'll never be able to get anywhere. If it's as isolated as you say, then... I don't know. I went to school first year in Iowa City, and couldn't stand it because there was nothing near me.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Right. And the police station was pretty welcoming, so that was a plus, but still...

I'm very used to being the odd one out, opinion-wise, because as a general rule of thumb, I have the least feminine viewpoint ever. I mean, hi, I'm the one who went up in front of my AP Gov class and told them how much in favor of the death penalty I was in regards to murder, serial rape, and high treason. I mean. First example that comes to mind.

I didn't think the isolation would be that much of an issue because I mean, come on, I live in Ellensburg. The mall is Fred Meyer. It's just that the school felt isolated. It didn't feel...lively, I guess.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

I don't know that any of the schools I visited ever "pinged" for me (besides, say, Simon's Rock, but I was rejected from that).

I would say in part, your impression may be a little bit because you were quite tired; maybe you'd see the school differently if you were more awake. On the other hand, yes, Wellesley appears to have dropped the ball rather heavily. But schools do this from time to time.

I think you are right about the sense of its "isolation" -- it's one of those self-contained type schools, or seems to have been, and Wellesley is a pretty little suburban town that's very hard to reconcile with being 20 minutes from Boston.

Sunday tends to be dead at any school, I'd guess. No band = not so good. A school should have things you as the student are passionate about, as well as interested in. Got to be something to get you through the insanity, right? Clubs, a band, a choir, what have you.

The weather was really shockingly nice.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

It's not that I'm going into the college search hoping for a ping school, especially since I won't be visiting the majority of the schools I'm applying to until after I apply, but, you know, hope and all that.

Perhaps. On the other hand, though, it's college, you're tired all the time, yeah? And if it doesn't give you anything then...

From what I've gathered, I'd have to cross-register at MIT to be able to play in a band. There is an orchestra and a bunch of choirs and some chamber groups and a jazz band, but as far as I can tell, there is no concert band. I mean, I was on the Wellesley chat a couple weeks ago and asked about it and was told, "Concert band auditions are open to everyone," but I was at the music building and they had nothing vaguely related to a concert band or wind ensemble.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

Well, some schools -- I guess even just looking at them, you kind of know that'll be your place? And sometimes, you just carve a place out for yourself. Depends on circumstance.

*laughs* Um, hm, well, I'm tired most of the time this semester, but ... no, not all the time, it's not like high school that way. There's 'tired' and then there's 'been up 24 hours'.

That's more than we have. I think the chorus class is all we have in the way of chorus, and probably same holds true for bands. Assuming Brown has a band (it's got a big athletics program, doesn't it? would have a marching band...) that is looking like a better choice. (or even BU).

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Or you can feel that you'd be okay there, you know? Something like that, anyway.

Brown has a band. Brown does, in fact, have an ice-skating marching band. It's also got a concert band and an orchestra. Nearly all schools have concert bands, even if they don't have marching bands, but Wellesley has no concert band. BAD WELLESLEY.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

Yeah, *nods* Something like that.

It has a *whatnow*? Dude, that's out-and-out awesome.

Wellesley's thing is, I suppose, that it's a small school with a focus largely on academics, so there's not enough interest (or known interest) for a concert band.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

An ice-skating marching band for hockey games (http://www.brown.edu/Students/Brown_Band/about_us.shtml), that's what. Fairly awesome, yes, although when I was there my RA seemed dubuious about the matter.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

I'll admit it seems a bit nuts, but hell, it's something different than shivering cheerleaders and a giant, furry yam! :)

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

At least your school has a mascot. Stanford is the Stanford Cardinal. As in the color. The Stanford Tree is part of the Stanford Band. (Which is nuts, by the way.)

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

It doesn't count if no one can tell what the actual, physical mascot is. "orange turd", "cat vomit", "furry yam" and "orange chicken nugget" have all come to mind.

Some of the older schools seem less inclined to have mascots as such. Harvard's is, note, "The Crimson". MIT's, however, is the beaver (industrious! engineers! :)), BU's is the terriers, BC's is the eagles, and Northeastern is the Huskies. (Another college near me -- Endicott -- is the "Gulls".)

[ghostrunner7.livejournal.com]

I knew. I'm just gonna say that. It might have had something to do with the incredible ocean view, but I knew.

And while I think that a women's college could be a really great environment to help you find yourself in college, it is true that not having guys around both as competition and as social peers is not the way the real world works.

I don't know what to tell you about the superstition thing, but I do pysch myself out about, like, omens and shit like that.

By the way, I completely approve of asking Livejournal what the hell to do in the college selection process. This (http://ghostrunner7.livejournal.com/6946.html) is the slightly more manic form my own anxiety took about two years ago.

Good luck.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

*cocks head to side* What, do I give off a "way too conservative to fit in at a women's college" air or something?

Well, college period isn't really the way the real world works, so much, but I'm used to there usually being more girls than guys in my classes, so I didn't think it'd be an issue until it was.

Heh, I figure somebody on LJ knows, especially since a lot of types on LJ are current college students. (BTW, I can't get into the entry, it's protected.)

Thank you.

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

This actually sounds pretty accurate. I mean, I think you've assessed some likely problems at Wellesley-- one of the reasons I liked it so much there was because it is very academics oriented and I really liked the fact that I was the free-spirited laid-back one a lot of the time. The women who go there are (sometimes) very confident and (almost always) very driven. It sounds like you're developing a very good eye/ear for what you do/don't want out of a college, which I think is basically the most important thing you do on college visits. Wellesley is very quiet, for any sort of social life that is not hanging out in someone's room you basically need to go to Boston, and the dorm visits inevitably suck because, among other things, Admissions is really... um, to be tactful, we'll say "liberal college-y," but what I really mean is "woefully incompetent a lot of the time." It is kind of the same thing.

The thing about men is interesting. That was one of the reasons I went to Wellesley, actually-- I do better when I am (a) the only girl amidst a bunch of boys or (b) among all girls. I talk more in class. There's Olin College more, so you might have a guy or two wandering around your classes, but for other guys around, you'd have to go to MIT. And I have to say, I kept wanting to take classes over there, but their humanities offerings were inevitably weird, confusing, and/or badly scheduled for my needs.

I'm hoping the bookstore has improved since my day (note: I pre-graduated the Wang by a couple of months), otherwise your ability to kill more than five minutes there is nothing short of a minor miracle.

Anyway, my feelings on the college tour thing is that you need to be willing to go with your gut. I fled one college after three hours (abandoning a planned sleepover) and made my father take me back to Boston. If you ask me to articulate why, it usually comes down to "I didn't like it." It just had a bad vibe and I could tell I wouldn't be happy there. It sounds like you have made a pretty clear-eyed assessment about what you want out of a college that Wellesley doesn't have, and speaking as an Official Wellesley Graduate, you're right, it doesn't have that stuff.

And hey, Wellesley campus visit breakdown club! I cried during my visit there too. It was my first college visit and I was tired and my father was sick and I just needed some space to myself to decompress and instead I had this weird campus hostess who was running off to class and leaving me in her room alone and it was just... I don't know. The college visit process is stressful, what can I say?

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I was really surprised about how bothered I was in regards to the quiet because I'm one of the least sociable people ever. I really did not think it was going to be an issue, until it was. And I don't think it's a big one, but it was one that surprised me. I think part of what bothered me may also have been that a lot of the women I talked to were all, "Oh, it's really nice to have kind of a mental divide; you go to Boston for fun and stay at Wellesley to work." For some reason that's just a really weird notion for me.

I didn't say it was easy killing time in the bookstore -- it's a lot easier when there are actual books, not just textbooks! On the other hand, softest sweatshirts ever, so that was a definite plus.

(One of my problems with the Wang was, strangely, the furniture. Yeah. I don't get it either.)

From what I can gather, I think I'd be okay at Wellesley, but it doesn't have everything I'm hoping for in a college. (Like a band! How can they not even have a band? They have every other type of musical group.)