Sometimes, one must truly see it to believe it. At least, that's what comes to my mind when I went to go visit Wellesley College today. Although we have also seen Connecticut College and Boston College as well, so far Wellesley has been the school that has genuinely captured my interests. The rest of the day went quite nicely and finally ended with nice dinner at L'Espalier, an exquisite restaurant in Boston.
After truly getting to know how a women's college is truly like, I am now considering it as a prospective college. It is a gorgeous campus, surrounded by many tall trees, evergreen grass, and open meadows. Aside from the beautiful scenery, the academics at Wellesley are rigorous. Despite it only having only girls, the arrangement is done not to segregate women into a different institution, but to empower them by removing the stereotypical barriers that surrounds a women. The female students at Wellesley genuinely find their freedom in this community. Hilary Clinton found this independence to her appealing and attended this prestigious college in the 1960's, so that really says something about the type of intelligent women that choose Wellesley.
The college is need-blind and will meet 100% of the student's financial need, A full 98% of the students that apply to medical school get accepted, and over 50% of the students study abroad their junior year. Wellesley provides many opportunities for its students to research as well as intern in many different countries around the world. It is also one of the best liberal arts colleges in the country. Wellesley will definitely receive my application in the fall.
While we were on the train to leave for Boston College, we ran into a couple of Wellesley students that completely won us over to apply to Wellesley if we were not entirely convinced. One thing I noticed that all Wellesley students had in common was their passion and love for their college. They spoke as if speaking about the greatest thing in the world. They left me with a thirst for more information.
Boston College, on the other hand to be quite frank, did not appeal to me as much as Wellesley did. The information session was informative, friendly and, well, generic. I can only speak for myself but it did not hold my interests. The school is on the larger side (with over 10,000 students) thus, average class sizes are a bit larger than Wellesley. The campus did me no justice: its layout just did not suit my taste. Although the students and staff were very informative, humorous and passionate about their college, it's not a fit for me. I do not expect every college out in this nation to match my interests. So I therefore cross off Boston College off my list of potential colleges.
One of the buildings
We only had a a short time to return to the hotel and get ready to leave for L'Espeliar, so we left to catch the train. I find that the public transportation around New England can be inconsistent. We have run into countless delays, long stops, bad traffic and late buses since we have arrived in Boston. It is unfortunate to say that we are late for several events because of that. However, it is no one's fault and one can only settle with the consequences. Nevertheless we made it to the restaurant by cab.
Dinner for me included gazpacho, lobster and a chocolate souffle. I did indulge myself and I did not feel guilty, I have to say. Everyone at the table was conversing about many things: the Boston experience, the colleges, fears, dreams, local news, weather and so much more. Most of us were pleasantly surprised that Wellesley exceeded our expectations. We also discussed our goals for Brown University. Our group agrees that we all want to grow from the experience: to become better leaders, students, mentors and, most importantly, women.
I cannot wait for class to start on Monday. Boston has been exciting, but I also want to finally visit the campus and start the program; I am a very anxious and impatient person. But as the saying goes: patience is a virtue.
Harvard is next on our list tomorrow. We get to sleep another two hours today!
Lupe,
ReplyDeleteAnother great blog. Entertaining, informative and with plenty of photos.
The argument for and against all male or all female colleges is a lengthy and heated one and can really open a person's eyes. There are similar arguments for and against colleges designed for a specific ethnicity (African American, for example) or religious (Jesuit, Jewish, Baptist and Mormon jump out at me).
What it comes down to is what works for you and what you can be comfortable with.
Before you go hog wild over an all female school, ask yourself what kind of college experience you could possibly have without trekking to the football stadium on Saturday morning to root for your school's football team. As great as lacrosse is, it's just not the same. Think about it.
I tell you, Lupe, I'm excited for this group of women and what they can achieve in this class. I'm really looking forward to reading your blogs.