Improve your chances of getting into college,

Easily the best thing about Wes is the student body. I made friends at Wesleyan whom I expect will remain central figures in my life for a very long time. They are unique, passionate, and fascinating, and will, in many cases, teach you as much as the professors will.

When I was there, there wasn't a main hang-out area on campus, outside of the hill, which only functioned in warm weather. Now, however, the Usdan campus center is supposed to be pretty excellent.

Middletown definitely fits the "what college town" description, as there was very little to do off campus unless you were willing to drive a bit. There are efforts to improve that, but there's quite a way left to go.

The most frequent student complaints are everything. The student body as a whole is generally angry about something, often loud about it, and usually wrong. However, one ultimately realizes that the outcry is merely coming from an extremely vocal minority, and it's probably best to ignore them.

The professor/student relationship depends greatly on the student. Generally speaking, I found it was up to the student to initiate the relationship. In an environment with so many people seeking up-close interaction, if you did not do the same, you could easily remain anonymous whether you wanted to or not. I certainly found it easier to get to know professors in the smaller classes, particularly once I declared my major. It was through a Psych seminar that I met the now-retired Karl Scheibe, who advised my thesis and remains an important figure in my life.

This experience will vary greatly depending on the student and the department.

I more or less discussed the students in "the big picture." Students are definitely politically aware and active, and often very far to the left. For someone who is concerned about that, I will say that being around some extreme lefties made me consider my arguments far more carefully, and pushed me toward the center. That's right suckers! I work in economics!

The campus is generally fun, if partially by necessity. With very little to do off-campus, students come up with a whole host of options, and a given weekend will usually have ten or more things you could potentially go to and see a lot of people. Student performances are usually very good.

What can you do on a Saturday night that doesn't involve drinking? Drugs.

They are hippies/activists/druggies.

There are definitely clusters of hippies, and activists, and heavy drug users, with some overlap. However, it is extremely easy to mix and socialize with people who don't fit these categorizations. There are a surprising number of student athletes for a school with such an unsung athletic department. The truth is, the one consistent thing about Wesleyan students is activity. Almost no one does just one thing well, and many people do a number of things excellently and passionately. It's really amazing anyone finds time to sleep.

Guys, you can scale down these questions a bit I think. I'm guessing you're just trying to get the ball rolling with all of those questions, but it comes off as though you're asking about all of them. Maybe just say something below the headings that's like "some things you could talk about:" or "some ideas:" or whatever. I know you're trying to be fun and light but if someone skips the instructions (I did. I expect the instructions to be "answer the questions.") then it's like running into a brick wall of questiondom.

I still loves you though.