I love my classes at Wellesley. There has never been a question in my mind that I came her for my classes and they have never failed me. My professors know who I am, not only by name, but also my interests, other pursuits, directions. I meet a few times a semester with my advisor, but I've also adopted several other "advisors", whose strengths, weaknesses, and personalities complement one another beautifully. And beyond helping me choose courses, I think that there's no question that Wellesley professors will go above and beyond for their students. I took two courses on Chaucer and other Middle English literature, and at the end of them, my professor offered to teach a small Old English group. So there are three of us who have been learning to read Old English together this year. Likewise, I have struggled to find courses which match my interests in our relatively small German department (nice, but very small), and my first professor has been an advisor for not one but two independant studies, above and beyond his normal teaching load, so that I can pursue the topics I'm most interested in.
In terms of most unique or interesting classes (because I have a zillion favorites!), I think I have to mention one I'm enrolled in right now, EXTD 240: Papyrus to Print to Pixel. The course is co-taught by the Special Collections Head Librarian and the director of the Book Arts Lab. Every week we look at different phases in the history of textual transmission, looking at examples in special collections (Wellesley's special collections are AMAZING! AMAZING!), and then we have a "lab" in the book arts lab to try things out for ourselves. I've made papyrus, I've made hemp and rag paper, I've set type by hand, I've tried my hand at calligraphy on parchment, I've bound a book - it's really an incredible class. And on top of all of that, we have guest lecturers from all across campus (from the Classics to History to English to Computer Science) and professional artisans (the man who lead the carving on the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C.? Yeah, he came to our class, gave a carving demonstration, let us give it a go.). The course is absolutely amazing, and I think it just wouldn't be possible somewhere without the combined resources of our special collections, book arts lab, and generous alum donors.
And on one mroe note, working from the prompts above:
I think that the student body at Wellesley is really interesting because I think we're very split on why we're here. I came for myself, and I was fortunate that that was possible, for me to take four years and study what I love without having to gear up for a particular position. But our law, medical, and graduate school placements are quite good, as are our recruiting relationships with big firms - and of course the alumnae W network - so there are people who choose Wellesley because it is a school which can enable them to move towards later professional goals.