Western Michigan University Top Questions

no! not in the least bit, we are known as a party school, but in reality we have a very diverse population. We have a business program that is in the top 20 nationally recognized business programs, we have The Lee Honors College, a great fine arts college and a nationally recognized college of health and human services. Not to mention we are blessed to have Dr. Malott and his behavioral analysis program and courses within the major of psychology. Back to the point, there is a friend here for everyone, no matter what you want to do and where you want to go in life!

It all depends on what you want. Most colleges all have their party, academic, or whatever it is your interested scene. Western is whatever you make out of it. I work at the Help Desk and have seen students from all areas of the school. There's a lot more to Western than drinking and partying.

I don't really know

No

For the most part

I think these stereotypes are completely wrong. I myself find it to be a great college with many benefits. We have many fine programs here that are accredited and even award winning. WMU might be easy to get in but as numerous freshmen find out each year, it is not quite so easy to stay in.

No. I believe that there are some students that come here because they did not get into Michigan State, but many of the students came here because they liked the campus and it wasn't so big like the other options. No, I do not believe that everyone drinks all the time because I know that I don't and a lot of my friends don't.

Absolutely not. Western Michigan University is one of the highest ranked research universities in the nation, with students coming from across the country to study Aviation, Engineering, Theater/Fine Arts, Speech Pathology, Sales and Business Marketing, and more. I think the "party" reputation really stems from the fact that all you need to do is replace one letter and you spell "Wastern". Honestly, every college is a party school, and there are always going to be students that want to brag about that. At WMU, there is so much more than that going on with over 200 student groups to get involved in and the campus feels much more like a community, than a large college with over 23,000 students.

To some degree, but no more so than any other bigger university.

How many times have you heard WMU referred to as 'Waste'rn? I heard it a million times before I even got here, at about a million more after I actually started school. I had always heard that Western was this school where the only thing students did was party. And I'll admit, Western has a party atmopshere like no other college, but that's not all WMU has. A lot of people either forget or don't reailze that Western is cnosistently names one of the top 100 colleges in the nation. We've got a theatre program that's by far one of the best in the country, our aviation program is world renowned, and our education program is well respected. Western has a lot more going for it than just it's parties, and I think a lot of people don't take that into consideration.

Yeah pretty much excluding freshman who still hold alot of their high school norms.

no

No, not at all. d

Not at all, granted like any college there is a lot of partying but there are plenty of alternatives

It depends who you hang out with. I've met a lot of cool people this year that aren't into drinking and found alternative ways to have fun. Some people are pushy about others not drinking.

Not any more

WMU is as much a party school as is any other school that I'm familiar with. If you like drinking you can do it here. If you don't like drinking, there are plenty of alternatives.

Not completely. Many WMU students really care about their academics, and the vast majority of students not living in the dorms don't party that much. Basically, after the first year the students are pretty focused. Almost all the students work.

NO!

Yes

Possibly for the parties. I don't party, so I can't say from experience, but I have seen that the statistics for Western show that it takes the average student here longer to graduate than it does at other universities, possibly from partying, possibly not. I've also heard that the LBGT program here is much better than it is in many other schools, and that actually draws some students to Western.

Not entirely, I'd say we are a typical college environment.

Some more than others fall into this category.

I don't think Western is any worse then any other college.

pretty much

Not at all. People get it into their mind that everyone is like that but in all actuality, there is a small portion of our school that it pertains to.

These stereotypes are accurate to a degree, but I also think that western has its share of studious students, who do not drink or drink very little.

I'd say yes. We weren't put on Rolling Stone's Top 10 party schools because half the kids they interviewed couldn't remember going to the party the night before. We party harder than the Number One Party School.

sometimes-but not for the students who come here to actually get an education.

WMU is no different than any other public university of our size.

Yes and no. It's college; of course there will be a party or two or three. But, not every day is a party, and not every student is perpetually inebriated. If going to parties is not your idea of fun, there are several activities hosted by the campus that are mellow (and exciting) and alcohol-free.

I don't feel that the stereotypes are 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} accurate; however, there are some truths to them. There is a large number of students who do party a lot at WMU, but that does not include everyone. There is also a large number of students who DO NOT spend all of their free time partying and truly care about their school work and educational future. As for the "easy" girls stereotype, I feel as though that is not true and is just built up by years of disrespect and assumptions. On to the STD rate, I have looked into this for a class and WMU does have a high rate of students with STD's but I am unclear as to the reason for this, therefor I will not speculate.