Wheaton College-Norton Top Questions

Yes, there is a lack of diversity at Wheaton, but of course there are exceptions.

No they are not.

These kids do exist, but they are more than balanced out by the majority of Wheaton students who don't fit into that mold. Everyone finds who they want to hang out with, as well as great people you wouldn't expect to meet.

1) No 2) Yes (matter of opinion)

The majority of people that attend Wheaton are from reasonably well-off or wealthy familes. Sometimes the money situation is brought up but there are ways to avoid it. Also there is not a distinct pattern to the people that attend Wheaton. During my time there, I have seen sports people, people devoted to fashion, the artsy type, musicians, and many more varied groups including people bordering on being classified as hippies.

To some degree the school is extremely liberal and the LGBT community is very strong. However its suprising to see how many really jocky people go to Wheaton.

We could use a new dorm. Upper campus is a coveted place to live, and many of the freshman and sophomores get placed on lower campus. A small campus is great if you want to have everyone know your name, however, some have compared to a large boarding school (which is true). Many students refer to Wheaton is "Wheaton High". We feel like a high school

Obviously not everyone is like that at Wheaton, but it is the majority. We're highly involved people who care about a variety of issues.

To some extent these stereotypes can be observed, but they are not the norm and in no way take away from the experience of Wheaton as a whole. The cohesion of the campus community at Wheaton would be difficult to find at a larger school with a different geography.

No. Of course Wheaton has some of these students but a majority of the student body is attending through financial aid and come from a wide spectrum of social-economic status. Also, regarding the second stereotype, Wheaton Students do have fun, or at least I do. Many a beer can be put down if that's your scene, and as long as you get engaged there are a million things to do on campus.

I think that's a high percentage of people, but certainly not everyone.

To an extent. There are many people on campus that do not fit that stereotype. Including artsy, environmentalist,, and activist students to name a few.

You will find rich, preppy kids at almost any small, liberal arts college in the country, but that is not the only dynamic of such a school. The students at Wheaton have various interests, styles and economic statuses. Our student body is not as diverse as it could be, but we do have students from many different backgrounds.

No not at all, the majority of students on campus are all really friendly. You get such a good sense of a close community by being on campus. Although it is expensive to attend Wheaton, there is plenty of financial aid available. The college is very open on how they spend the budget money and students are very encouraged to speak their mind on the subject.

It is small but its not a suitcase school, people do go off campusb ut if you want to stay on campus during the weekend there is plenty to do

Similar to any small liberal arts campus, we are definitely segregated from the "real world." We do everything on campus and we don't have cable in our rooms, so it is easy to feel like our life is focused at Wheaton. But, with free newspapers in the dining halls and the internet, students who want to be involved in world affairs can easily do so. Because of the small campus Wheaton really is an extremely close knit community. The friendships I made are much more important than any cable TV show I could have watched in my dorm room.

I have found that these stereotypes are accurate, but there are also a very wide range of people so no matter what kind of person you are, you should be able to find some group you can fit into if you try hard enough.

It may be true at most sporting events, the spectators tend to be extremely obnoxious. However, the general population of Wheaton is quite pleasant.

No! Alot of students, including myself, receive a large amount of financial aid to attend Wheaton. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of students in my freshman class and all over campus.. Preppy&Hippie stereotypes were thrown out the window the day I stepped onto campus as a freshman. The number of studio art majors is matched by the abundance of scientificly inclined students, so the argument that Wheaton is 'too artsy' is not accurate.

Yes

While some people fit into this description, Wheaton is full of mostly "normal" people. It's a really good mix of students where everyone can find a place to fit in.

Not if you look.

Sometimes, our campus is almost 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} white and there are a lot of rich people there. Not everyone is spoiled or smokes though, but there is a lot of drinking.

like all stereotypes, some are, but I'd say that they're only a piece of Wheaton's population.

for some of the population

See above.

Rich kids don't all act like rich kids, but many do.

It is true that there is a primarily white community, but there are people from all socioeconomic levels and most people are incredibly friendly both on and off the campus. The people from Norton don't really like the students because of the stereotype but many people are very friendly.

Only that there is a lot of drinking on the weekends, but it's not a must to have a good time.

The preppy/public ratio is about the same as it is at any other small private college in the Northeast, so not really.

Yes

The students here are from various socioeconomic backgrounds-- most of my friends are on financial aid. While the percentage of white students is much higher than that of other races, Wheaton is doing better with diversity than some other schools I can think of. Also, Wheaton become co-ed in 1988, and has a pretty standard male-female ratio for a liberal arts school.