Wheaton College-Norton Top Questions

I think Wheaton is a great school. The campus is beautiful and a great size and I love the small student body. The professors are amazing and are extremely willing to give advice about your education in general and not just their course. The professors become your mentors. I love our large and smaller traditions, our superstitions, and little things such as people posting flyers on the ground.

I think one of the best things about Wheaton, and what certainly drew me to it is its small size. You can really get to know the people that go to your school. Seeing the same people on the way to class everyday, it makes me feel a real part of the Wheaton community. On the subject of College town, the correct answer is "what college town?". Norton is pathetic, its main claim to fame is a Walgreens right across form a CVS. You have to go one town over into Mansfield to get to a supermarket. Luckily also in Mansfield is the Providence/Stoughton communter rail line. Perfect for escaping to either Boston or Providence, even without a car. With a car you can do the same thing. That is the nice thing about Wheaton's location. While we get the isolation and benefit of a small town, quiet, defined campus, insulated college life, we're not cut-off from interesting stuff to do. People always react positively when I mention where I go to school. They have also always at least heard of it, which is gratifying in its own small way. Wheaton's administration is alright. I honestly do not have much contact with the administration, and prefer to keep it that way, just to keep my own life simpler. Our president is rather stuck-up, and is always ready to serenade us with his cello. That gets old quick, but he is generally only concerned with the schools administration, so he's easy to avoid. School pride is pretty high, off-set by complaints about the high price tag that the school sets. This is one of my main complaints about President Crutcher. He feels that the school is justified in charging an Ivy League price, because we are aspiring to be Ivy League. This is silly, because we aren't Ivy League. I honestly was very specific in not looking at Ivy League schools for under-grad.

Wheaton is a very small private college which is not appealing to students who are looking for more diversity and/or unfamiliar faces around campus. I went to a very small suburban high school (aprox. 700-800 students total), so Wheaton is an okay size for me. However, I do know many people who hate the small size of the school. Most common complaints are... -too small -public safety is way too strict -not a very diverse campus at all -Tuition is very expensive

The best thing for me is the closeness of the people that go there. i ahve found some great friends and we will remain friends for life. When I am not busy with work I usually hang around with them on campus and off campus. There are several malls in the area and Boston is only 45 min away by train. There are many things that I like about Wheaton but the one thing that annoys me is that the tuition is so high but we aren't getting anything to show for it; all of the projects we are paying for, won't be completed until after I graduate. I also don't like the idea that the President got an extension built onto his house where only he and his wife live, and we students are still living in triples and quads. I don't know the particulars about this but the way I am seeing it really annoys me.

Small school, you can make a great circle of friends. In a college town, lots of off campus housing. Lower campus sucks for housing but its definitely a right of passage for the underclassmen.

Most people have not heard of Wheaton College except if you are from Massachusetts. A majority of the students seem to be from Massachusetts, New Hampshire or Maine. What college town? Norton is not exactly the first place you would elect to have a college in. It is not conducive to students, and many venture to nearby Providence or Boston, especially if they have a car. Cars are coveted on campus. If students do not have wheels, they are at the mercy of bumming rides of other students or waiting for the GATRA to take them to the nearby cities. Not a lot of pride on campus.

The thing I love most about Wheaton is the feeling of community on the campus. The campus itself is very small, which creates a feeling of closeness that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. Personally, I am a transfer student and spent my first year of college at nearby Stonehill College and have also spent a summer living on the campus at Tufts University. Having Experienced these different environments, I can say that the feeling of closeness and community at Wheaton is greater than on any campus I have seen. The closeness of the community also means that to some point everyone is in the spotlight, making this school a difficult fit for someone that does not want to be active and recognized in the community, but a perfect fit for someone who is outgoing, sociable, and enjoys involving oneself in campus activities. The campus is also one of the most active, which is fitting for the tight knit community and was ranked among the top 20 schools in the nation in the category of how much there is to do on campus. When I tell people that I attend Wheaton College, the usual response is a puzzled look followed by the question, "wheres that?" The location of the school in Norton does put it sort of in a quiet spot. The town is very small, and there is not much to do in the town itself, but this is not usually an issue due to the fact that most people rarely leave campus. The Wheaton administration is the most understanding and helpful administration that I have dealt with. The small size of the school allows administrators to become more familiar with each student, and most are as helpful as possible. The administration is also not overbearing with regard to its alcohol policy. The policy, does not excessively punish students for violations of its alcohol regulations. There is a lot of school pride among the students at Wheaton, and most students feel that they made the correct choice in choosing to attend Wheaton. Even skeptical incoming freshmen who talk about transferring almost always end up staying and finding their niche at Wheaton. The most frequent complaint about Wheaton addresses its small size. The downfall of having an enrollment of 1550 students is that the campus can at times feel claustrophobic, but that feeling rarely lasts.

I love the size of Wheaton. There are roughly 1,600 students. Due to its size I have friends (actually truly close friends) from every class. Some of my closest friends last year were my friends from my dorm who were in ages ranging from freshmen to juniors. Along with these friends I made friends with freshmen through seniors from the Ultimate Frisbee team and from the Outdoors Club. The town of Norton is a real drag. The only thing of substance that I'd change about Wheaton is that fact that there isn't a college town. Granted, it takes 30 minutes to get into Providence and less than an hour to get into the heart of Boston, so this factor isn't too terrible. As a result of this lack of a booming college town, the campus fills the cultural and energetic void. This being said, I have made myself very involved--perhaps over involved, which results in much sleep deprivation. Many of my peers and friends do not share my gleaming view of Wheaton, mainly for the reason that they haven't made the effort to get involved in clubs and teams--most of whom host some solid parties. Wheaton will return to you what you put into it. If you get involved extracurriculars and make an effort to engage yourself in the campus, you will find a Wheaton is quite an amazing place.

Because of the size of the school, it really does feel like a continuation of High School. Some people like it and others don't. There are definitely cliques and a fairly homogeneous student body. Minorities tend to stick together. There seems to be a large division between athletes and non-athletes.

Wheaton is a beautiful campus on the smaller side which is nice because it does not feel overwhelming. I would, however, change its location. Although it is situated between Boston and Providence (two great cities to visit), the town of Norton has nothing to offer but a CVS. Many students are pushing to make Wheaton more sustainable, but there seems to be some residence from the administration. It is great to see the response from the students who believe in it, however. One of the most frequent complaints is the drug and alcohol policy. The policy is exceedingly strict causing many students to party off campus. This causes the campus to seem empty sometimes on the weekends. I believe that Wheaton's strongest aspect are there academics.

Wheaton is a small school but I love that fact. I can recognize almost everyone at least by their faces. However, this aspect of Wheaton may not be for everyone. I also think we have a beautiful campus. The school has so much history and tradition which is really fun to be a part of. One thing I would change is the surrounding area of Norton. There is not much to do in Norton by the way of nightlife. But...Providence is only 20 to 30 minutes away and has a great nightlife culture!

The best thing about Wheaton is the comfortable feeling you get when you are on campus. You are away at school for the majority of the year and it really becomes your home away from home. Our school is very small, but never really feels that way. I still meet new people every year and I like being able to recognize people around campus. Wheaton's location is really great. There are few distractions of the busy city but you are only a 30 min. train ride from boston or a 20 min ride from providence. My friends and I go down to providence place often to go shopping or out to dinner (cheesecake factory!)

Wheaton is a well respected school. It is very small though, but that helps in the classroom. There isnt much of a town in Norton, Wheaton is basically, but the neighboring towns are growing. There are not alot of sections of classes offered or alot of classes offered in general in certain subjects. Scheduling can be very limited.

I have not enjoyed my experience at Wheaton. So much so that I am taking a year long leave of absence. I burnt out on school and that was partly due to my frustrations with this institution. Example: it took me four semesters before I took a class that I a) found really engaging and intellectually stimulating and b) had a professor who took an interest in the class and individuals as well as pushed people into discussion and debate. So I'm up, up and away to get my enthusiasm for learning back and maybe doing something fun in the process.

You recognize faces everywhere you go. I rarely walk anywhere on campus and see someone I don't recognize. That's why I love Wheaton! I can always walk into the dining hall and find someone I know to sit with. I joke that I could sit in the dining hall from 7am-7pm and be entertained all day. The close relationships students make with each other, with faculty and staff is what makes Wheaton such a wonderful place. We're really close to Wrentham outlets with fabulous outlet shopping and we often go into Providence for dinner, which is only about a 20 minute drive.

Wheaton is small, keep that in mind because when you enter freshmen year it may seem big, but by the time you get to sophomore year you realize that you already know almost everyone. Some people like this if they went to a small high school or are looking for a very personal experience, but if you're not looking for that close community or came from a big high school where no one knew your business, then Wheaton isn't for you. Another thing about Wheaton many people don't realize is that there's nothing to do in Norton so mostly everyone resorts to drinking on the weekends. Norton is a really boring and shitty town in itself, and Wheaton is the really only big attraction there. However, you are close to both Boston and Providence so that's really nice and public transportation makes it somewhat easy to visit both places so you can go shopping, out to eat, or visit friends at other schools. But going into Boston or Providence can also be a hastle and costly if you do it enough, so then the other option is to do the activities Wheaton has around campus on the weekends, which can be fun, but most of them people only participate in if they're drunk, such as the dances. Drinking is a really big part of Wheaton and if you're bothered by it then I wouldn't suggest Wheaton, but if you don't mind dealing with it or enjoy it yourself then you'll fit in great. Another big complaint at Wheaton is the food. A lot of people like it, but a lot of people don't. I think compared to other colleges our food isn't bad, but I just feel like there's never enough variety, it's always the same thing or nothing good, so you get sick of the food easy.

The best thing about Wheaton is the student-professor relationship. The professors are required to have open office hours where you can talk about homework, projects, up-coming exams, or life. The school is the right size for learning but not for socializing, everyone knows everyones business. When people hear i go to Wheaton they first ask if its the one in Illinois, then they are impressed. what college town... the best thing in norton is Norton Liquors.The alcohol policy is extremely absurd. We may as well have a 24/7 babysitter watching our every move and testing every beverage for alcohol. There is no way to explain your personal situation and if you live in meadows the AC will not listen to a word you say, speak in unintelligible sentences, and blow everything out of proportion.

i love my school. i truly do.. i picked it by closing my eyes and putting my finger on an envelope with my acceptance letter inside. as an alum of a 3,000 student highschool, wheaton doesnt feel incredibly small. the feeling of a community is important to me, and at wheaton its truly an awesome experience to feel included in this community. i absolutely LOVE my school and to be honest, i didnt expect to.

I fell that Wheaton is a great school, otherwise I would have transfered. I believe that what Wheaton does best is the Wheaton community. I came in January and since then everyone has been so kind to me, so friendly, so helpful, so realistic. The school does get a little repetitive at times, but you cannot expect a school of 1,550 to have such a diversity of activities as schools five times or more it's size. With the size of it though, it is pretty easy to get to know a good number of the people here and that's what I do most of the time, just chatting with new people or catching up with old friends. I guess another issue we have is that Wheaton is currently in a housing crunch, so some of the rooms are a bit different from regular rooms, but a lot of these converted rooms are pretty spacious, so they tend to be better than the regular rooms.

Wheaton is a small school (1,500 students) that is about 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} girls. Each year more guys are accepted, adn it really seems to be even. If you want to have individualized attention and recognize most of the students as you walk around the Dimple, then Wheaton is the place for you. If you want to hide and just be a number, this isnt the place for you. Class sizes are small, the introductory courses are often larger, but that means that you might have a 40 person lecture class as opposed to an 11-15 person class.

I think that Wheaton is almost perfect. The size seems extremely small, but provides a close-knit community filled with familiar faces. There are yearly traditons such as "The Head of the Peacock", which is a boat race across Peacock Pond in which students make teams and create boats out of non-traditional boat materials. There is generally a great deal of school pride, which can be seen especially on the night of "Lyon's Pride" which is the first evening that new freshmen have moved onto campus. The upper classmen fill the chapel and decorate it with their class colors. Everyone comes to the chapel wearing their class colors, and cheers as the new freshmen enter the chapel, chanting to them as they are innitiated into the Wheaton community.

The school is ok in terms of size, you make good friends and it is big enough to not know everyone's name still. But sometimes it really seems like a high school because many high schools have around 1550 students, and cliques form inevitably. Many of the sports players only hang out together, and many sports guys tend to only date sports girls. No college town really, it is really tiny and there is nothing to do. Enough stuff happens on campus, or you have enough homework, though, to keep you busy on the weekends. There always seems to be a lot going on though, buildings are nice, people are generally nice.

Small, but perfect size for me. Not much do to in the surrounding area, but easy access to Boston and Providence. If you're involved, you'll find everything you need and more at Wheaton.

Norton, not a college town, one bar. but growing, very easy to get to boston or providence if you want to be in a city. shopping malls/more restaurants are being built in the towns next to norton like mansfield, easton, taunton. frequent complaint about wheaton is the cafeteria food or public safety

Coming here I thought my school was too small, but now I am happy that it is the size it is. However, that makes it very cliquey and political. The administration for different reasons can be horrible - they are sexist at times (watch out for Academic Advising - the Deans are cruel people and do very unethical things, such as writing letters of rec that speak to a student's false employment history). You have to create the experience for yourself, do not allow Wheaton administration to hurt you and your standing. The faculty is awesome, they can be trusted. People are generally impressed that I went to Wheaton. A lot of times we are confused with the Wheaton in Illinois which is highly religious and basically the opposite of our school (we are LIBERAL). Most of my time is spent on campus, but any chance I can I leave to go to the mall or the movies, etc. The surrounding town is tiny and VERY boring. Also, Student Life has been cracking down on drinking (which means more off campus drinking which means more drunk driving), so I would say that is the biggest controversy on campus right now. That is also what students complain about mostly. Also, the food here is terrible. I got off the meal plan Sophomore year and I have been able to survive without it, although at times it is difficult. Spring weekend and senior week is so much fun - we have a good time together at Wheaton and our class is very close. It was a very sad thing to leave. There are good and bad things about every college, but it really comes down to what you make of the experience. Wheaton was very difficult at times, but my last semester made it all worth it.

There are a lot of good programs at Wheaton, but there are also some questionably bad professors. They're easy enough to weed out but the problem comes when they're teaching a required class. The school, which has a population of roughly 1,600 (1,560 or so), certainly seems a lot like a high school sometimes and I regularly hear people complaining about the size of the school. At other times, though, it's fantastic to be able to walk around and see people that you know everywhere or for someone who knows you to let you into a dorm for which you don't have a key. In the Northeast, Wheaton has a great reputation (which is mostly but not entirely deserved), but once you get farther West (I'm writing this from NM, for example), the name is much less likely to be recognized. One of the greatest drawbacks of Wheaton is the lack of student space. The library and the dining hall (which is not particularly nice nor comfortable) are really the only two common areas on campus, seeing as there is a housing crunch of sorts which has forced the administration to place students into rooms that were previously study lounges. In one of the main freshman quads, for example, there are 2 lounges for 11 floors. The inability of freshmen to interact with each other and take part in the full "college experience" is truly damaging. The town, Norton, is barely a town at all. There are a couple of pharmacies within walking distance, but that makes up the entirety of the town. There is pretty respectable public transportation, which allows (given a couple of hours either way for travel) for students to make their way into either Boston, MA or Providence, RI, both of which generally have incredible concerts and fantastic food. The Wheaton administration is a lot like many other college administrations, I feel. They claim to be very open to student feedback, but are not incredibly responsive to many of the demands made of them. They will agree to things that they can see would be easily and cheaply (the college is not rolling in cash by any means) changed, but will entirely ignore any requests that they view to be against their mission in any way. The largest controversy on campus is the severe strictness of the alcohol policy, which has gotten increasingly more restrictive over the past several years. It does seem, however, that things will be relaxed and there is _massive_ student activism regarding the issue.

Wheaton is a very small school which is similar to high school but it is really what you make of it. The campus is very beautiful and the staff is amazing. In the sociology department, every professor is incredibly intelligent and 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} willing to help even if they're not on campus. The town has very little to do, it is not a college town, but just a few miles away a complex just opened with a lot of places to eat and shop. Two towns over there is Wrentham outlet mall which has a lot of stores and fun things to do. Most students are very involved in campus activities but there is not much to do off the campus.

The school is a little on the small side, but I like that after about 1 and half years I know almost everybody. It adds to the sense of community that can only be achieved at a small school. Wheaton's administration is ok. I'm not a huge fan of the president's attitude towards current students, but he's definitely working on getting to know us better. The professors are fantastic, they are excited about what they do, and really convey that to their students.

The best thing about Wheaton is that it's a small school, but yet there are so many avenues, clubs, niches, teams, groups, etc etc etc to go find yourself. And if there isn't one, there's little stopping you from creating one. Also, the academic curriculum combines an honor code and an emphasis on creating connections between different departments. This creates an atmosphere where we really are treated like adults, instead of kids in high school that need some kind of monitor to watch us take tests, or shove random huge lecture classes down our throats. We can create so much on our own, and the faculty really gives us the attention (it's rare that I have a class with more than 20 people in it), the space, and the tools to create on our own. If I could change anything, I would probably want to make the campus and student body more interested in national politics, both liberal and conservatives alike. I think our school is just the right size. If it were any larger, I would feel more isolated from some big crowd of students, and there would be more partying, which I don't want. When people hear that I'm from Wheaton, I don't really seem to identify any one singular reaction other than "Oh yeh, that's right outside of Boston, right" or occasionally "Oh, is that the one in Illinois", and I then correct them that we're not *that* Wheaton. I spend most of my time on campus strolling through Balfour (the student center), or hanging out with friends in Chase, the dining hall that's open till midnight, every night of the year. Norton, the town ini which Wheaton resides, is definitely not a "college town". We refer to this as "The Wheaton Bubble", because Wheaton is pretty insular, and other than walking to the CVS or using the shopping center to get groceries or Dunkin Donuts, there's nothing for us to do or use in Norton. Wheaton's administration is fine; there might be occasional cliched complaints from the students that somehow the school is hurting the world by claiming we need the school to divest from Sudan, or that we need to stop receiving grants from the Mars company because they're hurting cocoa farmers in South America or something, but generally our Dean and our President are good people. The last controversy I can remember is in the fall, when some of the freshmen and sophomores were up in arms over the Public Safety officers supposedly violating their rights by catching them drinking, but personally I think that the sophomores were just pissed that suddenly it was harder to not get caught drinking or smoking pot. Tough shit, is what I say. Their rights weren't being violated, PS just hired some new officers who happen to be really good at their jobs. There is a lot of school pride, but people express it in many different ways. Some people, like myself, will express it through their club affiliations by proudly wearing shirts like "Wheaton Fencing" or "Wheaton Conservatives". Others will wear team shirts. And lots of people, athletes and non-athletes alike, will wear "inside joke" shirts like Cowduck, "Wheaton Football: Undefeated since 1834", or a shirt listing lots of little lines like a Top Ten list titled "You Know You Go To Wheaton College If..." Unusual facts might be that our school has been used several times in major films as a fake Harvard, since Harvard doesn't allow anyone to film on its' actual campus. So apparently to Hollywood, Wheaton's campus and architecture looks a lot like Harvard's. Also, we were a women's school till 1987. One experience I will always remember is on Freshmen Orientation night, when all of our new class had lined up all around the edge of Peacock Pond at night, each with our own candles in hand lit, and there was this holy sacred feeling with all 400 of us standing there in silence, and then suddenly when the ceremony was over, a group of several guys from behind the pine trees burst out running in Speedos and jumped straight into to Pond, and all of us nearby started laughing, very confused by what had just happened. In terms of frequent student complaints, one is that supposedly "there is never anything to do."

Small school, nickname "Wheaton High" or "Camp Wheaton" everyone knows your business, if you want to blend in, don't come.

Wheaton is really small, especially for people who graduate from high school classes about our size. Lots of people have never heard of it, or confuse it with the Wheaton College in Illinois, which is very conservative Christian. The food here is okay-- lots of people think it sucks hardcore, but I generally can find something to eat. Also, our tuition keeps going up, which sucks a lot.