Major Mixology

Today we visited our first college, Wellesley [wells-lee] College, an all girls school to whom Hillary Clinton attended. We shared a dinner with current Brown students, and chatted about a variety of subjects. 

'Who is that talking? Where am I?' My mind was rushed with these questions when I was awoken by my roommate, Shraddha, who was trying to wake me up for half an hour. She had felt bad for waking me up but my alarms kept going off and she was tired of pressing the snooze button for me. I quickly informed her that she should just throw a pillow at me when she wakes up and yell, if needed. I started throwing on my clothes when I realized it would be extremely hot and didn't need to bring a sweater and jacket. We then went downstairs to rendezvous with the other girls at 6:45 east coast time in order to make it to Wellesley on time. I thought waking up at 6 AM at home was difficult, my naivete soon vanished. 

We arrived at Wellesley College after quite a trek of traffic and sleepy conversation. It took a lot longer than we had expected, however we were just in time for our group meeting and tour of Wellesley.

The college inquiry session had two parts: for one part we had a interactive information lecture by an administration officer. We discussed the pros and cons of an all girls school. I agreed with a majority of the concepts they uphold at Wellesley and the importance of women's independence and a support system. She said some things that truly rang true in my ears and made a lot of sense and were empowering. I especially remember her talking about the fact that so often women see a women doing something very academically rigorous and say "Wow that is amazing. I could never do that. How special are you." She said that in fact it should not be that way. The truth is that women should and are able to do just as amazing things as men; it is simply societal norms affecting our aspirations and our personal view of self value. Contrarily, I did not agree with the idea of segregation of the sexes. I understand the purpose being that it's not to isolate your self from men forever, but to give you a place free of male opinions to fully realize your potential. I personally believe, however that its the same kind of segregation as an all black school not accepting any other races. I think that people should have the right to learn in an environment free of any prejudices, no matter what the world thinks. A balance of everything is the key to happiness and success, in my opinion.

Wellesley also had a very unique concept of exploration and trying new things. Both of these themes I try to live in my life daily and enjoy the fact that they are applied to a place of learning. Wellesley allows their students to try an array of courses and subjects to ensure true exploration in learning and build the ability to be open minded. I think this is important to do and I believe I will most deffinently be looking at colleges that allow you to mix courses, and even create your own majors, like Wellesley. 

We also had a tour of the Wellesley campus for the second part of our session. This was cut short however do to the extreme temperatures and Wellesley's spread out campus. The parts of the campus we did see were absolutely gorgeous. Wellesley even has their own lake! We also had a virtual tour with pictures of the buildings at Wellesley that we could not see due to the heat. 

Our tour of Wellesley

So hot!

Despite my hesitance at the idea of an exclusive school, I think that Wellesley had taught me some things that I will look for in picking a college and made me more aware of my options. I think Wellesley could be beneficial to me as a college, in the sense of getting a new perspective, but I wouldn't put it at the top of my list.

We also had a dinner with current Brown students: Hillary, Kenya, and Travis. We met at this amazing restaurant, called Siena, which had foods I'd only heard about in movies. We talked for about three hours over wonderful food about varying Brown qualities. We asked questions ranging from what requirements there are to get accepted to how are the social aspects of the school. It was wonderful to be comfortable enough to speak with students and get tangible facts and pieces of advice despite your life path. I found it extremely helpful to speak with students who had already done what we are striving toward. 

Thanks for talking with us!

During the course of the dinner, we spoke about Wellesley College's aspect of mixing majors to create a special leaning program tailored to your interests. I was pleasantly surprised to find out the Brown also encourages mixing your learning and taking courses of varying subjects. I also learned there are no minors at Brown and that most people major in two subjects, which might not be connected. I found it strange that today had an overall motif of stepping out of your comfort zone and finding what your passions are and pursuing them. I realized today that everything is connected and within any two things there will always be similarities. It was an overall great day and I'm ready for tomorrow (with a little sleep perhaps as well).