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NORTHEAST REGION SCHOOLS
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| Wellesley
College Wellesley is not just the best women's college in the nation, it's one of the best colleges in the nation, period. The most popular majors are economics, political science, psychology, English and biology, though economics is known as the biggest powerhouse. In fact, Wellesley has produced virtually all of the country's high-ranking female economists. Students in molecular biology work with faculty on DNA research, and a high-tech science center houses two electron microscopes, two NMR spectrometers, ultracentrifuges, two lasers, and other such equipment. Anything Wellesley women find lacking in their facilities or curriculum can probably be found at MIT, where they have full cross-registration privileges. Recent grants from private foundations have allowed Wellesley to add other innovative programs, including independent research tutorials for advanced science students and fellowship funding for joint student-faculty projects. Under the honor system, students may take their finals, unsupervised, at any time during exam week. Not even half an hour away, Boston is the place where Wellesley women can mingle with lots of other students - specifically male - from Harvard and MIT. For campus-bound students (like many first-years, who cannot have cars on campus), dorm parties and movies are featured attractions. The graduates of this incredible school are smart, self-confident, capable and unstoppable in their drive to the top. Wesleyan University Wesleyan students are marked by an unusual commitment to debate, from political to cultural to intellectual. The college tries to reduce tension and encourage experimentation by giving extensions to the next semester almost without question, allowing courses to be dropped up to the last day of classes, and permitting students to design their own majors. A pass/fail grading option that substitutes a written evaluation for a grade is offered in most classes, and interdisciplinary programs are conducted almost entirely on this basis. Major events on the social calendar include Spring Fling and Fall
Ball. Only 12 percent of the men and a scant 4 percent of the women
go Greek. The key to Wesleyan's success seems to be the fostering
of an intellectual milieu where independent thinking and an appreciation
of differences are omnipresent.
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