Classes at Wellesley are usually small, and contact with faculty members is very extensive. "Participation in classes is crucial--it's not as if you can sit in a large lecture hall and mindlessly take notes for an hour," says junior Jenny Hinshaw. "Classes here are so contained and so one-on-one with the professors, that absences are instantly noticed and frowned upon."

Another positive feature about the stellar academics at Wellesley is the way in which it provides females with role models, and helps women to fully appreciate the worth of their own minds. "In high school it was always the guys who dominated the classes. I used to play down my strengths to fit in--Wellesley helped me to put my feet on the ground," junior Kathy Oglo says, adding, "I take myself more seriously now."

But again, like the initially attractive isolation of the campus, the intensity of the academics can make people very unhappy. "Learning is reduced to a petty competitiveness here--everyone feels like they have to put in more hours at the library, or score better on tests than the girls next door," Rae says.

Many students also complain that the days tend to blur together because of the redundancy of the daily routine of eat, go to class, study, sleep. "All you do at Wellesley is study--it's taken for granted that you'll be in the library every night and on Sundays," Trippe says. "I thought that the swim team would be an outlet for me, but even with them the big thing is to dress really fast in the locker rooms after meets so that we can get back to the libraries."

Because of Wellesley's self-paced exam system, which allows students to schedule their exams at either 9 a.m. or 2 p.m. over three days, the Honor Code at Wellesley is very strict. "You can't ask people if the exam was easy or hard, and you can't talk to a friend if you are upset about an exam, so what you find are multitudes of girls calling their mothers to cry about their finals," Trippe says.

While a lot of women point to the education they are receiving as the primary reason they came to Wellesley, some feel that this posture is only a mask for discontent over not being admitted to first-and second-choice schools. Rae, an Exeter graduate, says that Wellesley is seen as a second-rate school at her alma mater. "People only come to Wellesley because they didn't get into the Ivies," she explains.

At times this bitterness over not getting into other Ivy League schools and universities can color a Wellesley student's view of women at other colleges. "The picture we have about Radcliffe out here is that it is a very bitchy place to be," Oglo says, adding, "But maybe that is just because some of the girls applied there and didn't get in." Trippe offers a blunter assessment: "Wellesley women see the Cliffie bitches as competition for the Harvard men."

And just what is the view of Harvard men at Wellesley? Although Trippe avers that Harvard men are sometimes seen as more "glamorous" and more "fun," other Wellesley women have less-than-flattering portraits to paint. "A lot of the Harvard guys who come out here are strange sometimes--they're very into being at Harvard and they think that being there makes them special or something," Jordan says. "While Harvard guys might be fun for a few weeks, it is generally the MIT guys who call back and who are friendlier."

As to the notion that Wellesley women are just out for a husband, the resounding response from the students is that careers and well-paying jobs come first these days. "Sure your parents joke about you meeting the Harvard doctor, but not that many people are here to get married anymore," Rae says. "The women are very career-oriented now--priorities have definitely changed."

Oglo offers some final views on the Wellesley women she sees today--a different breed from that described in the opening ditty. "It's time people took us seriously; the Wellesley woman these days is down-to-earth, intelligent and laid back," she says. "It is definitely a clean-cut, live and let live atmosphere now."