It’s hard to imagine things being more chaotic this year than last when Wesleyan essentially had to second-guess the applications of hundreds of international students. My sense is that Wesleyan tends to prefer the risk of over-accepting to going to the waitlist when things look “chaotic”.
Also, let’s not forget that big increases in applications often occur at places the first year they introduce test-optional admissions, as happened at many selective colleges this year. Wesleyan has been test-optional for years, so it did not experience the same magnitude of bump in applications.