<p>GPA in top 10%
Three AP's senior year
Two AP's junior year
One AP Sophomore</p>
<p>SAT:
Math: 700
Verbal: 690
Writing: 690</p>
<p>SAT II junior year
US History 710
Biology 760</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
He performs standup comedy and Improvision at The Improv in West Hollywood.
Works weekends as a camp counselor at a Jewish camp in Malibu
Took four years of Mandarin Chinese and did a student exchange in Shanghai</p>
<p>Give me your thoughts.</p>
<p>So, he’s a senior and he’s awaiting RD results? I think it’s anybody’s guess. California is no longer considered an underrepresented state and his gpa and SATs are basically in the middle 50%. His extracurriculars and the fact that he’s a guy may give him a better shot than average.</p>
<p>I’m terrible at chances threads, but if your son got into Wesleyan he’d probably be doing improv with my son, so I’m rooting for him!</p>
<p>My son was accepted ED and will be a freshman next year. He was also top 10% (IB program, had slgihtly higher test scores and very involved theater ECs.</p>
<p>My S got in last year (appled ED and was waitlisted, but eventually got in).</p>
<p>Lower class rank (albiet from a top prep school).
About 100 points higher SATs.</p>
<p>I’d say your S has about the same chance, so it might just come down to how many waitlist admits they do this year.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>If you applied for financial aid: no better than even money.</p>
<p>If you can pay: 75%</p>
<p>seriously? a chance request from a parent? sheesh.</p>
<p>by SATs and GPA you kid is in the middle of the “accepted” range</p>
<p>Wesleyan’s ED acceptance rate is 41%; regular admissions rate isa in the low 20 </p>
<p>so your kid has a 50/50 shot</p>
<p>good luck!!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t agree with this. The adcom will have no idea whether DS has appied for financial aid or not. In the past, one could argue that a zip code might tip the applicant’s hand to some extent. But nowadays, even families from impeccably upper-middle class neighborhoods apply for financial aid. so, there’s no use kidding yourself that financial circumstances are reliably never a factor in admissions.</p>
<p>You’re welcome to disagree. But Wesleyan needs money. My spouse is an alum and they are constantly raising money and soliciting. If you think “borderline” decisions don’t get resolved in favor of people who can pay, you are dreaming.</p>
<p>And this is no critique of Wesleyan. It’s a great school. But most small, liberal arts schools are very hard-pressed financially these days (with a few exceptions like Williams and Amherst etc.). For PR reasons, they don’t want people to think that they are looking for qualified people who can pay. But they are.</p>
<p>of course, they’re looking for people who can pay. Consciously or subconsciously, they are probably making all sorts of subtle calculations, including, who is likely to stick with a lab science through a full basketball, swimming or football schedule; who will take another year of Spanish or advanced calculus. They can speculate about all sorts of things. However, trying to guess whether a family living in a solidly middle-class suburb of Los Angeles, will or won’t apply for financial aid would be a waste of their time, IMHO, since it could go either way, depending on the circumstances, and in most cases you’re not talking about a huge amount of money either way.</p>
<p>I absolutely second Johnwesley’s comments, who is a fellow alum and the “Dean” of this thread. Wesleyan Admissions and Financial Aid are about as separate and distinct as two university departments can be. Wesleyan’s long-time Admissions Dean, Nancy Meislahn, is adamant about the criteria for admission, which are clearly stated on the website, as is the financial aid policy. I can present two anecdotes which make me believe these website statements are basically true.</p>
<p>First, when I was inquiring about my son’s financial aid application this fall at Wesleyan’s admission office, they referred me over to the F.A. office, and they did not even know that they had revised their office hours months ago! The person I spoke to at Financial Aid, when I told her this story, confirmed that they did not have much to do with Admissions and added “we never see them, we’re all too busy”.</p>
<p>Second, we visited the campus four or five times over the past two and a half years, and in my talks with fellow parents, very few were seeking financial aid or had any concern about the cost. Wesleyan doesn’t have any trouble finding families who will pay full freight.</p>
<p>While Wesleyan certainly wants to have students who can pay, I would offer that the university puts much more time and effort trying to recruit non-upper and non-upper-middle class kids from various parts of the nation and world who can almost certainly be presumed to be financial aid candidates than trying to recruit those who can pay full tuition for four years. As I have mentioned, the latter type of student can be found in droves on the incessant student tours and at the admissions office interviews during high season (summer and school breaks). </p>
<p>As far as the unconscious motivations of AdCom staff as they make their admissions choices, I refer you to the book The Gatekeepers, which documents Wesleyan’s admissions process during the first year of Dean Meislahn’s tenure. I believe, based on all of these factors, that Wesleyan has been and still is one of the few LACs that are truly need-blind.</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s my opinion!</p>