Chances at Wes?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m currently a junior at a small school in NYC (online now haha). I love Wesleyan University and want to ED there. However, I’m concerned about two of my first semester grades from this year. I have maintained straight As and occasionally some A-s throughout high school but I got 2 B+s on my 1st-semester transcript and I’m scared that will hurt my application. I will share my stats and ECS! I would love if someone could help me! The process is so stressful, especially now, and I would like to hear some opinions.

Grades/GPA:
9th grade: 3.94 UW
10th: 4.0 UW
11th: 1st semester all As except B+ in honors precalc and physics. Btw I’m taking AP French and APUSH but got As in those. I’m predicting all As 2nd semester except for either a B+ or A- in honors precalc. I have managed to bring my physics grade up.

I have gotten high honors at my school every semester since 9th grade.

I plan on taking French at Baruch College senior year, so hopefully, that will look good. I am also going to take honors calculus, AP Environmental Sci, AP English Lit, and AP Euro History. I also take studio art (11, 12) but that is considered an elective.

ECS:

  1. Theater program at my school (6 years)
  2. Piano, outside of skl (14 years). Also, I am probably going to send in a music supplement.
  3. All-female a capella group at my school (4 years)
  4. Founder and president of the Outdoors Club at skl (2 years)
  5. Peer leader. I teach gender and consent education and also facilitate school discussions and help the faculty with other events. I also help a group of 9th graders throughout the year with getting used to high school. (2 years)
  6. Head of media and management of my school’s robotics team (2 years)
  7. Science Olympiad (4 years)

I occasionally volunteer at the Keen Center, but that’s about it.

ACT: I haven’t taken it yet but I predict either a 31 or 32 based on my practice tests. Hoping for a 33.
Might take SAT II for US History and French. I got a 750 on a practice French test.

Please help! I would be so grateful!

2

as long as you go to a private school and you get ur act up, I would be very very surprised to see you not get in! good luck at Wesleyan

3

thanks so much! working on it:)

4

I love Wesleyan too. A lot. I can see why you like it. I think you’ll be a strong applicant.

Schools like Wesleyan, which accept fewer than 20% of their applicants, are a reach for anyone. Even for top students with a lot of accomplishments like you. It would be a good idea to find other schools like Wes that you can also fall in love with. A couple of liberal arts colleges which have the same kind of feel as Wes to me and which are about the same distance from NYC are Lafayette and Vassar. If you’re willing to expand your distance farther, there are lots of other great choices upstate and in PA. Of course New England is loaded as well but almost all are also impossible to get into - places where you give it your best shot on the application but don’t hold your breath. Hope to be pleasantly surprised.

What is it that you like about Wesleyan? The details in that answer might help to come up with a list of other schools where you’d also be happy.

5

You sound like a strong candidate, especially if you apply ED. If you can arrange for an on-campus interview, I would strongly advise you to do that rather than an alumni interview. We were given this advice by several Wes students and recent grads. Good luck!

6

Thank you so much for this advice! I’m 99% sure I’m EDing!

7

I was actually planning on applying to both Lafayette and Vassar RD if the ED to Wesleyan doesn’t go well (fingers crossed!). I recently talked to a Wes freshman who I had known in the past and her description of Wes just made me love it even more. For me, it really is about the people and the environment.

My school is pretty good, but there are so many entitled kids there who devalue their education and are extremely ignorant. I find that all the Wes students I’ve talked to love learning for the sake of learning, and they were all so willing to have a conversation with me about their experiences at Wes. I guess it’s just because of my school environment, but I found it so refreshing to be on a campus where people are just constantly curious and always want to be intellectually stimulated. Also, I love the community there. Everyone there, according to my Wes friend, is so open-minded and friendly. Plus, I’m a huge theater/music kid and she told me so many positive things about the theater community and that really sold me as well. Everyone seems to care about the arts there and that is something that I also value, so that will definitely impact what schools I apply to. The campus is big enough that you could meet new people all the time but small enough that you’ll always see a familiar face.

I really got interested in their College of Letters major, because it is a combination of everything I want to study (history, language, literature, European studies, philosophy). I love language and I’ve basically exhausted the language department at my school so I have to go to a local college next year to take classes, which is exciting! I
have a sense of what career I want, although it could change, but I am really interested in museum careers, such as being a museum technician, a conservator/curator, an archivist, etc. Maybe I’ll go into academia, but I don’t know.

This is a spiel, but to be honest, this is more helpful than the college counseling at my school. I’m sorry if this is too long! I basically was drawn to the community, the bright and friendly people, and the academic opportunities. Also, the location is pretty nice.

Other schools I’m looking into: Hamilton, Haverford, BU, BC, William and Mary, Lafayette, Vassar, Reed, Kenyon, and Clark University.

8

Regarding your concerns about imperfections in your grades, note that, among highly selective colleges, Wesleyan isn’t particularly GPA sensitive. Of enrolled students whose HS class standing was available, two thirds did originate from the top 10% of their HS classes. However, a significant 6% graduated in the bottom half of their HS classes.