Chances for Admission to Wellesley?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
1

<p>I apologize for posting another chance thread. The reason I want to know my chances is because if the consensus is that I do not have a reasonable chance at getting accepted to Wellesley College, that I will apply for the fall term as opposed to the spring term, which is what I plan on doing at the moment (so that I can boost my transcript and fix any parts of my app. that I can redeem).</p>

<p>So without further ado, here are my stats:</p>

<p>High School-</p>

<p>GPA:~3.2/5.0..A series of factors including a battle with depression (I stopped coming to class for several weeks at a time; the only reason I did not get reprimanded was because teachers knew I was a good kid and I did well on exams) and severe bronchitis attributed to the low grades. I do intend to explain this to the admissions committee.</p>

<p>SAT I: Verbal-660, Math-650, Writing-760
SAT II: Biology-700, US History-750</p>

<p>College- I attend a community college and I am in the honors program.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0</p>

<p>Classes Taken: Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Biology 2 (placed out of Bio. 1), Chemistry 1, Physics 1, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Honors English 2, Intro. Philosophy Honors, Problems in Philosophy, American Literature Honors, Honors Seminar in Migration</p>

<p>Classes to be Taken in the Fall: Engineering Statics, Calculus 3, Physics 2, Chemistry 2, Honors History</p>

<p>ECs: Very strong..President of Latino Students Association, President and Founder of Philosophy Club, Tutor at the College (primarily math and science), Vice President of County's Young Democrat Chapter, Debate Coach at local high school, Part-Time Merchandise Associate at Marshalls.</p>

<p>Intended Major: Astrophysics, Mathematics</p>

<p>Additional Information: Had an interview on campus, and intend to do an overnight visit.</p>

<p>Any thoughts and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>I can’t chance you, but I can give you some unsolicited advice:</p>

<p>The observatory is going to be renovated in Spring 2010, and I think will be finished Spring 2011. Be sure to stop by in the fall to see everything before it goes down for a year. If you are doing an overnight, get your hostess to take you there after dark if the weather is good. I assume you already know quite a bit about Wellesley’s Astro program as reasons you are looking at the school, so I won’t go into too much detail. If you haven’t talked to any professors in the Astronomy, I particularly recommend talking to Wendy Bauer. </p>

<p>Wellesley doesn’t allow double dipping on credits, so the only benefit to majoring in Astrophysics is that 215 is required for the major but doesn’t count, so you can put it toward the Math major. As the Astrophysics major is one of the most static and enumerated majors on campus, there are a lot of courses that one would rather not take but you have no choice. In combination with the math major, that leaves little room for interesting choice classes which is why I do not recommend a double major with Astrophysics.</p>

3

<p>Agreed. The astrophysics major is almost like a double major in itself, since the physics major requires a lot of classes and then you have to had on another slew of astro classes.</p>

4

<p>Thank you very much for the advice. I really appreciate it! Just wondering, does this mean astrophysics is not a popular major at Wellesley?</p>

5

<p>It is a rather intense major. In the class of 2010, there is 1 major. In 2009, I think there were 2 or 3. It’s a lot of classes to fit into four years, so you almost have to start during your first year (at least either taking intro astro or physics).</p>

<p>Then again, for 2010 there are 2 astronomy majors and 6 physics majors… the departments are small but all very close knit.</p>

6

<p>Oh alright that makes a lot of sense, thank you very much for the information, welles10! I think what I will do (for the application) is mark astrophys as my primary interest and math as my secondary interest. Once again, thank you very much for the information!</p>

7

<p>No, I would not describe Astrophysics as “popular” based on its sheer numbers, but I wouldn’t describe it as unpopular in the sense that the people who major are majoring in spite of larger issues. It’s not a bad major, it’s just a major with a lot of classes and a lot of work that attracts people for different reasons and loses them for others. The Astrophysics major is a essentially a full Physics major (as required for all Astronomy graduate programs) with four Astronomy courses (not required from any Astronomy graduate programs, sadly). Any less preparation is inadequate for graduate work. I’m not up on the flavors of the IR major (the most course-heavy major on campus), but I suspect it does not require six classes at the 300 level, many of which you cannot take without six courses worth of prerequisites, written and unwritten, eight courses, if you come into Wellesley without calculus. There are 0-3 majors in any given year and a slightly larger number of people who are interested in the department and major, but do not complete it.</p>

<p>The biggest reason for not completing the major? It’s very difficult. Most people come up against that fact the hard way, finding both that they cannot do well enough in their physics classes and that they do not like them well enough to do so. Difficulty is the reason for attrition from the regular physics major as well, but people majoring in physics come in with far fewer delusions about what it takes than Astrophysics majors.</p>

<p>People come at Astrophysics from either end: physics or astronomy. I’ve seen some potential Astrophysics majors go on to be Physics Majors because they like that better, and there have been physicists who, persuaded by friends, have said, “it’s only two more classes, and one of them promises to be fun. I’ll switch.” There are people who think Astro is way cool, get told they have to take some physics, and then they do because they can, but they aren’t all that fond of the physics end of the major. </p>

<p>I would say that half of the people who are in the Astronomy Major are lapsed Astrophysics majors, and the other half had not ever really considered the full Astrophysics major, but like Astronomy.</p>

<p>The department website ([Wellesley</a> College Astronomy - Home](<a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/Astronomy]Wellesley”>Wellesley - Physics and Astronomy)) has the best information about what’s involved with majoring, as well as statistics on the number of majors in any given year.</p>