<p>So... things have been kind of slow all across CC land. I hope it's because folk are en route to various Admitted Students Days. I know Swarthmore's is this weekend as well as WesFest. President Roth published a special post in his blog today, addressed to visiting families. I'll quote just this short passage:
[quote]
I hope our visitors get a sense of the personality of the school that I so admire and enjoy. I hope they feel the exuberance and ambition of our students, the intelligence and care of our faculty, the playful yet demanding qualities of our community. I hope our visitors can sense our commitment to creating diversity in which difference is embraced and not just tolerated, and our commitment to civic engagement as a key part of ones education and approach to life.
<p>I think you’re right, John. My son, who chose not to attend WesFest since he was an ED1 admit, says most of his classmates are gone this week, flying to the east coast to choose between the Ivies and top LACs at their various Pre-Frosh events. I am glad it worked out this way for him because he has used this interval since his acceptance to start planning and envisioning what Wesleyan is going to be like for him–a remarkable sign of maturing that was a surprise to see. He also has been able to choose classes that he loves for this final semester and get really deep into them purely for learning’s sake. One of the undersold advantages of Early Decision admissions is that you not only avoid this stress-packed, impressionistic decision-making in April on fit between student and college, but it also gives a young person four or five more months to get their head around the huge life transition that freshman year is. I would love to know if there are studies out there showing the relative academic success (and satisfation with the college) of early vs. regular admits, holding constant other predictors like SATs and such.</p>
<p>My ED1 son also did not attend WesFest–he wanted to, but we are too far away to make it easy for him to do so, especially with his heavy IB course load. His HS musical also just finished up–just too much going on.</p>
<p>I’m hoping we’ll get some WesFest reports back here from those that did attend. And yes, I did enjoy reading the letter from President Roth.</p>
<p>Congratulations! You’ve made a wise choice and my son–who will be among your classmates in the Class of 2015–and I will be among the hundreds there unpacking cars and trucks and moving on in on August 31. I hope you have as wonderful a “Wesleyan Experience” as I did–or better! Yay for you!</p>