if it’s any consolation to you, we toured Wesleyan with both of our daughters. Our 1st kid did not apply, and neither will our 2nd kid. They both wanted more urban and bigger.
BUT…my wife and I were very impressed both times. Ok, the campus is a little unusual with the football field in the middle, but so what? the kids were incredibly engaged and have so much freedom to explore different interests and activities, with amazing support and resources and guidance. Middletown isn’t New York or L.A., but it’s got a nice strip of bars and eateries. And I love Wes’ housing system that gets more independent each year, with seniors in their own houses but the houses are on campus.
Honestly of every school we have seen, it’s the one I would choose for my kids if I could.
Thank you for helpful information. Wesleyan currently is in top 3 for my D and we will visit the campus in April.
Don’t know what your daughter applied for but would have loved CMU and but got BU.
Her major is International Relation and Political Science for some schools without that major.
For now, she’s considering CMU, BC, UB and Wesleyan.
For whomever needs to hear this - every highly competitive school is a reach, and some targets and safeties are now reaches. It’s crazy. Two National Merit Scholar Finalists I know (with other top notch stats and ECs etc - these two will be physicians) getting waitlisted at Pitt and denied at top choices. Another outstanding student I know well who has a lot going for her got deferred at Yale ED (ie strong enough to be deferred at Yale) has been waitlisted at Vanderbilt and denied at UNC-CH. More than ever before, make sure you have true “targets” and “safeties” you love. In quotation marks because, again, if next year is like this year, take nothing for granted. And if possible, apply ED.
If an NMF had the “grades” to go with the test score, getting WL at Pitt either happened due to a limited major (if they have) or late app - because Pitt is a relatively easy admit.
Being WL at Vandy and denied OOS at UNC is par for anyone!!
But too many don’t “rate” themselves vs. the school properly.
Yes, a lot of students look at grades and scores, but not rigor. Or the students don’t have an understanding of the institutional priorities of the colleges where they apply and think that what they have to offer is more valued than what it actually is.
Pitt saw a 65% increase in applications this year. Qualified students who applied late, particularly to more competitive majors like CS, were at a huge disadvantage. Pitt has always said that they view applying early (August/September) as demonstrated interest. By the time a lot of high stats kids got around to applying, Pitt viewed them as either using the school as a safety, or simply didn’t have an seats left in that program (CS, nursing, etc.). That doesn’t mean that the students who were accepted weren’t qualified, only that the latecomers no longer had much of a chance.
The majority of applicants to Vandy and UNC are “outstanding students” so this response shouldn’t be a surprise. The Yale deferral doesn’t indicate that the student was more or less qualified than anyone else at Vandy and UNC.
And this is the reason all students should have for pursuing ECs. And volunteering.
You said she had 8 acceptances but I only see CMU and Wesleyan on your last post. What are the other six!
And congratulations to her. Even just these two acceptances are terrific!
She’s accepted to UCB, UCSB, UCI, UCD, BC, Brandeis.
My D22 really enjoyed all of her many ECs, volunteering works and they are all related to her major.
Yes, I totally agree with you on what should be the reason for ECs and volunteering. However, if college doesn’t use any of those for admission criteria, I wonder how many high school students would keep the same amount of ECs and volunteering.
They might do the same but embellish less 
And CMU and Brandeis! That’s a great selection of schools.
RE ECs. Our kids did these things because they happened to really enjoy them. Both started their most significant ECs (music related) in elementary school and continued through high school. Our NOT music major kid wrote her college essay on something she did related to her high school band. It got hand written responses on all of her letters of acceptance.
And really…kids need to do something beside just academics…for themselves! And to keep busy.
You have no way to know what did or didn’t pique the interest of the adcoms.
But you and your student have much to celebrate here!
Change of plan, I don’t think we will be visiting any campus.
My D was just accepted to Georgetown SFS.
It was her dream school since 6th grade when we visited Georgetown and she’s crying now.
In the end, I must say that she was "Good Enough’ to achieve her dream.
Congratulations! That is very cheery news. Georgetown is a terrific place. And it was her number one…so there you go!
Well geez….I just realized that @Acccdad is not the original poster to this thread.
Yes true, I don’t think they applied early to Pitt, which was necessary this year in light of the number of apps they received. It was meant to be a safety for them but I agree, it’s common knowledge that you need to apply to Pitt in August/September for it to be remotely a “safety”. The Yale deferred/UNC denied/Vandy waitlisted student did get into UVA (OOS), which is where she’ll probably go. All three students are incredibly accomplished so it’s not an issue of stats. That was my point, albeit anecdotal, and that’s what the top colleges say in their deny letters - words to the effect of, “you and thousands of others were completely qualified and would do great here, just not enough seats”. It seems like this year more than ever, lots of students are going to what would’ve been targets a couple years ago.
Given your DD’s results, does your advice for the OP change? I’m pondering the same thing, given my 2022 grad’s results.
Congrats! Waitlisted, McDonough.
I apologize, I didn’t mean to hijack OP’s thread, I was just replying to posts that were directed to me. However, you can blame me or anything, because I am the happiest dad on the face of the earth today.
I wouldn’t change a thing. As I mentioned earlier, I would recommend as many EA as possible.
Also, find out the true safety and target schools for your kids which doesn’t necessary has to be the ones with 100% guarantee. Lastly, we can only do so much as parent, it’s all about your kid’s determination and hard works.
I have really been enjoying your wise posts, AustenNut.
My S22’s safeties were SUNY Purchase and Sarah Lawrence (for creative writing. But both are really good for film and really accessible to NYC with good internship programs). He got into both and (kind of to my dismay, actually!) seems more excited about these than his other options Oberlin and Kenyon. WL at 4 other schools.
So I second looking at Purchase and maybe Sarah Lawrence for your film-loving D.