PLEASE DON'T IGNORE; I NEED FEEDBACK.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wesleyan University
1

PLEASE DON’T IGNOREI am a Pakistani female from NY (Long Island). I’m worried about my lack of rigorous courses and transcript.
I’m applying under early decision 2.

9th grade:
-honors english
-regents algebra. regents exam grade: 83
-regents social studies. final exam: 88
-earth science. regents exam grade: 76
-regents spanish

10th grade
-honors global regents grade: 96
-honors english
-regents spanish
-regents geometry exam grade: 92
-regents bio exam grade: 79

11th grade
-regents chemistry regents grade: 81
-regents trig exam grade: 77
-AP US score: 4 regents grade: 99
-Honors english exam grade: 94
-regents spanish

12th grade
-honors english
-ap government
-ap biology
-honors physics
-regents spanish
-precalc
-calculus

sat iis
chem- 700
us history- 710
math 1: 790

GPA:3.6 UW (been consistent all years)
W: 3.8
ACT: 33

Extra curricular activities:
-model UN (4 years) public relations
-Peer educators (4 years) Vice president
-Amnesty (4 years)
-Mock trial (3 years)
-key club (3 years)
-constitutional debate
-Spanish Honor society
-founded a club this year

I received awards for art and volunteering services.

Outside of school:
volunteered at a hospital, nursing home, local library, LGBT services, Sunday school (where I teach arabic and urdu, editor for the newspaper, organized events such as interfaith dialogues), synagogue + church, and I volunteered in Nepal, and India over the summer
-had an internship with a business company, and one with my county’s legislative
-I do artwork as a hobby and I have some pieces worth sending to schools
-sending in science research supplement and poetry as well
-taught english in pakistan
-I attend NYC protests whenever I can about regarding issues I am passionate about
-I’ve done karate for 10 years
-I’ve danced for 8 years and I also assisted my teacher in choreographing for tween classes
-fluent in english, spanish, arabic, urdu, hebrew

Essay: Outstanding (based on my interest for social justice and interfaith)
Recommendations: excellent (chem teacher, english teacher, and spanish teacher)
-got one from a Wesleyan alumnus

I am not requesting financial aid. I also keep contact with the admissions staff. (early decision 2)

2

Your coursework seems rigorous enough, I wouldn’t worry about it. Your GPA is on the lower end of their average for accepted applicants, however it’s not bad. Excellent teacher recs are also very important. But most of all you seem like a passionate person with alternative views on things, which is worth more on an application than anything else you have here. They want to know a person, not just a 4.0 with some disjointed ECs and essays. I’d say you’re a somewhat competitive applicant, if your race is something they’re lacking in their minority population, that will be a huge leg up. Apply and see what happens.

3

@okon2122 thank you so much for your response!

4

Universities usually want a well-rounded student body, but they don’t expect each individual student to be entirely well-rounded. I think it’s overkill for you to send in supplements for science research, poetry and art. Your science and math grades do not support the idea of you being a serious contender as a science major, so I wouldn’t bother sending in a science supplement. Art as a hobby also does not sound like it would be your major, or has been an emphasis, so I wouldn’t send that in either. Serious art students would have won awards and had their work exhibited. As for the poetry, does that relate to your planned major at all?

I think you should focus how you present yourself in your application. Since your language skills and social justice and interfaith interests all go together, you could emphasize those things. They fit with some of your activities like mock trial, constitutional debate and model UN. You want to leave the admissions reps with a clear picture of you that they can remember, rather than a scattered and jumbled impression. That said, I think your grades and curriculum are going to be on the low side for Wesleyan. Be sure to apply to some places that you are sure you can get into and also sure you can afford.

5

@mommyrocks My performance in math has always been poor, but I went up in my science courses somewhat. I went from regents to honors/ap bio. Will that make any impact on whether or not I send in a science supplement? I also demonstrated my abilities in science/math with my SAT ii scores. I also took bio which I got a 750 on. I actually received awards for art in 9th/10th grade, and I took art classes outside of school, but I didn’t take any AP art courses. I have always been in honors English, and my English grades are pretty good, so that’s why I considered sending in my poetry… I completely understand where you’re coming from. Thank you so much.

6

You still haven’t said what you plan to study and major in if you were to get accepted to Wesleyan. Notice the wording below from Wesleyan’s website – it says some students supplement with “art, music, or scientific research.” It does not say “art, music AND scientific research” as if students can and should supplement with all three. By saying “OR” it indicates that one type of supplement is all that is intended. The rest of the wording supports this conclusion. It says the supplement should represent a “special accomplishment or interest, or reflect an educational goal.” Notice the word OR again, not AND.

If you submit science, art AND poetry supplements, it indicates that you don’t have any special interest or educational goal. I also wonder whether any of your planned supplements represent a special accomplishment. If you won a national or international award with one of them, that would be a special accomplishment. If you plan to major in one of these subjects, then that would be an educational goal. If one is a passion that you plan to continue while at a university (as a hobby or as part of club, perhaps), then that could be a special interest.

If none of your planned supplements fit these categories, I wouldn’t submit them. If only one fits, then I would submit only that one. Obviously, this is all just my opinion and interpretation, so feel free to submit all three if you think that is best. I wouldn’t want you to only submit one or none and not be admitted, and then think that the reason you were not admitted was that you did not submit all three supplements. You might also think about it and decide to choose a different supplement altogether. Only you can decide in the end how to package your application.

From Wesleyan’s website:

APPLYING TO WESLEYAN
ART & SCIENCE

Although not required, some students supplement their application with work - such as art, music, or scientific research - that represents a special accomplishment or interest, or reflects an educational goal.

7

@mommyrocks As of right now I am undecided, which is why my application looks very messy in terms of my interests as you said. I have an idea though of what I intent to do though; I would like to double major in Middle Eastern Studies and Art History. Considering this, what do you suggest I remove from my application besides the supplements? Thanks so much for your help. Also do you think an alumnus recommendation will have any impact?

8

Wesleyan’s website only mentions recommendations from your teachers, so I don’t think an alumnus recommendation will add much unless that person is also your teacher in a core subject. I don’t think it would hurt either.

Wesleyan says that an interview is “highly recommended.” Have you scheduled an interview yet? December 11th is the last day to schedule one if you haven’t done this already. See: http://wesleyan.edu/admission/visiting_campus/interviews.html

I don’t think you need to leave anything out of your application. You might want to organize and package it a certain way though. Your art background is related to a major in Art History, so your artistic endeavors and achievements could be listed at or near the top of your activities/honors lists. Your language skills would be highly relevant to conducting research related to the Middle East and art history, so language studies and related cultural activities could also be featured high in your list of activities. Government is a component of Middle Eastern Studies, so your mock trial, UN and similar activities could be featured high on your activities list as well.

To make the best use of the space available, you may find that it helps to lump some activities together in the Activities section and give them labels that support your planned majors. For example, you could organize your activities under labels like these: Visual Arts (describe lessons, achievements and awards), Language Studies and Teaching (became fluent in English, Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, Hebrew, and taught Arabic locally and English in Pakistan), Political Science Clubs (Model UN, mock trial, constitutional debate, interfaith dialogues, etc.), Cultural Activities (dance - if relevant, other…), etc.

Your internship and legislative experience would go under Work Experience. Your volunteer activities would go under Volunteer Experience, and you could list your volunteering experiences in India and Nepal first to place more emphasis on them.

Good luck!