Wellesley Class of 2023 Results Only Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
21

Applied: Regular Decision
Decision: Wait list

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1440, didn’t report
ACT (breakdown): 34, reported
SAT II: Literature (750), Math 2 (720), World History (700)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85
Weighted GPA: 4.32
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): US history (5), World History (5), Seminar (4), English Lang (5), US Gov (4), Euro History (3), English Lit (5),
IB (place score in parenthesis): Psychology SL (5), idk the other ones yet
Senior Year Course Load: IB TOK, HL French, Literature, History, SL Computer Science, Math, AP Microeconomics, Piano Lab
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, AP with distinction and honors, Multilingual Proficiency Candidate

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): city youth orchestra (4 years), piano lessons (3 years), flute lessons (4 years), National Honor Society (3 years), Student Council Committee Head (5 semesters)
Job/Work Experience: Hostess at a restaurant for around 10 months
Volunteer/Community service: Teen Court (a real sentencing court for first-time juvenile offenders); I’ve been involved for 4 years and have been selected to give speeches, accept awards, etc.
Summer Activities: Duke TIP 2 years in a row - took a class on writing and a class on criminal trial advocacy; arranged a trip to Taiwan with two friends and no parents to teach English at a local elementary school for two weeks, traveled solo for two weeks in Taiwan and China
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App I’d say 8.5/10. I thought it was really good when I first wrote it, but I looked back and I could’ve probably done better. Wellesley supplement 9/10. I think I’m a strong writer, but I could’ve done better. I lowkey did my application pretty close to the deadline.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 9.5/10. English teacher of 2 years. I loved her and she loved me. I really grew as a writer in the two years I was in her classes, and participated a lot. I talk to her outside of class because she doesn’t teach seniors, and we get along fabulously.
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 9/10. History teacher/Seminar coach/economics teacher. Had him for 3 years, I don’t know how he is with recommendation letters but I know he has a high opinion of me and we get along really well.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): no idea/10. Our counselor was not involved in the process at all beyond a brief 15-minute meeting with each of 79 seniors. I know that she did a lot of reporting on our school, though (we’re a nationally ranked charter)
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 9.5/10. Flute private lesson teacher of a year and a half. Outside of lessons, we’re friends and have a really good relationship. I don’t know how well she writes letters but she’s a college professor so I have good expectations…lol
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): Didn’t ask for one and was not contacted for one.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Political Science and Art History
State (if domestic applicant): Indiana
School Type: Charter
Ethnicity: Asian
Income Bracket: 100k+ with special financial circumstances
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): dunno. Nothing particularly interesting comes to mind.

Reflections: I didn’t work on the application for as long as I could’ve, and looking back I’m not in love with my common app essay. I really poured myself into the supplement, though. I’m not surprised I was waitlisted, but I would’ve loved to go. Congrats to everyone who got in :slight_smile: y’all are awesome.
Strengths: National Merit, extracurriculars, Wellesley supplement
Weaknesses: GPA, AP’s, SAT II’s could’ve been stronger. CA essay could’ve been better.

22

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
ACT: 34 (32E, 32M, 36S, 36R)
SAT II: Bio E 740, Literature 740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.76 UW
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 13%
Senior Year Course Load: 8 IB Classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Montana Student of the Year, University of Montana Best delegate award, Presidents Service Award Gold, National Park Service Award

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Redesigned my city’s public transit network to make it more accessible for low-income students.
  • (President) of Model UN
  • (President) of Academic World Quest
  • (Director) of School’s TV channel
  • (President) Girls who code chapter in Montana
  • Documentary filmmaker
  • Basic stuff (NHS, student gov, and action committee)

Job/Work Experience:

  • Worked at a local community movie theater
  • Intern at an environmental consulting firm
    Volunteer/Community service:

Summer Activities:

  • Summer classes at Yale
  • Filmed a documentary
    Essays (rating 1-10, details):
    Common app (9/10) Wrote it on Socks
    Supplemental (8/10) Wrote it about my love for marine life and public transit

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (10/10): “I’ve never had a student like her in my 15 years of teaching”
Teacher Rec #2 (6/10): Lukewarm
Counselor Rec (10/10): Was amazing
Additional Rec (if any) (9/10): Written by the principal, talked about my contributions to the school
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 7/10 The interview went very well

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Environmental Science and History/IR
State (if domestic applicant): Montana
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: 1/2 Asian 1/2 White
Income Bracket: >$100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflections: I applied EE and got a possible. I was so sure that I was going to be waitlisted or rejected but I managed to get in. This just showed me that it isn’t all about stats. Colleges really do perform holistic admissions.
Strengths: Test scores, essays, EC’s, and Recommendations
Weaknesses: Class rigor and GPA

23

Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:

GPA: 4.5 (W), 4.0 (UW)
SAT: 1540, 800 Math, 740 Reading, 22 essay
ACT: 36 - 36/36/36/36, 10 Essay
Class Rank: 1/617 (although my school requires that we don’t report rank)
AP: Seven 5’s (U.S History, European History, Calc AB, Calc BC, Chemistry, Chinese, English Language)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Comp Sci A, AP Physics C (both), AP Macroeconomics, AP Statistics, PE
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, 10 Science Olympiad medals, Society of Women Engineers High Award, Bryn Mawr President’s Book Award, Delaware Valley Science Council Finalist, 2018 Edyth Malin AWIS-PHL High School Science Award

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): NHS (VP), SNHS (Secretary), Science Olympiad (President), Math Club (Officer)
Job/Work Experience: Tutor
Volunteer/Community service: Spent my summers doing outreach to my city and abroad as well with a total of 400+ hours
Summer Activities: Community Service
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8.5/10 - unique, but some people absolutely loved it while others were a little offset by the stream-of-consciousness format
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): counselor (10/10) - I was one of his favorite students and his priority with college apps, chem teacher (11/10) - She let me teach her organic chem class, and I was her go-to person for everything, had her for two years, English teacher (9/10) - I did some of my best writing in that class
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: N/A

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: CS
State (if domestic applicant): PA
School Type: competitive large suburban school
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: high

Reflections: I’m pretty disappointed, but it’s okay! I’ll take my talents elsewhere
Strengths: test scores, GPA, recommendations
Weaknesses: extracurriculars, no hooks, no research
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I wasn’t quirky/special enough
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted:
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
University of Maryland College Park (Honors College, President’s Scholarship, ACES)
Penn State
King’s College London
University College London
University of Edinburgh
Northeastern University (22k/year scholarship)
Washington University in St. Louis
Deferred: Princeton University
Waitlisted:
UChicago
Wellesley College
Rejected:
University of Cambridge
London School of Economics
Johns Hopkins University
Swarthmore College
Caltech

24

Accepted! RD, Likely EE

SAT I (breakdown):N/A
ACT (breakdown):32
SAT II:N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):4.0
Weighted GPA: N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis):Biology, European History, American History (no scores submitted)
IB (place score in parenthesis):N/A
Senior Year Course Load:AP Physics 1, AP Calc AB
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):GS Gold Award, AP Scholar, Summa Cum Laude

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):(Robotics)
Job/Work Experience:N/A
Volunteer/Community service:ambulance corps, taught programming classes at library, Girl Scouts
Summer Activities: Hospital Internship, Taiwan overseas cultural program
Essays (rating 1-10, details):I’m not a great writer but I showed my passions

Common app 8/10 about volunteering & somewhat unique (combined interests, fit my major well), supplement 8/10 talked about my passions/volunteering & why wellesley
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):8/10 english - she really liked me but nothing extraordinary
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):7/10 ap biology - she really liked me but nothing extraordinary
Counselor - 8/10 he really liked me but nothing extraordinary

Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: she liked me, but nothing extraordinary

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences
State (if domestic applicant): NY
School Type: competitive public school
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: upper/middle

Reflections:I’m really excited! I wasn’t expecting it at all. I’m a hard worker, but there are a lot of amazing people at my school and in the country. In comparison to other people applying to elite colleges, I don’t stand out. I truly believe that Wellesley accepted me because they thought that I was a good fit.

Strengths: in my essays, it was evident that I was passionate about making a difference. I also showed that I was a good fit for Wellesley (unique clubs and classes), GPA

Weaknesses: everything else - not many APs, average recommendations, average extracurriculars (particularly in school)

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I showed my passions and why I was a good fit for Wellesley

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted:
Mount Holyoke
Binghamton
Deferred:
Cornell
Rejected:
Johns Hopkins
Wash U.

25

Accepted RD with Likely EE
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 32
SAT II:N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA:N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio, European History, American History
IB (place score in parenthesis):N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics I, AP Calculus AB
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholars, Summa Cum Laude, Girl Scouts Gold Award

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): (robotics)
Job/Work Experience:N/A
Volunteer/Community service: ambulance corp, girl scouts, taught programming at the library
Summer Activities: hospital intern, Taiwan language and culture
Essays (rating 1-10, details): both are 8s - about how my extracurricular influence my passions and why I would be a good fit for Wellesley
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 8, english teacher liked me, nothing extraordinary
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 7, bio teacher liked me, nothing extraordinary
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 8 liked me, nothing extraordinary
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): N/A
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): liked me, nothing extraordinary

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?:No
Intended Major:Cognitive Science and Linguistics
State (if domestic applicant):NY
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: asian
Income Bracket: upper middle
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Reflections: I’m so excited! I honestly wasn’t expecting it. Overall, I’m not a great writer, I don’t have alot of extracurriculars/APs, etc. But I am hard-working and passionate. I made it evident in my essays that I’m a good fit for the college. I talked about the specific classes and clubs I would do. My advice would be to SHOW WHO YOU ARE. I know that I’m not that unique, but I always try my best and demonstrated my passions well

26

ED2 deferred, RD waitlisted… god save me lollll

Objectives:

SAT I (breakdown): 1550 (750 ERW, 800 Math)
ACT (breakdown): –
SAT II: 800 physics 800 math2
GPA: none provided but mostly A*s for IGCSE (a British system for 10th year), 7s for IBs, and As for others
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): not ever percentile provided
AP (place score in parenthesis): –
IB (place score in parenthesis): none taken yet, predicted not offered by school, only average ones on transcripts:
Chinese A lit SL 7
English B HL 7
Economics SL 7
Physics HL 7
Maths HL 7
French ab initio SL 7
Senior Year Course Load: the IBs and PE (A)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

  • no major personal awards

Subjectives:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Graphic design
  • Robotics
  • Related peripherals on STEM education
  • Guess some student gov/organizational work
  • Sports (badminton and tennis)… don’t do these two at the same time–totally nightmare :wink: 
  •  Maybe some others but so far remember using these as the majors

Job/Work Experience: N/A

Summer Activities: ESAP at UPenn 2018 in computer graphics

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

Common App Essay:
I got no idea honestly. I mainly have 2 versions of CA essays, one more literally “beautiful”, and the other more “logic” I guess…? Everyone told me to use the first one (even me feeling the same cuz it sounds better), but my counselor pushed me to used the second one for he said it is more informative about me on my ideas and college essays are not about trying to write beautifully. I only used the first one for UPenn and got rejected, so maybe this was a good idea lol.

Wellesley Essays (7/10):
My topic choices from the 101 maybe kinda cliche, from women scientists etc, but I tried to sound sincere which I am.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (10) Very close teacher, instructs me in ToK, CAS and Econ
Teacher Rec #2 (8) I think he likes me but we’re definitely not the closest
Counselor Rec (7) Guess just standard counselor rec, she’s my homeroom teacher and I’m the class monitor, but I feel that she’s not the kind of close-to-student-when-unnecessary type.
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): (?) No idea. From my ESAP professor. I think he remembers me pretty much cuz I was the first girl (almost the only) to volunteer as a team leader when he set the groups on the first day and also was pretty active in discussing course stuff with him throughout the course, but I honestly don’t know what he thinks.

Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): – no interviews offered in my region

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: –
Intended Major: MAS, 2nd CS
State (if domestic applicant): –
Country (if international applicant): China
School Type: Public, but international department
Ethnicity: East Asian
Income Bracket:–(really don’t remember this)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I AM A FEMALE

Reflections: Feel like I lack rather subjective parts, pretty much due to the fact that I was wandering so much in HS not sure of what I wanted to do, but I’d really appreciate it if Wellesley could just give me a firm answer instead of this. This is my 3rd wl now ?
Strengths: GPA, test scores
Weaknesses: no major awards, little volunteering

27

Accepted Regular Decision

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1380 (700 English, 680 Math)
ACT (breakdown): 32
SAT II: 740 Biology (molecular)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 103.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1/550
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World History-4, AP Bio-3, AP Stats-3, AP USH-5, AP English language-4, AP computer science principles-4
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load:AP Calulus AB and BC, AP Econ and government, AP English Lit, AP Environmental Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Texas State Science Fair 3rd Place for a bioinformatics project, Mock trial state competition 5th and 7th place (consecutive years), Guitar solo and ensemble (1 rating)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Vice President of Libertas Law academy
Team captain of High Q
Lead attorney and team captain of Mock trial
Varsity guitar/ soccer
NHS/NTHS

Job/Work Experience:
Intern at the County district attorney’s office
Volunteer/Community service:during the summer I do disaster recovery missions in different regions across the US.
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
COMMON APP: It is well written and moving. It basically talks about my family history and what it has meant to be a first generation American that has lost touch with her heritage due to the internalized shame of her community and family. I think it’s moving? But not overly emotional. It comments on the normal perceptions of immigrant families vs. the reality of integration.

WHY WELLESLEY: I mainly talked about the academic environment and the community itself. Basically. Surrounding yourself with driven ppl and being submerged in an environment that promotes growth/research but I made it more personal.

Feel free to ask me to see either (and you can rate it yourself)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
I don’t remember which teachers I selected for Wellesley sorry. I suspect my English teacher wrote a great rec as he has a lot of experience.
My law teacher is smart and has definitely seen my desire to learn but she didn’t spend long on a rec.
my CS teacher submitted his the day after I put him on the common app so I don’t think it’s great TBH
My stats teacher loved me and I did well in her class but she was retiring and kind of forgot about the rec letter so idk ?
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):I don’t think she cared much. And she barely moved to our school. So probably a 5.
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): amazing! Didn’t read it but I have a great deal of respect and appreciation for this person! He’s super smart and knows me well. (Attorney coach on my mock trial team- he’s an assistant district attorney)
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
It was my first interview and I think it went pretty good. She seemed impressed and was very nice. We had a good conversation for about an hour or so.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?:yes but I don’t think I’m gonna get aid.
Intended Major:bio
State (if domestic applicant):Texas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:public
Ethnicity:Hispanic
Income Bracket:high ish? My parents are both engineers
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflections:I think my essays set me apart. So happy to have been accepted. I originally submitted my application with the ED 2 pool but asked to move it bc my noncustodial parent was not submitting the IDOC Forms. I was worried I wasn’t going to get aid. This thing took super long to fill out.
Strengths:
Weaknesses: TEST SCORES AND ECS

28

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1480 (770 Math, 710 English)
ACT (breakdown): 28 (didn’t submit)
SAT II: didn’t submit
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.63
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/275
AP (place score in parenthesis): 4 (AP Chem), 4 (APHUG), 3 (AP Lang), 3 (AP Bio)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics 1, AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus AB, AP Statistics, AP Government, AP Literature, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, Molecular Genetics Honors, Theology Class, Photography
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): STEM club, HOSA
Job/Work Experience: summer babysitting job
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer with Women’s Resource Center 4 hrs/wk since freshman year, front desk volunteer at hospital
Summer Activities: Neurosurgery Internship with local neurosurgeon, shadowing with ENT surgeon and cardiologist
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 6/10 (wrote it last minute and took maybe an hour to write)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 10/10 My AP Chem teacher who picked me for the AP Chem Student of Distinction Award.
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 9/10
My AP Lang teacher who I didn’t know that well.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 8/10
didn’t know him that well
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): none
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): none

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Neuroscience
State (if domestic applicant): Nevada
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Income Bracket: upper middle
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none really (might’ve helped that I attended DiscoverWellesley)

Reflections: I probably got accepted because of my stats and I probably could’ve tried more on the essays.
Strengths: GPA, rank, maybe test scores?
Weaknesses: extracurriculars