I’m confused. Wesleyan is so exclusive but from what I can see it only makes decisions based on Common App personal statement, GPA, tests if you submit them, and interview if you do one. Considering that such a large number of the acceptances are legacy etc., how are the decisions made for the rest of the applicants? There must be so many overlapping GPA/test scores/personal statement quality. Does it pretty much hinge on the interview?
Also, who are interviews with? Local alum, virtual admissions office, other?
Thanks for linking to those. I’ve seen them, but it doesn’t speak to how decisions are actually made. For so few seats available and they only ask for the most basic info (gpa, common app essay), I’m assuming the interview must hold an awful lot of sway. I guess I’m wondering if someone who has been through the process or who has insight into the process could weigh in.
No one will never know why they get in or don’t. The interview is ranked ‘considered’ which is low, is not required, and done by students if their website is accurate.
You are overthinking.
If you have the rigor, grades, and profile to get in, apply. Wes is very TO per common data set so a test is good, but not necessary.
No one will ever crack the code as there are many attributes that matter.
As you alluded to, highly rejective schools like Wesleyan receive many times more qualified applicants than they have freshman spots available. These schools end up rejecting hundreds (and even thousands, or in some cases tens of thousands) of students who are very qualified for admittance. In the end, it’s a numbers game, kind of like musical chairs. If you find yourself not offered admission, it doesn’t indicate you did any specific thing wrong. It often simply indicates the (bad) luck of the draw.
Apply to all the highly rejective universities you deem a fit for you. Just remember to also apply to less rejective universities that appeal to you, so you are more or less guaranteed to have a seat somewhere next August.
I was an alumni interviewer for many years and never got the impression that it was anything I said or didn’t say in my report that made a difference in a student’s admission. They were all great kids competing against other great kids.
if you get in, visit campus, and ask to talk to the person who read your application. they will prob be fine with telling you exactly why you were admitted and not some other kid with the same/similar stats or whatever.
wesleyan really wants to find those kids who will appreciate wes for what it is AND is not. that’s prob one reason why some kids who seem like locks and get in to plenty of the ‘peer’ schools get a pass from wesleyan.
wes can be quite unlike the ‘peer’ institutions in many ways–seemingly inexplicably until you grok–and if you dig that, you’re golden, but if you find it frustrating, well, welcome to hell.
if wesleyan wanted to, they could go test un-optional and get a whole class of kids who got near or perfect test scores and scare off all the 1400s and 31/32 range testers, but they don’t…
also, with the yuge boom in applications, interviews seem to have been thrown under the bus recently at wes, but that’s anecdotal. you know what does matter tho? recommendations. no supplemental essays, but those recommendations…
I’m not going to pretend to have access to arcane information about the on-goings of Wesleyan admissions. But I think being exposed to the recruiting side of things can provide some limited insight that perhaps isn’t readily available to the average applicant. From my interactions with Wesleyan representatives, and they were certainly not unique amongst the LAC crowd in this respect, rigor was really the thing they cared about as much or more than anything, which is reflected clearly in their CDS. In fact, one Wes rep and, curiously, a rep from another Little 3 suitor, separately indicated to us that Wes likes to see physics and a lot of math on the transcript. Cuts against the monolithic “artsy” rep a smidge, but there you have it. My D was an IB diploma kid whose science focus was, in fact, physics, so she checked those boxes.
Unlike some of its peers, Wes seems willing to take a chance on some lower stats kids if they bring something else to the table. They seem to especially like people who have demonstrated creativity in some way. Some people admire that about them, while others sneer. I think you can learn a lot about people by which of those camps they fall into; but that’s a topic for another thread.
Good luck. It’s a great place to spend 4 years.
PS: from all of the anecdotal information gleaned here and elsewhere, it seems the interview is not much more than an opportunity to fail. My guess is that at Wes, and probably a lot of other schools, it can keep you out but won’t get you in. But there’s no way for me to really know.
Also, (and I may be stirring up a hornet’s nest, here) I kind of think interviews are increasingly seen as a point of contention within groups who feel they should be judged solely on the basis of “objective” criteria rather than “performative” ones. It’s a tricky subject.
Yeah, I see that. And I can imagine that the idea of the interview, how one excels in them, where they are, that they take time, that you are being seen in person and thus invoking many of the natural human reactions and conscious or unconscious biases people have, etc. etc., can be controversial.
Regarding the latter, the very first CFO with whom I worked closely graduated from West Point and got his MBA at MIT. Keep in mind that his was 20 years ago, but he used to say, and not in a whisper, that being overweight was an indication that one lacks the ability to manage oneself and, thus, that such people are not as trustworthy to manage other things (like work) as other (thinner) people.
I mean, I know that’s a mouthful, but he’s hardly an outlier.
IMO Wesleyan has been quite transparent that most admitted students have calc, BCP, and 4 years FL as they typically divulge that info each year. From Wesleyan’s Class of 2026 profile:
HS Preparation:
86% have taken calculus
82% have taken biology, chemistry and physics
78% have a fourth year (or equivalent) of one foreign language
I would expect that the vast majority of the students who didn’t have these courses had some type of admissions hook.
Several reports published this year show that calculus has become an unwritten requirement at many selective schools (not just Wesleyan). This practice causes students to escalate math instruction in 6/7/8th grades, some students might be targeting majors where stats would be more helpful to have in HS than calc, and implicitly requiring calc is also an access issue (many relatively poor HSs don’t offer calc).
That’s a great book, and well worth reading even though it’s more than 20 years old. I am not sure that Wesleyan’s process is similar to how it was then. But again, a worthwhile read for people interested in college admissions!
I don’t disagree there is much in that book that remains worthwhile.
Part of my point is how holistic can Wesleyan’s admission process be when 86% of admitted students took calculus, 82% BCP, and 78% have 4 years/level 4 FL? I doubt the full applicant set had anywhere close to those numbers, meaning lots of those applicants never had a chance.
one thing that is certainly different in wes admissions now than when that book came out is the change in the ‘character’ of the choate to wesleyan pipeline.
In most cases, the interview is a “nice to have” on both sides. Makes the kid feel some sense of connection to the college besides just the application (a human face, so to speak), and is a nice outreach initiative on the part of the college. (Hey kid, we see you!).
In a VERY small minority of cases, a kid with an “easy to miss” application turns out to be a dynamo/diamond in the rough/“you must accept this student” at the interview. I had exactly one of these in all the years I interviewed. An exceptional human being, self-taught intellect (I’ve posted about this kid before…and his amazing intellectual gifts, coming out of a rural HS which typically sends zero kids to a four year college since most go military or to a certificate/apprenticeship type program at the local CC).
And in a somewhat larger but still small set of cases, a kid whose application is picture perfect turns out to be… an arrogant and rude teenager? An entitled and obnoxious bro? Or a kid who basically sits down and says “I’ve only applied to make my grandpa, class of a long time ago, happy”.
So the vast majority are just a check mark- yes, kid showed up. Asked questions. We had a fine time together.
Perhaps for those not fortunate enough to be in the right milieu and thus familiar with things like the ‘choate to wesleyan pipeline’ you might enlighten us on what it was and what it is now.