Wesleyan Class of 2021 Applicants Thread

Colleges & Universities Wesleyan University
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@timcervera21 I’m a relatively old hat now in NESCAC recruiting. Our experience with Wesleyan coaches has been entirely above board, and I can say that their admissions group was straight-forward as well. Alas, as much as the women’s coach wanted my youngest, who is a soccer player with DI offers, they couldn’t provide enough assurance for us (her) to justify using her ED there, which was disappointing but honest.

You should know that Wesleyan crew, especially the women, have become a powerhouse in the last few years, taking a bronze at the DIII NCAAs last spring and taking the collegiate division gold at Head of the Charles this fall (and sweeping their other fall regattas, which included racing against several Division I boats (UConn, Navy, etc.). Having a connection there, I know it’s become super competitive.

With that said, if you are on the coach’s list, in any sport, it matters … a lot. Based on your post, I’m assuming you’re a female rower (but I didn’t see you come out and say it). In any event, I don’t agree that “that’s how it goes with rowers”. I think if you were to dig around, you’d find that’s not the case. Pat (women’s coach) gets a list with admissions. It’s not as long as football’s list, but he gets a list. Also, you shouldn’t have had to push for an Official. It’s almost always the other way around.

So, at the risk of disappointing you, it may be that you were not a high-priority recruit. Again, I wouldn’t over-react if that’s the case. Wes women’s crew has become tough. I’ve been to regattas and watched them beat Division I boats. Their time in the collegiate finals of the HOCR, where they beat the best DIII boats and numerous DII and DI boats, would have placed them between 13th and 15th in the championship (‘big time’) division against club boats rowed by Olympians and top DI boats like Cal, Washington and Harvard. That Wes 1V is one of the fastest DIII eights I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of rowing. I also know, w/o getting into how and why I know, that there are a lot of strong rowers competing to get onto that 1V, so that the 2V and even the 3V are fast and placing well at competitions and beating other schools’ top boats.

So, they’re not only fast at the top, but they’re deep overall, and Pat may be in the enviable position of being picky … like Williams has been historically. If it doesn’t work out, think about using ED2 and applying to a lesser rowing program, where you’ll be the prize recruit. That’s what we did with my D in soccer. Trinity is not the powerhouse it once was, but likely will be again at some point, so that may be a place to throw in your hat if Wes doesn’t work out.

Note: my connection at Wes is NOT with Pat. I know who he is, and we’ve met, but we do not know each other.

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“@timcervera21 Yeah, the women’s coach said to me that they’ll put me on their list in admissions- but who knows how much support that means. I loved the overnight at Wes- now waiting is the hardest part.”

@CatStevens , if he said it, then he did it, and if he did it, then admissions advised him to do it, and if admissions advised him to do it, then I really like your chances. :slight_smile: Wesleyan is not a place where DIII recruiting is murky based on my travels. They are, across the board, an ethical group. I give Mike Whalen a lot of credit for that. He’s been in the biz a long, long time … Wes grad, coached football at Williams for 20+ years and came back to Wes to resurrect their fb program and is now full-time AD. He’s a straight shooter and has a lot of influence, so I think the athletic department there is a strong reflection of who he is.

best of luck to you.

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@MiddleburyDad2 thank you! Your input was really helpful. You seem to know your stuff on recruiting in the NESCAC. I have a few questions.

Like you said, the list that’s being sent will be shorter (compared to say football), because it’s shorter is there less of a chance admissions will reject people on the list? Do recruits often get rejected? When I talked with the coach he said my grades were fine and I should apply ED. My only concern was that I haven’t taken Calculus otherwise I really like my transcript. The coach seemed to think not taking calculus wouldn’t hurt me (I’m currently in precalc). But I doubt calculus will be the deciding factor.

Since Wesleyan crew has been doing very well lately will that be in my favor in admissions?

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Also @MiddleburyDad2 I’ve been seeing on social media people posting things like “Amherst Lax class of 2021” or “Wesleyan Field Hockey 2021” I was wondering how do these people know they are in if the decision for ED 1 doesn’t come out for another week? I was just wondering if they know early because of their sport. Is rowing just different?

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@CatStevens , you’re welcome.

I don’t think that the fact that rowing’s list is shorter means it’s less powerful. It may be that football has more push on the margin … but the size of the list has more to do with the individual sport. You need more bodies for a football team, so the coach needs a longer list. That’s pretty clear.

Now for the murky part. Does football, or basketball, have more pull than rowing or field hockey or whatever? Don’t know. I do know that at some schools some sports have more pull than others. Sometimes the coach has more credibility, sometimes there’s just more institutional focus on a particular sport over another. Generally speaking, most people will tell you that the football coach is given more flexibility in admissions than many other sports. So there’s that.

Now the bad news. Rowing, as a sport, tends to draw more good students than other sports. As a general matter, the kids who are attracted to rowing tend to need less help. We could start a thread on that point alone, but it’s generally accepted to be true. And, no, I don’t think the fact that they are doing well as a sport right now sways admissions to be more enthusiastic about rowing recruits. If anything, they don’t have to be, because the team’s success is attracting more great kids … like you!!!

So, in the final analysis, Pat’s list is shorter because he’s the rowing coach, and it’s likely that the football coach has a little more room to work with in admissions than Pat does.

But, so what? You’re a rower, and you’re on his list, and that list is not there just as an fyi to admissions … it’s there so that those recruits are reviewed through a different process. You have done the most you can do to get a boost in admissions to a fantastic school. Don’t worry about the other stuff because it’s out of your hands. You’re in good shape. And it’s too late to go back and become a football player. :slight_smile:

As to social media, look - do yourself a favor and get off the internet for the next week. You’re in great shape and you’ll only drive yourself crazy.

My sons were both ED 1 to Middlebury, one was formally recruited (and likely owes his admission to sports) and one was recruited but didn’t want to commit to playing and so applied outside the process (that’s the one who didn’t like the coach and a few other things about Middlebury and xferred to Pomona). They both found out at different times before the deadline. Who knows why? Just don’t worry about what’s going on at Amherst or with Wes field hockey. You’re going to be just fine.

I am wishing you the best of luck!

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Also, yes, it is my distinct impression that recruits on the list are rarely rejected.

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@MiddleburyDad2 I am a male rower, the Wesleyan coaches are Trevor Michelson and Phil Carney

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Anyways, thank you so much for your input!

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Both coaches did say that they would love to have me on the team and recommended applying ED 1, which I did, and the 2nd fastest guy on the current team told me that he didn’t know anything until after admittance. However, I did check with a coxswain who also applied ED, and they let him know that they were supporting him. What does that mean? Maybe they are in desperate need of coxswains?

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The coaches told me that they would check with admissions on my profile upon meeting them in their office, but said they’d love to have me, then didn’t hear anything from them afterward. I mean, I have a B+ average with some Cs on the transcript (which I know isn’t very good even though my school’s academics are pretty challenging) , but I don’t see anything else that could drastically hurt my application or prevent me from coach support.

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@MiddleburyDad2 I asked the coaches in August if I was still being considered in the recruiting class of 2017, and they said that I would fit in the “current group” very well, then they brought up my schedule and overnight visit availability.

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@timcervera21 , sorry man. once the week starts, it’s harder for me to answer in real time.

where, might I ask, do you go to school? the reason I ask is that Wesleyan, like other highly selective New England LACs, is loaded with northeastern prep school kids, so they’re pretty dialed in to those places. if you went to one that they know to be rigorous, then that will of course help you.

I think the crucial piece here that I don’t know, and perhaps you don’t either, is whether you’re on the coach’s list. Being on that list is a critical distinction from “we’d love to have you” and not being on the list. Crew tends to want to take all comers who are athletes and teach them to row if they haven’t done it. So it’s a pretty welcoming sport (it has to be, because it’s a bear of a sport after joining and weeds out the pretenders quite thoroughly, as you probably know).

this could be a case of the coach recruiting you and not being clear about your status, or it could be the case of a coach not using a list spot for you but wanting to see you at the crew house if you can get in, which of course is helped by applying ED.

Either way, it is what it is at this point, and while it’s easy for me to say and hard for you to do, I would encourage you to just relax; as I said to @CatStevens , you’ve done all that you can now and the rest is out of your hands.

again, though, if by chance you get bounced from Wes, I would encourage you to have a Plan B, and make contact with a coach at, and apply to, a school that is a smidge less selective where you would be a high priority recruit - high priority meaning that magic combo of likely admissibility and high level athletic talent. a B+ average, even from Choate, doesn’t translate to “likely admissibility” at Wesleyan, but it does at a lot of other places. I’d be thinking about Bates and Trinity in the NESCAC, maybe Skidmore or William Smith in the Liberty League.

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really? i hope that’s true. i can’t wait. @CatStevens

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Hey guys, I applied RD but would still love to go to Wesleyan. I was wondering when they start to contact RD applicants about interviews or do they do them at all?

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@CheekyNandos - Wesleyan does give interviews, but, I think you have to be fairly proactive about it. I’d visit their web site.

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@MiddleburyDad2 I go to The Gunnery, I’m just hoping that both the combination of rowing, my 2 SAT 2 700s, my extracurriculars (probably the best part of my application) and the art supplement will all piece together, especially in ED 1.

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Hey everyone! I’m an ED1 candidate and have been wondering when decisions are going to be released. I came across this:
https://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■/blog-0/class-of-2021-early-decision-notification-dates
Which says that they confirmed with the admissions office that decisions will be released Dec 10th at 2:45 pm. I’m not sure how reliable that is. Has anyone heard anything similar?

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@timcervera21 ,

I’m hoping for you too! Best of luck tim.

MD2

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I heard that as well. I called admissions and they told me December 10th but I didn’t believe it because it’s a Saturday. Who knew?

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Ikr!? I didn’t think they would release it on the weekend. I guess it’s better that we don’t find out while we’re in school tho lol