*****Wesleyan University RD 2020 Results Thread*****

phoria
Wed, 06 Apr 2016 01:49:45 +0000

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

[] ACT: 35 composite (36M 35E 34R 36S 11W)
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): I honestly have no clue bcs our school is on a 5 point scale and finding your unweighted GPA is near impossible. I’ll just say I had an upward trend of Bs with a few Cs to mostly As some Bs, all four years taking all AP/Honors classes
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): my school doesn’t do rank. the best I can guess is top 25%
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Euro (4), AP Chem (3), AP Lang (5), APUSH (5), AP Sem (4)
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP French, Physics Honors, AP Gov, AP Macro, AP Calc AB, AP Research
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended, AP Scholar w/Distinction, im p sure im forgetting one but whatever

Subjective:

[ul]
[] Extracurriculars: Violin (solo performance, student leader of chamber ensemble that tours worldwide, concertmistress of youth symphony)
Piano Performance
Theatre (Student Business Director for my senior year)
Model UN (won a research/writing award for a committee at a significant conference)
[] Essays: 8/10 talked about living in a mostly conservative and ignorant town and how I grew to become a social activist. I didn’t like it that much but the woman who edited it for me said she loved it.
[] Teacher Recommendations: Teacher #1 10/10, it’s from the department chairs of Social Studies and Science, both who love me like one of their own children and who see wild success in my future (even tho i don’t even believe in myself that much lol). They probably raved about my research and genuine intellectual curiosity.
Teacher #2 10/10 probably the most positive human being on earth, she was my AP Lang teacher and I really went above and beyond in that class, entering a writing contest outside of school that required her to sponsor me, and I did a kickass job on the final exam project
Teacher #3 8/10 my AP Calc teacher. He had me in Precalc H as well. I get 100s on the test no sweat and show real interest in the subject. He just doesn’t know me as well as a person as the other two letters would.
[] Counselor Rec:7/10 Nothing really special my counselor barely knows me tbh but I met with her a few times and she says hi to me in the halls so I can’t imagine she wrote anything bad
[] Additional Rec: I know an alum as a family friend. We don’t know if he sent a rec letter but he was very enthusiastic about me and my application so he might have.
[] Interview: 10/10. My interviewer said and I quote “You’re so Wes, it’s crazy. You’re almost more Wes than I am.” She loved me and I had a fantastic time. Felt great coming out. [/ul]
Other

[] State (if domestic applicant): IL
[] Country (if international applicant): USA
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: White
[] Gender: F
[] Income Bracket: 70th percentile. So almost upper middle class but still not wealthy enough to afford tuition so I applied for FinAid
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none, although I did let them know I struggled with undiagnosed ADD for my first two years of high school. Maybe that counts?

Reflection

[ul]
[] Strengths: Test Scores, Recs, genuine interest in the school, Interview
[] Weaknesses: Grades. That killed my application. Although a girl at my school with better stats than me grade wise got waitlisted so I have no idea.
[] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I’m pretty sure it was my grades. As my dad lamented, “you’re smart enough to get As in all of your classes but you weren’t smart enough to start working towards it until junior year”. That, and I hear they tend to get most of their midwest students from the north shore of chicago, so maybe I had a geographical disadvantage.
[li] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at Kenyon, Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Denison Rejected at Grinnell [/ul][/li]General Comments: It was heartbreaking at first. Wesleyan was my dream, still kind of is. I would have jumped through flaming hoops to go there. I’m not just saying this–I was a perfect match for that school. I guess the admissions committee doesn’t care about fit (so much for “holistic”). But whatever. I can learn to love again. Kenyon is turning out to be just as perfect, so I’m feeling ok in the end.