It seems that RD yield rates at many schools must be frustrating for admission officers at this time — 17.3% in Wesleyan’s case.
Yes, it’s very challenging when your two biggest overlaps are Brown and Yale.
Using federal reporting, the change from 2027 to 2028 was as follows. Black % was unchanged.
White: 54% → 50% (down 4%)
International: 12% → 12%
Hispanic: 10% → 11% (up 1%)
Asian: 9% → 8% (down 1%)
2+ Races; 7% → 7%
Black: 6% → 6%
Unknown: 2% → 6% (up 4%)
Using self reporting domestic, Black was 10% for both entering first year and the overall undergrad total from all classes. This also suggests little change. Only when International Black students are included does the % first year increase to slightly more than the overall undergrad total.
It’s also noteworthy that legacies were cut in half, and markers of low SES appear had large increases. This may relate to why Wesleyan seems to have had relatively little change in demographics following the supreme court ruling.
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Ah. It took me a while to figure out that the CDS numbers (or, what you refer to as the “federal reporting” numbers) for the racial composition of incoming students completely bracket out the international students so that the bracket for Black and African American first-years is nearly always going to be the smaller number.
Of course, all of this is confounded by the number of international students who, once they encounter American culture first-hand, begin to self-identify simply as “Black”.
No, the 43% was admitted students so 43% of “admits” requested financial aid. Given that 52% of matriculating students received financial aid that suggests that more of those admits (ones requesting financial aid) said “yes” to Wesleyan than admits from the non-FA pool.
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I wish more schools provided this kind of information because I think it is really helpful for parents & students. I like the way they show the breakdown in student academic background etc. It is very well done.
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Which makes sense given reports of Wesleyan’s relative generosity with FA….
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Yes, it does. A lot of selective LACs are generous with financial aid if you are accepted and it is offered to fairly high income levels (in some cases to families making up to $200k). As a result, attendance can be in line with the cost of the state flagship for families making $100-200k and can be very inexpensive for families making under $100k (sometimes with $0 cost).
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My goof. Change made. Thanks.
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A perennial standout in Wesleyan’s numbers is a non-racial statistic. The percentage of incoming students who have taken calculus. Which is down this year (but still 85%) vs. other years.
38% of students in the highest quartile SES take calculus. 7% of students in the lowest quartile SES. Fewer than 50% of US high schools offer any calculus course.
Which could suggest either that calculus itself is an important factor in admission (a possibility bolstered by >50% of polled AO’s asked if calculus affected the strength of an application), that calculus is a strongly co-segregating proxy for academic achievement (concerning given the drop-off in numbers of students taking the class in recent years), or that calculus co-segregates with other personal or background qualities Wesleyan is looking for (the “rich kid school” label).
Either way, shouldn’t we feel bad for all those students in >50% of high schools in the US where calculus is not offered or strictly restricted? Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a system where some of these students might be able to take academic initiative and study some calculus on Khan academy or Youtube or elsewhere on their own without becoming soulless academic drones? Too bad Wesleyan would give absolutely no credit for a student from Oakland at a school where calculus wasn’t offered who self-studied and took the AP. Absolutely no credit at all.
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While I agree with your overarching point, I’m not sure we have evidence to support this specific assertion. It says “math through calculus,” which I suspect is intentionally broad; I’m guessing they would “give credit” in the admissions process to a student who reported self-studying calculus and taking the AP test.
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The calculus connection to college admissions has been studied quite a bit. Although it’s true that many high schools don’t offer calculus, the vast majority of high school students do attend a HS that offers calculus (see urban institute link below.) Of course, some students can’t access calculus because of math testing policies in junior high. Here are two resources, but there are many.
Do you have a source for this statement? It’s common that highly rejective schools would take the lack of access to calculus into account during the admissions process. Even though the proportion of 2028 admitted students who have taken calc is high at Wesleyan, there were still 21% of students admitted who hadn’t taken calculus.
I agree. But, many students who aren’t in HS calc by senior year aren’t in a position to self study calc in HS because they don’t have the pre-reqs to do so.
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But how many attend a HS that offers calculus? The number is really not that surprising considering the 50% full pay.
I don’t believe this to be true at all. Schools don’t penalize kids for not taking classes that aren’t offered. And generally are not interested in self study (time and time again this board advises students not do do it).
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Most of the students who come on to CC to talk about their self-studying for APs aren’t kids without access to calculus. They are mainly kids who are trying to super load AP courses (on top of a heavy load at school) because they think it looks “better” to colleges. That is often why people let these students know that just adding extra self-studied APs isn’t going to move the needle. That is a lot different than kids without access to any rigorous course work or kids who have run through the math curriculum available at their HS.
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Yes absolutely. You often have those who want to accelerate (isn’t there a frequent poster whose kid accelerated by taking calc early, got into MIT, yet parent also somehow advocates on CC against self-study AP’s?)
Or kids who are just interested in math or engineering. As to “rigor”, none of these courses remotely approaches what any scholar would consider rigor. Nor would any math course taken as an undergraduate be considered rigor. In the context of education in Europe, Russia, Asia, especially for math interested kids, all of these courses are non rigorous material presented in a non rigorous way.
So quick on CC to judge any academic ambition as meaningless, actually as a negative. Couldn’t the kid born in Oakland who reaches for the Khan academy and figures out how to take the AP easily have been born in San Francisco and takes Dual Enrollment linear algebra? Doesn’t the Oakland kid think that their extra effort will look good on their college app? Or are only underprivileged kids allowed to consider how something might look on their app? Poor kids can get in on ambition, rich kids are presumed to be grasping, cutthroat automatons right? On CC, wealth somehow turns love of learning into a presumed character flaw.
Data like those from wesleyan and other recent writings quoted on CC really tell a different story.
Award for use of three negatives in a single sentence shows this convoluted point. Schools look at candidates in the context of their school and peers. There’s a reason that schools look for local, statewide and in some cases national recognition. There are actual objective standards, and many actual AO’s would say that in recent years those standards are becoming more and not less important.
If you want a coveted CS spot at highly selective U and your classmate self-studied calc BC in 10th grade (>10% of kids take calc before 11th grade) and then used that to continue taking linear equations, analysis and discrete math - well I guess CC would say you’re in great shape because you’re presumably a “better person” than your classmate - especially if your parents are rich!
Please get back on topic, which is specifically about the Wesleyan class profile, or take it to PM. Thank you.
Furthermore, I don’t remember where I saw it, but I believe only 46% of enrolled first-years received university funded grant aid which is what a lot of people think of first when it comes to FA. I believe the 52% figure includes students receiving either work-study jobs or government subsidized loans (but since Wesleyan has eliminated loans, it’s probably the former.)
Timely article in today’s NYT specifically addressing the various ways colleges and universities may choose to report their Black and African American enrollments (no, Wesleyan is not mentioned specifically, but it is instructive.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/27/upshot/colleges-affirmative-action-race.html
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To be clear, when you say, “demographics”, you specifically mean racial demographics?
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