Wesleyan's Standardized Scoring Profile

Colleges & Universities Wesleyan University
1

2024–2025 CDS

SAT

Percent Reported

41%

25th Percentile / Median / 75th Percentile

1300 / 1420 / 1500

ACT

Percent Reported

17%

25th Percentile / Median / 75th Percentile

31 / 33 / 34

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Wait, this looks similar to how they’ve been doing it. Am I misreading? Their CDS indicates the percentage of students that submit scores for admission BUT it then includes ALL scores of enrolled students in their SAT percentiles. So, 41% submitted an SAT for admission, but the 25th to 75th percentiles show ALL scores for enrolled students, even those that did not submit a test score for admission.

This reads the same as in previous years to me. What element has changed?

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For the the time being, based on your comments, I’ll simplify the topic title and will reserve other content for later discussion.

Wesleyan’s CDS itself doesn’t indicate this however. It appears like those of its peers in this respect. In other words, the “percent submitting” is the percent that is used to create the standardized scoring profiles for all colleges to the best of my knowledge. In terms of formal reporting on the CDS, Wesleyan would make an interesting exception to this.

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Below is the discussion we had about their CDS reporting from the last cycle. I would LOVE if they actually reported how most colleges do, so I’m really looking forward to seeing a change that makes comparison easier.

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[deleted]

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Deleted in deference to a deleted post.

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The threshold question is what does Question C9 mean by “submitted” (past tense)? Do they mean at the time they applied or by the time the students enrolled? Does anyone know what the rule is?

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I concur. The first thing to do is to define the question. Beyond that point, however, I’d simplify the approach by using my own definition of submitted.

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  1. If, say, 71% of Wesleyan students submitted SAT results and 29% of Wesleyan students submitted ACT results, then this answers the question on the CDS quite literally. Whether or not these students submitted their scores at the time of their applications has not been asked on the CDS. Wesleyan can use these figures.

  2. If Wesleyan prefers to comport with the practices of other colleges, they can ignore scores that were submitted as a condition for matriculation. This would no longer be a literal interpretation of what the CDS asks, but there would be a certain fairness about it. In such a case, they could inflate their profiles as is common, but mostly unavoidable, at other colleges.

  3. I regard a hybrid approach as unacceptable. Reporting standardized scoring profiles on the CDS that are not connected to the standardized scoring percents on the CDS introduces a needlessly confounding disparity.

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The scoring profile doesn’t strike me as especially noteworthy. Like many selective colleges, Wesleyan has high scores. Like other test optional colleges, a good portion of students did not submit scores. Perhaps I am missing something?

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11

Some maintain, since Wesleyan asks for standardized scores as a condition for matriculation, that Wesleyan’s standardized scoring profile, as it appears on its CDS, represents the scores for nearly all of its students.

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I think the comparison is with what they list in their class of 2028 profile:

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I’ve avoided the class profile as additionally confounding with respect to the CDS.

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That’s admitted students, not matriculating students. Admitted students are expected to have substantially higher scores, at a college where the majority of admitted students do not attend. That said, there does seem to be an abnormally large discrepancy in scores between admitted (profile) and matriculating (CDS).

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15

Agreed. This was the debate about what was going into Wesleyan’s CDS from last year. It’s interesting how they divide this up and it does seem like the issue is that in the CDS they’re showing the scores of everyone that matriculated regardless of who submitted scores. And then the profile is the scores of only those that submitted scores for admission that also matriculated.

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16

Deleted: I think we are saying the same thing.

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17

@Data10: Do you have an opinion on the percent of Wesleyan students the current CDS standardized scoring profiles represent? About 58%? Some other percent?

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A comparison with federal reporting via IPEDS and CDS is below. Federal reporting is not yet available for 2024, so using 2023. I think the IPEDS federal reporting shows the matriculating students who submitted scores as part of the admission process. The scores are only slightly below the admitted profile. There is a much larger gap between the CDS and IPEDS, which I presume is due to non-submitters being included in CDS. Note that the discrepancy between CDS and IPEDS is primarily in 25th percentile scores, rather than 75th, which is consistent with non-submitters being included.

Less clear is the percentages. IPEDS says it includes scores for 28% + 14% = 44% of students (ignoring students submitting both), while CDS says in includes scores for 52% + 19% = 71% of students (ignoring students who submitted both). Perhaps the 44% are matriculating students who asked that their scores be considered in admission decisions, and the additional 71% - 44% = 27% included in the CDS are matriculating students who did not want scores considered for admission, but Wesleyan still had their scores available (may have been included in common app, but asked to not be considered; or may have been requested over summer before matriculating).

Fall 2023
Admitted Class Profile: ? submit SAT, Range = 750-790 Math, 730-770 EBRW
Matriculating IPEDS: 28% submit SAT, Range = 730-770 Math, 720-770 EBRW
Matriculating CDS: 52% submit SAT, Range = 630-760 Math, 660-750 EBRW

Admitted Class Profile: ? Submit ACT Range = 33-35
Matriculating IPEDS: 14% submit ACT, Range = 33-35
Matriculating CDS: 19% submit ACT, Range = 31-34

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The fun really begins when, in a few months, the USNews rankings come out and we realize that its own use of the phrase “admitted students” as it is presented at various locations within the publication is a source of similar confusion.

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My interpretation, for now, is that Wesleyan is likely to be using a hybrid approach on its CDS. It reports that ~58% (41% + 17%) of its students submitted scores. However, it appears to derive its standardized scoring profiles from much greater percentages of students. This unusual discrepancy is the reason I created this topic.

Regarding the word submitted, if Wesleyan has the scores, then the students submitted them. In my opinion, it should be as simple as that.

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