What are decisions based on?

cquin85
Tue, 13 Sep 2022 18:48:43 +0000

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.