straight talk wellesley
straight talk
from the deans Wellesley College
Joy St. John, Director of Admission
THE STATS Location: Wellesley, MA Total 2010 Applications: 4,318 Admitted for class of 2014: 1,439 (33% admit rate)
Enrolled in Class of 2014: 633 (44% yield)
Undergraduate Students: 2,300 Graduate Students: 0 Mean SAT/ACT, Class of 2014: 684 (Critical Reading) 697 (Writing)
681 (Math)/30 (ACT) Range for Middle 50% GPA: Cost of Attendance: $51,950
Q
Were there any noteworthy differences in the makeup of your applicant pool this year vs. past years? A: We didn’t see large changes in the demographics of our applicant pool this year. The number of applications to Wellesley has increased about 3% this year (2011) vs. last year (2010). We might attribute the continued increase in applications to some of our targeted outreach efforts and changing global demographics. For instance, we experienced an increase in applications from students studying outside of the United States. In particular we saw rising numbers from China, South Korea, India and Singapore. Domestically, we saw growth in applications from the west, northwest, south and mid-Atlantic. In addition, our applicant pool has been impacted by our participation in initiatives like QuestBridge which matches low-income, high achieving students with educational and scholarship opportunities at some of the nation’s best colleges including Wellesley.
Q
Was your yield last year consistent with past years? A: Our yield is typically around 40% and last year it was unusually high at 44%. We are unable to point to any particular demographic group as being responsible for that increase.
Q
Are interviews required of Wellesley applicants? If so, what is it that you hear that tells you Wellesley would be a good fit for that person? A: Interviews are not required but they are recommended as a way to learn more about Wellesley. The interviews are not evaluative, but the interviewer will write
a report which will serve as just one more piece of information in the applicant’s file. For example, if something impresses or concerns us about an application, we might turn to the interview report to see if anything in it substantiates our response to the application.
Q
What adjectives would you use to describe Wellesley students? A: They are smart, conscientious, civically engaged, ambitious but cooperative, and engaged learners both inside and outside of the classroom.
Q
What exactly do you mean by “civically engaged?” A: They are civically engaged in the sense that they are conscious of their community, and interested in community service and volunteer work that benefits society as a whole. We don’t particularly look for community service when making admissions decisions, although most students are involved in service before coming to Wellesley. Once students get
There is no one essay topic that is always off limits, but sometimes the choice of topic can highlight other concerns…” here, though, they really seem to embrace the spirit of service in a significant way. Wellesley encourages and supports students in all forms of service, including traditional volunteer service, work with non-profit or non-governmental agencies, work in the U.S. and abroad. The opportunities are really endless.
All content is provided to Revolution Prep exclusively by Getting In EDU
straight talk
from the deans
Q
What should people know about your core curriculum? A: We don’t have a traditional core curriculum, but we do have distribution requirements. Students must take courses in areas of Language and Literature, Visual and Performing Art, Social and Behavioral Analysis, Epistemology and Cognition, Religion Ethics and Philosophy, Historical Studies, Natural and Physical Science and Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving. In addition, students must demonstrate a certain competency in writing, quantitative skills and a foreign language. There’s a tremendous amount of exploration and flexibility in satisfying our distribution requirements as virtually every course offered at Wellesley goes toward satisfying a requirement.
Q
What academic interests/ specialties might give an applicant an advantage? A: There really aren’t any. We’re a liberal arts college and we don’t expect students to enroll with a particular identified academic interest. They might have an interest, but it’s not a factor in our admission decision unless it’s genuine and makes someone particularly interesting and distinct.
Q
What is the borderline academic profile that has a chance of being admitted to Wellesley? A: We don’t go into the process looking for average test scores, GPA’s or class rankings. We go into the process asking first, would this student be successful here, second does this student seem like a good fit for our community and third what might make them a particularly interesting member of our community.
Q
How important is the essay at Wellesley? A: First of all, the essay is important because it’s a demonstration of the student’s writing ability. It’s hard to disregard a poorly written essay or a poorly chosen topic. Still, a very small number of essays are truly outstanding. What essays can
Wellesley College
Joy St. John, Director of Admission
reveal, however, are a student’s thought process, a set of values, and they provide texture, all of which helps us assess fit. The essay is important, but it doesn’t always hold the same level of importance for every student admitted to Wellesley.
because she is clearly challenging herself.
Q
How important are AP classes in your admissions decisions? A: I will always tell students that if their school offers AP courses they should be taking some of them. Everything is looked Can an essay that doesn’t fall at in context. We like to see students into the truly outstanding category who challenge themselves academistill help a student get admitted? cally and excel both inside and outside A: Yes, the content of the personal essay of the classroom. We don’t want to see can still be helpful as long as the essay you taking every AP class and leaving doesn’t fit into the ”poorly written” catego- no time for extracurricular or commury. For most applicants, the personal esnity work, but we also don’t want to see say is a somewhat neutral factor.. Howev- you over-commit yourself to extracurer, we also ask students to submit a “Why ricular activities at the expense of takWellesley” essay and the thoughtfulness ing challenging academic courses. of that essay can really help us assess fit.
Q
Q
What’s an example of a poorly chosen essay topic? A: There is no one topic that is always off limits, but sometimes the choice of topic can highlight other concerns readers may have about the applicant. An example might be a student-athlete who writes all of her essays about sports.. In that case, much would depend on what else is presented in the application, but such a strong focus on a single topic could serve to paint the applicant one-dimensionally. We want to admit great student-athletes who are passionate about their sport, but we also want to see that they are passionate about academics and other activities as well.
Q
Can an applicant overcome a couple of “C’s” on their transcript and still get admitted to Wellesley? A: Yes, but it depends on timing and context. One or two C’s in the freshman or sophomore year that become all A’s and some B’s as a junior and senior might be ok. Also, the student who always got A’s and B’s but gets a C in AP BC Calculus in her senior year might be fine
Q
Do you offer Early Decision? What % of total applicants apply Early Decision? What % gets accepted? A: We do offer early decision and about 5% of our applicants will apply early decision. We fill about 20% of our class through early decision and the admit rate is slightly higher than the admit rate for those students who apply regular decision, but ED applicants tend to be self selecting and often demonstrate themselves to be particularly good fits for Wellesley.
Q
What schools do you overlap with most? A: We overlap most with the Ivies, followed by Stanford, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Barnard and Smith.
Q
How do you differentiate Wellesley from those schools? A: Unlike many of the Ivy League re-
All content is provided to Revolution Prep exclusively by Getting In EDU
straight talk
from the deans
Wellesley College
search universities, Wellesley is a small liberal arts and science college. In addition, as a women’s college we have more opportunities for women in fields where women aren’t traditionally wellrepresented, such as Computer Science. Wellesley is also differentiated from the other highly selective small liberal arts colleges in New England in that we are located in the Boston metropolitan area which is an unusual location for a New England liberal arts college
and students, so the people reading the applications have many different perspectives and we talk a lot about the various aspects of fit. A mistake we see some Wellesley applicants make is that they don’t do their homework on the school and they don’t communicate in their application why they really want to come here. We want people spending time thinking about why Wellesley is the place for them and to tell us why in their application. We also sometimes see applicants who are very strong academically but they haven’t been engaged in their community, thus they aren’t terribly appealing to us when we talk about fit. I also see otherwise highly qualified students make the mistake of not developing a real passion for learning. I recently read a recommendation from a teacher that said, “The cruelest form of punishment you could give this student is to tell her she could get straight A’s, but she couldn’t actually do the work of learning the material.” I thought this was a great way of telling us that the student has a real passion for learning.
Q
What types of students or people are not well suited for Wellesley? A: There is room for different types of students at Wellesley, but if you’re somebody who doesn’t want or enjoy a high level of engagement with the faculty then you would probably feel uncomfortable and on-the-spot here. So much of the experience at Wellesley is about being engaged with your peers and faculty members in learning inside and outside of the classroom.
Q
What are common mistakes you see otherwise highly qualified applicants make? Are the types of mistakes you see applicants make changing? A: Our selection process is unique in that our admission committee is not just comprised of professional staff members. Our admission committee is made up of faculty members, administrators
Joy St. John, Director of Admission
Q
What would somebody interested in Wellesley learn only by visiting the campus? A: One of the things that has struck me is how many of our visitors will comment on how nice Wellesley students are and how willing they are to go out of their way to help visitors. I also think that people who believe the myth that students who attend
women’s colleges are shy or trying to isolate themselves from the world will find that this is just not the case at Wellesley. Our students are very outgoing and they can be intense, but cooperative, learners.
Q
How important is “demonstrated interest” in your admissions decision? A: Demonstrated interest does not really impact our admissions decision, but we do track interest to understand the effectiveness of our various recruitment tactics.
Q
What should families know about your financial aid policies? A: Wellesley is need-blind for US and Canadian citizens and permanent residents in our admissions decisions and we meet 100% of demonstrated need. We have a financial aid packaging policy that emphasizes grants over student loans and we have caps on student loans to minimize student-indebtedness upon graduation. Our need-based financial aid program is among the most generous in the country.
For more information about schools like Wellesley, please consult with your college counselor
If you’d like information on Revolution Prep’s test prep and academic tutoring programs, call 877-738-7737
All content is provided to Revolution Prep exclusively by Getting In EDU
from the deans Wellesley College
Joy St. John, Director of Admission
THE STATS Location: Wellesley, MA Total 2010 Applications: 4,318 Admitted for class of 2014: 1,439 (33% admit rate)
Enrolled in Class of 2014: 633 (44% yield)
Undergraduate Students: 2,300 Graduate Students: 0 Mean SAT/ACT, Class of 2014: 684 (Critical Reading) 697 (Writing)
681 (Math)/30 (ACT) Range for Middle 50% GPA: Cost of Attendance: $51,950
Q
Were there any noteworthy differences in the makeup of your applicant pool this year vs. past years? A: We didn’t see large changes in the demographics of our applicant pool this year. The number of applications to Wellesley has increased about 3% this year (2011) vs. last year (2010). We might attribute the continued increase in applications to some of our targeted outreach efforts and changing global demographics. For instance, we experienced an increase in applications from students studying outside of the United States. In particular we saw rising numbers from China, South Korea, India and Singapore. Domestically, we saw growth in applications from the west, northwest, south and mid-Atlantic. In addition, our applicant pool has been impacted by our participation in initiatives like QuestBridge which matches low-income, high achieving students with educational and scholarship opportunities at some of the nation’s best colleges including Wellesley.
Q
Was your yield last year consistent with past years? A: Our yield is typically around 40% and last year it was unusually high at 44%. We are unable to point to any particular demographic group as being responsible for that increase.
Q
Are interviews required of Wellesley applicants? If so, what is it that you hear that tells you Wellesley would be a good fit for that person? A: Interviews are not required but they are recommended as a way to learn more about Wellesley. The interviews are not evaluative, but the interviewer will write
a report which will serve as just one more piece of information in the applicant’s file. For example, if something impresses or concerns us about an application, we might turn to the interview report to see if anything in it substantiates our response to the application.
Q
What adjectives would you use to describe Wellesley students? A: They are smart, conscientious, civically engaged, ambitious but cooperative, and engaged learners both inside and outside of the classroom.
Q
What exactly do you mean by “civically engaged?” A: They are civically engaged in the sense that they are conscious of their community, and interested in community service and volunteer work that benefits society as a whole. We don’t particularly look for community service when making admissions decisions, although most students are involved in service before coming to Wellesley. Once students get
There is no one essay topic that is always off limits, but sometimes the choice of topic can highlight other concerns…” here, though, they really seem to embrace the spirit of service in a significant way. Wellesley encourages and supports students in all forms of service, including traditional volunteer service, work with non-profit or non-governmental agencies, work in the U.S. and abroad. The opportunities are really endless.
All content is provided to Revolution Prep exclusively by Getting In EDU
straight talk
from the deans
Q
What should people know about your core curriculum? A: We don’t have a traditional core curriculum, but we do have distribution requirements. Students must take courses in areas of Language and Literature, Visual and Performing Art, Social and Behavioral Analysis, Epistemology and Cognition, Religion Ethics and Philosophy, Historical Studies, Natural and Physical Science and Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving. In addition, students must demonstrate a certain competency in writing, quantitative skills and a foreign language. There’s a tremendous amount of exploration and flexibility in satisfying our distribution requirements as virtually every course offered at Wellesley goes toward satisfying a requirement.
Q
What academic interests/ specialties might give an applicant an advantage? A: There really aren’t any. We’re a liberal arts college and we don’t expect students to enroll with a particular identified academic interest. They might have an interest, but it’s not a factor in our admission decision unless it’s genuine and makes someone particularly interesting and distinct.
Q
What is the borderline academic profile that has a chance of being admitted to Wellesley? A: We don’t go into the process looking for average test scores, GPA’s or class rankings. We go into the process asking first, would this student be successful here, second does this student seem like a good fit for our community and third what might make them a particularly interesting member of our community.
Q
How important is the essay at Wellesley? A: First of all, the essay is important because it’s a demonstration of the student’s writing ability. It’s hard to disregard a poorly written essay or a poorly chosen topic. Still, a very small number of essays are truly outstanding. What essays can
Wellesley College
Joy St. John, Director of Admission
reveal, however, are a student’s thought process, a set of values, and they provide texture, all of which helps us assess fit. The essay is important, but it doesn’t always hold the same level of importance for every student admitted to Wellesley.
because she is clearly challenging herself.
Q
How important are AP classes in your admissions decisions? A: I will always tell students that if their school offers AP courses they should be taking some of them. Everything is looked Can an essay that doesn’t fall at in context. We like to see students into the truly outstanding category who challenge themselves academistill help a student get admitted? cally and excel both inside and outside A: Yes, the content of the personal essay of the classroom. We don’t want to see can still be helpful as long as the essay you taking every AP class and leaving doesn’t fit into the ”poorly written” catego- no time for extracurricular or commury. For most applicants, the personal esnity work, but we also don’t want to see say is a somewhat neutral factor.. Howev- you over-commit yourself to extracurer, we also ask students to submit a “Why ricular activities at the expense of takWellesley” essay and the thoughtfulness ing challenging academic courses. of that essay can really help us assess fit.
Q
Q
What’s an example of a poorly chosen essay topic? A: There is no one topic that is always off limits, but sometimes the choice of topic can highlight other concerns readers may have about the applicant. An example might be a student-athlete who writes all of her essays about sports.. In that case, much would depend on what else is presented in the application, but such a strong focus on a single topic could serve to paint the applicant one-dimensionally. We want to admit great student-athletes who are passionate about their sport, but we also want to see that they are passionate about academics and other activities as well.
Q
Can an applicant overcome a couple of “C’s” on their transcript and still get admitted to Wellesley? A: Yes, but it depends on timing and context. One or two C’s in the freshman or sophomore year that become all A’s and some B’s as a junior and senior might be ok. Also, the student who always got A’s and B’s but gets a C in AP BC Calculus in her senior year might be fine
Q
Do you offer Early Decision? What % of total applicants apply Early Decision? What % gets accepted? A: We do offer early decision and about 5% of our applicants will apply early decision. We fill about 20% of our class through early decision and the admit rate is slightly higher than the admit rate for those students who apply regular decision, but ED applicants tend to be self selecting and often demonstrate themselves to be particularly good fits for Wellesley.
Q
What schools do you overlap with most? A: We overlap most with the Ivies, followed by Stanford, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Barnard and Smith.
Q
How do you differentiate Wellesley from those schools? A: Unlike many of the Ivy League re-
All content is provided to Revolution Prep exclusively by Getting In EDU
straight talk
from the deans
Wellesley College
search universities, Wellesley is a small liberal arts and science college. In addition, as a women’s college we have more opportunities for women in fields where women aren’t traditionally wellrepresented, such as Computer Science. Wellesley is also differentiated from the other highly selective small liberal arts colleges in New England in that we are located in the Boston metropolitan area which is an unusual location for a New England liberal arts college
and students, so the people reading the applications have many different perspectives and we talk a lot about the various aspects of fit. A mistake we see some Wellesley applicants make is that they don’t do their homework on the school and they don’t communicate in their application why they really want to come here. We want people spending time thinking about why Wellesley is the place for them and to tell us why in their application. We also sometimes see applicants who are very strong academically but they haven’t been engaged in their community, thus they aren’t terribly appealing to us when we talk about fit. I also see otherwise highly qualified students make the mistake of not developing a real passion for learning. I recently read a recommendation from a teacher that said, “The cruelest form of punishment you could give this student is to tell her she could get straight A’s, but she couldn’t actually do the work of learning the material.” I thought this was a great way of telling us that the student has a real passion for learning.
Q
What types of students or people are not well suited for Wellesley? A: There is room for different types of students at Wellesley, but if you’re somebody who doesn’t want or enjoy a high level of engagement with the faculty then you would probably feel uncomfortable and on-the-spot here. So much of the experience at Wellesley is about being engaged with your peers and faculty members in learning inside and outside of the classroom.
Q
What are common mistakes you see otherwise highly qualified applicants make? Are the types of mistakes you see applicants make changing? A: Our selection process is unique in that our admission committee is not just comprised of professional staff members. Our admission committee is made up of faculty members, administrators
Joy St. John, Director of Admission
Q
What would somebody interested in Wellesley learn only by visiting the campus? A: One of the things that has struck me is how many of our visitors will comment on how nice Wellesley students are and how willing they are to go out of their way to help visitors. I also think that people who believe the myth that students who attend
women’s colleges are shy or trying to isolate themselves from the world will find that this is just not the case at Wellesley. Our students are very outgoing and they can be intense, but cooperative, learners.
Q
How important is “demonstrated interest” in your admissions decision? A: Demonstrated interest does not really impact our admissions decision, but we do track interest to understand the effectiveness of our various recruitment tactics.
Q
What should families know about your financial aid policies? A: Wellesley is need-blind for US and Canadian citizens and permanent residents in our admissions decisions and we meet 100% of demonstrated need. We have a financial aid packaging policy that emphasizes grants over student loans and we have caps on student loans to minimize student-indebtedness upon graduation. Our need-based financial aid program is among the most generous in the country.
For more information about schools like Wellesley, please consult with your college counselor
If you’d like information on Revolution Prep’s test prep and academic tutoring programs, call 877-738-7737
All content is provided to Revolution Prep exclusively by Getting In EDU
