The Wesleyan Connection

Tara Lindros, associate dean of admission, is responsible for student recruiting and application reading. She also supervises the Wesleyan tour guides. (Photo by Olivia Drake)

Q: Tara, when did you join Wesleyan’s Office of Admission?

A: I started working at Wesleyan in July of 2007.

Q: What are they key ways you recruit students to Wesleyan?

A: We recruit students in many different ways. Prospective students and their families visit our campus at all times of the year. We also travel all over the country and the world to spread the word about Wesleyan. We see every activity we undertake as recruiting.

Q: What percentage of your time is spent traveling? Which regions of the country do you oversee?

A: I spend about six to eight weeks a year traveling…so that’s about 15 percent of my total time spent on the road. I travel to Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Virginia, Maine, and the greater Boston area. I also oversee recruiting and applicants from West Virginia, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, but do not travel to these places.

Q: When visiting high schools, what information do you provide to the students? What are typical questions they have for you?

A: When I visit high schools, I’m basically taking my Wesleyan on-campus information session on the road. Each high school may be slightly different, so you tailor your message based on your audience. They typically have the same questions that visitors to campus have, but that varies pretty widely based on location and their familiarity with Wesleyan. (more…)

Wesleyan received 203 more applications from the Midwest, 266 more applications from the South and 619 from the West compared to 2008 data. Applicants from the Northeast increased by 392 since 2008. (Photo by Bill Burkhart)

This year, 10,645 seniors from around the world applied to Wesleyan University, an increase of 6 percent from 2009, which was a record year for applications, despite the sour economy.

“Last year we reached an all-time high for applications, up by 22 percent, and this year is 6 percent over that,” says Greg Pyke, senior associate dean of admission.

Of these students, 41 percent are male and 59 percent are female.

The applicant pool contains 362 candidates for the Freeman Asian Scholars program, 860 for early decision admission and 9,423 applications in the regular review process. Two-hundred-and-twenty-nine of these students are alumni sons and daughters.

Nancy Meislahn, dean of admission and financial aid, is encouraged by the increase in “markets that Wesleyan has identified as high potential and priority for recruitment initiatives.” These include African-American applicants, applicants from the South, (more…)

Malik Ben-Salahuddin '13 and Dorisol Inoa '13 are both recent alumni of A Better Chance (ABC). They will attend Wesleyan in the fall.

Next fall, Wesleyan will welcome two students of color who graduated high school “capable of assuming positions of responsibility and leadership.”

Malik Ben-Salahuddin ’13 and Dorisol Inoa ’13 are both recent alumni of A Better Chance (ABC), the oldest national organization of its kind. ABC aims to change the life trajectory in a positive way for academically-talented youth of color through access to rigorous and prestigious educational opportunities for students in grades 6-12.

“This is wonderful recognition for these two top students, two in a long line of ABC students at Wesleyan,” says Nancy Meislahn, dean of admission and financial aid.

ABC’s mission is to increase substantially the number of well-educated young people of color who are capable of assuming positions of responsibility (more…)

President Michael Roth performs with the band, Mad Wow Disease, during WesFest 2009 on Andrus Field.

More than 500 students and their families celebrated all-things Wesleyan during the annual WesFest April 16-18 on campus.

WesFest allows all admitted students an opportunity to explore what Wesleyan has to offer. Attendees took campus tours, visited campus housing, attended classes, explored science laboratories, samples campus dining, visited with current Wesleyan students, viewed art, film and music performances, and much more.

“WesFest benefits students by giving them the opportunity to engage with the Wesleyan community,” says Stephanie Pruitt, program and events coordinator for the Office of Admission. “For many students, their time on campus helps them decide if Wesleyan will be their home for the next four years.”

Wesleyan received 10,065 applications for entry to its Class of 2013, up 22 percent over last year’s admission cycle. Approximately 22 percent of this year’s applicants have been admitted to Wesleyan, including some 350 students who were admitted during the early decision period. The class of 2013 is expected to comprise approximately 745 students.

A March 29 article in The New York Times discussed how applications for the Class of 2013 remained strong at the nation’s most competitive colleges, despite the economy’s recent economic recession. Mentioned in the article was Wesleyan which, unlike several liberal arts colleges, saw an increase in applications this year. The Times had previously written about Wesleyan’s increase in applications during the November early decision application period, which was also up a record 40 percent over the previous year.

President Michael Roth also wrote a piece for The Huffington Post on the economy’s impact on the Class of 2013 both nationally and at Wesleyan.

Greg Pyke, senior associate dean of admission, said 511 admitted students registered for WesFest 2009, although several students attended without registering.

“Many WesFest events are planned by current students, faculty, and staff, and therefore it becomes a great representation of the types of things that happen in the Wesleyan community every day,” Pruitt says.

Pictured below are images taken during the three-day festival (Photos by Olivia Bartlett and Alexandra Portis ’09).

Stewart M. Reid House: Admission Center

In November, 2008, when all the first round early decision applications were in, the Wesleyan admissions’ staff knew the initial numbers were not a fluke. Applications from high school students seeking admission during the first early decision period at Wesleyan were up 34 percent from the previous year, 2007. Still, the admissions staff maintained cautious enthusiasm.

“We were elated, but we also remained a bit guarded because, quite frankly, we didn’t know if the early decision increase would be followed by a decrease in overall applications, especially with the economy taking such a dramatic downturn,” says Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, dean of admission and financial aid. “So we were holding our breath a bit and continuing to contact students and (more…)