Class of 2023 Admitted Students Experience All-Things-Wes at WesFest 2019

For three days, Class of 2023 admitted students and their families had the opportunity to learn all about Wesleyan during the 2019 WesFest.

Held April 10-12 on campus, WesFest provided campus visitors with multiple information sessions, campus tours, department open houses, attend-a-class opportunities, keynote speakers, meet-and-greets, student performances, a student activity fair, a concert on Foss Hill, and more.

Wesleyan received a record 13,358 applications for its Class of 2023, offering admission to 2,114 students (15.8%) from one of the most competitive, diverse applicant pools in the University’s history. Of those who were admitted, more than 500 attended WesFest. An additional 375 family members and guests accompanied them.

“WesFest is meant to be a celebration of ‘all things Wesleyan’… to give pre-frosh the opportunity to explore and begin to envision themselves as part of this community,” said Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Nancy Hargrave Meislahn.

Meislahn and Wesleyan President Michael Roth spoke to the campus visitors on all three days of WesFest and welcomed questions from students and parents alike.

Admitted students also attended student-to-student panels where they met current Wes students for an honest and informative discussion about life, academics, and activities at Wesleyan. They also attended a comedy show, a fashion show, an a cappella concert, a reusable tumbler decorating party, a Long Lane Farm tour, fitness classes, a fire-spinning performance, a conversation with Class of 2023 Dean Jennifer Wood, and much more.

On April 11, Wesleyan alumna and New York Mets public address announcer Marysol Castro ’96 delivered the WesFest Alumni Keynote Address in Beckham Hall.

“Coming to Wesleyan really felt like a homecoming. I was surrounded by not just other Latinos, but students of color, international students,” she said. “Wesleyan is the place that teaches you to think; no one on this campus forces you into anything. No one will say, ‘This is A, and yesterday it was A, today it’s A, and tomorrow it’s A.’ They’ll present you A on a plate and say, ‘What is this?’ Now that has its pluses and minuses, because you can say, ‘Wow. I want this to be the letter M.’ And that’s great because you are honing who you are, as a human being and as a citizen of the world.”

Photos of WesFest 2019 are below: (Photos by Olivia Drake)