Each year, accepted students still unsure of their final collegial destination flock to WesFest to decide whether Wesleyan is the right fit for them. However, of this year’s incoming freshmen, 48 percent applied Early Decision (ED) to the University. While this makes up nearly half of the class of 2014, this figure represents only about 17 percent of accepted students: 376 of the 2,125 accepted students were admitted ED. The Admissions Office expects about 20 percent of accepted regular decision students to enroll at Wesleyan this September.
“I said to Admissions, I didn’t mind having a higher ED number if the pool is strong enough to support it,” said President Michael Roth. “I do think there is some benefit from students who know immediately this is the first place they want to go.”
In recent years, institutions like Princeton University, Harvard College, and Stanford University have scrapped ED as an option for applicants, concerned that the pool of early applicants might be less diverse.
“Students from more sophisticated backgrounds and affluent high schools often apply early to increase their chances of admission, while minority students and students from rural areas, other countries, and high schools with fewer resources miss out,” wrote Interim President Derek Bok on the Harvard College Admissions website. “Students needing financial aid are disadvantaged by binding early decision programs that prevent them from comparing aid packages.”
However, according to Pyke, Wesleyan’s policy does not discourage students from lower-income backgrounds from applying ED. Although ED constitutes a binding commitment that the applicant enroll if accepted, Wesleyan’s policy is to release students from their commitments if their families feel that they cannot afford the financial aid package offered.
“[Due to this policy], we are in a better position to go to public schools, underrepresented populations, and programs that work with needy students and say not only, ‘We think you should apply to Wesleyan,’ but, ‘If Wesleyan is your first choice, then you can apply to Wesleyan ED whether you can afford it or not.’”
According to Pyke, students rarely utilize this “loophole” option.
“More than 99 percent of the time, the family gets the financial aid package and says, ‘Okay, we can afford this,’” he said. “But it’s important that for that one family, the student has been able to apply to their first choice school and the family is not in any way trapped.”
Of the 376 students admitted ED for the class of 2014, 43 percent have applied for financial aid. A total of 2,125 applicants have been admitted so far, and of that number 58 percent have applied for financial aid. The school will not know the final make-up of the class of 2014 or the total number who have applied for financial aid until early September, according to Pyke.
One student admitted ED to the class of 2014, who wished to remain anonymous, unsuccessfully applied for financial aid. Although the student is still pleased with her decision to apply ED, she is currently requesting an appeal from the Office of Financial Aid regarding the decision.
“For me, applying ED was the best decision I could imagine,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Argus. “I didn’t want the stress of having to wait until April to hear back from a bunch of schools when I knew Wes was clearly my first choice. Had I waited, I am pretty sure I would have received some attractive merit-based aid packages from less selective institutions but ultimately, I knew I would be happiest at Wes in the end.”
Wesleyan is need-blind, which means that the school does not consider an applicant’s financial situation during the admissions process. The University also guarantees that it will meet demonstrated need without loans for families whose income is less than $40,000 per year.
In spite of the appeal of qualified students who are willing to commit to Wesleyan from the get-go, the University makes an effort to keep slots open for students who are talented, but unfamiliar with intricacies of the admissions process, according to Roth.
“You have to be careful [to look out] for students who don’t know the college game, first-generation students especially,” Roth said. “They may not know about ED, so they may not apply ED. I didn’t know about ED when I was in high school.”
Pyke still stressed the benefits of the ED option for students who are sure that Wesleyan is their first choice.
“I don’t see what’s wrong with being done with the admission process and having more time to think about whether to take a gap year or not, having more time to spend on your calculus homework, having more time to think about what you’re going to do with the summer, starting earlier on getting a job for the summer or whatever else you want to think about because a) you knew where you wanted to go to school, b) you pulled the trigger on that knowledge and applied, and c) you got into the school you really wanted to go to and therefore you’re done,” he said.
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