The Unstoppable Wellesley

The Unstoppable Wellesley Interviews, advice, FAQs, barbecues

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3 ways in which the blackboard speaks to us (and maybe to you) 01

We are, by several quantitative and qualitative measures, vibrant. You could also say “lively” or “irrepressible” or “thrilled by the prospect of a seemingly impossible challenge,” or perhaps “unwilling to go to sleep before we’ve danced or sung or jumped in our (actual!) lake.” But “vibrant” will do.

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We are women. Wellesley is a women’s college. It was founded when women needed it, because they were denied access to an outstanding liberal arts education elsewhere. It’s here now— and it matters—because a lot of smart women want it. Like you, perhaps.

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We are young. Which is to say we’re idealistic, hopeful, undaunted by failure, inspired by possibility. But we’re also pragmatic, realistic, and focused. Those things don’t always go together. Here, they do.

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Ana Lucía Medrano Fernández The sense of sisterhood is so strong, so empowering.

The campus visit: “I fell in love with Wellesley. The women I met were all independent and strong and proactive—but it was weird because no two people were the same. They did these admirable things, but they did them in their own way. I’d meet them and think, ‘This is who I want to be.’”

The group of ten: “I can’t remember when I met my friends here—it seemed so natural. There’s a group of ten of us, and there hasn’t been a weekend when we haven’t gone out. We’ll go to cultural shows on campus, parties at Harvard and MIT, movies, concerts, dinner in Boston.”

The change: “I grew up in a part of L.A. where girls were getting pregnant at 15. My friends were worried about what their boyfriends wanted, not what they wanted for themselves. It was a self-hating environment; I actually wanted to separate myself from the female gender.

Wellesley gave me a sense of perspective—and a sense of sisterhood that’s so strong, so empowering.”

Ana Lucía ’13 has lived half her life in Guatemala and half in San Bernardino, California. She’s been telling people she’ll double major in political science and economics.

She spent the summer doing an amazing project in Guatemala, on a grant funded by a Wellesley alumna.

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Michelle Vogelzang

I challenge myself. We all challenge ourselves.

The stereotype: “Some people think women’s colleges are overly competitive and catty. I haven’t found that at all.

I challenge myself. We all challenge ourselves, and we help each other meet those challenges.”

The work: “I’m involved in a mentoring program for students in the sciences, where I get tutoring from upperclasswomen and a stipend to do research with a professor. If you’re ready to do the work, Wellesley gives you the support.”

The music: “My favorite music to perform with the Wellesley Choir is from our Vespers concert. But I love musicals. I loved ‘Super Trouper’ in Mamma Mia! because the costumes were so ridiculous.”

Michelle ’13 is from Durban, South Africa.

She’s interested in international public health; a professor and an alumna guided her toward double majoring in biology and peace and justice studies. Supportive, no?

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Aditi Patel and Rachel Snyderman

You have to break down the barriers.

Rachel: “The most amazing thing was, I was so worried about the all-girls thing. I thought it would be really weird.

But I literally remember my first class on my first day—and it was so engaging, so interactive, and everyone was so excited to be there. I completely didn’t notice until the end of class that I was surrounded by women.”

Aditi: “My biggest challenge was learning to find my own balance here. As soon as I realized that there is no one type of student that goes to Wellesley, I started to love my time here more and more.”

Rachel: “When Aditi and I were fellows at the Albright Institute, we worked in teams on major global issues.

You’d be working with students from insanely different backgrounds. It was a clashing of the brains. You have to break down the barriers, realize that your way isn’t the only way. That’s Wellesley.”

Aditi: “That experience opened me up to a whole new world of people at Wellesley—students, professors, academics, and alumnae. I learned more than I could have hoped for in just a month.”

Rachel: “The environment here is so special. You’ve got women from around the world who have such big dreams and such big ambitions. You can’t describe what it’s like.

You have to experience it for yourself.”

Aditi ’11 is double majoring in political science and Spanish; she’s from Mumbai, India. Rachel ’11 is double majoring in economics and Latin American studies; she’s from Princeton, New Jersey. They met in Astronomy 101 in the first semester of their first year at Wellesley. Go to www.wellesley.edu/Albright/ to read more about the Albright Institute.

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Audrey Morrison

I’m active, I’m creative, I’m happy.

The superhero: “As a child I loved Sailor Moon, an anime cartoon about a typical 14-year-old girl who finds out she’s a superhero. Eventually that became a fascination with Japanese culture. The dance, the food, the fashion, the business practices—I want to know about all of it.”

The routine: “I was the MC for the Japan Club’s cultural show, Yuki Matsuri. I’d never done something like that before— which was a good reason to do it. I also choreographed a hip-hop dance routine set to Japanese classical music.”

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Why dance: “I can be jumping up and down in my room, listening to a favorite song, or putting a routine together—either way, I’m active, I’m creative, I’m happy.”

Audrey ’12 is an East Asian languages and literatures major from Germantown, Tennessee. She was publicity chair for the Japan Club and is thinking about pursuing marketing. She’s spending her junior year in Kyoto, Japan. Her pink purse is highly visible.

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Vivian Hu

I want to enjoy the journey.

Why volleyball: “I like the competition.

And I like the team game. I like working with others; I like knowing that other people will support you. In volleyball, if you don’t communicate, everything falls apart.”

The mindset: “I know what I want to do in life. I work hard, I get good grades. But I want to enjoy the journey. I don’t just want the reward at the end. I want the experience.”

The hall: “Everyone in our residence hall was really social. We were always out in the hall, chatting. We were a little crazy, actually.

Our RA was great—an interesting person who wanted to talk to you and knew how to make the transition easier.”

Vivian ’13 is from Bellaire, Texas, which is surrounded by Houston. She’s aiming at biochemistry and is loving working in a research lab over the summer. She’s a member of TZE (“Tizzie”), Wellesley’s Art and Music Society, which also involves philanthropy and mixers with MIT, Harvard, and Babson.

The playoffs: “We got to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAAs. We’re not the tallest team, and we’re not the strongest team. But we walk out together, we make our warm-up CDs together, we have dinner and go to Boston together. When we’re down, we get loud. We’re close—and that counts for a lot.”

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5 frequently asked (and happily answered) questions about life at Wellesley 01

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There are no male students? Really?

Really. With one qualification: Our crossregistration options with MIT, Olin College of Engineering, and Babson College mean you will encounter a handful of guys in a handful of classes. But we are—proudly—a women’s college. And over the years we’ve ended up with stupendously accomplished, fiercely loyal, exceedingly approachable alumnae. So: It works for us.

What do you do for a social life? We do what any group of 2,300 adventurous, enterprising women would do: We make it happen. We put on shows, throw parties, take road trips, do one of the hundreds of thousands of things there are to do in the Boston/Cambridge metro area, hang out with a few of the hundreds of thousands of other college students in said area.

And so on.

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Will I fit in? Put it this way: Yes. We are not clones. We’re Alaskan fishing guides, Ukrainian folk dancers, volunteers in Mongolian orphanages. We swam the English Channel, we started a Rubik’s Cube club, we worked on our family’s pumpkin farm.

We’re poets, pole vaulters, trapeze artists, translators of 18th century Arabic journals.

So: Bring it. Bring your idiosyncratic, incomparable, awesome self.

Is it easy to make friends? We are, oh, fairly avid about bonding. There will be carnivals and barbecues and s’mores at the fire pit.

There will be women from Shanghai and San Diego and someplace you’ve never heard of, and their doors will be open and you will find yourself talking till 3 a.m.

There will be big sisters and little sisters and traditions involving flowers and lakes.

And that’s just your first week. And these will be friends for life.

Could you perhaps elaborate on “hang out”? We like to mix it up with other colleges.

So: A dance party with the MIT Ballroom Dance squad. A pre-Boston Marathon pasta dinner at Harvard. Taste of Wellesley, where we invite Brandeis, Babson, and Olin to a food festival with a DJ in our parking garage. People seem to like us.

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5 answers to frequently unasked questions about life at Wellesley 01

Many of us enjoy physical exertion. Some of us do it at the Division III level (which often includes championships and trophies and so on). Some of us do it at the club level. Some of us—well, you get the point.

It’s another form of bonding, leading, and working together. Oh, and winning.

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Nearly everyone lives on campus. In mixed-age residence halls—so you know people who’ve done what you’re about to do. With active governing councils and lively social calendars. With rivalries and chants.

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We’re not shy about taking charge. We run more than 160 clubs and organizations.

Our student government actually governs.

If we see a need—social, civic, cultural, philanthropic—we get together and meet it.

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We get tired of saying “24/7.” So we’ll say that our student center—which we call the Lulu—is indeed open and active around the clock. Like us.

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We actually complain about how much there is to do. True! We can’t go to everything—the gallery opening, the lacrosse game, the research panel, the film screening, the lecture by the global leader—at once, all the time. And it really does feel like everything is here.

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Division III athletic teams Basketball Crew Cross Country Fencing Field Hockey Golf Lacrosse Soccer Softball Squash Swimming and Diving Tennis Track Volleyball A very partial list of clubs and organizations Al-Muslimat Ballroom Dance Team Biochemistry and Biology Club Cielito Lindo Committee for Political and Legislative Action Dance Collective Darshana: The Wellesley College Hindu Community Economic Student Association Equestrian Club

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Film Society Hillel Honor Code Council Ice Hockey International Relations Council Investment Society Model United Nations National Society of Black Engineers Peace Coalition Pre-Business Association Pre-Law Society Rugby Sailing Team Shakespeare Society Skiing (Alpine and Nordic) Spectrum: GLBTQA organization Speech and Debate Society Synchronized Swimming Ultimate Frisbee Water Polo Wellesley Belly Dancing Society Wellesley College Television Wellesley Energy and Environmental Defense (WEED) The Wellesley News Wellesley Women for Sustainable Farms and Produce WZLY

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3 things to know (and love!) about Wellesley in general 01

We’re rooted. We live and work on a 500acre campus that will literally make your jaw drop, in a lively suburb that still goes to sleep at a reasonable hour, near two cities (Boston and Cambridge) that together contain a crazy amount of intellectual, cultural, scientific, and technological brainpower.

Our location—our campus and our coordinates on the map—matters.

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We’re in the hearts of our alumnae. More than 20,000 of them are active members of the “W” network, a very real source of personal and professional guidance and sustenance for current students.

Wellesley—the experience of it, the lives it touches—matters.

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We’re in the world. Our Center for Work and Service oversees hundreds of funded internships around the world. Our Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs is a working lab where students and world leaders tackle humankind’s most pressing concerns. Half of our students study (and often work or take internships) abroad. Hundreds of students do research—mentored or collaborative—that often leads to publications or presentations.

Our work matters.

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Majors Africana Studies American Studies Anthropology Architecture Astronomy Astrophysics Biological Chemistry Biological Sciences Chemistry Chinese Cinema and Media Studies Classical Civilization Classical Studies Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Comparative Literature Computer Science East Asian Languages and Literatures Economics English Environmental Studies French French Cultural Studies Geosciences German German Studies Greek

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History History of Art International Relations Italian Studies Japanese Jewish Studies Latin Latin American Studies Mathematics Media Arts and Sciences Medieval/Renaissance Studies Middle Eastern Studies Music Neuroscience Peace and Justice Studies Philosophy Physics Political Science Psychology Religion Russian Russian Area Studies Sociology South Asia Studies Spanish Studio Art Theatre Studies Women’s and Gender Studies

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3 unqualified truths about admission and financial aid, plus numbers 01

Our community helps choose our incoming class. Our Board of Admission includes a rotating group of students, faculty, and administrators. So, in effect, the entire community reads your application. Yes, we care that much.

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Your jaw will actually drop if you visit campus. Come for a tour, a class, an overnight, an information session; come for an interview (recommended, not required) or a meeting with a financial aid officer. It will make many things very clear.

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We care about you, not your money. We meet 100% of our students’ demonstrated financial need, mostly with grants and scholarships. That way, we see your talents, hopes, and achievements (not your income level); and you see us (not a dollar sign).

And you know that we are very possible.

Numbers 59% of students receive financial aid $36,600 average annual scholarship aid award —money that does not have to be repaid.

100% of demonstrated need met 2012-2013 costs Tuition $41,824 Room and meal plan $13,032 Student activity fee $258 Total $55,114

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3 things we wish we’d known when we applied to college

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Life isn’t about college. In other words: Don’t live your life to please a college. If you volunteer in your community, if you write operas, if you play three sports or speak three languages or hold three separate positions in student government— do those things because they’re meaningful and inspiring to you, not because you think they’ll look good on an application.

Doing what you love is a good habit to get into. Not coincidentally, it looks good on an application.

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College should be about life. It shouldn’t be about escaping from the real world for four years. It should throw you into the real world, even if you’re not totally sure you’re prepared for it. And at the same time college should mess with your idea of “real” and “world” and even “the.” Because life itself messes with your idea of “real” and “world” and so on.

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Ask questions. Small questions (Is the food good? Are the events free? Will anyone like my music?) and big questions (What’s college for? Who do I want to be? What matters to me?). Have the courage to ask them out loud. In public. Often.

The answers may change daily.

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1 calendar of events in a possible life Spring. Register for ACT or SAT tests; register for AP or IB exams. Talk about plans with counselors, friends, family. Create a separate email account with a suitable name for your college search process.

Summer. Visit colleges. Take notes. Talk to actual students. Talk to your family about money. Scout around for information about federal financial aid and national and local scholarships.

Fall. Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov for federal financial aid forms; go to https://profile online.collegeboard.com/ to fill out the CSS Profile. Start asking teachers for recommendations. Keep an eye on Early Decision deadlines. Take SAT or ACT tests.

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Winter. Oh, just finish your applications already. Complete financial aid forms; send the FAFSA forms as soon after January 1 as is humanly possible. Confirm that colleges received all of your materials; make sure they get your midyear grades, too.

Spring. Visit colleges that admitted you.

Find a match. Mail your deposit (and notify colleges you didn’t choose) by May 1. Be sure to thank the teachers and counselors who helped you through the process. Take any AP or IB exams you signed up for.

Finish strong. Breathe in, breathe out.

Greet the new day.

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Onward!

Apply!

Go to www.commonapp.org and complete the Common Application and the Wellesley Supplement. It’s free!

Follow these deadlines: Early Decision: November 1 Early Evaluation: January 1 Regular Decision: January 15 Transfer/Fall: March 1 Davis Degree Program U.S.: March 1 International: January 15 If you want to talk to us, try this: Email: admission@wellesley.edu Phone: 781-283-2270 Fax: 781-283-3678 Wellesley College Office of Admission 106 Central Street Wellesley, MA 02481-8203 www.wellesley.edu/Admission If you want to visit us, you can find directions and details at: www.wellesley.edu/Admission/visit

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Facts 2,300 women 50 states represented 83 countries of birth 8 to 1 student to faculty ratio 98% of tenured faculty hold a Ph.D. or the highest degree in their field 100% of classes are taught by professors 1,000+ courses 54+ majors 50% of juniors study abroad 75% of students participate in an internship 10,000 objects in the Davis Museum and Cultural Center 14 Division III athletic teams 160 student-run organizations 250,000 college students in Boston and Cambridge 10 active alumnae on the “W” network for every student on campus 500 acres 1 lake For much more about Wellesley, go here: www.wellesley.edu

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Wellesley College Office of Admission 106 Central Street Wellesley, MA 02481-8203 Phone 781-283-2270 www.wellesley.edu

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