So You Wanna Transfer to Wesleyan?
By and large the primary audience of Wesleying is comprised of current students, alumni, faculty and staff. However, as a once-prospective transfer student myself, I read Wesleying on a daily basis beginning around the time I first considered the possibility that I might transfer to Wesleyan. This post is intended for the handful of readers who find their way to Wesleying while themselves considering whether to transfer here.
Wesleyan's official information page for prospective transfer students contains a heap of helpful information. Below I will give my take on some of the topics it covers:
- The Application Process -- The important thing to note in this section is that the deadline is March 15.
- The Essay -- In my opinion, the essay required for transfer applicants is awfully short. Last year when I applied, the essay was limited to 600 words, which was barely enough to articulate why I wanted to come to Wesleyan -- and being that I transferred from a 2-year school, I didn't have to tactfully explain why I wanted to leave my current institution.
- Interviews -- Do an interview. Especially if you can do one on campus.
- How will your credits transfer? It depends. At Wesleyan, a typical course meets for three hours per week, and counts for one Wesleyan credit. At the school I transferred from, and from many other schools, a typical course that meets for three hours per week counts for three credits. Those three credits will transfer as .75 Wesleyan credits. It is entirely possible to take eight courses in the first year at your original college and only have six credits at the start of your sophomore year at Wesleyan. 32 Wesleyan credits are required for graduation, which assumes four per semester over the course of four years. As I understand it, you must earn a minimum of 16 credits at Wesleyan to be eligible for a degree from Wesleyan.
- General Education Expectations (info at this link) Though your transfer credits may be devalued, the "Wesleyan credit" value of your transfer courses has no bearing on their acceptance for fulfillment of the General Education Expectations. If you took "Elementary Statistics" at your school for three credits, it will count as .75 credits at Wesleyan, but for the purpose of fulfilling one of your NSM General Education Expectations, it is an even match. Take a look at all of the courses you've taken so far, and track down their Wesleyan equivalents in WesMaps. This will help you transfer your credits over to Wesleyan (they may not accept everything) and help you determine what General Education Expectations you've already met when you fill out the Transfer Credit Evaluation Form for General Education Equivalency.
- Transfer Connections -- There are a lot of things at Wesleyan (and in college generally) that you have to figure out or deal with on your own, but Wesleyan doesn't leave transfers high and dry. If you are transferring here you will have the opportunity to be matched up with a transfer connection. You should sign up for this. Transfer connections are students who transferred to Wesleyan from other schools and who understand the transition process. My transfer connection was an invaluable resource, not to mention that it was really nice to have a fellow student available to answer the kinds of questions that one might hesitate to ask of the class dean.
- Orientation -- The official programming is really skewed toward first year students, but that's because transfers and frosh arrive at the same time, typically a few days in advance of the continuing undergrads. However, the events that were geared toward transfers were worthwhile.
If you're thinking about transferring to Wesleyan in the fall, you'd better hop to it. The application deadline is March 15th. Good luck!
