Congratulations to Adelene Lai for getting admitted into Wellesley for the class of 2015. Woohoo!!!!!

Foreword:

I’m writing this in hopes of remedying the lacuna of awareness on liberal arts colleges among Malaysian students, parents, teachers, and education counselors contemplating tertiary education options. Since my own education experience is limited to Wellesley, this guide will focus on Wellesley, though the awesomeness of Wellesley extends to liberal arts schools in general.

Please note that my views may neither be objective nor representative of the Wellesley community, and this guide is by no means comprehensive. As such, please take my opinions with a pinch of salt. I do, however, try my best to be objective and ensure that all facts and statistics provided are accurate as of 2010.

Contents

1. At a glance

1.1. Basic Facts

1.2 Top 10 Advantages of a Wellesley Education

2. Basic Concerns

2.1 Academics

2.2. Average Tuition and Financial Aid

2.3. Student Body

3. Campus Life

3.1. Neighbourhood

3.2. Housing

3.3 Security

3.3. Transport

3.4. Social Life

3.5. Colleges in the Vicinity

3.6. Traditions

4. Admission

4.1. How to Apply

4.2. Admission Rates

4.3. Malaysian Admissions

5. Rankings

5.1. US News Top Liberal Arts Colleges for 2010

5.2. US News Colleges Rankings for liberal arts colleges for 2010

5.3. Princeton Review top 10 best value private colleges for 2010

5.4. Princeton Review Rankings for 2009

5.5. Forbes Best Colleges for 2009

5.6. Washington Monthly College Rankings for 2009 (measures contribution to public welfare)

5.7. The Global Language Monitor TopTrend MediaBuzz Rankings  for colleges for 2010(measures brand equity)

6. People of Wellesley

6.1. Notable Alums

6.2. Notable Past and Present Faculty Members

7. An Anecdote on Class Experience

8. Further Information

8.1. Caveats

8.2. A Recap of the Liberal Arts Philosophy for Malaysian Students, Parents, and Teachers

9. Top 10 Random Cool Reasons to Apply to Wellesley

1. At a glance

1.1. Basic Facts:

Mission: To provide an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world.

Motto: Non ministrari sed ministrare (Not to be ministered unto but to minister)

School type: Private women’s liberal arts college

Year of establishment: 1870, classes commenced in 1875

Location: Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA.

Enrolment: over 2300 students from all 50 states and over 70 countries

Endowment for 2009: US$ 1,300,000,000.00

President: H. Kim Bottomly

Campus: 500 acres (excluding Lake Waban)

Library Holdings: 1, 500,000 volumes

Campus Facilities: Science Center, Lulu Wang Campus Center, Clapp Library, Knapp Media and Technology Center, Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Keohane Sports Center, Botanic Gardens, Jewett Arts Museum, Slater International, Music Center, Whitin Observatory, Newhouse Center for Humanities, Wellesley Centers for Women, Sneider Theater House, Nehoiden Golf Course, fast-speed campus-wide internet connection etc.

Website: Wellesley.edu

1.2. Top 10 advantages of a Wellesley education:

1. Top-notch academic environment.

2. A faculty that is dedicated to undergrad teaching and committed to the liberal arts philosophy.

3. A beautiful campus set in a safe and idyllic neighbourhood.

4. Tons of study abroad, research, and internship opportunities.

5. Strong, powerful alumni network.

6. Highly diverse student population.

7. Abundant financial aid.

8. Rich campus life (student orgs, public lectures, traditions etc).

9.  Global prestige.

10. Proximity to Boston (12 miles away) and close connections with local colleges (Boston, Olin, Brandeis, MIT, Harvard etc).

2. Basic Concerns

2.1. Academics:

Course offerings: Over 1000 courses in over 50 departments.

Faculty: ~350 full-time and part-time faculty (all PhD)

Average class size: 17-20 students

Student to faculty ratio: 7:1

Popular majors: Economics, Political science, Neuroscience, English, Psychology, Biology, International Relations.

Average course load: 4 courses

Study abroad: Each year a few hundred students spend a semester or entire year studying in a foreign country.

Cross-registration and exchange: Cross-registration with MIT, Babson, Olin, and Brandeis. Exchange programs with Twelve Colleges, Spelman and others.

Internships: About 75% of students participate in an internship while at Wellesley.

Credit and distribution requirements: Students graduate with 32-39 credits. Distribution requirements include writing, three natural sciences, social science and humanities, cultural studies, philosophy and epistemology, foreign language, literature, and visual and performing arts.

2.2. Average Tuition and Financial Aid:

Tuition & Fees/year: $38,062.00 (RM 120,600.00)

Room & Board/year: $11,786.00 (RM37,344.00)

Undergraduates receiving need-based financial aid: 56%

Average Percent of Need Met: 100% of demonstrated financial need of every admitted student

Average Total Financial Aid Package: $33,843 (RM107,232.00)

Average amount of loan debt per graduate: $12,639 (RM40,067.00)

Undergraduates who have borrowed through any loan program: 53%

Note: Both my parents earn only a few hundred Ringgit a month. I’m attending school on full financial aid worth about RM1 million, without loan and without bond.

2.3. Student Body:

Out of State: 84%

American Indian or Alaskan Native: 1%

Asian: 26%

African-American: 6%

Hispanic: 7%

Caucasian: 43%

Race/Ethnicity Unknown: 10%

International: 8.0%

3. Campus Life:

3.1. Neighbourhood:

Wellesley College is located in the picturesque Wellesley town. Despite the shared name, Wellesley town isn’t a college town like Harvard Square or Princeton town (by definition, a college town is a town that is sustains on a particular college’s economical activities) but a self-sustainable town. In addition, it’s a pretty upmarket residential area dominated by professionals (lawyers, academics etc) working in adjacent towns like Cambridge and Boston.

The immediate vicinity of the college is known in the local community as ‘The Ville’.

3.2. Housing:

Over 90% of all students live on 21 residential halls on campus. Generally, first-years are housed in quadruple, triple, or double rooms, sophomores in double rooms, juniors in double or single rooms, and seniors in single rooms. All residential halls house students of every class.

3.3. Security:

Due to its idyllic setting, Wellesley is a pretty safe community. Though the college has no gates/barriers to entry (it is a daily occurrence to see residents from the neighbourhood walking their dogs, jogging, camping etc on campus grounds), crimes are very rare. During last Halloween, I went trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood between nine and ten at night, and felt that the residents were generally warm and friendly.

The campus itself is monitored by a pretty efficient police department. Also, students in the city who are unable to find transport home for some reason can request for help from the police.

3.4. Transport:

The nearest airport is Logan International, Boston, about an hour’s drive away. The school provides shuttle buses to nearby malls, the city, various train stations, as well as direct trips to MIT, Olin, and Babson at $3 per trip. Cabs are expensive, but public transport is still relatively convenient – the Wellesley Square Train Station is only a ten minute walk from the east side campus.

3.5 Social Life:

The college has ~180 registered student organizations, ranging from performance ensembles (e.g. Yanvalou), political organizations (e.g. Wellesley Republicans), campus radio (WZLY), cultural clubs (e.g. Mezcla), publications (e.g. Counterpoint), to club sports (e.g. Ultimate Frisbee).

Sororities are banned at Wellesley, but the college has a few social/academic societies: Shakespeare Society (theater society), Alpha Phi Sigma (lecture society), Tau Zeta Epsilon (arts and music society), and Society Zeta Alpha (literary society).

Parties are held regularly at Tishmon Commons at the Lulu Wang Center, which also holds a pub (Punches’ Alley) in the basement.

3.5. Colleges in the vicinity

Babson College – 2.7 miles

Berklee College of Music – 14.7 miles

Boston College – 6.0 miles

Boston University – 12.6 miles

Brandeis University – 7.5 miles

Harvard University – 13.2 miles

Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 13.7 miles

Olin College of Engineering – 2.3 miles

Tufts University – 20.0 miles

3.6. Traditions:

This list is by no means exhaustive (besides, it wouldn’t be fun if I gave everything away).

Every first-year gets assigned to a ‘Big Sister’, who will accompany them for Flower Sunday to celebrate the culture of sisterhood at Wellesley. Every year, seniors participate in step-singing and hoop rolling, where the winner gets tossed into Lake Waban.  Each graduation class also plants a tree during its sophomore year. Each fall, on a date unannounced until the night before, students celebrate ‘Lake Day’. For example, Lake Day in 2010 had a Harry Potter theme. We found invitation cards to “Wellesley College of Witchcraft and Wizardry” under our room doors at 12 midnight, and the next day our dining halls served Harry Potter-themed food, and a Harry-Potter carnival (complete with choo-choo train) was held at Severance Green. Sometimes, ‘Primal Scream’ nights are held prior to exams, whereby students scream collectively at the top of their lungs at 12 midnight. In addition, the school rents a petting zoo (bunnies, chickens, kittens, sheep etc) every spring (supposedly to help students release stress after exams). Wellesley also marks the halfway point of the Boston Marathon. During Marathon Monday, students line the street with posters and cheer for the runners in what is known as the ‘Scream Tunnel’. Two conferences, Ruhlman and Tanner, are held every year for students to share their internship/study abroad/summer/winter research projects and course/independent study projects respectively.

4. Admission

4.1. How to Apply:

All Wellesley hopefuls apply through the Common Application.

First thing you need to know before applying is: EVERYONE, INCLUDING YOU, STANDS A CHANCE. The community is really, really diverse. There’re young novelists, marathon runners, elephant trainers, cancer researchers, fencers, Olympiad winners, New York Fashion Week photographers, NASA scholars etc. My best friend on campus is a globe-trotting, Russian-speaking, poetry-writing, cookie-baking, chess Woman Grandmaster. And then there’re bums who flunk in classes (SAT and A-Levels results: terrible, horrible, vegetable), are devoid of talent (list of accomplishments: nonexistent), and got rejected by every single scholarship  in Malaysia (JPA, Bank Negara, Sime Darby, Khazanah etc)  like me. Go figure.

Prerequisites: SPM/STPM/A-Levels/International Baccalaureate/other pre-u program/home-school, minimum age: 16

I won’t give you application tips, but here’re some self-evaluation questions that you should spend time contemplating before you apply:

Why do I want to apply to Wellesley?

What drives me?

What inspires me?

What have I done to pursue my passions?

How well will I cope in a highly diverse environment?

Am I capable of handling an academically rigorous environment?

What meaningful contributions have I made to my community?

What sort of adverse situations/disadvantages have I faced in the past, and how did I overcome them?

How do I work in the classroom with teachers and fellow students?

What skill sets can I contribute?

If I get admitted, how do I intend to make use of the abundant resources and opportunities?

What programs/initiatives/research projects have you pioneered?

What makes your co-curricular activities so special?

Will this school be a good fit for me?

How am I different from my peers?

What do I want to learn?

Do I balance humility and pragmatism with determination and self-assuredness?

What do I want to do with my education after I graduate?

How hungry am I?

What are my education ideals?

Who am I?

4.2. Admission Rates:

For the last few years, Wellesley College has had the highest admission rate (~35%) among the top liberal arts colleges, and by a significant margin (peer comparison: Williams, 15%; Amherst, 16%, Swarthmore, 19%; Middlebury, 19%). However, the school saw an unprecedented surge in acceptances for the class of 2014 (which triggered a housing debacle), which means that admissions will drop significantly for the next few years. My guestimation is that the admission rate will drop to 25% for the next applicant pool. Taking into account the fact that the international student admission rate is usually half the overall admission rate, it would range between 10-15%.

4.3. Malaysian admissions:

Unfortunately, I don’t have any stats on the average number of Malaysian applicants per year. My guess is that the average Malaysian applicant pool is extremely small (probably not more than 10 applicants per year) but highly competitive (one of the Malaysian admits in the previous years was the national SPM top scorer for her year).

On average, ONE Malaysian is admitted into Wellesley every year.

Number of Malaysian admits for the past five years (to my knowledge):

Class of 2010: 1

Class of 2011: 1

Class of 2012: 0

Class of 2013: 1

Class of 2014: 1

5. Rankings:

Please bear in mind that all rankings are arbitrary and are meant to be taken only as a rough guideline, and that you can’t quantify things like personal growth, friendships, or classroom experience.

5.1. US News Top Liberal Arts Colleges for 2010:

1. Williams College

2. Amherst College

3. Swarthmore College

4. Wellesley College

4. Middlebury College

5.2. US News Colleges Rankings for liberal arts colleges for 2010:

Best Undergrad Teaching – No. 17

Percentage of Students Receiving Pell Grants (measures economic diversity) – 14%

Best Value – No.4

Most Ethnically Diverse – No.4 (diversity index: 0.60)

Freshmen retention rate – No.19 (95%)

Most International Students – No.20 (8%)

5.3. Princeton Review top 10 best value private colleges for 2010:

6. Williams College

7. Rice University

8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

9. Amherst College

10. Wellesley College

5.4. Princeton Review Rankings for 2009:

Academic rating: 98/100

Professors Get High Marks – No.2
Best Classroom Experience – No.3
Most Beautiful Campus – No.8
Gay Community Accepted – No.8
Stone-Cold Sober Students (non-party school)– No.8
Most Accessible Professors – No.11
Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch (lack of alcohol)– No.15
Dorms Like Palaces – No.17

5.5. Forbes Best Colleges for 2009:

3. California Institute of Technology

4. Williams College

5. Harvard University

6. Wellesley College

7. US Air Force Academy

8. Amherst College

9. Yale University

5.6. Washington Monthly College Rankings for 2009 (measures contribution to public welfare):

8. Swarthmore College

9. Carleton College

10. Wellesley College

11. Wesleyan University

12. Berea College

5.7. The Global Language Monitor TopTrend MediaBuzz Rankings  for colleges for 2010(measures brand equity):

4. Middlebury College

5. University of Richmond

6. Wellesley College

7. Vassar College

8. Union College

6. People of Wellesley

6.1. Notable alums:

Wellesley graduates have….

…become first woman to run for president of the United States (Hilary Clinton)

…become first woman to run for vice-president of the United States (Madeleine Albright)

…commandeered space shuttles (Pamela Melroy)

…wrote a national anthem for the United States (Katherine Lee Bates)

…become first woman to hold records for speed, altitude, and distance in  aviation (Ruth Rowland Nichols)

…become first woman to lead expeditions to Everest and K-2 (Heidi Howkins)

…become first woman to hold a PhD in mathematics (Winifred Edgerton Merill)

…become first black woman to serve as judge (Jane Bolin)

…become first person to develop the concept of operating systems and use a home computer (Mary Allen Wilkes)

…become first woman president of the Harvard Law Review (Susan Estrich)

…and pretty much everything else, from writing Pulitzer Prize-winning books to directing particle physics accelerators.

6.2. Notable past and present faculty members:

- Vladimir Nabokov (who wrote Lolita, my favourite novel)

- Alice Walker (most notable for the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple)

- Emily Greene Balch (Nobel Peace Prize laureate)

- poet Claude Vigée

- economist Karl Case (co-developer of the Case-Shiller Index)

- mathematician/composer/satirist/pianist Tom Lehrer

- philosopher Richard Rorty

7. An Anecdote on Class Experience:

I’ll give you an example of a typical class at Wellesley.

During my first semester at Wellesley, I intended to sign up for “Writing 125: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics” to fulfill my writing requirement. However, I failed to secure places for that class and randomly chose another one from the course listing – “Writing 125: The Noble Prize in Literature”, and it turned out to be one of the best classes I’d ever taken.

The class encompassed studies on the history of the Noble Prize in Literature, the socio-political context of the institution, as well as close studies of selected Noble-winning works in literature. Coursework ranged from quirky (writing our own obituaries as inspired by Alfred Noble), technical (literary analyses of Noble-winning novels), to practical (we pretended to be Nobel laureates and delivered fake Noble acceptance speeches). We had Dr. Zhivago movie sessions, and attended lectures by Orhan Pamuk at Harvard.  We also had a class wager on the Nobel laureates for 2010. In October, we took a class trip to the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard. Our professor was young, smart, friendly, funny, meticulous, and gave us one-on-one revision sessions on our coursework. Thoughtful doesn’t begin to describe the amount of attention she paid to the class.

8. Further Information

8.1. Caveats

1. One of the most common complaints at Wellesley is the lack of social life. Parties are largely restricted to the student center, and you will have to make an effort to go out of campus if you want to meet boys. Also note that the drug culture at Wellesley is largely underground and the police could be quite strict when it comes to busting minors for drug possession. Plus, alcohol is not widely available. So if boys, drugs, alcohol, and parties are important to you, there’re better college options out there.

2. Depending on your personality and personal preferences, an all-women’s environment may either be paradise or hell.

3. Although Wellesley is diverse economically as well as ethnically, it is overwhelmingly politically Democrat and/or liberal.

4. Wellesley students are very outspoken, politically conscious, articulate, and sometimes overzealous with political correctness. Discourse can get tense. Again, you may either thrive on it or let it get to your head.

5. I’ll be honest – campus life is going to be tough in the first year, whether academically or socially. Trust me when I say that I had my fair share of resentment, disappointments, culture shock, misgivings, and struggles at Wellesley. In fact, most Wellesley students have considered transferring at some point in their first or second years, and take a fair amount of time before they adapt to the environment.

6. Enthusiasm for sports is lukewarm.  Every student has to fulfill physical education requirements (which can be done by either participation in club sports or PE classes like yoga, Pilates, archery etc). Beyond that, however, sports are only huge if you’re passionate about participating in athletic teams.

7. The sciences at Wellesley are not as comprehensive as that of huge research universities. If you intend to major in science/other technical courses (e.g. architecture), you may have to take classes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the daily shuttling between Wellesley-MIT can be quite tiring and time-consuming (though it will give you the unique combination of small liberal arts college + large research university).

8. I’m guessing that Malaysian parents (who’re largely conservative) would be a little concerned with gay-friendly atmosphere at Wellesley. The gay population at Wellesley is probably not much higher than the average human population. However, the community does promote a gender and sexually positive attitude, which means that students are encouraged to explore and discuss gender and sexuality-related issues in a frank, civil, and constructive manner, and there’s an emphasis on respect for each person’s self-identity and opinion.

9. You’re going to have to walk and walk and walk and walk on campus. This place is equivalent to 450 football fields.

10. You can see from the admission stats that there are very few Malaysians at Wellesley, which means that you will have to make an effort to keep in touch with other Malaysian students in the Northeast, and learn to make friends of vastly different cultural backgrounds.

8.2. A Recap of the Liberal Arts Philosophy for Malaysian Students and Parents

The concept of liberal arts and sciences dates back to the Classical Ages (Roman and Greek Civilizations). In antiquity, the philosophy denoted the education that a free man should have.  It emphasized on rational thought, intellectual ability, and consilience, as opposed to specialization (source: Wikipedia), which meant that every student was expected to master a wide range of skill sets (the natural sciences, mathematics, languages and oratory skills, politics and government, arts and music, astronomy, logic and philosophy etc).

Today, the liberal arts philosophy forms the educational creed of many undergraduate schools in the US. It is practiced in large universities like Harvard as well as small colleges like Wellesley.

If you’re confused about the terms, basically, a university encompasses undergraduate as well as graduate institutions, while liberal arts colleges are fully undergraduate institutions. Generally, the large universities offer more resources but less focus on undergraduate teaching, while top liberal arts colleges have less resources but more focus on undergraduate teaching.

The liberal arts philosophy extends beyond emphasis on a holistic education.  For example, you’re given ample time (up to two years) to explore your academic interests and decide your major. There’s also great independence and flexibility in deciding whatever is the most appropriate course of education for you. At Wellesley, students study abroad in places as varied as spending a whole year at Oxford, or spending a whole semester doing research at the Amazon Basin. For example, one of my friends just received a grant to travel around the world for a year, doing nothing but learning and studying various martial arts. Another one is majoring in marine biology, and since Wellesley doesn’t have a marine biology department, she’s designing her own degree. Internships range from working in the White House to running grassroots organizations.

The purpose of a liberal arts education isn’t to train you into a doctor, accountant, engineer, or lawyer (though, of course, you can choose to major in pre-law, or eventually become a doctor if you want to). Rather, its purpose is to give you a transformational process, a journey in self-discovery, educate you as a dynamic and flexible intellectual capable of serving society, in whatever capacity you decide.  Prominent examples of liberal arts college graduates include Kofi Annan (Macalester College), Dan Brown (Amherst College), Steve Jobs (Reed College), and Barack Obama (Occidental College).

Of course, the same opportunities are present in any institution in any country in the world, granted that you work hard enough for them. But in no other place in the world will learning of such breadth be expected of you.

9. Top 10 Random Cool Reasons Why You Should Apply to Wellesley

1. To say that the college pampers its students is an understatement. You get to borrow a Mac PC from the library if you don’t own a computer, recording equipment if you need to shoot a documentary, and you get one-on-one lessons if you decide to take up a musical instrument. And those are only starters.

2. The college really takes good care of students on financial aid. My acceptance deposit was waived, even though I didn’t request for it. During the first week of college, I received book vouchers, blankets, pillows bed sheets etc. There’s also a boutique in the basement under the Student Aid Office that stocks clothing donated by alums. You can basically go in and collect as many items as you need, no questions asked.

3. Cute girls (which is great if you’re gay).

4. We’ve graphic novels (like Sandman, Watchmen etc) and Chinese TVB serial DVDs in the library.

5. We’ve alum endowments for ice-cream and s’mores (chocolate-covered marshmallows and graham cookies).

6. The campus has crap tons of fat animals. Fat squirrels, fat bunnies, fat raccoons, fat geese, fat swans, fat ducks, you name it (no, they’re not meant for eating).

7. The campus is a fun place to explore. There’re many tunnels, supposedly haunted places, and other secret places (the room I lived in during my first year was connected to two secret rooms covered with decorations dating back to 1917).

8. Plus, Each residential hall has its own distinguished architecture. For example, Beebe is a pirate-themed hall, Claflin has Alice in Wonderland-themed carvings, and Shafer has mathematical symbols (Shafer was a mathematician).

9. If you’re an international student, you’ll be paired up with a host mum (optional). I was blessed with one of the coolest host mums ever, who was a mathematician who lived in Harvard Square. We had lunch on weekends, picked Christmas trees, watched a Stephen Chow movie (I plan to indoctrinate her with Asian humor), and took long walks around Cambridge.

10. You’ll have a caring, protective Malaysian senior (cough, cough).

photos and writing by, yong wei chong gabrielle