Dear class of 2023,
Welcome! I am pleased that you have chosen to attend Wesleyan and look forward to working with you as your class dean over the next four years.
Wesleyan will challenge you to make important choices and assume personal responsibilities that will influence your educational and co-curricular goals. By working hard, understanding the expectations of your professors, exercising good time management and study skills, and being unafraid to ask for help, you will put yourself in a position of strength from the start. As your class dean and part of your advising network, I am here to support you in this process and help you take full advantage of the resources that will facilitate your success at Wesleyan.
Your engagement with life at Wesleyan as a pre-matriculated student begins in early June when you will receive an email directing you to the New Student checklist The checklist includes items that you need to complete in preparation for the fall semester and provides important information about housing, course registration, arrival day, and orientation week. To ensure a smooth transition into the Wesleyan community, it is important that you meet the deadline for each item listed. Early in the summer, you also will receive information about this year’s common reading,Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss and Hope in an African Slum,written by Kennedy Odede ’12 and Jessica Posner ‘09, two prominent alumni. You should finish this reading and your written response before you arrive on campus so that you are prepared to discuss it with your new classmates and faculty.
In July, you will participate in a preliminary course registration so that when you arrive on campus in the fall you will have a tentative class schedule to discuss with your faculty advisor. Class deans, faculty members and peer advisors will be available—along with some excellent online resources—to answer questions about courses, your overall plan of study, and the registration process. Some students may enroll in a Learning and Living Seminar, so they will already be in one of their four courses. Before doing any registration though, it is important to complete the Academic Interest Questionnairewhich has been designed to get you thinking more reflectively about your first-semester program of study and your long-term academic goals in light of the opportunities offered at Wesleyan. More information about all this will be available in the coming weeks.
New Student Orientation begins with Arrival Day on August 28. You are expected to be an active participant in all the activities of the week, which include faculty advisor meetings, academic and campus life workshops, and an array of residential life programs and social activities. This orientation is designed to familiarize you with the Wesleyan community—what you can expect from us and what we expect from you—and to prepare you for the academic and personal challenges and joys of your undergraduate career. Information will be available and continually updated at http://www.wesleyan.edu/orientation/.
To this date, your academic achievements, co-curricular accomplishments, many talents, and hard work have brought you to Wesleyan. I invite you now to continue on this trajectory and to engage with the myriad learning opportunities that Wesleyan offers both inside and outside the classroom. Get ready for an amazing four years!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Wood
Dean for the Class of 2023
860.685.2758
https://classof2023.blogs.wesleyan.edu/