College of Social Studies

Interested students apply for admission to CSS during the spring of their first year. Each applicant is interviewed by a team consisting of a CSS tutor and two current CSS students. All CSS majors must complete the economics prerequisite by taking either ECON101 or ECON110 (for which a full-year of college-level calculus is required) and achieving a grade of at least C- before taking the sophomore tutorial in Economics. Students are advised to have completed this required course before entering the College to promote flexibility in scheduling the tutorials over the academic year. However, some students who have not completed the Economics prerequisite are admitted each year on the understanding that they will complete the requirement in the fall semester of the sophomore year. A student who has taken an introductory Economics course in the first year but has not achieved a grade of C- or higher must take another Economics course, which will normally be a 200-level elective, and achieve a C- or better. A score of 4 or 5 on the AP exams in BOTH Microeconomics and Macroeconomics or a score of 5 or higher on the IB exam in Economics is sufficient to satisfy the Economics requirement for the CSS. Failure to complete the Economics requirement by the end of the fall semester in the sophomore year will result in separation from the college.

Both Regular Decision applications and Early Decision applications include the following:

First-Year Application & Personal Essay

Completed Common Application or Apply Coalition, Powered by Scoir, including Wesleyan’s member-specific questions.

Secondary School Report Form & Transcript

Your school counselor should submit a secondary school report along with an official transcript (including courses in progress) and school profile.

Homeschool Supplement (if applicable: only available on Common Application site)

Wesleyan encourages applicants to request that school forms be filed electronically via the Common Application website.

Counselor Recommendation

Your school counselor should submit a written evaluation.

Mid-year Grade Report

Your school counselor should submit your midyear grades when available (end of first semester or second trimester).

Teacher Evaluation Forms

Two academic teacher evaluations are required. You are encouraged to submit one from a humanities or social sciences teacher and one from a math or science teacher.

Wesleyan encourages applicants to request that teacher evaluations be filed electronically via the Common Application website.

Early Decision Agreement

The Early Decision Agreement form is available for download, but it is also provided as part of the Common Application.

(Early Decision applicants ONLY)

Application Fee

$65 Application Fee (non-refundable) or Fee Waiver. We will waive the application fee for all applicants who apply for financial aid. Receiving this fee waiver will not disadvantage an applicant in any way.

Track Your Application Materials

After you have submitted your application you will receive an email with a PIN which will enable you to access WesCheck, your applicant portal, to track your application materials.