Welcome Class of 2014: in conversation with Jennifer Desjarlais

Whenever a new sibling joins the family, they inspire a sense of curiosity. I know I stood over my three little sisters at some point, scratching my head and wondering: Who is this person? What is their purpose in life? Are they going to take my toys?

Asking the same questions, I interviewed Jennifer Desjarlais, Wellesley's Dean of Admission, about the newest additions to the Wellesley family.

The Class of 2014 has entered Wellesley with a bang, storming classes and clubs and co-ed parties. Wanting specifics (and revenge for all the times I was forced to answer this question on my college applications), I asked the dean what three adjectives she would use to describe the new students. "Really energetic," she said, "also eclectic, they have a lot of different interests." In this energetic and eclectic class are included "an improvisational jazz singer, elephant trainer, a horticulturist who worked with African violets, an off-Broadway actress."

What do these students do with their eclectic interests and boundless energy? Desjarlais believes that they are defined by their social consciousness. She explained, "Students have many more opportunities to get involved, not just social service kind of work in far-flung places, but even in their own communities…students are really interested in issues of social justice and community service. That just keeps increasing at Wellesley, I think, and I think students are drawn to that."

Dean Desjarlais paused "I can't make that begin with an E."

I was curious about how much the class of 2014 knew about Wellesley alumnae. Did others, like I had the year before, reference Nora Ephron in their applications? "Nora Ephron is not referenced as often as Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton at the moment," said the dean. "Most often, those responses will reference an alumna that students have known in their lives from a closer perspective."

The Class of 2014, in fact, is most attracted to the Wellesley community when they already know a member. "It's really remarkable how often students will mention having met a Wellesley student alumna," said Desjarlais. "What they really track on… is the kind of quality of the person, that these are women who they admire, who are doing meaningful things in their community, again not always high-profile things, but who have, I think, an integrity of experience around them that resonates."

If the new first-years have met alumnae in their hometowns, they have met them in a variety of places. The class of 2014 has citizens from 48 different countries, representatives from 44 states and from the District of Columbia. According to the Class of 2014 Admission Report, 43% of the class is African-American, Latina, Asian, Native American, biracial or multiracial. 13% of students are the first in their family to attend college. The world region that sends the most students is Asia, said Desjarlais. In addition, "we have a student who came from Iraq… some more students from Latin and South America, from Venezuela and Mexico, from Colombia, Brazil." The world continues to come to Wellesley, both creating a different community on campus and enabling students to make a different kind of difference in the world.

Despite the variety of countries and states represented, the Class of 2014 shares a few things. First, they want to be at Wellesley. "Everyone is bringing a very particular experience and perspective, and yet there are I think a lot of commonalities as far as the kind of aspirations that students have, in wanting to be at a place like Wellesley where they can explore who they are, who they may become, to take advantage of academic opportunities. [At Wellesley there are] classes that most of us never even had the chance to think about in high school," said Desjarlais. One of the other characteristics shared by the class of 2014 is a connectedness via the internet and social media. The dean has seen a shift in the way students connect.

"Through the Wellesley portal, MyWellesley as an example, students are actually able to ask a lot of questions about transition. They can connect with roommates via Facebook, they are able to connect a lot more to the community in a way that students ten years ago or seven years ago didn't have a chance to do," she said.

Facebook, of course, plays a major role. The dean said that her staff sent out the early decision notifications last December, and within 24 hours there was a Class of 2014 Facebook page online. "This group of students know that they're coming to Wellesley in December, and there's an excitement that's generated there; that's different," Desjarlais said.

This virtually connected community is also larger than in the past. Forty more students enrolled than expected, despite the fact that fewer students were admitted this year. "Tracking on previous trends, [the class of 2014] was not expected to have such a high yield, actually the yield for this class was about 4 percentage points higher than it had been, in recent years, it had been really steady for a long time," Desjarlais said.

There was no rise in one particular demographic or geographical area. While the admissions staff has been trying to understand the increased enrollment, Dean Desjarlais has one theory. "I'd like to attribute it to Wellesley being the hot college… This is a hard place to say no to, when you've had a chance to be here. Clearly this year it was harder for more students to say no, so we were glad more students said yes!"

In sum, the Class of 2014 is incredibly talented, comes from wildly different backgrounds and is ecstatic to be here. It seems that they are not here to steal my toys. "I would say to the upperclasswomen that there's no need to be intimidated by this group, you can stand on your own merits," said Desjarlais. Instead, upperclasswomen should reach out to their younger classmates. "One of the messages that I wish students would get early on from some of the students is that it is okay for you to make a mistake. You really don't have to know everything, this place takes a while to figure out and we all take a while to figure out. Students are trying to figure themselves out," she said.