Wellesley’s on-campus resources are committed to making all students, faculty, and staff feel they belong within Wellesley’s residential and scholarly community.
WellesleyPlus
WellesleyPlus invites first years who are first gen students to participate in a learning community that includes curricular and co-curricular components. Students are introduced and encouraged to pursue opportunities and resources unfamiliar to them as a first gen student. Ongoing conversations are dedicated to mastering academe's "hidden curriculum."
WISE Program
Economics 251: Wellesley Initiative for Scholars of Economics (WISE) is an invitation-only course designed to deepen students' engagement with scholarship in Economics. Students must be concurrently enrolled in one of the core introductory or intermediate courses to be eligible for WISE. The course is a mandatory credit/non course that will provide 0.5 units of credit towards a Wellesley degree. Students may take the course twice during their time at Wellesley for credit. The primary objective of the course is to provide students the opportunity to engage with current research in Economics at an early stage of their major. In addition, students have opportunities to connect the tools they are learning in their courses to real world issues, to learn about the range of research interests of faculty in the Economics department, and to form strong peer groups that can support one another as they move through the Economics major. If you have questions about the program, please contact Casey Rothschild, Akila Weerapana or Kristin Butcher.
Career Education
Navigating college resources can be complex, especially if it’s new for you and your family. Career Education is dedicated to supporting our students who are first in their family to attend college in the United States. Below you will find resources that illuminate pathways to success, as well as some financial, community building, and career opportunities geared toward first generation college students. View link for Career Resources for first-gen students.
Wellesley College First Generation Network
The Wellesley College First Generation Network was founded in 2012 by Karen Shih and Don Leach. The goals of the First Generation Network are:
- To connect First Gen Students to one another, faculty and staff (and by so doing build a network of peer resources, mentors and mentees);
- To extend the network into First Gen Wellesley Alumni (and to seek their assistance in addressing the concerns of employment and further education after Wellesley);
- To connect First Gen Student experiences to the diversity/inclusion goals of the college and division (issues of class, ethnicity, gender, and citizenship not only intersect with but also provide integrative focus for the curricular and co-curricular aspects of a Wellesley College education).
Student Aid Society
Nearly two-thirds of all Wellesley students receive some form of help from WSAS in the form of tuition grants and loans, emergency funds for students facing unforeseen difficulties, textbook support for all students on financial aid, and short-term, no-interest loans. Through the generous contributions of alumnae and friends, we are able to distribute more than $1 million each year to support students from all walks of life.