The first Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholars enrolled at Wesleyan in September of 1995. The Freeman Foundation, creator of the Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholarship Program, was established in 1994 through the bequest of Mansfield Freeman, a businessman, benefactor, scholar and longtime resident in Asia who was a member of the Wesleyan University Class of 1916. Mr. Freeman was an insurance executive and one of the original founders of the American International Group, Inc. (AIG). Most affiliates in Asia are part of Chartis Insurance. The New York-based Freeman Foundation, which established the Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholarship Program in memory of Mansfield Freeman, is administered primarily by the Freeman family; its charitable efforts are directed mainly toward bettering relationships and understanding between the United States and the countries of East Asia. This program’s goal is for Freeman Asian Scholars to become leaders in their home countries.

Each Freeman Scholar will receive a scholarship to cover the full cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, room and board, supplies, and travel, totaling over $80,000 in funding. Students applying from one of the countries included in the program with demonstrated financial need will be automatically considered. To be eligible, students must apply for financial aid and have demonstrated need. This is the only financial aid available to students applying from these countries.

Applicants must have completed their secondary schooling* and must be citizens or permanent residents of one of these eleven countries or regions: People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand or Vietnam.

• Individuals with dual U.S. citizenship or who are permanent U.S. residents are not eligible for this program.  Wesleyan meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students, domestic and international.
• Students who must fulfill a military service requirement after secondary school completion should apply in the year they are able to enroll.
• Only students applying for need-based financial aid and have demonstrated need will be considered.

*Students following the British O- and A-level system typically will be enrolled in their second year of the A-level program at the time of application. We cannot consider students from Malaysia on the basis of forecast SPM results; students there should be enrolled in the second year of the STPM at the time of application. Students already enrolled in university are not eligible for a Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholarship. In South Korea, a student may accept a place in a Korean university in February of the entering year, pending our scholarship decision.

Admission to Wesleyan and the selection process for Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholars is extremely competitive. We will award approximately 11 admission and scholarship offers to students from the countries listed above. Selection criteria include academic achievement; intellectual curiosity; a high level of discipline and commitment; strong personal qualities; extracurricular involvement, especially community service; and English language ability.

Successful Scholars will be notified on the Regular Decision release date. Wesleyan will provide the necessary forms for obtaining an F-1 student visa to the United States.

Finalists may be asked to participate in a virtual interview conducted by an alumni of the Freeman Asian Scholars Program.

International applicants are also encouraged to interview with InitialView, a third-party service that conducts interviews via an online video platform. You will be able to share the interview with multiple colleges of your choice. The conversation will be recorded and sent to the Wesleyan Office of Admission for review. InitialView does not rate or grade the interview. The deadline for completing the interview is the application submission deadline date for ED1, ED2, and Regular decision rounds. Please note that the InitialView interview is not Wesleyan-specific and the interviewer will not be able to answer Wesleyan-specific questions

Schedule an InitialView interview.

Results of the SAT or ACT are NOT required. We encourage students to decide for themselves whether they believe their standardized test scores will represent them well in the process. We also understand that there has been limited testing availability due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please be assured that students will not be penalized in any way for deciding not to submit standardized testing for any reason. Please note that, for applicants considered for the Freeman Scholarship, all testing you wish to be considered in your application must be received by the January 1 Regular Decision deadline.

We highly recommend that applicants living outside the US for whom English is NOT their first language demonstrate proficiency with one or more of the following:

Please note that if you submit your SAT or ACT as proof of English proficiency, you must submit all sections of the SAT or ACT, not just the critical reading section or ELA/Reading and English sections. If you plan to use this option, you must select “SAT” or "ACT" as your test to be considered on the Common Application when applying to Wesleyan.

Because we provide a number of options for English proficiency testing, we will continue to highly recommend that students living outside the US for whom English is not their first language to submit testing as proof of English proficiency. Please contact us at intladmission@wesleyan.edu if you have a concern about demonstrating English proficiency.  Because testing is not required, we do not provide waivers for English proficiency testing.

We encourage students to contact the local EducationUSA office near them for information about registering and taking standardized entrance examinations such as the SAT, ACT, and TOEFL, as well as for additional assistance applying. See the complete list of the EduacationUSA office locations.

Interested students must submit the Common or Scoir Application, that includes background information, essay, a secondary (high) school/junior college transcript, recommendations from two teachers and one counselor, and results (or predictions if available) of any standardized national examinations administered during the secondary school/junior college years.  If you have graduated from or will graduate from a high school outside of the United States and English is not your first language, you will be required to answer an additional essay question.

To be considered for the Freeman Scholarship, you must submit:

• Common Application or Scoir Application including all required materials.
• Financial Aid application via the CSS Profile

If you are unable to submit the CSS Profile or Noncustodial Parent Profile due to financial concerns or if the Profile is not available to you in your country, please complete the International Student Financial Aid Application (ISFAA). Noncustodial parents should complete a separate ISFAA for their own household. Please email the completed ISFAA form(s) to our Financial Aid Office at finaid@wesleyan.edu. 

Students applying for the Freeman Asian Scholarship (applicants applying for financial aid who are citizens or permanent residents of China, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, or Singapore) should NOT apply in Early Decision as applicants for the scholarship will only be considered in the Regular Decision round.