WISR admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the Institute. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, or sex or disability in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, or any program that it administers. In addition, WISR seeks actively to build a multiracial, multicultural learning and teaching community, in which the central values are built on the worth and distinctiveness of each person's background, going beyond our differences to celebrate qualities and needs that we all share as humans. WISR actively encourages interested members of ethnic and racial minority groups, women, and other underserved persons to discover whether its programs and methods fit their special, personal and community interests and goals.

For undergraduate admission, a high school diploma or GED certificate is required. For admission to a Master of Arts program, a Bachelor's degree is required, and for admission to study for the Ph.D., each student must have a Master's degree.

All admissions to study at WISR are made on the basis of intensive conversations with applicants about their goals, interests, and backgrounds, and applicants are told about the kinds of learning and action that are involved in studying with us. Initial discussions may be informal. Thereafter, each serious applicant is asked to file a formal application for admission, with transcripts of all previous college-level study, and two letters of recommendation. The application for admission must include a written statement describing the scope and significance of the applicant's study and future objectives, assessing how well these fit with study at WISR, and discussing the applicant's commitments to professional and community work.

WISR is interested in working with students who find a common bond with the Institute's stated philosophy and goals. We are also interested in students who have given some thought to their educational goals and have an initial clarity about them, although we recognize that goals frequently change as a student's course of study progresses. WISR also seeks students who want a flexible program, tailored to their individual needs, but who also want discipline and rigor in their studies. These and other issues are discussed frankly and openly with each serious applicant, and students' intelligent self-selection to study at WISR is very deliberately emphasized. Many tentatively interested inquirers are discouraged from formally applying if their specific interests, personal maturity, or resources of time and money do not promise success in study here. We help many potential applicants to find other ways of pursuing their studies in the Bay Area.

Each applicant must discuss her or his background and objectives with a core faculty member. Interested persons are routinely encouraged to visit WISR seminars and to talk with other faculty, students, and Board members of WISR, to gain several perspectives on study at WISR and a sense of the learning community that they may be joining.

In practice, an informed self-selection process typically takes place. From such discussions, most prospective enrollees are able to judge the kinds of student autonomy and commitment that study at WISR requires. Most applicants who do not have the necessary qualifications screen themselves out voluntarily. Where special questions arise about the appropriateness of a student's application for admission (or readmission after withdrawal), the President asks a subcommittee of WISR's Board of Trustees to discuss these issues and advise him. Final decisions on individual admission are made by the President, but any rejected applicant will be notified in writing that admission decisions may be appealed directly to the Board.

WISR's fiscal year begins on July 1. Programs continue year-round, although seminar activity is usually less in the summer. Students may apply, be admitted, and begin study in any month of the year, and may complete their programs in any month.

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Want to learn more about the nuances of learning at WISR? Prospective students wishing to learn more about WISR may wish to ask to borrow a copy of the article, written by long-time WISR faculty members, John Bilorusky and Cynthia Lawrence, about WISR and its distinctive approach to learning and action-inquiry: "Multicultural, Community-Based Knowledge-Building: Lessons from a Tiny Institution Where Students and Faculty Sometimes Find Magic in the Challenge and Support of Collaborative Inquiry." In Community and the World: Participating in Social Change, Torry D. Dickinson (ed.), Nova Science Publishers, 2003.