Admission/Tuition Question

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
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Hey guys, so I’m looking into going to WashU (I’d be enrolling in the Fall of 2017, don’t worry… not just starting to look into college for '16 Fall now)

Basically here’s what I am working with…
I am currently a junior in a pretty decent ranked public high school in Missouri. White, male.
Second semester of my sophomore year, right around Spring Break, something tragic occurs, my dad gets admitted into a hospital for what was originally thought of as a stroke but was instead a sudden reappearance of melanoma which he had been diagnosed with a few years back (this time it was Stage 4, and it was bad). Unfortunately, he didn’t make it through, as there was no way to treat him. I missed a lot of school. I got back to school, and I truly didn’t really care. I didn’t want to make up tests, do homework, anything, really. I was more concerned with other things in my life, prioritizing my mom, and then helping with my father’s business, a pool company, by doing just about anything except for the labor. This includes getting the permits for every pool being built, which started with me doing the annotated sketches for them, handling finances, invoicing, all the good stuff that comes with a business. Believe it or not, we ended the year pretty well, especially for a 17 year old running it. Not too long after, my uncle, my father’s closest brother, passed from the same thing, rapidly metastasizing melanoma. All of this being said, my GPA took quite a plummet in my sophomore year, second semester. My second semester sophomore year GPA was a 3.5W and an 3.14UW. This brought down my cumulative GPA to 3.819W and 3.62UW. Thankfully, I’ve been able to recover partially from this, as my GPA is going back up. Very positive trend, this year, straight A’s both semesters, in classes like AP Biology, AP Chemistry, Pre-Calculus, Digital Electronics (3rd year PLTW engineering course), etc.

I plan on majoring in Biomedical Engineering and/or Biochemistry/Molecular Biology. I haven’t really fully decided on exactly what I want to major in, I want to end up doing research though, specifically on melanoma, I feel like that is a pretty good thing that shows a bit of dedication.

First generation college student, neither of my parents made it past a high school diploma.
GPA (as of first semester): 3.9514W, 3.6944UW. GPA after second semester should be ~4.07W, ~3.75UW
AP Classes: AP World (Sophomore year), AP Biology, Chemistry (currently enrolled, expecting to get a 4/5), and senior year I will be taking AP Physics, AP Calculus (AB/BC), AP Statistics, AP Microeconomics/Macroeconomics. Along with this I will be taking the PLTW course BI, or Biomedical Innovations, and the final of the PLTW Engineering courses (taken IED, POE and scored 8 of 9, which is advanced, on both exams, currently enrolled in DE, and will be taking EDD next year).
ACT: 34C, 33E, 34M, 34R, 34S. I got like a 23 on writing in my sophomore year or something like that, we just took it at my school on the 19th so we’ll see how much that changes… not really happy about it but whatever.
New SAT (definitely didn’t do as well as planned… I’ll be studying before I take it again if I do): 1370 Total, 690M, 680R/W. 17/24 on writing.
PSAT: 1440/1520, NMSCI: 215, so I think I have a shot at being National Merit Semifinalist.
Taking SAT II Subjects Tests in Biology M, Chemistry, and Math Level II, shooting for like 730+ on those.

ECs:

  • Baseball (9-10)
  • Science National Honor Society(this year, and I plan on doing next year),
  • Part of a team that participated in the first WUCT Chemistry Tournament.
  • Also recently which is pretty big news, I got a research internship at WashU over the summer. It will be with a new researcher there, Dr. Guilak, his list of credentials is a mile and a half long, I’ll leave that up to you if you want more info about him, it’s osteoarthritis research. I’ve had a job for about a year and 8 months now, but I’ll probably be leaving it to focus on the internship at WashU. I do plan on returning in the future (next summer, or whenever I can) depending on how the summer goes.

This being said, how do my chances for admission at WashU seem? I feel like the internship is going to be a big push factor. I’ve heard rumors that if you are part of internships at WashU, you’re pretty much guaranteed a spot in school, especially keeping in consideration that my expected major will be in something that leads me to research… and the professor I’m working with over the summer is a professor in Biomedical Engineering and a few other fields.

Another thing I’ve heard is that you get a drastic tuition cut most of the time when you work with a professor and make it in? Is this true? This would be a very big pull factor towards WashU if tuition was brought down a bit, definitely would make it very desirable, as if it is not already.

Thanks so much for your time, I apologize for the massive post. If anyone has any questions or wants information to help assist me in my questions feel free to ask.

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Bump?

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Ok I’ll take a shot. I don’t really want to go through all the redundancies of getting your stats up (GPA/SAT/whatever else) because you already know that you need those things. That being said, I’m also not going to gauge your chances at admission because nobody really knows except the admissions team and-you guessed it-I’m not part of that team.

However, I’m going to impart you with some insight that I got while going through their application process and what sort of things I made sure to include in my application that (I believe) ultimately gave me admission into their undergrad B-school. My academic discrepancy-me being in B-school-should serve as my disclaimer since you want to go into BME or Biochemistry.

Alright so by now you’ve probably heard that WashU really likes it if you show demonstrated interest. So go to their admission events. I recommend you try to get to know whoever’s in charge of your region for admissions. I never found out who mine was until I was accepted, but if you can find out in a low-key fashion without coming off as desperate or overbearing and actually have good relations with whoever’s in charge of your area it will be a huge swing in your favor. The fact that you’re associated with WashU to your current extent bodes well. However, don’t take it for granted and show explicit and further interest. Do not go overboard though. Don’t be the person that emails admissions lazy questions that anybody can find on the website. It’s very easy to see through those sort of things. Be as specific about a certain program when you ask a question. The more knowledge you have about WashU the more it’ll show that you’ve taken time to prioritize and invest into the university.

Regarding your GPA drop-tell it as is. WashU is full of compassionate people-students and administration alike. I had a similar case of GPA drop due to extenuating circumstances and I explained it as thoroughly and eloquently as possible. As with all things-make sure to keep this in moderation. You want to come off as informative and explanatory NOT whiney and entitled. You don’t have to explicitly mention it in your CommonApp essay. I didn’t. There will be a space for writing anything more at the end of the CommonApp application. There’s a 500 word limit and that should be more than enough to convey those circumstances there.

Get good recommendation letters. No matter how awesome you look like on paper-WashU wants validation. I’d say their admissions process is one of the more personal ones I’ve read/heard/experienced. A good recommendation letter can save you. While a bad recommendation letter hardly breaks you-it can just be tedious and contribute to a negative bland feel to your application.

Finally have a niche. In what way can you contribute to the campus that no one else can? Sell yourself. Be true and you in your application, yes, but you also have to sell them the idea that YOU-not someone similar to you-but YOU belong on their campus. Also definitely apply ED if it’s your first choice.

Hope this helps!

P.S. I don’t think that tuition cut thing is real. It just doesn’t make sense. There’s no motive for WashU to do that.