<p>Wow, this is a quiet site. Who got in? Won a Johnson? My son got in, thrilled, but was never invited to compete for Johnson so, no financial aid for him:-( would love to hear from Johnson winners and your experience at the weekend. </p>
<p>Son was rejected but so disinterested in W & L he had forgot to even check last week, which serves him right. Interestingly he was accepted to more competitive schools, which makes the whole thing odd. I am not so sure they are need blind when it comes to admissions and I say this for most colleges and universities. Of course, at W&L they would never fib about that, what with the honor code and all. By the way, Robert E. Lee was a traitor to the United States of America and one could die of boredom in Lexington unless you are an alcoholic KA with a trust fund.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wow. That strikes me as bitter. I could be wrong, and if so then I apologize. Not sure I’d want my children applying where so disinterested. Not sure I’d want rejections to serve them right. RE Lee is history, literally. Many fine citizens of Lexington would be offended by the “die of boredom” portrayal. </p>
<p>Anyway, I did want to say that I don’t believe W&L ever claims to be need blind. Therefore, nothing to fib about. From their alumni admissions handbook:</p>
<p>“While the university is not “need-blind” in evaluating for admission, all students offered admission are guaranteed to have 100% of their institutionally defined financial aid met with grants and a small work study component.”</p>
<p>If I’m wrong about the need blind claim then I will return to edit this.</p>
<p>@perch1024, congratulations on your son’s admission! Sorry this forum is so quiet. I think W&L is a special place and I know others feel that way too. </p>
<p>perch, congratulations! I did not respond because our son is not a Johnson Scholar. But he is very happy to be heading to W&L this fall, and we are looking forward to another great four years in Lexington.</p>
<p>penningtonesq, good to hear your son has other great options. Another factor that could have played into W&L’s decision was his low level of interest in the school and town, given that demonstrated interest often carries heavy weight. Best wishes for a wonderful college experience with a better fit for your family. </p>
<p>penningtonesq, W&L is very clear about being need aware. I am sorry your son was not admitted but it seems like you both feel that it was for the best. As someone else stated W&L weighs very heavily on student interest so If he did not even attempt to interview that would possibly explain why they overlooked your son. </p>
<p>One thing I might add about financial aid at W&L is that for our child they had the best offer I have seen anywhere with zero summer work contributions and no loans or parent portion. It was only 2000 in work study and covered all expenses including health insurance and a generous travel allowance and half the cost of upgrading to a single dorm room books and personal expenses.</p>
<p>So far our experience with W&L has been nothing short of amazing. And it was our daughters number one choice since she returned from her overnight visit. </p>
<p>No worries folks. I will retract my need blind comment. Like I said, he applied but had no follow up interest outside the alumni interview, so it serves him right to feel a little sting. I had told him that based on his interests and other schools that applying to such a school was a waste of time. I am not a big W & L fan obviously, but that stems not from his rejection but by alumns I have met and the fact that I consider it to be a country club type school - which all of you know it is. I do believe that schools such as these offer a good education if the student doesn’t have to owe money (parents pay for it all). However, going into big time debt for a school like W & L is a horrible decision in this day and age - but if parents will pay it off for you then cool, put on those madras shorts and get to drinking!</p>
<p>Penningtonesq: I respectfully disagree with your assessment of value. And like many W&L families, we don’t wear madras, don’t belong to a country club, and are willing to save, sacrifice, and borrow for our children to attend. </p>
<p>So far, the return on our investment has been better than we expected. There is credible evidence to support our continued optimism in the value of a W&L education. Here is some worthwhile reading from an independent source:</p>
<p><a href=“10 Undergraduate Business Degrees That Are Worth the Money”>10 Undergraduate Business Degrees That Are Worth the Money; </p>
<p>While this may not change your perspective, perhaps it may inspire more respect in your rhetoric.</p>
<p>We were very clear in asking for financial aid and my son got some pretty good funds from them. The letter was very personalized in even saying when you sister graduates next year (they even used her name) that the financial aid portion will change and that we should call them to straighten this out with them. Sounds fair to me.</p>
<p>My S is interested in a career in health and I did read somewhere that W&L was quite the weed out school which is discouraging us at this point. Does anyone have anything to say about this? We would appreciate it.</p>
<p>This is a slight adjustment, with better data, to a prior post of mine re another question. We had a premed child there. Very rigorous program. Did beautifully but worked very hard. They do weed out during the first 2 years and if it does not happen then there is always Organic Chemistry as the final hurdle. Have to weed since nearly 1/4 of the class (120+) upon entrance has med school on their minds. With one or two exceptions, kids who make it through get into med school, about 20+ each year. They probably weed out at least 70%, probably more.</p>
<p>@general77 OUCH!</p>
<p>do you think it’s the same with dentistry? Probably, right?</p>
<p>Although grades do play into the “weeding out” phenomenon, so, too, does interest and the liberal arts experience. At W&L, like other top schools, many students (including our son) who are interested in med school find out that there are other courses/careers that they find more appealing, so they pursue those. That outcome can be just as successful as going to med school. </p>
<p>@esquette I couldn’t agree with you more and I would be perfectly ok with my son choosing another major, maybe even would prefer it. However, when I hear “weed out” I don’t think of students changing their mind because of interest - “weed out” makes me think that it is ridiculously tough to the point that the students can’t get good grades and are forced to choose another major because they know the grades are not going to get them in the health field.</p>
<p>Well, I guess I would want to know if calling WLU a pre-med “weed out” school is anything more than hearsay. Not that I disagree that it could be a weed out school, but I guess I’m just wondering about the basis for that claim. Measuring “pre med” stats in general I would imagine would be tough, given that many folks don’t actually formally declare pre med as the intention and may indeed have transcripts that look more in the end like arts than sciences. The required courses in general for med school are challenging, so I’d call it a “weed out” major regardless of where it is pursued. WLU isn’t a weed out school overall, and has one of the highest graduation rates, so at least those students opting not to pursue medical school can still expect to graduate with a degree from a highly respected institution.</p>
<p>W&L was extremely generous the financial aid and I’m not a Johnson recipient (they gave me enough in grant aid/work study to cover tuition, room and board). I am currently deciding between W&L and one other school but the financial aid I received is certainly a plus.</p>
<p>I’m a science student and will speak to the “weeding out.” There is definitely a “weed out” effort but I think it occurs more from individuals rather than the program as a whole. And mostly (like at most colleges) comes from the chemistry department. My freshman year I was planning on majoring in biology and going into a health profession (which did not include med school) and I got an A in my intro bio class as well as another bio elective. I wasn’t doing so great in gen chem (ended up with a C+ though, so it’s not like I was going to fail). I went to my professor for help in the class and he told me that not only should I reconsider a career in the health professions but that I should also change my major to something like history lol. I didn’t listen and have continued to do very well in my other science classes. But the program as a whole doesn’t have that whole committee thing some schools do where if they don’t think they student is good enough they will refuse to write them a med school rec. </p>
<p>It’s definitely a hard program but if you put in the effort and genuinely know what you want to do you won’t be prohibited from continuing.</p>