Any chance?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>WUSTL is making a late entry to DD13's college consideration list. We can plan a visit for Sept. 17, but first wondering if she has any chance before spending time & money to make the visit. Here are her stats:</p>

<p>Chicago-area non-minority female
ACT without writing 4/2012: 33 composite, 35 Eng, 35 math, 33 reading, 29 sci
ACT with writing 12/2011: 30 composite, 10 writing, 32 Eng, 29 math, 29 reading, 30 sci
Does not plan to retake ACT or take SAT
GPA: 3.95 UW, 4.53 W (school weights +1 for honors or AP)
Class rank: school doesn't rank
No AP's completed yet, enrolled in 3 - BC Calc, Psych & Spanish Language
All honors classes except for regular English all 4 years and regular Bio & history freshman year. I know regular English doesn't look great...
Intended major: Olin Business School - Organization & Human Resources
ECs: Mostly service-oriented. Tutor inner-city kids once a week - 4 years with co-chair position 2 years, tutor in HS learning center - 2 years, Avon Walk for Breast Cancer crew - 1 year, Interact Club (service club with various projects like beach cleanup, blood drive, etc.) - 2 years, hip hop dance club - 2 years (frosh & soph), Spanish honors society (plans cultural events) - 2 years, NHS. Nothing outstanding - no athletics, art/music/theater, etc.
Employment: She will have some sort of business internship this year through HS, not sure of details yet. PT program assistant / swim instructor with park district special education program during the school year, FT camp counselor over the summer.
Essay: ??? She's waiting until they cover "The College Essay" in English class, so who knows. She doesn't have strong topics in mind yet.</p>

<p>Does she have a chance? Should we visit?</p>

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<p>She certainly has a chance with her numbers, even if her ECs are not the most spectacular I’ve seen. I’d certainly recommend visiting, as it could only help an already competitive application.</p>

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<p>I thought I would try to answer your question with my DS’ story. He applied to 11 colleges and WashU was almost not one of them. He was very competitive, with good stats but his UW GPA was “only” a 3.67 when he applied. Although this put him in the top 2% of his class, with 12 AP’s and a 33 ACT, the Valedictorian and Salutatorian from his school last year were both waitlisted at WashU so he didn’t think he had a shot…He is currently a freshman at WashU.</p>

<p>Your daughter has very good stats. WashU superscores the ACT which will also help. Plus, her EC’s demonstrate that she is a good kid, which I think also goes far at this particular school. Bottom line, she should definitely apply. In fact, having gone through the unpredictable world of college admissions I now tell people to apply to all schools (particularly reachy schools) they are seriously interested in because you just never know.</p>

<p>I did learn a valuable lesson about college visits though…we visited a ton of schools with my son, we bought the shirts and he fell in love “on site” many times. He is a pretty easy going and easilly convinced kid :slight_smile: However, he wound up not applying to 5 of the schools we visited and didn’t get into a couple of others (one he visited twice). With my DD (Sophomore), I have vowed to only visit schools that she would apply ED to, or those that we are near while traveling. Otherwise, she can demonstrate interest by attending local info sessions and interviews. It really is a complete waste of time and money to have your child visit schools they ultimately have no interest in or worse get their heart set on and then aren’t accepted to. Although, I will take her to see every school she is accepted into (if she wants). Also, WashU actually flies its accepted students to campus to visit after they are accepted (that was the first time my son stepped on the campus).</p>

<p>I hope this helps and good luck to your DD. She sounds like a great kid.</p>

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<p>Thanks to both of you for the great advice!</p>

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<p>She has a decent chance, but is she applying ed?</p>

<p>Sent from my HTC PH39100 using CC</p>

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<p>No ED. WUSTL is a stretch school both admissions-wise and financially, so cannot make the ED commitment.</p>