<ol>
<li><p>There was a recent study suggesting that the SAT writing score had a higher correlation with freshman GPA than the math or reading component.
However, none of the correlations were very high. Nonetheless I don’t think colleges give it any special weight relative to other standardized test scores.</p></li>
<li><p>First generation college student is a small plus. Not just at Wash U but at many schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t know.</p></li>
<li><p>inthemistylight’s and jcool155’s reply pretty much nailed it. The only thing that I would add is that Wash U admits you ED I am confident they will meet their assessment of your financial need. Their assessment may be different than your own, but Wash U has resources and it seems unlikely to me that you will have an insuperable problem. The applicants that have problems are marginal RD or waitlist adimits with high financial need.</p></li>
<li><p>Athletes are recruited, but not in the sense you are thinking of. Coaches seek out talented athletes who they think can get admitted. If you can’t get admitted pretty much on your own academic credentials it doesn’t matter how good you are. Coaches might have the ability to get 1 marginal candidate over the hump per year, but even that’s a maybe.
At my local high school we had two players going on to play college basketball. The better player is going to a DIII school and and the other is playing at low level DI. Top DIII teams are often better than low DI teams in sports other than football and basketball.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t know</p></li>
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