<p>Hey guys.
So I <em>love</em> Wash U. However, my gpa is pretty terrible: (3.44 UW, 4.15 W). I'm South Asian so that doesn't help either. I want to apply for Business or Environmental Studies. Is Business hard to get accepted to, since I know the Olin School is terrific. Anyhoo,</p>
<p>[Academics]
-GPA: 3.44 UW, 4.15 W (frosh was the best yr, but junior was significantly better than my crappy sophomore year)
-SAT: 2170 (first time taking it) -- 790 M, 680 R, 700 W (11)
-ACT: Taking it in September
-No ranking in my school
-IB Scores: Chem SL-4, Math SL-5
-Subject Tests: Math 2: 740 (submitting), World History: 700 (submitting), Chemistry: 680 (not submitting)
-IB Diploma program</p>
<p>[Extracurriculars]
-President of Speech/Debate Team
-Invited to the Tournament ofChampions (TOC) at Northwestern University
-Placed in the top fifteen in the state of Pennsylvania in my event.
-Accepted at/attended the prestigious George Mason Institute in Forensics (GMIF)
-Varsity Ultimate Frisbee all through, Junior Varsity Cross Country for first 2 years
-Founded a federally-recognized community service organization which sends wheelchairs from the United States to poorer parts of the world like Haiti and Guatemala
-Independent science research, won 1st place in the State freshman year and won research money from two different organizations (once soph, once junior)
-Was selected to design a research module for NASA (the BHALF program)
-Competed in the NASA SPHERES programming competition
-11th in the nation in the WorldQuest geography competition
-VicePresident of my school's Stock Market Club
-School American Math Competition (AMC) champion
-Had a short story published in a circulating anthology as part of a competitive creative writing competition
-Opinions Editor (Op/Ed Editor) of my school newspaper, wrote for it the last two years
-Taught an SAT Preparatory class for middle schoolers
-Owns a tutoring company</p>
<p>**I know that Wash U loses a lot of RD applicants to schools like Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Caltech so I was wondering if that would improve my chances. Also, I'm applying for FinAid!!!</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys, I know that my chances are probably pretty slim, I was just going for a long shot.</p>
<p>If you <em>LOVE</em> WashU that much, I would suggest applying ED unless how much FinAid you get is a very large determining factor. I’ve heard they give pretty nice FA most of the time, but I’ve heard of some pretty crappy offers as well, so it’s up to you. </p>
<p>By the way, after decisions were in, Tufts and WashU were my top 2 also, but I chose WashU :).</p>
<p>Is there any chance that you can provide some explanation for your sophomore year grades (illness, loss of family member, etc.)? That can help compensate for your GPA.</p>
<p>Also, not to hijack this thread or anything, but does applying ED to WashU significantly increase your chances of admission? Specifically for an applicant that lacks a hook?</p>
<p>Um I couldn’t honestly say that there were any explanations for my 3.2 sophomore year except for the fact that I didn’t work hard enough…but I definitely improved junior year. Financial aid is not a huge huge deal since my family is well off but we’ll have three kids in college (including me) when I go.</p>
<p>@nina, I think WashU suffers from “Tufts Syndrome” (after 30% of their class is composed of early decision applicants) so it would be reasonable that they would have an acceptance rate modestly higher than their normal 22% acceptance rate for early decision applicants (my guess would be in the ballpark of 30%-40% acceptance rate). Then again, it’s probably a more self-selecting group of applicants with many legacies and athletes so that would make the acceptance rate deceptively high. I don’t think a hook is necessarily everything unless your applying to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, or Wharton. Probably Columbia too now. But I reckon that WashU, as good of a school as it is, would be perfectly happy with a well-rounded student too.</p>
<p>ALSO: is the Olin School of Business harder to gain admission to than the College of Arts and Sciences?</p>
<p>Your extra-curricular activities are very good but your academics are weaker and I think that will be a turn-off. You’re clearly intelligent, but your SAT scores show you’re not the most well-rounded student (math is much higher than reading or writing). You’ve also shown inconsistency, considering you did well on the math SAT I but comparatively worse on the math SAT II (which is MUCH easier). A good GPA your freshman year will not really matter, since that’s the least important year of high school and it’s a thing in the past at this point. Your poor sophomore year will certainly hurt you.</p>
<p>Wash U is holistic in admissions, but even with that, its hard to justify a low GPA. Look at admissions from previous years. Its somewhat self-selected just by the type of person who posts on college confidential, but it will also give you a better idea of how you stack up against other people who did and didn’t get in. Also, the term “Tufts Syndrome” irks me.</p>
<p>Rumor has it that Olin is harder to get into than the other schools at Wash U, if only by a small amount (look at their incoming test scores as compared with other bschools). I got into Olin early decision with stats similar to yours, except slightly higher test scores and a 3.85 GPA. Class selection is big too, what math track are you in?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by track but I did AP Calc AB junior year and I’m doing AP Stats this year. Too bad I got a C first semester of AP Calc despite the rest of my classes being pretty good, though my calc teacher said that I was really good at Calc I just didn’t do my best the first semester and he volunteered to write my rec. But a 3.85 is a big difference from a 3.44, so I guess that I shouldn’t apply to Olin.</p>
<p>A couple C’s won’t kill you. I think I got two C+'s (both freshmen year, one in honors pre calc and one in honors english). The thing that matters is a strong upward trend and taking the hardest classes available.</p>
<p>Your sophomore year might pose a problem, but you haven’t posted your exact grades so no one can answer.</p>
<p>Well, since it is so easy to switch, and there does happen to be a slight difference in the admission process depending on the school (there is no justification for this), might as well apply to another school and switch later. There is no risk involved. By the way, the easiest time to switch is before your freshman year starts. You just have to basically E-mail or phone them.</p>