Chances for RD

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

I’m a rising senior.

SAT I: 1570 (CR/W: 770 M: 800)
Taking Math and Physics subject tests in August. Been getting 800s on practice.
UW GPA: 4.15 (My school counts unweighted A+ as a 4.33)
W GPA: 4.60
I believe I’m currently first in my class, but my school doesn’t officially rank.
AP Scores:
Physics 1 - 5
Lang - 5
Calc BC - 5, 5 subscore
Comp Sci - 4
US History - 5
Took these five APs Junior year and will take Chem, Bio, Lit, Stats, and Microeconomics next year
Awards/Achievements: >Won school’s science, history, English, and Spanish awards (one selected for each grade)


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Probably qualified for National Merit Program (1510 PSAT)
New Jersey Governor’s School of the Sciences nominee
Several 4-H Herpetology awards–Herdsmanship, Teen Leadership, Best Record Book. I’ve also won a lot of awards for my snakes at small animal shows and fairs, although I honestly don’t know if that’s technically their achievement or mine, lol.
National Honor Society
Spanish National Honor Society
National Hispanic Recognition Program

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Subjective:

Extracurriculars: >NJ Science League


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FRC Robotics Team, community service coordinator and build team
Marching Band, saxophone section leader
Jazz Band
4-H Herpetology club. Teen leader and treasurer.
Student government homeroom rep
Working on a blog about largemouth bass fishing
Volunteering:
Teen volunteer for library’s summer reading program
Summer band camp for elementary school students
Tutoring for NHS and Spanish NHS
Various volunteer activities provided by 4-H, including volunteering at the summer county fair
I couldn’t tell you how many hours I have off the top of my head, but this year alone adds up a bit over 100.

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Summer Activities: Volunteering, robotics training, and marching band preseason. I also spend a lot of time pursuing individual interests like fishing and reptile ownership. Spent a lot of last summer looking after a family member with dementia.

Other:

State of Residence: New Jersey
Ethnicity: Multiracial–Black (Antiguan), White, and Hispanic (Guatemalan)
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Bio (possibly pre-med)
Income: 70k(?)

Thanks for the help in advance. If you could spare some advice, it would be appreciated.

2

Probably in-good grades/test scores, decent ECs, and URM. If WashU is your first choice, then you should start showing interest now. I would imagine that they would fly you out all expenses
will be paid for.

Since WashU has no supplemental essays, be sure to do all the scholarship applications. You are in good position to be nominated as a Danforth Scholar, which is done by the school.

Given your grades, Ivies are certainly viable as well. Be careful as to which school you use your ED for since some of the Ivies are REA.

3

@Hamurtle is spot on.

Wash U. does take interest into account so it’s important to communicate with them early and often. You can look up your local rep here and/or contact admissions directly:

https://admissions.wustl.edu/apply_site/Pages/Admissions-Officers.aspx

A diversity fly-in program would be the best way to go if you can arrange it. To schedule alumni interviews for RD applications, you’ll need to submit your Common App early (sometime in December). They do offer fly-in programs for URMs, but it seems the deadline just passed. I’d contact them though, as they may take a late application for the Wash U. Preview diversity fly-in program.

https://admissions.wustl.edu/WashUPreview

There are a number of other fly-in programs for other schools, including Pomona, Williams, Amherst. My D attended Rice’s SOAR last year. Here’s a list of schools offering them.

http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/blog/college-fly-in-diversity-programs/

As for Wash U. scholarships, in addition to the Danforth, you should apply to as many as you feel that you may be qualified for. There are division-wide and departmental honorary scholars programs (Mylonas for humanities; Lien for Social Sciences: Moog and Compton in the sciences. There’s a separate scholars program in Medicine, I believe). Other scholarships are school-wide and are given for academics, leadership, diversity, etc. (e.g., Annika Rodriguez, Ervin, Danforth). If you end up being a finalist for one or more scholarships, they will fly you in for a few days in late March. Here’s a list of all of the division and school-wide scholarships:

https://admissions.wustl.edu/financial-aid/first-year-student-academic-scholarships

Wash U. is a great school, and they have a wonderful pre-med program, but you definitely need to show them the love (and they will hopefully love you back!).

And, yes, with your stats and URM status, you might be competitive for the ivies, Chicago, Stanford, etc.