<p>Alright. How much of a role do grades play in getting a Compton or Moog Scholarship at Wash U? Do they weigh them more heavily than test scores, extra-curricular activities, teacher reccomendations, essays, and major awards, and subjective factors (ethnicity, parental education, and family income)? I'm a Pakistani American and my dad's a doctor and mom has a master's but she does not work. Let's say I have perfect SAT/ACT/SAT II scores, 5's on AP Chem, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C, AP US History, AP World History, AP English Language, and AP Computer Science A, am enrolled in 6 AP classes my senior year and am taking Calculus III and Organic Chemistry from a community college, run cross country, am on the student newspaper staff, do speech and debate, am a lawyer in mock trial, play the piano, volunteer at my local science center, am vice president of a young democrats club and president of the math club, work at a tutoring center as a math tutor, and do some science research with a professor at a local community college, I've won state/regional awards in piano, speech and debate, mock trial, and math, and have attained very good teacher recommendations. A subjective weakness is that I went to a large public school in my freshman year, a small private school my sophomore and junior years when I moved out of state, and will go to a medium-sized public school for my senior year, with the first year being in Indiana and the next three being in Tennessee. My objective weaknesses are grades in my first 3 years in the B+ to A- range in all honors and 2 AP classes putting me in the top 25% of my 300 person class, summer activities limited to taking piano lessons, taking a few online courses, and volunteering at my religious center and my local science center, and that up till the time that I have to submit my application, my only awards/honors are having published an article in a small science journal and the state/regional awards I mentioned in speech and debate, mock trial, piano, and math. Knowing my mediocre grades, let's say I write one essay about being an agnostic Pakistani Democrat in Tennessee and write my other one about how I used laziness as a "drug" that I indulged myself into until I realized what it had done to me and self-studied 6 AP exams in 2.5-3.5 weeks and learned all I could about math, physics, chemistry, and biology in the summer before my junior year. Let's say that before I submit my app, I win a challenging creative math contest in my state and get very high A's in all my senior classes beofre submitting my app and after I submit my app, I send in additional information of being an Intel STS Semi-Finalist in Chemistry, getting a perfect score on the AMC 12, being a USA Physics Olympiad Semi-Finalist, a USA Biology Semi-Finalist, and a USA Chemistry Olympiad qualifier with the top score in my region. Will I be able to redeem myself through explaining my laziness in my essay, winning a major state math contest before submitting my app, and sending in additional info of being a semi-finalist in 5 major national math/science competitions to give full proof that I have altered my lazy ways and can do great stuff if I apply myself? If so, what would be my chances of getting one of these two Honorary Scholarships, and which one should I go for to maximize my chances of getting one?</p>
<p>Take a deep breath and relax.</p>
<p>Also, use paragraphs.</p>
<p>I’m not asking for personal suggestions. That’s weird, because this is an online forum. Just tell me the statistics.</p>
<p>It’s a holistic process and your grades/extracurriculars are fine for the scholarships, so stop worrying. No one can give you a more definite answer than that.</p>
<p>I received the Moog scholarship and I noticed that everyone else who was a finalist had some sort of research experience. Everyone was very personable and obviously good students, so do the best you can with everything you do, but don’t take it personally if you aren’t selected - there are so many applicants and many qualified people don’t get it!</p>
<p>The scholarships are insanely competitive, based on the amount of posts on here with people wanting to apply and my friends at Wash U who applied but didn’t receive them. Honestly, by the time they make the decision (January is the deadline) it’s likely you won’t have submitted any of your senior grades. Start focusing on what you have in your cards now, as opposed to what may be in your cards 6 months from now… because you really only have this summer to do something significant that will be included in your application, based on the deadlines, right? </p>
<p>Also, the last thing I’d want to read in an essay is an attempt to explain away laziness, especially if that essay is written for the purpose of obtaining 4 years of tuition.</p>