<p>It is now time to stop this thread!! Davida is clearly one of those prestige snobs who refuses to accept that a school can climb from "second tier" to "first tier". WashU has invested in their students, staff and infrastructure and has attracted an extremely impressive group of students to its beautiful, friendly, and vibrant campus. They have attracted students who are less concerned with "bumper sticker cache" and more concerned with being in a research university that really cares about their undergraduates, is filled with bright and motivated students, has a georgeous campus, has a wonderful quality of life, is competitive but supportive and not cut throat. </p>
<p>Davida, clearly you are not one of those types of students. To each his own. Go and pursue your "name brand prestige" and stop wasting your time trying to bash a wonderful school that clearly isn't for you. Everyone wins when there are more excellent schools to choose from. Just because a school is a relative newcomer to excellence doesn't negate it's achievement.</p>
<p>My mom works in the admissions dept. at Washu. She says lots kids from the East Coast apply and the best students in the Midwest apply. That could add up to quite a lot of people.</p>
<p>Well, gthopeful, thanks for deciding I need to get some perspective. Very wise. Of course test scores don't define intelligence. But the original post was about stats, so I wrote about stats. If it would make you feel better, I revise my statement that my 2310 makes me a low scorer here. Please just don't lecture me on perspective. You're not old enough.</p>
<p>From what I've seen, a lot of kids in my school are applying because they think that they have a decent shot at Wash U because it isn't as well known in the south as compared to schools like Northwestern, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt, and Duke. I know many kids with less than stellar stats who think they can get into Wash U pretty easily but think it's impossible to get into Northwestern.</p>
<p>I applied early to an Ivy and got in. I would never apply to school as pathetic as WUSTL. Anecdotes about roommates or friends is irrelevant. I'm talking about the overall numbers. They don't make sense. Obviously there is no way to prove that WUSTL is lying because the school itself reports its numbers and there is no independent auditor. I think there needs to be an independent organization that verifies these numbers because they appear to be suspect and that has been the case for WUSTL for a long time now. What they are doing is simply not ethical if in fact there numbers are false. The reality is that the admissions people could make up any numbers they want and publish them, so there is no reason to trust them especially if they seem ridiculous. I was in my college counseling office in high school senior year just before graduation and the file for every student that applied to college was left out from the previous year. I glanced at a few of the files and the one girl who went to WUSTL (no legacy, non-URM, no hook, not a large donor) had a 1210 SAT score and a 3.2 GPA. If you are going to provide anecdotes, I'll provide that one (I am still in college FYI so this was not that long ago).</p>
<p>It is really embarrassingly stupid for people to attack me personally. I am talking about institutional dishonesty...If you go to WUSTL, great. I hope you enjoy your school. This isn't personal.</p>
<p>I would add though that there are many other schools that don't require supplements and offer the common app that get far fewer applications than WUSTL. The mass mailing campaign shouldn't have too much of an impact because people receive lots of mail from many, many institutions. Why they would choose WUSTL out of the many other schools that mass mail is unclear. Lay prestige I think encourages apps more than mass mailing does and certainly the schools I listed that receive fewer apps like Northwestern or Georgetown, for example, have more lay prestige.</p>
<p>Davida, if you are so happy at your blessed Ivy League school then why are you wasting your time on College Confidential bashing another school? Let it go. Enjoy your "prestigious school" and try to contribute something there instead of maligning things here.</p>
<p>So if we're talking about ethics (???lying on the part of Wash U???), what about your ethics of "glancing" at file of other students that were left sitting on your counselor's desk? Doesn't sound like something an ivy league student would/should do...</p>
<p>Putting that aside - Wash U is a great place for the right kind of student. Having had personal and anecdotal experience with the school - we have no complaints and only positive experiences.</p>
<p>"I would never apply to school as pathetic as WUSTL"</p>
<p>Just admit that you were rejected by WUSTL, and then you venge your anger in this forum. I'm so glad you were rejected, cos we dont need your kinda people here.</p>
<p>"I applied early to an Ivy and got in."</p>
<p>This is really typical reaction of a person who didn't get in to WUSTL. Oh, I think you're in one of the Ivies whose rank is below WUSTL in USNEWS. You're just too pathetic and cannot accept the fact that Ivy league is just a sport conference...nothing more! =)</p>
<p>"I glanced at a few of the files and the one girl who went to WUSTL (no legacy, non-URM, no hook, not a large donor) had a 1210 SAT score and a 3.2 GPA."</p>
<p>And you're saying that there isn't anyone with this kinda stats in the Ivies? Oh, right...you're talking about the "overall numbers". I see...and the example that you gave us is an overall number? WOW, I CANT BELIEVE THE IVY ACCEPTED YOU...you must be really rich!</p>
<p>"The reality is that the admissions people could make up any numbers they want and publish them, so there is no reason to trust them especially if they seem ridiculous."</p>
<p>Well, since you're in an ivy...shouldnt you be able to think that if WUSTL can do that, that means all the other schools (hint: check your school) can do that too? Is WUSTL the only school which wants to improve its rank and the rest of the schools are just not competitive at all? You know what? Like I said before, you just cannot accept the fact that WUSTL is ranked up there and your school is ranked down there...I pity the school which you go to. I bet you're not even enjoying your life there. Well, you can TRY to transfer if you want...but I think no school will accept you. =D</p>
<p>"I glanced at a few of the files and the one girl who went to WUSTL (no legacy, non-URM, no hook, not a large donor) had a 1210 SAT score and a 3.2 GPA."</p>
<p>Wow, this is just amazing. With a mere "glance", you gleaned that the applicant (1) was not a legacy, (2) was non-URM, (3) had no "hook" to speak of (you can tell that with just a "glance"? Adcoms should be beating down your door for efficiencies!), (4) was not a large donor (how much DID her family donate over the last few years? Didn't catch that?), (5) her GPA, and finally (6) her SATs.</p>
<p>Whew!!</p>
<p>Your "glance" was a clear violation of this student's privacy rights. Do they teach you about honor at your precious Ivy?</p>
<p>Or maybe, just MAYBE, you're totally full of it.</p>
<p>Btw, I think davida1 should check this statistics about Princeton admittance (one of the best ivies)... there are so many students who got in with HS GPA below 3.5</p>