Decision between ED I for WashU St. Louis VS. Vanderbilt

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys! I’m deciding between applying to WashU St. Louis and Vanderbilt for ED I. I love both schools equally, but was wondering which I had a better chance at getting in with my scores and overall application? Any help is appreciated.

School/Major: School of Engineering

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1460 (720 - Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, 740 - Math)
ACT: Not sending
SAT II: Not sending
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88 UW, 4.5 W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A, but made Principal’s List for top 20 students in grade each year
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP European History (not sending), AP Calculus AB (5), AP Physics C: Mechanics (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, English Honors, AP Chemistry, AP French, AP U.S. Government
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, National Honor Society

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Head of student newspaper, ambassador for school to give tours, basketball, on retreat team with some of my classmates each year to organize going away trip with my class
Job/Work Experience: Internship at Financial Firm, which was was paid
Volunteer/Community service: Habitat for Humanity Ambassador, Girl Scout w/ Bronze and Silver Award, Girl Scout Emerging Leader, National Charity League as Philanthropy Chair
Summer Activities: Internship at UCLA in Electrical Engineering, Internship at my high school in EE and coding (girls who code program), Vet Internship even though I don’t want to pursue this so it’s not too important, Vanderbilt Summer Academy, published author of grammar book series with my older brothers
Essays: Tough to say, but wrote about one of my internships and how it connects with my personality - that no one expected me to be into engineering because I am a total goofball and don’t usually take things seriously (not trying to offend anyone, it’s just the CA conception that engineer = geek, but I don’t agree)
Teacher Recommendation: 8/10 - from my math teacher and she likes me (I hope), but shouldn’t be amazing per say
Counselor Rec: 9/10 - I know her pretty well, so I hope that my CC is able to offer some insight into my academic career and who I am
Additional Rec: 7/10 - nothing special, but it is coming from my English teacher from last year who writes beautifully and is a sweetheart
Interview: N/A

Other

State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
Intended major(s): Electrical Engineering
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

I know my SAT score is on the low side and I don’t have any hooks, but do I have any chance at ED I for 2022 for either schoo? If so, which one do I have a better chance at? No one from my school has ever been accepted to Vandy except for a girl with a 36 on her ACT… which is why I might go with Wash U even though I like Vandy slightly more.

2

Tough choice! I wish one or the other had an ED2 option so that you could try your favorite ED1 and then use ED2 only if needed. In reality I think you will get into either school if you choose the ED option. If you do not choose ED then your chances fall with everyone else’s chances when applying RD to these two schools. Take your pick or else find additional schools you are interested in and apply RD to all of them. Alternatively, you still have time to apply to non-binding EA to engineering schools like Tulane. Apply there and to a couple more EA schools and you may have a good option in-hand come December while you wait to hear from Vandy and WashU in their RD rounds. Tulane also has good MERIT scholarships which may help in your situation since you may not receive much FA given your family’s income bracket (but run the NPC to come up with an EFC for each school in this regard). Come to think of it, you are allowed to apply ED to one school and EA (non-binding) to others so you could take your best pick for ED and have some EA going on at the same time so that you may receive good news in mid-December even if your first choice does not work out. Good luck!

3

Given the lower test scores I would consider using your ED on WashU since Vandy is more test-score driven. Do you have time to take 1 more SAT?

I would take the above poster’s advice on Tulane. You seem to be a match/low match with the GPA/current test scores. Plus there is no fee for the app.

4

Vanderbilt has ED2.