<p>Bluestone, sorry didn’t mean to cause you undue alarm. My son indicated Wash U as his first choice when he sent in the semifinalist form. According to the NMSC, March 1 is the day they start referring the first group of finalists who indicated a first choice college to that institution for scholarship consideration. This goes on till May 31. Those who have not indicated a first choice will have up to May 31 to report one. </p>
<p>The alternate first choice that my son put in does not automatically guarantee scholarship for all National Merit finalists, only to a limited few so we thought it best to do it quickly in case they do it on a rolling basis like their admission.</p>
<p>I guess quite a few kids have used Tufts as their safety or back up to the Ivy schools. The story goes that Tufts got tired of accepting these kids only to have them decline the offer once they were accepted at their first choice, so they began waitlisting the top candidates. Many people believe that WashU has now become like Tufts.</p>
<p>My son was waitlisted, but it still feels like a mini rejection. I was on CC last spring/summer and there were still way too many kids hanging on to hope that they would be called up. I think at our house (for my sanity) we will make a decision by May 1st of S2’s accepted schools and move on to dorm shopping and grad parties.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t count on getting off the waitlist though! WashU overenrolled last year so I’m guesing they wanna balance the class out this time. Gl anyway. :)</p>
<p>My son got in! He’s happy to hear it, but he knows it is unlikely that he’ll be able to attend. We were hoping, like the rest of the universe, for one of those full-tuition scholarships. We have no idea what his financial aid package will look like without the big scholarship. Don’t know what kind of merit aid Wash U gives, outside of the biggies … one step at a time. :)</p>
<p>Did any accepted students also get an invite to Multicultural Weekend at WUSTL? I was kind of shocked when I saw the invite in my inbox…apparently it’s an all expense paid trip to WUSTL from April 14-16.</p>
<p>DS (that’s Dear Son, to the poster who asked earlier) got in! I texted him at school and he checked from there. Very very happy for him, and so relieved. Congrats to all who got in, and condolences to those who didn’t… I know how disappointing and scary it must be at this stage of the game, with so many more decisions to come. I’ll see some of you on the UChicago waiting room thread soon!</p>
<p>Great! Got IN!! Hey swafford, stanford is like impossible for almost anyone. I applied EA and got rejected, all those top schools are a roll of the dice sometimes so don’t feel too down.</p>
Gl anyway. :)</p>