hello! Just thought I would start a discussion group for people applying ED to WashU
Stats
UW GPA- 3.6 due to a poor freshman year but tremendous trend upward
W GPA- 4.374
ACT- 31 composite and 12 on the writing
School-
New Trier High School on north shore of chicago ranked #7 most competitive in IL class of 1000 and no rank given
Activities:
Band-2 years
Orchestra- 3 years and signed up for next year
Model United Nations- 2 years and president
Boys and Girls service club
Various intermural sports throughout the years
Extras:
Done something academic with all of my summers throughout high school
-took chemistry over the summer before 10th grade
-took shakespeare studies at the University of Oxford in England the summer before 11th grade
-Lifeguard summer going into 11th and 12th grades
-Intern at University of Illinois of Chicago Diabetes Research Lab summer going into 12th grade. this lead to a publication so I am published and also I got a college rec from a world renown transplant surgeon Dr. Jose Oberholzer
-Taken the most rigorous courses after freshman year including 6 sciences (Physics Chem Bio AP Chem AP Bio and AP Physics C) normally a student takes four, very rarely a student takes five and I am the only kid in my class of 1000 taking 6.
-Also aside from those AP sciences I will or have taken- AP Psych and AP Calc AB as well as 5 years of language.
-I have also each year taken a class before school to fit more majors than normal into my schedule.
-Recomendations- One from my Intro bio teacher who also taught my AP bio class amazing rec. One is from American History teacher which will be good but not great and one will be from Dr. Oberholzer.
Leadership
-Phyllis Leadership program- program that aims to connect kids from the affulent north shore with kids from the south and west sides of chicago.
-SILC- Student Instruction Leadership Core- basically a TA, for biology
-Senior Helper- Senior that advise freshman through their trannsition and year through high school. I am practically their homeroom teacher.
Internded path: Pre-Med
What are my chances!?!?!
Does anyone know where we can find who our regional admissions officer is?
are you planning on taking the ACT again? That seems to be the weakest part @brenmcc13
Are you guys going to visit? I’m planning to visit late august/early september
Hi! I’m also applying ED, I visited Olin Business school today. I am a St. Louis native, my brother attended WashU and I currently have a 32, 3.92 GPA. I plan on retaking as well. I am also the National Honor Society President. Hopefully good luck to all of us!! ;))
I’m also applying for ED! I am an American living in Panama so I’m planning on visiting and interviewing in October, is anyone else visiting the October open house?
@beegee123 I can’t find a list of admissions officers, but see if WashU is making a visit to your school or surrounding area, the person giving the presentation will be your regional admissions officer. They will also have business cards with their contact info available. Let me know if you guys have any other questions! I’ll be attending WashU in the fall and I’d love to help you guys out 
@beegee123 In 2013 my D simply asked the Admissions Office for the name of the admissions rep assigned to her high school and they told her. She then contacted the rep via email and arranged to meet/interview with her on a visit to Wash U and again when the rep visited her HS. She is convinced that her proactive approach and the resulting relationship added immeasurably to her admissions effort, so not a bad idea to pursue this tack.
you sound amazing. i know no fun to retake and study for ACT but i would do that to be more competitive. You don’t mention any hooks-URM, athlete, legacy but if you don’t have those things i definitely would study and repeat the ACT and or submit SAT subject tests even if not required. 31 puts you below 2100 on the SAT conversion which is on the low end for Washington University. Washington University cares about demonstrated interest and certainly applying ED you are covered for that but no getting around that standardized test scores are also important.
OP–You should be very proud of your accomplishments. I do agree with Mom, however, if for no other reason than you just never know with Wash U. This board gets scores of posts every year from stunned kids with stronger quals than you who didn’t get in, right alongside posts from kids with lesser objective metrics who did.
Nothing to lose by a retake and potentially much to gain. Remember that Wash U superscores, so if you can gain ground in one subject matter area, it may improve your overall composite with the superscoring. To give you some perspective, in 2013 a WUSTL advisor “encouraged” my D to do a retake. She did so and got the same overall score again; however, she had bumped her math up enough to add a point to her composite when superscored.
There is always a fear that a school would frown on an applicant having taken the ACT multiple times. I think you have to consider the alternative as well–that the school would frown on a kid just accepting a score that he feels is not his best when there is a readily available opportunity to improve. Not retaking may be passive but it makes a statement. Schools who superscore do so to encourage re-takes. After all, superscoring assumes multiple attempts by definition.
good luck in application and the ACT retake. my son is now almost certain he will apply ED as well. we love Wash University and feel his best shot is in the ED pool.
Is anyone going to the Discovery Weekend at WashU in September?
Hi I’m a Vietnamese student looking to apply to washu this fall, can u please comment on whether my profile is good enough for washu
Objective:
SAT I: 2050 (will retake in Oct, that SAT was low but I currently get abt 2200 on practice tests)
SAT II: 790 Math II, 780 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): doing A level. My grades are AAAA
Ranking: I’m 1st in my class of 40 (my school is new and its a private school so not many students)
Senior Year Course Load: A level Chemistry, Maths, Literature, Economics
Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
-1st place for public speaking contest in grade 9
-Principal Award for International Understanding grade 9
-Principal’s most honorable award for best student in grade 11
-UKMT math challenge silver medal grade 9
-UKMT math challenge bronze medal grade 11
-Best presentation for City Enterprise Challenge
-1st Place City Championship swimming
-Best in school for Economics, Literature, Vietnamese, ICT, Science and highest IGCSE scores in school
Subjective:
-Student Council (9,10,11,12) - President (9,11,12)
-Eco-committee (9,10,11,12) - Co-founder (9), President (10,11,12) - works on environmental issues in the school and local community
-Community service club (9,10,11,12) - Co-founder (9) President (12) - set up an official fundraiser and fundraising system for the school, organize fund raising events within school for local orphanages etc
-Mentoring (11,12) - mentor 2 students in Maths and Economics (11), set up a whole school mentoring system (12)
-Chairwoman of “Into The Cold seminar” - I co-operate with my school in bringing a Hong Kong environmentalist to Vietnam to deliver 3 seminars for my school and the local community
-In the midst of founding an NGO in co-operation with 2 other schools to recycle used items and make them into artworks then sell them for auctions to get money to support sex-ed in rural areas of my countries (this is still in the process of planning, will be implement in september)
-Piano (10 years) - taking Yamaha course, grade 5, performed at local shows and took part in a drama with my piano school every year
-Swimming (6 years) - train with personal coach at local swimming pool was on the school swim team for year 11,12
Job/Work Experience: internship at national magazine during summer, translate article during school year
Volunteer/Community service:
- Volunteer at local orphanages with school community club, summer volunteering at pagoda (teaching english)
- Set up a tutor group to design an English teaching program and book drive for a pagoda in a province and teach English for 50 kids every summer
-Estimated volunteer hours: estimated 150 hours
Summer Activities:
-Internship at national magazine
-English teaching for kids at the pagoda
-summer camp (this camp trains young people with academic, life skills, NLP, goal setting, etc) - was camp leader in summer before grade 11 and return as a camp mentor (was Team leader of the mentor group) in summer before grade 12. I’m also in a coaching program with the professor who is also the lead mentor of the camp.
Recommendations
-Teacher 1: Economics teacher-we have great relationships and i work with her during the saigon enterprise challenge and set up mentoring system
-Teacher 2: English teacher - also great relationships and I’m the best student in English class throughout all high school
-Counselor rec: my school doesnt have an official counselor so my vice prinipal is writing this - he knows me very well bc i work with him in multiple projects in the school
-Additional rec: the professor that I’m in the coaching program/summer camp with he is a well-known Singaporean trainer in NLP
Does anyone know if it’s significantly more difficult to apply through their Business School than to apply through their CAS?
I know they offer double majors across divisions, but I’m on the fence about pursuing a general Economics or a specialized Economics major like Economics & Strategy.
Thank you!
@ForwardAlways I think it is about the same for all the different schools (pre-med is the only one that is a little harder)
@beegee123 you don’t apply to pre-med so it cannot be harder, you apply to one of the undergraduate schools.
Does Wash. U have a tendency to defer or straight up reject applicants that they don’t accept in their Early Decision round?
@ForwardAlways If they don’t believe you will get accepted in their RD round, they will reject you, but the majority is deferred instead. If you are deferred, you will only be accepted or rejected RD, they will not waitlist you.
Hey! I’ve applied ED Good luck to everyone!