<p>One of my children is a first year at Wash Lee. She and we couldn't be more pleased. The school has very strong academics. It is consistently ranked high in all surveys and last year rose to #12 at US News. We sat in on classes at parent weekend and were very impressed with the lectures. The professors are very accessible, and the honor code allows you to self schedule exams. Freshman fall registration was by lottery and my D had probably the worse number in the school. Everything was closed when she went to register. She wrote emails to the professors and wait listed the courses and got into every thing she wanted, just a day later. Freshman dorms are fine and upper class living is even better. Freshman girls are invited to all frat parties, so she has a great social life. She comes and goes in a group, so they arent bothered by the police. She plans on going Greek, and who knows if she will end up in her first choice sorority, but she is comfortable in the knowledge that she will definitely get a bid to one. At many colleges, not all girls get a bid. D is active, she is in two or three organizations, has a club sport, and volunteers. She has met so many great people. And many of her friends are Johnsons. This is a true merit and not financial aid scholarship.</p>
<p>I have had poor responce and attitude from the adcoms.</p>
<p>I have also heard that if you are not a person of color or qualified for FA you don’t have a chance of receiveing the Johnson now days, because the admin had decided to change it into a tool to increase deversity of the student body.</p>
<p>It use to be a tool used to get people inroled who would have gone to the ivys. Now they use it only to cut done on the white or well to do.</p>
<p>Parental unit, I am a senior with very good stats and have been investigating merit scholarships. I have even talked to some Johnson’s, Lanier’s at Vanderbilt, Jefferson’s at Virginia and some others. My school list is mainly small ones. Because of the Lanier’s at Vanderbilt that is on my list now. What I have found out about the Johnson’s is that they are for students with and without need. The one I spoke with did not have need but she mentioned that probably 1/2 of them had big time need. All the students who receive them are good but need for money definitely is part of the process there. So, the Johnson’s cover both need and merit. I dont have need and I am not from any disadvantaged group so I think I will not apply for a Johnson if I apply to Washington and Lee University.</p>
<p>Orcaaa, your grammar and spelling don’t help you make your case very well. Some of your comments are probably right but wow, your most recent post is really hard to read,</p>
<p>It sounds like you are hearing the same things about the Johnson that I am.</p>
<p>It has just become another form of FA. They have also destroyed the Robert E Lee schlorship, it is now strictly FA based.</p>
<p>They don’t want merit students any more.</p>
<p>“responce?” “now days?” “deversity?” “receiveing?” “ivys?” “inroled?” I sure hope you edited your personal statements better than your vitriolic College Confidential posts. I suggest you find a more productive use of your time than posting bitter comments on College Confidential…“The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White may be a good start.</p>
<p>I wonder how well you would speak Russian?</p>
<p>So how do you address these problems we are hearing?</p>
<p>Russian is irrelevant if you cant speak English.</p>
<p>I don’t care to review all your posts to make sure I hit all the points but: I’ve never heard such criticisms of the admissions department so I cant comment other than that you probably have some bias against this school, the Johnson Scholar program is not merit based but has a real possibility that those who need the merit are most likely to apply for it, and parties have moved out of Lexington to deal with Lexpo. Since this is not exactly a new phenomenon, and since we have Traveller, it is not a huge issue. We just won’t party in town anymore.</p>
<p>Don’t really care to respond to whatever vitriolic posts you have, if any.</p>
<p>So you admitt that The Johnson schlorship is not on merit at all, just another way of giveing out FA. Why is the admin. not telling the truth???</p>
<p>Sounds like W&L can’t handel the truth.</p>
<p>Orcaaa-There is a post elsewhere on this site that states Johnson finalists last year averaged 34 ACT and top 2% of their class. Judging from the quality of your posts, I infer that this is out of your range. Why are you so bitter about a “schlorship” for which you are so clearly unqualified?</p>
<p>Don’t be too sure belly. It is not nice to bate and switch the students. Why do you call the johnson a merit schlorship when it is not? Is it to collect a lot of apps? I think so.</p>
<p>Do you even understand this concept, belly?</p>
<p>I now know it is a trick W&L plays to increase their yeild %.</p>
<p>Don’t be so quick to judge, there is a very good reason you are at W&L and not Harvard.</p>
<p>I think we both know what that reason is.</p>
<p>Okay, Orcaaa. Time to put up or shut up. You have repeatedly stated that the Johnson Scholarship (or “Schlorship” as you term it) is need, not merit-based. Proof? Not feelings. Not rumors. What do you know that the rest of us don’t?<br>
Here are the reasons that I believe that it is merit-based: 1) the University says it is. They already have a financial aid program to help students who have need. 2) one other poster on this site has cited a couple of statistics that attest to the high quality of Johnson Scholars. Granted, that’s not a high level of proof, but it is a helluva lot more than the near-incoherent rantings I’m seeing from you. You “now know it is a trick W&L plays to increase their yeild (sic)”? How do you know this?</p>
<p>Yield. I believe Orcaaa has his terminology confused, ( in addition to other things). Yield is the percent of students who are accepted to a school, who then say yes to offer of acceptance. If students are enticed to apply to a school and then not accepted, that would decrease percent admitted, but not affect yield. If the students are enticed to apply because of the scholarship, then admitted to the school but not given the scholarship, and the students turn down the offer of acceptance because of this, it would DECREASE yield. </p>
<p>The current freshman class is the largest ever at WLU and that was because they had a record high yield.</p>
<p>To put all the nonsense about Johnson’s etc. to rest, of course they are used as a marketing tool for Washington and Lee to increase applications. What is wrong with that? Top layer schools are trying to compete for the best students. If you are a little lower profile like Washington and Lee than those at the top of most lists you do what you can to get noticed by top quality students.</p>
<p>This is from a Trustee I know. The Johnson’s are intended to attract high quality students. They try to award more than 40 a year. 1/2 are targeted to students with lots of financial need. The other 1/2 are merit. They are also trying to use them for diversity: ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic and other. It helps if you fill one of those needs, but is not required. The school is trying to increase its diversity. If you look on its homepage you would think that it is the most diverse college in the country with all of the Explore W&L links which feature experiences centered on social justice and cross cultural interaction. They feel that helps them sell the school, though it is a lot of effort to target a small percent of its target audience. All schools do this these days whether you like it or not orcaaa.</p>
<p>Of course those potential Johnson Scholars invited have amazing statistics. A 34 is top 2% on the ACT. Though, for well trained students it is usually easier to get a higher score on the ACT than the SAT. The average SAT of students invited is probably over 1500 or 2250, top 2%. What they don’t tell you are the statistics of those who accept the scholarship and enroll. They are lower than those who are invited. If you look at the difference between the average SAT’s of students who apply at any school and those who enroll there is a noticeable point drop. If you apply a point drop, the enrolling Johnson’s are probably in the top 4% of SAT takers. That is still strong but a step down from those invited. You might ask why? Few students who win a Johnson and are accepted at a school like Harvard or Princeton choose Washington and Lee over those schools. They offer a more prestigious degree. They also have financial aid available for students from families from little household income to over $100,000. Very few choose W&L over one of those places. I think Washington and Lee probably gets Johnson students who might have Vanderbilt, Rice, Washington University, sometimes Duke and places like that as their other choice.</p>
<p>Orcaa, your constant negative whining would indicate that Washington and Lee might not have admitted you, or maybe invited you for a Johnson and turned you down. Enjoy where you are and quit complaining about Washington and Lee. It is not perfect but no school is.</p>
<p>There are negative posters, because W&L is an elite University, and whenever something is elite, there will be plenty of people out that who despise it for being better. Just look at Occupy Wall Street.</p>