<p>I am going to soon meet with the dean of admissions about some things to improve the WU Admissions Process. The goal is to make the process more personal, oriented to what prospective students really want/need to know, and better at relaying information about the school. In order to do this, I need help from you. I want to show the dean some quotes from prospective students and their thoughts on the admissions process. If you have time, please email me your thoughts. I am really interested in reading what you guys think about the following areas:</p>
<li>What information you think is important to know as a prospective student (i.e info about residential halls, campus life, etc)</li>
<li>How easy/difficult it is to find that information on the web-site?</li>
<li>How personal you think the WU admissions process is?</li>
<li>How helpful are the brochures and catalogues that WU sends you every other day, lol?</li>
<li>Do you think student blogs about life at WUSTL would relay information better?</li>
<li>Any other information that you think might be helpful.</li>
</ol>
<p>I’d like to thank you for your assistance in advance. We are really working hard to improve the admissions process, and we hope that you’ll be a part of it. </p>
<p>Oh, and if you do submit something...it will remain anonymous and it won't be published. I will simply show quotes to the dean, I won't specify who they are from.</p>
<p>although i dont have enough experience to comment in most of those areas, i would say that being able to talk to current students and ask them questions about the school would be amazing. im not exactly sure how this would be possible, maybe via the blog idea. but at many times during the process i found myself asking "i wish i could ask a current student about this and this"</p>
<p>A lot of other schools I was considering had a few publicized days where prospective students could get online and actually chat with current students and people in admissions. That might be one idea.</p>
<p>I also wish WUSTL would publicize its scholarships more. And make it more easy to find out that Jan. 15 is the received-by and not the postmark deadline!!!</p>
<p>The website is good, though. It's more useful than a lot of other college websites.</p>
<p>Hmm...I don't know a lot about WUSTL academics. Even though I got about 5 tons of WUSTL mail. Plus, the perceived lack of sports/spirit is a big con amongst my high school classmates. Address that?</p>
<p>This is a bit off track--but it would be helpful if Residential Life could update their dorm websites & photos. For example, Lee/Beaumont House has not been updated since the 2005/2006 school year---including RAs photos, event happenings and photos. I believe this might be an important issue to bring to the Admissions Department's attention since some applicants like to view the dorm websites.</p>
<p>I think that WUSTL should start waiving loan requirements for lower income families. Many top schools, such as Brown, Darthmouth, and recently Emory--Wustl's top rival--have loan waiver programs. We're richer than all these schools, and I don't see why we can't also have such programs?</p>
<p>Doing this would increase the applications and yield from lower-middle income families.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the best thing Wash U could do to improve the admissions process and yield would be to work hard to improve recognition of the school and it's high ranking. I live in a community that is very college savvy and prestige conscious. Lots of kids were getting the piles of mail from Wash U and had no idea that the school was top notch. They assumed that any school that kept solicting them must be desperate for students. They had no idea that the school was ranked #12 in USNews. If the mailings did a better job highlighting the school's ranking and rising status, more students would put Wash U on their lists. Let's face it, one of the biggest factors that attracts students to apply to schools is the school's reputation, not the quality of their brochures or their websites. Wash U is an amazing institution, but not enough people know about it. Wash U has done a tremendous job in the past decade of moving itself up in the rankings. Now, it needs to keep working on increasing the school's recognition and prestige and the applictations will come pouring in.</p>
<p>yeah....I would have to agree with this.....Most of the time the first time I tell someone that I go to WashU they ask me how I like DC, or the state....and then I have to explain that no, it's in St. Louis, and then they do finally say, "oh yes! I've heard of that school!"</p>
<p>But then again, it's nice going to a school where you know that all the people walking around you chose it for some personal meaning, and not just because it's up there in the rankings-which frankly, not a lot of other top-notch schools can honestly say.</p>
<p>Greetings from the UChicago board. We just had a recent long thread about prestiege v. school soul since a lot of us also face the blank stares when we announce our college. Many people (including myself) believe that while the atmosphere is definately important, an added bonus of prestiege or at least respect is always heart-warming.</p>
<p>a. the supplement was kinda confusing. going on the common app it says to fill out the form and then it says to mail in the check on the supplemental form, but then on the next page theres a pay online link... so make it more clear?</p>
<p>b. name recognition, but i dont think that thatll improve the admissions process for prospective freshman. </p>
<p>c. the live online chats is a good idea. georgetown did it and it was pretty cool/informative. </p>
<p>d. sending more reps out to schools? like, nobody in my school has heard of wash u and were a fairly competitive school (already have a harvard, yale, emory, vanderbilt, middlebury etc in, our class is only like, 300 people) and a lot of people just dont know about it and those who do know very little... so to fix that send more reps out</p>
<p>I know everyone is tired of writing essays, but I think Wash U really should include a "Why Wash U?" supplement. My daughter was deferred from the ED round. She desperately wants to go to Wash U, but now several other students in her class who look better on paper have applied RD. One told her he applied just because it was so easy to send in the app and required no extra work. He views Wash U as a backup. I suspect the admissions people might have better luck weeding out those students who aren't really interested if they required an additional essay. It would at least give the kids who really want to be there a chance to express themselves.</p>
<p>I agree with ivoryk, even though eleph is right about being able to send in Why Washu as a supplement, it is not clear to students that this is an option. Also, if you apply to multiple schools with common app, you can't use that supplementary box to write an essay for one specific school easily.</p>
<p>I also agree with ivoryk, unless you apply ED, there is no way to let Wash U know that you really want to go there using the common application. Wash U is one of the few schools which doesn't require an additonal essay or short answer. My guess it that this is one of the tactics that Wash U uses to increase their number of applications, which in turn increases their selectivity and their rankings. So many kids simply "throw in" an application to Wash U because its so easy. Perhaps they could put an optional "Why Wash U" essay as a supplement.</p>