<p>Washington U is one of the universities that considers applicant interest in their decisions. For future applicants, could you let us know how you showed interest in Washington University and whether or not you were accepted? Possible ways you may have showed interest (beyond sending in your $$ and application) is to have gone on a campus tour & information session, visited campus multiple times, written to specific professors, visited labs, written to your admissions rep, sent flowers (lol), called admissions to discuss various issues, etc. </p>
<p>So, how did you show interest? Were you accepted?</p>
<p>Signed up for mailing list, went to admissions presentation when they came for campus visit, requested and had an interview (though it went poorly)</p>
<p>Youknowwho13, you noticed! I am trying to encourage people to post how they “showed interest” in the schools that admit that they use that criteria in their decision making. I have posted the exact same request in threads for a few different schools, each of which says they count that variable. It is a factor that seems to be increasingly important to certain schools motivated to protect their yield. Given that, lets make it more transparent. it is something that has rarely been discussed on this site.</p>
<p>“it is something that has rarely been discussed on this site.”</p>
<p>I have to disagree with you here; questions regarding good ways to show interest are quite common, especially on the Washu forum. Anyways, I applied went on campus tour and info session, joined the mailing list, and ultimately applied ED.</p>
<p>Visit the school. Request an interview (either on campus or alumni). Talk to the school rep if he/she comes to your school or go to a local event where college reps attend. If you love it, apply ED. It doesn’t work as a safety school, if they think you are not commited, they will waitlist you, even if you have stellar credentials! My son got in ED, and his best friend, with much better credentials, was (rightly) waitlisted RD because no demonstrated interest.</p>
<p>RyanMK, it may have been discussed in the Wash U site more than others as Wash U appears to have a reputation of basing admissions decisions on ability to pay. They apparently are much more likely to wait list rather than accept those with great credential who can’t pay but also have no other standout demographics that would help Wash U boast. Wash U also seems to rely more on “demonstrate interest” than other schools. In fact, there are very funny posts on this and other sites about both those things in connection with Wash U. Rejecting those who can’t pay while boasting the notion that need is met for those attending is pretty hypocritical if people don’t know how much these factors weigh in on admissions decisions. They are, in fact, discriminating against poorer people. The more that fact can be conveyed to high schools across the country, the more money will be saved by those kids and families with great achievements but unable to visit Wash U and/or unable to pay full way. Glossy brochures not withstanding, of course.</p>
<p>It would be far better to use standard criteria for admission and then only fund some but the schools can’t protect their “yields” and ranks that way.</p>
<p>I think you are being far too cynical in evaluating the motives behind washu’s admissions policies. It is correct that washu is NOT need blind, and that is something I don’t agree with, but I don’t believe that their weighting of this variable is as severe as you purport it to be. Additionally, I don’t believe that it is all some nefarious scheme to game the perception of the school, but rather there is some element of simple “we don’t want to spend money on financial aid.” Admittedly, that isn’t the most admirable of motivations either, but I’m just not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with this thread.</p>
<p>@Insidelane, not sure what your background is or purpose of your inquiry? Wustl is need aware. Their FA counselors will tell you that up front. Do you know what that means? If you are waitlisted with great credentials but no ability to pay, maybe that is just a coincidence. But I can tell you they accept students with great credentials but no ability to pay. These students probably have better fit to the university than the ones waitlisted or denied. They dont consider your financial need if you apply ED. They will look at your ability to pay during RD when they get to the last remaining accept slots. By that time, that applicant probably have not impressed the AO to select them early. Once you have been accepted, i think that WUSTL financial aid program is excellent to the one with real need. They have a no loan policy if your family earns less than 60K. Outside scholarships does not reduce the school financial aid award as long as both do not exceed the COA and if it does exceed COA, they deduct the loans first. The financial aid awarded is for four years renewable as long as there is no significant change in financial status.
Wustl do consider demonstrated need. Does not necessarily mean you have to visit them if you are far away. Maybe a different story if you are from MO or neighboring states. Why would they want a student that have not shown interest to the school other than submitting a common app. In our case, demonstrated interest was visiting campus, applying ED, attending a college visit to our area, interviewing and making a few calls to the admission office for questions before actually applying.
If you are an applicant that is a qualified poor person with good to great credentials that is really interested in Wustl, then apply ED and show your interest not necessarily a visit. You kight be surprised with the aid they offer you and if it is not good enough for you, you are allowed to decline ED for financial reason. If you are an applicant that cannot commit early, then you just need to roll the dice with every other RD applicant. Hope you have other qualification other than great credentials.</p>
<p>Alright, so I was accepted RD WITH financial need. My test scores were average for WashU (33 ACT) but I had a lot of demonstrated interest. I visited campus, had an interview, and sent in my supplement months before the application deadline. Also, I submitted an additional essay explaining why I wanted to pursue business and go to WashU. The notion that WashU rejects/waitlists applicants just because of their inability to pay is false. There is plenty of socioeconomic diversity on campus. Btw, WashU met most of my need, but they are willing to work with you to bring the cost down.</p>
<p>In response to the financial aid discussion, I have this to add:</p>
<p>I don’t see how you can claim Wash U discriminates against poor people. Maybe their aid isn’t quite as good as some other schools’ aid when you compare the two side-by-side, but consider the following: You can always get a great education at a public school and end up paying much, much less. Paying more for a private school has some nice perks but many of them are not academic. Wash U comes with price tag; don’t feel cheated if you can’t afford it. The school decides how much money it wants to allocate for aid. It seems pretty pointless to complain about it.</p>
<p>1) Visited campus for tour and info session
2) Sent in Pre-Application early in the fall (Aug?Sept?)
3) Met with admission rep when she came to high school. Don’t know how much of a factor it was, but got a nice hand-written card from her congratulating on acceptance and saying how nice it was to meet in the fall.
4) Alumni interview</p>
<p>Received nice financial aid package, right along lines of what other schools are offering.</p>
<p>to parrot what RaVNzCRoFT and others have said- WashU definitely doesn’t discriminate against ‘poor people’</p>
<p>Because they are ‘need-aware’ the office of admissions new I would need a full finaid package, and they accepted me anyway. When I say full, I mean a FULL, everything taken care of, package (which I was fortunate enough to get)</p>
<p>A couple of years ago my son applied with no visits to campus, no calls or letters of interest, no interviews, etc…he needed financial aid and was given more when our circumstances changed the second year. For us, the FA officer has been responsive and easy to work with.</p>
<p>My daughter visited during the summer and fell in love. When she returned home, she submitted the supplement, wrote a hand written note to the admissions rep she met on the tour (who happened to be the regional rep), asked for an alum interview. Then she went to a WUSTL event at a local hotel and again at her high school. By then the regional rep knew her by name. She sent her ED application in by mid October. And when the first quarter ended, she sent an updated email to the rep on her first quarter grades and achievements along with a website she built with her art (a hobby not applying to art school). He wrote back immediately. ;-)</p>
<p>1) Visited over spring break of my junior year
2) Attended local info session
3) Signed up to get a local interview slot, which ended up not being available
4) Talked to representatives at multiple college fairs
5) National Portfolio Day!!
6) Turned in my RD app really early, like near the ED deadline, don’t know if that makes a difference whatsoever</p>
<p>Rejected and re-applied. Rejected again. Will reapply again. (Major interest)
The last rejection came at no surprise I submitted weak essay. (kinda embarrassed at even applying with that essay)</p>
<p>Oh the dean of admissions mailed me the course listings for Olin. I thought that showed interest. (Just realized I applied to Olin without Calc II)</p>
<p>This is totally unrelated but I noticed about Wustl is that the Dean of Admissions hand signs the rejection letters.</p>
<p>I think you should really just be genuine about your interest if you don’t have a reason to contact them don’t do it. Ask questions if you want and make sure to thank them for their time.</p>
<p>I did nothing except submitting my application and attending a wash u visit at my school. I got accepted. I really doubt that “demonstrated interest” is a huge factor in an admissions decision. However, it probably doesn’t hurt to have an on campus interview and send a letter to an admissions officer. It won’t make or break your application though.</p>
<p>I did a campus tour and information session last September but did not do an interview, and I was accepted regular decision. I think as long as you do something, you will be alright in the interest category. In any case, admissions really is a crapshoot. I got into some reaches but got waitlisted at a lot of matches.</p>
<p>showing interest definitely matters to Wash U. Getting into contact with ur local admission officer doesnt hurt and just getting ur name out there. I was admitted to wash u with lower stats than a classmate who was waitlisted. But i showed a lot of interest through interviewing and emailing and visiting campus while my classmate should none. So it definitely matters.</p>