How good is research at WashU? Chance for research/engineering

Colleges & Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>Hi guys, I am applying for engineering at WashU.</p>

<p>Here is some basic info:</p>

<p>4.5 GPA (Weighted), 20/538 class rank (top 3.7%), most rigorous curriculum in my grade. School doesn't calculate Unweighted, but when I did it, I got a 3.75 including first 2 semesters of Senior year with upward trend.</p>

<p>Pretty competitive school (3-4 HYPSM + 5-6 more Ivies each year)</p>

<p>Freshman year: 4 As, 3 Bs (All honors)
Sophomore year: 5 As, 2 Bs (2 APs, rest honors)
Junior year: 6 As, 1 B (4 APs, all honors)
Senior year: 8 As (3 APs, 2 College courses)</p>

<p>Upward trend for sure.
-Recieved AP scholar with distinction</p>

<p>Taking Multivar Calc (3 hours a week) and Quantitative Analysis (intensive chem course, 9 hours a week)</p>

<p>ACT:
32, 12 essay
34, 10 essay (36M, 34S, 33E, 32 R)
Subject tests: 780 chem, 800 Math 2</p>

<p>ECs (by far strongest part of my app): </p>

<p>Research (11,12)
-Sending 2 research abstracts (1 on Non-metal redox kinetics and the other on Synthesizing Octahedral Molecular Sieves, kind of Material Sciences Engineering)
-350+ hours of research at 2 different universities, currently spend 9 hours a week in the lab
-Accepted to Junior Humanities Science Symposium
-Wasn't allowed to submit to Siemens or INTEL</p>

<p>Science Bowl (9,10,11,12)
-captain of B team (11)
-captain of science quiz bowl A team
-our school won championships or got runner up for last 4 years</p>

<p>Math Team:
-B team (9,10)
-A team (11,12)
-qualified for states and new englands (11,12)
-team got 1st in league, 3rd in state
-Awarded third highest scoring junior in league (11)</p>

<p>Chess(9,10,11,12):
-Vice president and captain of chess team
-Won a couple of awards
- School got 1st in district (10,11)
-taught chess to kids in library over summer for 8 weeks</p>

<p>Table tennis (9,10,11,12):
-2000+ hours of table tennis
-Nationally ranked #45 for age and #178 for juniors, #2 junior in state, -Won number of trophies at local, state and national tournaments
-Attend 3-4 clubs per week </p>

<p>Community service (9,10,11,12)
-250+ hours
-tutored middle school students for 4 years
-Proctor at Chapter and State MATHCOUNTS competition, cultural events, chosen as I v y I n s i d e r highschool campus leader</p>

<p>Honor Societies: FLHS, NHS, NSHSS, SHS</p>

<p>Recs: Very strong (1 from AP Chem teacher, 1 from AP Calc BC teacher, 1 from professor at a university who I did research with)</p>

<p>Common App Essay: Good (Wrote about table tennis). MIGHT change my common app essay and send the research essay (strong)</p>

<p>Random: I couldn't get a job till last month because I will graduate at the age of 16 (skipped a grade), so I don't have too much job experience.</p>

<p>Any criticisms/suggestions would be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>If you don’t get in I will throw myself off a cliff because the universe will no longer make sense. </p>

<p>And I’m pretty sure research at Wash U is top notch.</p>

3

<p>I’m not into the whole chancing thing, but I can tell you research here is great. All you have to do is find out what you’re interested in, then either go directly to the professor or through the office of undergraduate research. I’m a freshman and I’m already published.</p>

4

<p>Okay, I’ll start emailing over the school year if get accepted. That’s really cool you are already published, my professor and I submitted a research paper recently and are awaiting its acceptance, I’m pretty excited I get to be listed as a co-author.</p>

<p>Also, is it easy for undergrads to get research opportunities? I just don’t want the research group to be full of post docs or grad students.</p>

5

<p>Research opportunities here are readily available for everyone. I’m sure that whatever it is you want to do can be done.</p>

6

<p>Do you ever sleep or eat or, y’know, do fun stuff? Hooooly crap, if I had a resume like that this process would be MUCH less stressful.</p>

7

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</p>

<p>It doesn’t take up much time as you think it does. But this year, 9 hours of research a week and an additional 9 hours of the university class is kind of hard to deal with…</p>

8

<p>I work with primarily grad students in my lab. I think it’s great! It allows you to learn from someone who is not only much more experienced, but also something of a peer. It’s much different than the professor-undergrad relationship, especially because in general very few PIs (principal investigators) actually do bench work in the lab. My professor is awesome nonetheless and I frequently go to him for advice and direction.</p>

9

<p>^Ok, sounds good. I am actually working with a PhD candidate right now (finished grad), and I agree, they are quite knowledgeable. I just don’t want there to be competition to get into a research group.</p>

<p>On a different note, any more input on chances?</p>

10

<p>Research here is almost too good lol. I’m a premed/engineer (not sure which I prefer) and I feel almost pressured to do research because I see all my friends doing it. In reality though, most schools don’t have that much undergrad research. (Ie. I feel behind as a result of how awesome/common research is here).</p>