<p>Recently, I've realized that this college is everything I'm looking for (and more) in a university, and I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to get in. I have good stats, but I'm home-schooled, and I'm not sure how that will affect my application.</p>
<p>Apply 10char…
^sums it all up i guess</p>
<p>Something tells me it’s not that easy…</p>
<p>Oh…and I forgot to mention: I will be applying ED! :D</p>
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<p>Is it the admit rate?</p>
<p>Almost 30 percent ED rate… You have a fair chance. You could try JHU or Cornell because both have 40% ed admit rates</p>
<p>Ok, we’ll, I’ve still got 2 years, so any tips for things I can do next year to improve my chances?</p>
<p>Well, they do weight interest, so visit if it is at all feasible. If it is not, see if any representatives will be speaking nearby. Join their mailing list if you haven’t already (yes, even more spam, but it’s worth it). NOTE: You are applying ED, that is the ultimate sign of interest. Thus, the things I just mentioned aren’t necessary. That being said, I would really really recommend visiting campus if you plan to apply ED. It’s binding, as you know, and you don’t want to be stuck somewhere you won’t be happy.</p>
<p>Get involved in a passion or two of yours. A lot of applicants have 1 EC in 20 different areas, but that doesn’t show admissions officers anything unique about you. Instead, if your passions are playing the tuba and playing racquetball (for example), show that through your activities. If admissions officers refer to you as “that one racquetball-playing tuba guy,” then that is much preferred over “one of those ten thousand applicants who listed 20 different generic clubs on their transcript.” The goal is to stand out. </p>
<p>Note, this doesn’t mean you can completely disregard other stuff. Volunteering, research, jobs, Honor Society etc. all can help your application, but the point is to let your own unique individual interests dictate the focus of your ECs and raise your application from generic to interesting.</p>
<p>Other than that, all the obvious stuff applies. Write good essays, get good letters of recommendation, do well on standardized testing, and although I am 100% unfamiliar with homeschooling, get good grades (duh).</p>
<p>(If you can convince your parents to donate millions to washu, that will certainly help too!)</p>
<p>Discipulus- my DD dream school was WASHU and she was fortunate to interview with the Dean of Admissions. The staff and campus at WASHU are among the best in our opinion and we toured colleges all over the nation. The dorms are mini palaces and the food was gourmet. Showing an interest and interviewing is huge at WASHU. Also, do your homework about the school and ask questions regarding the department your interested in. My DD was doing ED at WASHU until she toured Dartmouth which took her breath away and was admitted ED.
Good Luck.</p>
<p>@RyanMK: As far as ECs that aren’t directly related to the maths and sciences, would chess be a good option? I’m the current state champion (overall, not scholastic), I teach at local public elementary schools for $75/hour (one of my teams got 4th at state), and I have 300+ volunteer hours at local camps and am considering teaching chess at a local rescue mission.</p>
<p>Of course! That definitely shows your passion 
It doesn’t have to be anything as grand as curing cancer, or feeding the poor, haha. ~50% of my ECs revolved around soccer, and I was accepted ED. (Also, congrats on being far better than me at chess 
)</p>
<p>DiscipulusBonus - if chess is a passion of yours, definitely! I’m sure you’re aware of this, but St. Louis is a major chess hub in the world, so there’s lots to get involved in. Similarly, the chess club has a bunch of cool guys in it. Last year they (co)sponsored a speech by Gary Kasparov which was pretty neat to attend.</p>
<p>(For the record, I’ve never been involved in chess club at washu. I just think they’re a pretty solid student group).</p>
<p>to echo RyanMK’s words, I can’t stress enough the fact that WashU wants to see demonstrated interest. If at all possible, visit the campus-do a tour, interview, make yourself known to the adcom. </p>
<p>I had the fortune to live nearby, so I went to all of WashU’s open houses, question sessions, tours, and interviewed. I emailed my reader and introduced myself at those seminars. I believe that that interest, mixed with my stats, got me in. Too many people from my school thought that demonstrated interest wasn’t a big deal for WashU and many top candidates who had similar stats as me got wait-listed or rejected.</p>
<p>tl;dr: MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN TO WASHU. even if it is fake and only to advance your chances-- they don’t care! they want to know that they aren’t sparing a chance to have a really good candidate matriculate.</p>
<p>Though I’m sure I will demonstrate quite a bit of interest (since I actually am interested), will that make much difference if I am planning to apply ED?</p>
<p>Yes. To use another example, three kids from my school applied ED last fall. They all had similar stats yet one had poor grades 1st semester senior year. Another one didn’t even bother to visit the campus or interview and the third one was really connected with the school and demonstrated interest. Needless to say, only the last one got accepted (the other two were deferred, then rejected). </p>
<p>Showing interest is a must- in my opinion, at least-even for ED.</p>
<p>I’m questioning the conclusion drawn from that anecdote. Sure, showing interest will never hurt, but applying ED is the largest show of interest possible. It’s literally saying that the applicant loves wustl so much that ze would attend regardless of what other schools he might be accepted to.</p>
<p>ED shows interest but you’re going to be evaluated against thousands of kids in the early pool who have shown the same amount of interest by the very nature of applying early</p>
<p>The conclusion is this: Showing more interest never hurts. If you can do it, do it.</p>
<p>GOTO PRE MED DAY NEXT YEAR! Free breakfast and the pizza is so freaking good… The 2 doctors were funny as h*ll. It is worth the 50 dollar plane ticket and 5 hour drive from nashville. Beautiful campus and aeverything.</p>
<p>In addition to showing demonstrated interest, what I think can really help is to show demonstrated interest in a particular program at the school. My son will be starting at Wash U in August and showed tremendous interest in their Classics program and actually met with one of the professors in the department. I would venture to guess that this meeting got back to the admissions office, which significantly improved his chances.</p>
<p>Do you think that will make a difference if I’m planning on being a pre-med? That hardly distinguishes me from their average applicant…</p>
<p>Also, do you know if attending the WUSTL Pre-medical Institute or High School Summer Scholars Program would be better or worse for my application than going to a more competitive program like PROMYS (going this summer), SSP, Clark Scholars, BU Research, HSHSP, or RSI (I’m assuming this is better than almost anything, but I doubt I’ll get in)?</p>
<p>Major doesn’t make a difference. Many of you will change your mind more than once anyway. I remember a question was asked of an admission officer about the effect of WashU summer program and she said it doesn’t sway the decision. To our specific situation: My older child visited in the summer of her 10th grade (info session and campus tour). She disappeared from the radar until she applied RD. She was offered an interview with a local alum in December and that was the only contact she had during the application process. My other child did visit the school in 11th grade and applied ED. They didn’t invite him to the discovery weekend nor offered him an interview. So, I think showing interest is a good thing, but don’t sweat too much. BTW, both children attended summer programs elsewhere.</p>