Is it really difficult to get into Wash U. in St Louis?

<p>Ive seen their admissions stats, acceptance rates, whatnot, but do you if it is a hard school to get into? Do you know what they look at heavily, is it grades, essays, extracirriculars, etc?</p>

<p>if you do ED and are a relatively good student, I would say it’s not thaaaaaaat hard to get in
(emphasis on the “do ED” part… interest is like their #1 thing)</p>

<p>I like to think of WUSTL admissions as a sort of bell curve. One would think that for most schools, the “best” applicants stand a much better chance than the average or worst applicants. But at WUSTL, I’ve noticed a lot of the very top students are waitlisted. These people would generally be accepted into Northwestern or Rice (similar schools), but WUSTL will usually waitlist them (because they figure that these applicants will get better offers- WUSTL is notorious for not accepting applicants who don’t demonstrate interest). At my schools, the average-top students got in, but a lot of below average applicants also got in (below average for top 40 schools). So being average is a great thing with WUSTL admissions. The cream of the crop get waitlisted, and the absolute worst get rejected (like anywhere else), and everything in between is a crapshoot.</p>

<p>Senior0991 has a pretty accurate portrayal of it, but I think that it can be a crapshoot even at the very top of the bell curve (although, as mentioned, it is not for the same reason that HYP would be). </p>

<p>The superstars ARE admitted, but not in any way that seems to make sense (not even interest, if you delve deeply into the WashU boards).</p>

<p>Okay, that was actually very useful. Thanks!</p>

<p>It’s not too difficult, with great, not spectacular grades and likewise sat scores you should be able to get in</p>

<p>Wait, Senior0991 what is your definition of average students? You mean people with
2000-2150 SAT scores and around 3.5-3.8 GPAs? Just checking, because the average at one school may be the best at one school and vice versa.</p>

<p>Don’t ask the people here. They all got 2300’s on their SATs, have 4.3s, are taking 5 APs and still complain about how “stupid” they are. ;)</p>

<p>Anyways, good luck!</p>

<p>“but WUSTL will usually waitlist them (because they figure that these applicants will get better offers”</p>

<p>Although that might be the stereotype, that also has to be about the most BS thing i’ve ever heard. WashU is still an renowned institution and IF YOU HAVE PERFECT GRADES AND PERFECT SAT SCORES, you will be accepted, no question at all.</p>

<p>Also, please don’t spread things on CC that you don’t know for sure. When has WashU explicitly said that they waitlist students they think will go to harvard? WashU still wants the best students, just like every other university in the world. The main thing is, if they see that you’re an ivy-level applicant, only applying to WashU as a backup, then obviously they don’t see much reason to admit you. Kids at my school who got into ivies also got into WashU, the only people who are upset at being waitlisted are people who think they should have gotten in. Here’s a tip: don’t ever, ever assume you’re getting in anywhere.</p>

<p>also remember that they’re NOT need-blind. i can totally see this in action at my school. knowing their not-need blind policy, i didnt apply to washu, but quite a few of my friends did.</p>

<p>i found it interesting that students that are financially better off got in while some students (that got into ivy/peer institutions) got waitlisted. of course, this doesnt mean they actually admit students based on their financial status (my observation is based on a few students)…but just something that i thought was interesting :)</p>

<p>@ anotherasian1234</p>

<p>i think WashU is only not-need blind for the last 10% of the class they are trying to fill.</p>

<p>They are need blind for 90% of the class. The purpose of this is to make sure that they do not run out of grants and scholarships for students. They are also not-need blind for internationals, but so are all of the other top schools.</p>

<p>Screw Tufts syndrome, we need WUSTL syndrome!</p>

<p>einnob- I defined average students in my explanation as the average student applying to a top 40 school. These students are exceptional compared to the national pool. </p>

<p>nooob- I am not making this stuff up. You said that “IF YOU HAVE PERFECT GRADES AND PERFECT SAT SCORES, you will be accepted, no question at all.” Really? Now who is the person making up BS? I know two people at my school, one fitting perfectly in this category, the other really close, who both got waitlisted at WUSTL. The latter was my friend, and WUSTL was his second choice behind Northwestern (which I found surprising- the guy was ivy material), and he was crushed. I also heard of multiple “perfect” students get waitlisted as well on the WUSTL board here. Those people could be embellishing about their stats, but the fact of the matter is, a far fewer percentage of “perfect” students get into WUSTL than into comparable schools. </p>

<p>I will concede that I do not know for sure that WUSTL waitlists top applicants because they figure such applicants would decrease their yield. The only other reasonable explanation I can come up with is that they see these students as mere machines, but I can guarantee you that those waitlisted at my school were far from it. </p>

<p>Anyway, the main point I was trying to make is that WUSTL’s admissions is very confusing. Usually the very top applicants can safely assume they’ll get into schools of WUSTL’s caliber. I know nothing is guaranteed, but WUSTL’s admissions are “guaranteed” to a noticeably far lesser degree. They seem to avoid admitting on merit as much as similar schools do (a couple of my friends, who couldn’t get into schools considered far less prestigous, got into WUSTL, and I don’t believe that they should have gotten admitted over the kids from my school who took far harder classes, were better writers, got far better grades, demonstrated just as much interest, and were significantly more involved in extra-curriculars). They didn’t expect to get in either; WUSTL was a very high reach for both of them, and they still admit that they have no idea why they were admitted.</p>

<p>WashU is definitely a very confusing school admissions-wise. It’s hard to ignore the strength of their incoming classes, however:</p>

<ul>
<li>241 National Merit Scholars in the class of 2011 (4th among all colleges)</li>
<li>1370-1530 middle 50% SAT range </li>
<li>95% from the top 10%</li>
</ul>

<p>Those statistics definitely place WashU amongst the very top colleges in terms of the entering class, and I don’t think they could assemble such a class by rejecting “overqualified” applicants.</p>

<p>(Obviously, there are factors other than GPA, SATs, and class rank.)</p>

<p>^Your statistics may not mean anything anymore, as they are two years old. When I was a sophomore, loads of people I knew were in love with WUSTL, and, at least at my school, their average accepted GPA was very high (up there with Yale and Brown and such), which supports your data from the class of 2011. But, in 2012 the average accepted GPA dropped considerably (about .1, which is a lot) and I am sure that it will continue the downward trend, because (at least at my school) they accepted some students (the ones I mentioned before and others) who have GPAs .5 below the accepted average, while they waitlisted people with GPAs .3 above the accepted average.</p>

<p>I’d likr yo back up Senior0991’s stats here. I got accepted into Duke, Cornell, Brown, UVA echols scholars program, nyu and waitlisted at Washu, Stanford, and Upenn. Upenn and stanford I understand, but Washu I really don’t. I mean, I personally know some candidates that I thought I was more qualified than get in. A lot of schools practice the yield protection thing though.</p>

<p>CollegeBoard actually lists the SAT range as 1380-1540. I’m not sure which class corresponds to that range. It’s not 2009 (lower scores, according to Princeton Review) or 2011. I guess it could be 2010, but I would expect an increase from 2010 to 2011 and not a decrease. </p>

<p>And naomi, I was accepted at both WashU and Penn, so…I don’t know!</p>

<p>congratulations star_s…I think that the college admissions process is really confusing and I think you should go with upenn, really. It’s ivy league and has a really high rank, and it’s more selective and more prestigious overall.</p>

<p>I agree that interest is their number one thing. ED is the best route. They also adore the waitlist which is kinda annoying.</p>

<p>I love how people bash WashU for no apparent reason. It is obvious that these people know nothing about the school and if they were even to do something so simple as to look at the CC applicant data for WashU, they would realize that yield protection really isn’t too prevalent. That’s the simple way to do it, or you could do the same thing with decisions threads and admissions statistics and find out the exact same thing with even more information to back it up. WashU does not extensively practice yield protection. Of course they may to some extent but I doubt it’s anymore than anywhere else.</p>

<p>Full Disclosure: I am a student at William & Mary who initially thought last year that WashU was an overrated school solely based upon the amount of mailings as well as the fact that it’s not as well known as a lot of the ivies. After deciding to transfer, WashU quickly was added to the list after actually doing some research and finding out what the school had to offer instead of making judgments. Try it guys! It works! I then visited about a month ago and absolutely fell in love with the school. I can honestly say nothing negative about it. I will be attending starting Fall 2009.</p>

<p>Do some research before making such broad generalizations about a school. You cannot argue with the numbers, its SAT range (1380-1540) is at or above the level of most of the ivies and similar schools. If that is the case, how is it possible to practice yield protection? Let me guess, the deception artists in the WashU admissions office are fudging the numbers? NO, get a life guys. Quit bashing WashU at every opportunity. If you don’t respect it, you’re entitled to your own opinion but I am just sick and tired of how every thread that goes as far as to mention the university ends up in some massacre of WashU’s reputation by people who have very little familiarity or knowledge of the school.</p>

<p>WashU is an outstanding school and anyone who thinks they are entitled to admission at WashU has not done his/her research. This sense of entitlement to admission that people seem to have of a WashU admission offer is disconcerting but in all honesty, these people belong at ivies where they hang out with other students who base college decisions solely on prestige and USnews rankings. (NOT saying that all ivy league students are like this).</p>

<p>Choose a college for the right reason. Don’t compare yourself to other students as applications are evaluated on so many different factors it is nearly impossible to predict admissions perfectly.</p>