<p>I'm applying for the Johnson Scholarship, due December 1, this Sunday. The problem is I just turned my application in on Wednesday, and our college counselor's won't send our transcripts to schools until we've already applied. So I applied Wednesday and immediately went to Naviance to request my transcript to be sent, but because of Thanksgiving break we are out of school and don't get back until Tuesday, December 3, so my transcript won't be sent until the third, two days after the deadline. Do you think my application for the Johnson will still be accepted even if my transcript comes in late? Their website says everything is due on the 1st. I'm freaking out; I really want to go to W&L but my parents won't let me go unless I get a scholarship. Please help! What should I do?</p>
<p>This is a question for the admissions office.</p>
<p>Mdunley, I think you only have to submit your essay by the Dec 1st deadline to be eligible for Johnson Scholarship since regular decision deadline is in January. I received an email from Washington and Lee stating the following:</p>
<p>If you wish to be considered for Johnson Scholarship please read the following carefully as the deadline is fast approaching. To be considered for the Johnson Scholarship you must submit the Johnson Scholarship essay. If you did not submit the Johnson Scholarship essay on our Writing Supplement to the Common Application we offer another convenient way for you to submit your essay.</p>
<p>You may submit your Johnson Scholarship essay via our secure web form: <a href=“https://access.wlu.edu/register/johnsonapp[/url]”>https://access.wlu.edu/register/johnsonapp</a>.</p>
<p>Please note, if you wish to be considered for the Johnson Scholarship you must submit your essay by December 1.</p>
<p>What kind of stats are needed to be a Johnson Scholar?</p>
<p>Top 5% class rank. 2300 plus SAT. Lots of extracurriculars. Lots of volunteer hours. These will give you a good shot.</p>
<p>The year I applied the average SAT of those given Johnson’s was about 1485 (2230). They reported more information on them then than they do now. Since the enrolling statistics of the school have not changed since then I would imagine they are about the same. Yes, high SAT’s as wlpoppa mentions are helpful to get into the competition, but the other things count more. The interviewers on campus who choose the recipients have no information about your academics when they talk to you. It’s an interview about you and your interests, not your academic strength.</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>I second Sensible111’s comments. My S was not among the highest SAT scoring candidates but received the full tuition scholarship based on his activities, application, and interviews. He especially liked that one of his two panel interviews was a group of students. </p>
<p>He was a freshman when the Johnson gift was made (and his scholarship renamed), so some things may have changed (incl. more money to give). But I believe the most important thing for those finalists invited to campus is still to have genuine passion in your interests and a desire to pursue them while at W&L. Sincerity, along with some humor and humility, will help.</p>
<p>My S had such a great experience at the scholarship competition that he called us well before it was over to say, “This is where I want to go!” He even asked whether he still “had” to go to the Jefferson Scholarship finals at UVa a couple weeks later. (We said yes, but that experience just reinforced his choice of W&L.)</p>
<p>About 3000 kids apply and only about 200 get invited to the competition. You must have excellent scores, high GPA, high class rank, good EC’s and good essays to make the competition. Low scores or grades will cut you out before the competition even begins. Interviews are the key at the competition. All of the winners are absolutely top notch students. Mediocre scores and grades will not get you into the competition .</p>
<p>The Johnson Scholarships are a marketing tool the school has used pretty well. While being asked up does require good scores and grades in a solid program plus other attributes, the students selected are not necessarily the best on the campus. While many who receive one and enroll are strong, about 1/3 of them don’t manage to graduate Cum Laude or above (top 25%). There are many agendas attached to who is offered a Johnson and why.</p>
<p>Well, those are two wildly divergent answers. What are your respective sources?</p>
<p>I think the answers align well except for the irrelevant information about who graduates in the top 25% of the class. You need great scores to get invited but once you are invited the interviews are the deciding factor.
Puzzle just appears oddly surprised that not all top high school students are top college students. The agendas comment is probably just speculation, but I am sure many different factors go into the final decisions.</p>
<p>The Johnson Scholarships are a marketing tool? I guess you could look at them that way. We view them as generous gifts that bring many talented students into each class. Some of those talents are not reflected on a transcript. As Mr. Johnson intended.</p>
<p>Dadofdaughter, I am simply questioning a process that gives supposedly the “best and brightest” (across more than just classwork) applicants a $210,000+ scholarship yet nearly 1/3 can’t mange to do reasonably well while there. It seems to me these students should have a fairly substantial hurdle to keep their scholarships once there and graduating in the top 25% is not onerous. From research this weekend, the average GPA at W&L is approximately a 3.3. Cum Laude is usually a little higher than 3.5. These “best” should be able to hit that mark. The school has a lot invested in them and they should feel at least some pressure. I think all they are required to have at this point is a 3.3 which simply places them in the top 1/2 of the class, good not great.</p>
<p>Esquette, with your phrasing you could be in the admissions office!</p>
<p>Disneydad, I too think the answers Dadofdaughter and I align. I obviously question the motivation, and possibly the overall strength, of those who don’t perform really well once there after being given a generous grant like the Johnson.</p>
<p>It’s so easy to snipe from afar without any real knowledge of what actually occurs with the admission department. We don’t know who you are or what your motivation is.</p>
<p>In the other thread where W&L’s admission policy/reporting is being discussed, the original poster sounds so very much like a poster from a couple of years ago who made it to the Jefferson interview but failed to receive a Johnson. Could it be sour grapes? </p>
<p>It is sad that all these folks can do is attack anonymously. </p>
<p>Are you upset that you did not make the grade to get the Johnson intereview or because you failed in the on-campus interview? It surely doesn’t make a lot of sense for the administration to offer Johnson scholorship to those who they know will fail. What sane person believes that this will benefit the campus.</p>
<p>Puzzle, no I’m just a parent of a grateful alum who owes W&L far more than the dollar value of his scholarship. </p>
<p>Yes, he was a “top candidate” whose academic profile warranted an invitation to the scholarship competition, but there were many with higher SATs. And yes, he was a good student at W&L, but he did not graduate cum laude. Very close, but would he trade any of the many extracurriculars that enriched his education at W&L to add a fraction to his GPA? No. In our view, those GPA-challenging experiences were as valuable as his academic major. </p>
<p>More importantly, has W&L measured him – and its investment – by his GPA? Apparently not, because the faculty awarded him an academic prize in his major, one that coincidentally is also named for Mr. Johnson. </p>
<p>What W&L, with Mr. Johnson’s generous assistance, taught our son is that talent and success are not finally quantified in a score. And life after W&L has confirmed that lesson, because he graduated with a great job in his chosen field, is now the youngest ever to have reached his current position with an established Fortune 400 employer, and will marry his longtime W&L love this year.</p>
<p>BBDark & Esquette. I am simply an alumnus who sent two children there about 10 years ago. I have had a lot of skin in the game there over the years with two full pay students. I did not say much about scores being supremely important. I just feel that if the school is going to invest over $200k in someone it needs to be for both quantitative and qualitative reasons. Those in turn should lead to high achievers in and out of the classroom. Then again, I am a businessperson and measure things differently than those in academia. </p>
<p>W&L attracts smart kids. To me though Johnson’s should be for next tier up kids who are great multi-taskers in and out of the classroom. I am talking about the “it” kids at many high schools who seem to do it all effortlessly and continue to do so once in Lexington. I am not denigrating those who have received them so far, I just think there are opportunities to up tier a little. It’s competitive out there and the school should do what it can to stay towards the top of the ladder.</p>
<p>Puzzle, your perspective and insight is greatly appreciated and well articulated. I agree with you for the most part. It’s just that I would like to think W&L takes a broader concept than “cum laude grad” to define whether its investment was successful. That’s my personal perspective, I admit.</p>
<p>My S didn’t graduate cum laude but had an extremely high GPA in the Williams School and earned the top prize in his major, while taking lead roles in two established campus extracurriculars, participating in several others, and being a founding member of a group within the Dance Company. So if cum laude is the only measure, he doesn’t fit your description of a worthy investment, but if excellence in his major and contributions to campus/culture are considered, he might qualify. And if bottom line, real business world post-grad success (plus willingness to help current students and alums) is a factor, then he should. </p>
<p>Who knows, with a second child now heading to Lexington, i may change my views over the next several years! Along the way, I will enjoy hearing from you.</p>