<p>Can some of the finalists post their stats? I thought I had a good shot at it since all my stats and EC are great but have not received a letter or email. Thanks</p>
<p>Class rank 7 of 502 (4.3 weighted GPA out of 4.0)
I.B. Diploma Candidate. BC Calc, IB Physics, IB English, IB Spanish, IB History of the Americas (none SL, all HL where there’s a choice)
35 ACT
1st team all-division football, starter in County All-Star game, 2 year varsity starter (not offered a football slot but hope to walk on if end up at WLU)
All-state Symphony Orchestra, President Symphony Orchestra
NHS Vice President
Physics Tutor (for pay), music tutor (for free)
deeply involved in a couple of large fundraisers for good local causes
Very grateful to have been offered a shot at a Johnson Scholarship</p>
<p>status: finalist
SATS: 2350> 800M 800W 750CR
GPA: 3.95 of 4.0 (unweighted, we don’t weigh it sucks)
APs: junior year: AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP US History, AP Biology, AP English
senior year: AP Statistic, AP Java, AP Physics, AP English, AP Econ, AP Spanish</p>
<p>ECS:
-executive board member of Environmental Club for 3 years
-Director of a wetlands restoration program
- conducting astrophysics research under Prof Terry Matilsky at Rutgers U
- Caption of Science olympiad and various other science competitions (lots of medals and scholarships)
- varsity tennis player (first team all county, 3rd team all group)</p>
<p>Work:
-math and science tutor (pay)
- tennis instructor
-girls 12&under and 15%under team coach</p>
<p>Essays:
- common app about learning how to relate to people in enviro club
-johnson: used my green car as an allegory for my personality (its a weird essay…)</p>
<p>Bellybones, or anyone else who got the finalist mail, have you been contacted by the travel coordinator yet?</p>
<p>male finalist
I go to a mediocre public school. My GPA is 4.0 unweighted and my SAT scores are high.
My stats, ECs, leadership positions, etc are good. I don’t do sports but everything’s sufficient for serious consideration anywhere.
I also have a family connection, I’ve visited and stayed a lot, and I’m Jewish, which might kind of be a hook at W&L. I know some professors and lots of students.
My Johnson essay was a pretty pointless, well-intentioned seeming anecdote. I wrote it in about 20 minutes and I’m a little embarrassed about it.</p>
<p>Haven’t heard from the travel coordinator yet.</p>
<p>Got my rejection letter today. Not going to lie, I was half-expecting it, but that didn’t make it any easier. Truth of the matter is, it’s things like these where we measure our self-worth, and when they don’t come through, it’s so terrifyingly easy to think you’re an inadequate candidate, an unimpressive person, and a poor leader . No matter how many condolences you get, how many other schools are out there, it’s still hard to bear. You ask yourself time and again, ‘where did I go wrong? what could I have done differently?’ and yet you find no answers. What happens is what happens, but that doesn’t make anything any easier at all; never, ever at all.</p>
<p>My son hasn’t received an e-mail or a letter (and it didn’t come in today’s mail either). Has everyone else received a yes or a no, or is there anyone else who hasn’t heard either way yet?</p>
<p>My son has not received an answer yet.</p>
<p>The Johnson is really tailor-made at W&L as an “attractant” not a reward. W&L needs more high stat kids, so they use the Johnson as a way to attract them (not unlike the Presidential or Trustee scholarships at other schools). In addition to the high stat kids, W&L needs more URMs, as it is widely known as one of the least diverse campuses in mankind. Of course, with its 80% Greek environment, I don’t know how many URMs or even ORMs that would be attracted to that world, nor indeed whether that world ever accepts them anyway. Nonetheless, the Johnson also focuses on these kids as well. You can be the most perfect Johnson candidate from an essay and humanitarian perspective – that is, the ultimate great contributor to social welfare – but if you are normal stats and not an URM, you will simply not get a Johnson. In spite of its inflated self-regard about values, blah blah, the Johnson is simply about stats and skin color.</p>
<p>Pladico, I think that’s one of the most honest, insightful comments anyone has yet made.</p>
<p>But couldn’t you say that about any first tier school? I mean its not the most ethical approach but ALL schools want high scores and diversity.<br>
I mean, the Johnson Scholarship is essentially the equivalent of an Ivy league school, at a certain point so many people are qualified that they can pick and choose what they want to see in their class, and if diversity is something they want, they will try to add diversity. All schools with this option would. Its the sad truth</p>
<p>Well put Danigirl.</p>
<p>You almost got it right.</p>
<p>It’s about the finalists stats and skin color.</p>
<p>Don’t ask about the actual Johnson’s stats.</p>
<p>I would not be so sure about the URM generalization. Evidence may point to the contrary. See this link: </p>
<p>[Johnson</a> Scholarship Program’s Impact Significant at W&L :: News :: Washington and Lee University](<a href=“http://news.blogs.wlu.edu/2011/11/09/johnson-scholarship-programs-impact-significant-at-wl/]Johnson”>http://news.blogs.wlu.edu/2011/11/09/johnson-scholarship-programs-impact-significant-at-wl/)</p>
<p>Placido240, Danigirl162, Orcaa, Biology94</p>
<p>While you all express grains of truth, you are overgeneralizing. All schools with merit scholarships use them to attract stronger students. W&L uses the Johnsons for that, but it also has need in it too, so it is not all rich smart kids. The finalists have a lot of ethnic diversity I am told, but when you look at the photo in the article biology94 mentions few of those enrolled match that. High end URM’s get offers everywhere and lots of money whether it’s called merit or need. W&L has to compete for them and they win some and lose too. Diversity at W&L is broader than skin color. It includes that plus many Pell Grant students, 1st generation college, students from all over the country and a number of foreign countries and other measures. All that is on the website if you really look at it. </p>
<p>Also, as far as the Greek system at W&L, URM’s who attend the school actually participate in it because it is low key and not exactly what outsiders would expect. The houses are owned by the university and are in good condition. The students have fun, but most do well academically. You can see that in Greek grade reports on the website. I looked at those before I sent a student there.</p>
<p>It’s a good school, not perfect but no school is and it is not for everyone. I think that’s the idea of higher education in the U.S.</p>
<p>“High end URM’s get offers everywhere and lots of money whether it’s called merit or need”</p>
<p>Your right,the only group that gets screwed in the Johnson are true merit schors (high stat, high EC), middle class white kids.</p>
<p>W%L wants their stats for their admission numbers but they don’t give this group the schlorships.</p>
<p>It is working very well for them, they are able to quote a admission rate of 19% when Davidson quotes 29%. Do you really think W%L is that much more selective than Davidson.</p>
<p>They just use the Johnson to super size the admission numbers. It’s a loss leader, every high stat merit student thinks they have a shot at it but they really don’t have a chance. </p>
<p>It boils down to being just another form of financial aid for the diversity candidates.</p>
<p>Orcaaa. Again, the URM generalization is not accurate. See link above.</p>
<p>where are you getting your data orcaa?</p>
<p>my s, a white, middle clas, high stat, high EC student received a Johnson scholarship.</p>
<p>Very very few of them do, if they don’t qualify for need based aid. Did you have need?</p>
<p>Where do I get my numbers?,from admissions own words.</p>
<p>They say say that over 50% are given out based on need, I would say it is much more than that.</p>