Johnson Scholarship

Paying for College
1

Hi, I am a senior from Nebraska looking at Washington and Lee University. I know W&L is very generous with their need-based aid, but I probably won’t be receiving any. My parents own a farm and therefore have a lot of assets, but they didn’t have to pay for any of my sisters’ schooling and don’t want to chip in with mine. I’m fairly confident that I could receive a full ride to an in-state public school, but I really want to attend a prestigious school like W&L. That being said, do I have a shot at winning a Johnson Scholarship?

STATS

Class Valedictorian
4.0 GPA (unweighted – school doesn’t offer AP)
Academic Letter-Winner
Academic Award of Scholarship (School award – x3)
Honor Award of Academic Achievement (School award – x3)
Semester High Honor Roll every time
Conference All-Principal’s Team Award
Conference Scholastic Recognition Award
Academic All-State Nominee (x7)

ACT Composite Score: 33
-Math: 30
-Science: 32
-English: 35
-Reading: 34

Merit Semifinalist

Planning to take two or three SAT Subject Tests
Will take ACT w/writing in October and possibly in December

WORK

Worked for the state government as a tour guide in a museum
Worked as a handyman on a farm
Worked on a corn detasseling crew
Worked on my parents’ farm

ACTIVITIES

National Honor Society
-President
-Fundraising, tutoring, leading community projects
Golf
-Star Athlete of the week
-Varsity Letter-Winner
One-Act Play Production
-Conference Most Outstanding Actor
-District Outstanding Actor (x2)
-Conference Honorable Mention Actor (x2)
-Lead actor (x2)
-Varsity Letter-Winner
American Legion Baseball
-Team Captain
-Conference All-Star (x3)
Student Government
-Junior Class Secretary & Treasurer
-Sophomore Class Student Council
Speech/Forensics
-National Quarter-finalist
-State Champion
-State Second Runner-Up
-Varsity Letter-Winner
Quiz Bowl
-Team Captain
-District Champions
-State Qualifiers
-National Qualifiers
American Legion Boy’s State Delegate
-Mayor Candidate
-Legislator Candidate
-Chief Justice Candidate
-Boy’s Nation Nominee
FCCLA
All-School Play
Volunteerism
-Delivered food for elderly and sick
-Cleaned and ushered in church
-Helped to coach youth baseball team
-Umpired and commentated youth baseball games
-Maintained local baseball fields
-Assisted in concession stands
-Spoke as an entertainer

Also, does geographic diversity give me an edge? I am from Nebraska.

Thanks for any input!

2

bump

3

Have you done a search on the W&L board here on CC to read about other peoples’ experiences with the Johnson Scholarship? I know there are several threads about it. I don’t know what your chances are but your stats look competitive to me.

One question, though – you say you’re a National Merit semifinalist but you’ve only taken the ACT. You have to take the SAT to become a finalist (not just SAT subject tests).

Good luck!

4

I took the PSAT to qualify for National Merit. I was just informed that I am a semifinalist and still have the opportunity to be a finalist.

5

You never know if you don’t try.

6

In order to become a National Merit Finalist, you must take the SAT. You need to factor that into your testing schedule. I’m not sure, but I think the last date you can take it would be December (but you need to check the National Merit website) and you would need to get a score of approximately 2000.

7

Yep, I am looking at the requirements for that now. I plan to take the SAT in October. Then I can either take the SAT Subject Tests in November and December or just take the SAT again if I don’t score well. My PSAT scores indicated that I would score a anywhere from about 2000 to 2200 on the SAT.