My WUSTL Naviance is Weird

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

Ok, so I would like to start off by saying that out of the people that applied from my school, I’m at the lower end, so I’m not complaining and this actually works in my favor.

Over the past few years, a bunch of people have applied to WUSTL from my school and only about 5-7 have gotten in. It’s kind of weird though, they let in people eith 4.1s-4.2s and 31-32 acts scores and then about two people that had 4.3s-4.5s and 34-35 ACT scores. However, they waitlisted basically everyone else (which was about 10 or so people) and most of these people fell into the 4.3-4.5, 33-35 range.

I have a few questions about this…

  1. I've heard they're kind of big on yield protection, is this true?
  2. I know they weigh demonstrated interest (it's even on their website), but do they really weigh it THAT much?
  3. It seems like it from looking at the naviance, but does WUSTL have a pretty holistic approach? Are they pretty willing to accept someone with a 4.1-4.2 and a 32-33 ACT and shows a bunch of interest over someone who has a 4.4+ and a 34+ and didn't really show interest?
  4. Finally, do they look back at past applicants? My school doesn't rank, but they send a school profile, however, this just says the % that has at least a 4.0 and then downward from that. I was thinking maybe the people with lower stats got lucky and applied when no one from my school did, but surely they knew that it's possible to get around a 4.5 at my school when accepting them?
2

Naviance only correlates grades, test scores. and admission. It doesn’t correlate sports, community service, ECs, ethnicity, academic rigor, course of study, references, or any other item WashU and every other school say they give weight to. There are some schools on Naviance where everyone with fantastic grades and test scores get in and no one else does. Those schools must consider grades and tests the most. On Naviance you can tell WashU admits people above a certain grade and score baseline, but after that, it’s not just the smartest people getting in, so they must be placing more weight on these other things. That’s good for people whose grades are good but not top 1% but who have involved themselves in other things that they are passionate about. Actually, this is one of the things that made WashU the place I wanted to go. They seemed to be looking for the kind of student that I think I am.

3

WashU is also “need aware,” which wouldn’t affect most students, but possibly a borderline applicant who is applying for aid might be tipped the wrong way. Mind you, WashU rejects a lot of high-stats applicants in any case.

4
  1. Probably. 2. Probably. 3. Yes. All the private elites are very holistic in admissions. Maybe Vandy in ED isn't.