RD Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
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Thanks in advance to those replying!
Thanks in advance for reading this! WashU is my top choice school, but unfortunately because of cost I cannot apply ED. I’ve visited the school and contacted my admissions officer on a couple occasions.

Intended Major: Psychology-Neuroscience-Philosophy
*I also plan on minoring in Speech and Hearing Science and going to grad school for Speech Pathology. Is there a place on the application where I could communicate my interest for this program to set me apart from other applicants?

SAT: 1530 (730 CR, 800 M)
Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Weighted GPA: 5.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/700

AP (place score in parenthesis): Psychology (5), English Language (5), Chemistry (4), Calc BC (4)
College Classes: Anthropology class at nearby liberal arts college

Senior Year Course Load: AP Bio, Honors Spanish 4, APUSH, AP Stats, AP English Lit, aide in special needs PE class

Awards
-high honor roll all semesters
-selected to sing in Illinois Music Educators Association honor choir
-music excellence scholarship for community choir
-AP Scholar with Distinction
-possibly National Merit Scholar

Extracurriculars
-community theatre organization (8 years)
-community choir (9 years, served as a student leader since sophomore year)
-Circle of Friends (special needs peer group, sophomore - senior year)
-Mu Alpha Theta (math honor society, junior and senior year)
-Science National Honor Society (junior and senior)
-NHS (senior)
-speech pathology summer program

Job at a restaurant since the middle of my junior year

Community Service
-volunteered at youth theatre camps (150+ hours)
-math tutoring during lunch period
-Volunteer at respite and transitional care center for children with complex medical needs
-regularly volunteer at church events

I haven’t written my essays yet, but I’ve stared brainstorming. I think my teacher recs will be very positive.

School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income: upper middle class

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I completely understand not being able to apply ED; I was the same way last year. My admissions officer told me to send her an email when I submitted my app that said that WashU was my first choice but due to financial circumstances I couldn’t apply ED, and she said they would take it into consideration.

You look like a stellar applicant. You have great grades and test scores, have good extracurriculars, and have shown demonstrated interest. The biggest part is going to be your essay. If you nail that, I would think you would have a good chance at RD. (Nothing is for certain, though, as always with these schools.)

You ask about a place to indicate your interest in speech pathology. I’m not sure if the Common App has a place for it, but you could certainly mention it in your essay. Conversely, you could leave your CA essay as whatever non-academic topic you would like, and then talk about your career aspirations in scholarship essays. I definitely encourage you to apply to as many as you feel that you have a shot at getting. Read the descriptions of the scholarships and pick two or three to focus on nailing. Better to do that than to spread yourself thin on all of the scholarships, but that’s just my opinion.

Best of luck, and let me know if you have any questions!

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@JemmaSimmons Thanks for your advice! Are the scholarship applications and essays reviewed by admissions officers at the same time as your application?

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I’m not sure if your admissions officers read the scholarship essays, or if only the scholarship committees do. To be honest, the timeline within admissions is unclear to me. I know that’s not helpful at all. :frowning:

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If that’s the case with ED/RD then why is your income upper-middle class? Do you have a divorce, or a parent who got laid off/unemployed in recent years, or a similar tough situation ? I’m a bit confused.

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My parents’ income is in the higher bracket, but we will still not be able to afford full tuition. They own a business, so in the beginning years of the business we struggled financially and were not able to save much. So as far as need based aid goes, we’re not sure if it will be enough.

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@aneeshs17 ^

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Oh that makes more sense. Yeah I feel you, my parents are quite well off and we live very comfortably, but we’re in that “awkward” zone where we don’t qualify for aid but can’t afford full tuition. Do you think WUSTL is a bit more accommodating to upper-middle class families on need-based aid (like 150k-200k)? I’m contemplating on applying there for ED. And if they act stingy, I guess I’ll always have my decently good state flagship (UF) which I wouldn’t mind attending.
@bookworm346

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@aneeshs17 Is is possible to back out of ED if financial aid isn’t sufficient?

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@bookworm346 Technically yes, but it’s very difficult and usually only occurs if the Net Price Calculator is very different from the actual aid you receive. If the NPC says you will get 0 aid, don’t expect to be able to back out of ED.

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@bookworm346 No, 99% of the time you’re not allowed to. The ED contract you sign is very restrictive (from what I’ve heard). I heard about a kid from an elite private prep school in my area who got into Duke ED, backed out, and then Duke didn’t take students for the next 15 years from that HS. It’s a dangerous game I definitely wouldn’t play. Also, if you back out ED, the college will notify other schools so that you won’t get into any other good schools (even state schools a lot of the time). Back out at your own risk!

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I am a mom, and from my experience, as far as financial aid goes, the FAFSA will determine what your estimated family contribution (EFC) is. For schools who say that they guarantee meeting demonstrated need, they would come down to your EFC level. That is what your family would have to pay (not saying families have this amount of money, but that’s what they say your family should be able to pay). Wash U is one of those schools that guarantees meeting 100% of demonstrated need. Shy of getting a major merit scholarship, I think it’s a very good situation to be in to have your demonstrated need met. When I look at it this way, if my daughter wants to apply ED, and they are guaranteeing to meet our need, then going to Wash U will not cost any more than a state school or other private schools who meet 100% of need. No, we don’t have the $ either to pay the EFC, so we’ll be borrowing.

I would encourage any applicant to apply to as many merit scholarships that they qualify for. It can only help a financial aid situation if you are by chance selected.