Just had an incredible first visit and interview at WashU for our rising senior daughter. She loved it.
However, she is our oldest of seven and our budget is closer to $30/year, and I’m feeling super cautious about getting her hopes up. Wondered if anyone could calibrate expectations for us in terms of admissions but mostly scholarships?
great ACT news yesterday! 35 raw/ 36 ss
GPA: 4.3
plenty of ecs with leadership etc.
I think it just became her dream school, and we agree!, but I’m awfully concerned about finances. (but I don’t think FAFSA will go our way) She intends to pursue a pre-med track, so undergrad debt is not our favorite.
Thankful for any perspective you can offer!
What is her unweighted GPA? The way that weighted GPA is calculated by different schools is so different as to make comparison pretty much meaningless.
Have you run the NPC for Washington University? At least in our experience the NPCs were quite accurate. Apparently they are not very accurate if you are divorced or separated, or own a farm, small business, or rental property.
I visited Washington U once and agree with you that it is a very attractive school with a very attractive campus. However, I also agree that you should avoid debt for undergrad. There are a lot of very good universities with very good premed programs.
What is your home state?
Your daughter’s stats are great and she will have many opportunities at great schools. Getting into WashU is a reach for everyone, and getting one of their big scholarships is a very big reach. However, she certainly has a shot.
Have you talked to her about the finances, and what is the max that you can pay? With my girls, they knew the budget. They applied to some match/reach schools with the knowledge that if it didn’t come in within the budget - whether through FA or merit scholarships - than they’d have to walk away from an acceptance. So if it will take one of the big scholarships to make WashU affordable, make sure she understands that and even if accepted may have to walk away. Good luck to her!
Your concerns are quite valid, especially when you have 7 kids. Money is a very limited resource, and you have 6 more kids to pay for. Some of the other kids will qualify for scholarships, others probably won’t. If she has the stats to get a scholarship, and if I were in your shoes, I would tell my daughter that she needs to get a scholarship. I can name 3 schools off the top of my head that would offer a big scholarship. Alabama(full tuition plus room/board first year), TCU and Baylor(full tuition).
The scholarships aren’t a guarantee for anyone, I’m afraid. I was in a similar boat where my parents gave me a budget that was far less than WashU’s tuition and the FASFA did nothing for me. However, I knew my budget going into the college search and so knew that accepting my spot at WashU, if I even got in, was conditional on a merit scholarship. I accordingly made solid backup plans at my state school and other private schools with more generous merit plans, fully expecting not being able to attend my dream school.
I happened to receive one of those merit scholarships, and I am a WashU student today. But, I did have to turn down a prestigious programming offer at Northwestern because they offered me no money toward tuition. I didn’t even apply to the Ivy’s because I knew they didn’t have any merit scholarships at all. Encourage your daughter to apply RD, and apply to as many scholarships as she can. SOMEBODY has to win, and her stats are in the right range. Some of us in my scholarship are 36s, 4.0s, etc., but not all of us. Some are uniquely skilled students with a passion and a dream. Make yourself stand out in whatever way possible; in the end, it’s her personality that’s going to win her a merit scholarship at WashU, not her stats, because everyone in the running has those stats.