My only concern is my counsellors happen to have data upon which they’re basing their suggestions, and ultimately, I believe they are looking out for what’s best for someone in my position. I’m still trying to find out more from them about all the factors they consider. Once I have that I could judge whether WashU is worth it
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I’ve been following this thread with interest and am impressed with OP’s measured answers. You will do well wherever you end up and luckily already have great options.
Ultimately OP needs to identify his/her priorities. My perception (and apologies if I’m wrong) is that OP is more interested in a certain college experience outside of the academic offerings. If OP were looking for the best engineering program, WashU would no longer be in consideration as OP has acceptances to better engineering programs (repeated for emphasis). However, while amazing tech/STEM schools, GTech and CWRU have very different vibes from WashU. Purdue as well.
OP, what is your ideal college experience (sports, social life, academic resources, internships/co-ops, etc)? How sure are you about BME/some type of engineering? Is it important to have other options if you change your mind?
Good luck to you!
ETA: Personally I hope you drop ED2 so we can see what other acceptances come your way. 
I’m not convinced you are in love enough with WashU to forego learning what other options you may have in April. But it’s your choice and luckily you already have great ones.
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I believe it was mentioned upthread connecting with Indian students on campus to ask about their experiences. I recommend rather than asking your counselors for these contacts, that you contact the AOs at the universities you’re seriously considering. My D did this and received wonderful insight from current students.
Based on what you have posted, I think you have a very high likelihood of ED2 acceptance at WashU.
Also, my understanding (at least from two years ago) is that WashU is a college that really wants you to show them love, and to convince them that they are not an applicant’s safety school. Based on that, I would think that if you switch to RD, you will likely get waitlisted (which will preserve WashU’s yield protection in regards to you) or declined.
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I had a call with my counsellor and I feel much better about things. I haven’t yet made up my mind but I do realise I’ll be more than fine either way. She’s given me a lot more insight into how good WashU is and expanded on her earlier points. For example, about how professors at WashU will literally get on the phone to help you get a job (and how that will never happen at a public uni like gtech). She contends that WashU is indeed up there with JHU, Northwestern and the rest and that the experience at WashU will be no less fantastic than at those.
She did advise me, however, to withdraw the ED if I feel I want to see what happens in RD, to avoid that “what if.” After all, as @CCName1 said earlier, the worst case is I end up at GTech which is still an amazing option. This is where I’ll need to spend a little more time thinking, because I do think I would be fine at either place.
it is correct that rankings are definitely not all that interest me. My counsellor raises a few good point in favour of what else matters, and apart from that,
I do want a more diverse experience. I’m not 100% about BME so I’d value the option to choose otherwise should I feel so once I’ve tasted what it’s like (I realise Georgia Tech isn’t the best option for that because I don’t think first years can change their major). I’m an athlete and love some fun now and then, but I’m sure most colleges can live up to that.
Thank you! Honestly, I’m kind of curious as well but I’m trying to make a practical evaluation. Hopefully I’ve decided soon:)
I might try, but I don’t believe there’s a lot of time for me to take complete advantage of that. My counsellor’s recommended I choose my Friday latest.
That is what I thought initially, but technically it shouldn’t be treated different from a regular application? That was my counsellor’s opinion at least but I can’t be 100%.
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I apologize, because apparently my information was old.
Prior to this application cycle, WashU was known to be very focused on demonstrated interest, so switching from ED2 to RD would be a negative. However, their website says that for application year 22-23, they no longer take demonstrated interest into account. So hopefully they stand by that, and switching from ED2 to RD won’t be seen as a negative re: demonstrated interest. (See the section on demonstrated interest in the attached link).
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Ah, that’s great to know. Thank you!
My son changed from business to ISyE after his first semester at Georgia Tech. It was an easy process. Verify but I’m pretty sure changing majors isn’t an issue.
Look at the student migration dashboard.
@SamSB - I commend your maturity throughout this process and taking your time to make this decision while researching, speaking to others and listening. Wishing you well.
Both my children ED’d to their top school (and were admitted) and never looked back, but it was truly their 1st choice and all others, in their opinion, paled in comparison. Not a mindset I would recommend for anyone applying to college !
When I first read your post, it seemed like you were not sure how committed you were to WashU and that made me think you should wait, as you have a great list. I admit now that I am rooting for WashU based on your communication on fit 
I love how open you are and any school will be lucky to have you part of their community and representing them as a graduate.
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Oh okay, that’s great. That was something I’d seen written on the portal but perhaps it was incomplete. The dashboard does seems to suggest changing majors is a common occurrence.
Thank you so much for your kind words; it’s messages like these that make it all worth it:)
I do have a question for anyone who knows, because I can’t seem to find this information anywhere: What’s WashU’s Regular Decision acceptance rate (for engineering if possible or normal is fine) and how many RD applications do they receive?
I have never seen WashU acceptance data by school.
For class of 2024, RD acceptance rate was 7.3% (24840 apps, 3397 accepted), need to do the math from the numbers in the CDS, section C. https://wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wustl-cds-2020-2021.pdf
I haven’t seen Class of 2025 RD data yet, you could approximate it using press releases and college kickstart, but those numbers may not include questbridge and/or waitlist.
I will say I disagree with your counselors on this…even though WashU doesn’t consider demonstrated interest, I think changing from ED2 to RD is likely to decrease your chances (relative to had you just applied RD initially).
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Are you sure? I’d actually think so as well, but is there a reason to back that up with?
No, I’m not sure (not much is a sure thing in highly rejective college admissions). My take is just based on personal experience, similar to others on this thread.
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Fair enough
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do you know when ED2 comes out? Does you counselor feel if converting to RD must do so in next day or so?
Originally I read it was coming out on the 14th, but then somewhere else I saw it could be 19th (not sure how true that is), but yes, my counsellor recommends converting by tomorrow at the latest.
Good luck with decision. I feel like the “cultural” differences that people speak about must be extremely hard to assess coming from another country! I couldn’t imagine if my D was applying to schools outside of our country and being able to appreciate these sometime subtle differences. I applaud you for giving this so much thought but as others have said there are no wrong decisions. My guess is you can be happy at any number of these schools including Wash U. My D was in a similar quandary ED and she went with the decision that felt less uncomfortable. That’s the best she could do!
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@SamSB I do think @Mwfan1921 is underselling themselves IMO, when expressing “based on personal experience.” They’re one of the few posters on this site that I’d trust in terms of the college admissions process.
And I’d agree with them. Even though WashU appears to have changed their perspective on demonstrated interest, I personally think there’s still some “institutionalization” that’s a bit like steering the Titanic away from the iceberg.
I think it’ll take a few years for WashU to completely “wash” themselves of using demonstrated interest. Meaning switching from ED2 to RD will decrease your chances.
I hope everything works out for you and best of luck.
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