<p>keepitcoolidge-well-stated. I could not agree more.</p>
<p>LOL..this thread is making me feel so much better!</p>
<p>Similar stats..2310 SAT 1..730 CR, 780 M, 800 W.
Rank 1, awesome recs, good essay, GPA arnd 3.9
asked for 47000 dollz aid..international</p>
<p>i have a quick question:</p>
<p>Does being an international applicant give you a less likely shot at acceptance (especially an international asking for aid) ? </p>
<p>A lot of people told me this and advised me to consider not selecting the financial aid box on common app.</p>
<p>
[quote]
i have a quick question:</p>
<p>Does being an international applicant give you a less likely shot at acceptance (especially an international asking for aid) ?</p>
<p>A lot of people told me this and advised me to consider not selecting the financial aid box on common app.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think it's quite true. I didn't apply for aid. The top student at my school did. She was waitlisted. I was accepted. Her stats go something like this:</p>
<p>SAT 2380 (800/800/780) v.s 2190 (mine)
SAT II 2400 (800/800/800) v.s. 2280 (mine)
GPA 4.00? v.s. 3.96? (mine)
Predicted 43/45 v.s. 41/45 (mine)</p>
<p>HUGE HUGE HUGE list of activities for the sole purpose of getting accepted into top schools v.s. a few but committed activities (mine)
journalism, green team, MUN, research, math club, chemistry club, physics club, quiz bowl club, leadership club, skiing club v.s. provincial-level swimming, non-profit music community program, theatrical production (mine)
Nerdy Asian v.s. Fun-loving Asian (me)</p>
<p>To previous poster, </p>
<p>The reason she wasn't accepted is right in your post.
"HUGE HUGE HUGE list of activities for the sole purpose of getting accepted into top schools"
Colleges see through this b.s. They get a lot of people who join clubs just for college. They see that you join clubs because you're passionate about them, while she wades through them apathetically just to improve her image.</p>
<p>@ keepitcoolidge, not a single other top 20 school (besides WashU) waitlists its ENTIRE applicant pool to protect its yield. Not a single one. Not H, not Y, not P, not S, not Duke....you get the point. WashU's scheme is completely transparent.</p>
<p>I'm sorry to be so dense--I'm sure someone has explained this, but I haven't grasped it yet. Can someone please explain to me how a huge waiting list affects yield? Also, does it make any difference to Wash U's rankings if a large number of the wait listed applicants either accept or decline the offer to be on the waiting list? Does Wash U look better if students accept the waiting list offer then accept the position if ultimately offered? Does Wash U look worse if students accept the wait list offer then decline the position if ultimately offered? </p>
<p>Is it true that most other top 20 USNWR don't make use of such a large waiting list?
tia for explaining this to me.</p>
<p>FB lalaland,
You got in because you were qualified and did not need financial aid. That is patently obvious to all except the most die hard Wash.U. apologists. </p>
<p>I think the moral of the Wash.U. waitlist thread is that if you cannot pay cash and are not offered merit aid, they do not want you, except for a few rare exceptions and URM's.</p>
<p>They are a private school and have to make a profit/break even. A poor but bright kid would do better to try for another top 20 school that isn't as overtly venial.</p>
<p>@cpq, Yield means the percentage of accepted students who eventually end up at WashU. Right now, WashU's yield is at a pitiful 30% or so (meaning 70% of accepted students turn them down). If they simply accepted 2000 kids and rejected the rest, then they'd be left with however many kids out of that 2000 decide to come. However, if they just waitlist everybody else, none of those applicants affect the yield UNTIL they voluntarily elect to pay their deposit and stay on the list. THEN, WashU can simply extend acceptance offers to the kids that obviously want to attend really really badly, thereby increasing its yield exponentially.</p>
<p>and that's correct. WashU is perenially notorious for waitlisting HUGE numbers of students and rejecting hardly any at all. No other school comes even close to it. For instance, making the waitlist at HYPS is a big accomplishment, because last year they waitlisted verrrrry few kids. Not so with WashU, which typically waitlists more than 15,000 lol.</p>
<p>OK -- Waitlist 101 time:</p>
<p>All of these arguments are moot unless you find data as to how many students Wash U took of the wait list last year, two years ago, three years ago, etc. It doesn't matter how many students are on the wait list. You could have 50,000,000 people on the wait-list but it won't affect your yield unless you start accepting kids from it. How many students they offer a spot to be on the wait list is worthless information. It only matters how many they accept from the WL. Which none of you have bothered to investigate -- instead, you're on here flaming at the school claiming it's all for Yield, Admissions Games, whatever. </p>
<p>I'm sure WUSTL will actually be up front and tell you what happened in previous years. While they might not be upfront as to the actual size of the wait-list itself, no one has bothered to ask them data that they have no reason to hide: how many they have accepted from it in the past. Anyone want to be brave enough and call them? ;)</p>
<p>Last year, Harvard took about 200 kids from the Wait List. That's a huge amount! That's 12% of their freshman class. No one knows what WUSTL does, but I really don't think it's near that extreme.</p>
<p>If someone finds out that WUSTL accepts a large amount of kids from the WL (more than 200 for example), then you can start debating the merits of "admissions gaming."</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation, hookem.</p>
<p>I still have a few questions. If Wash U offers admission to a person on their wait list and they turn them down, is that reported in their yield? In other words, is what happens with the wait listed students more or less under the table?
And is there some kind of system in place that makes sure schools accurately report these things, or do the schools do this on a honor system?</p>
<p>here's how the WL works at any schools I''ve had experiences with or have had friends who have experiened it:</p>
<p>A school will typically call a student they want to admit from the WL. The school will then give the student a short amount of time to decide (typically one week, but they can probably ask for an extension) whether to accept the offer of admission or not. It's only a bout a week to decide because the WL is on a space-available basis and they need to proceed with it quickly. </p>
<p>A student has every right and ability to turn down the school that admitted them. In its final admissions numbers that are reported, it will include the total number that were offered admission (from the normal applicant pool and from the WL). an offer of admission is an offer of admission, no matter how you look at it.</p>
<p>what happens if WUSTL contacts you after May 1st when you already committed to a college?</p>
<p>@wis3ly:</p>
<p>You must clearly deposit/enroll at another college before May 1. After May 1, if you are accepted off a Wait List at ANY school (this is not specific to WUSTL), you will lose your deposit at your first school IF you decide to enroll at the school that accepted you from the WL.</p>
<p>So when they call you and you say that you want the acceptance letter, is it a binding statment and you must go to WUSTL? Or can you wait for the FA and after you've received the letter to decide?</p>
<p>@Dante-</p>
<p>As with any school, you are not enrolled until you accept their offer of admission and pay their enrollment deposit.</p>
<p>No school will make you accept their offer of admission without seeing your Financial Aid package. That would be so unethical.</p>
<p>not binding.... not sure about FA though...</p>
<p>The kids I know that got called off the waitlist last year were given a VERY short time frame in which to accept or reject (a day or so). Not sure if they were given FA info at that time.</p>