Unqualified admits? Backup school?

<p>I've seen some kids get accepted with 2.5 UW GPA and Sub 1000 SATs, No EC's, No AP. After my campus visit I was really excited to go, but after learning about some of these admits, I'm having second thoughts. I have a family member who is Alum/Booster. His theory is that WSU will admit and collect deposits from these type of students then reject them after official transcripts and placement tests are done. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any insight into this practice?</p>

<p>Washington State accepts students who they think have a good chance of succeeding - the theory above is ridiculous. They will support students who don’t do well on placement tests. </p>

<p>Are you worried that you won’t find people who are your intellectual equal? Stop worrying. There are plenty of very smart people at WSU. And plenty of people there and at more selective colleges who had good grades, test scores etc., who are shallow nitwits. Seek out those who share your interests, and you’ll be fine.</p>

WSU doesn’t really have high admission standards. I’ve known several people with the profile you mentioned who got in. Not really significant.

I’ve never heard anything like the policy you wrote above and I can’t imagine they’d want something like that in practice. Why bother admitting people and failing them out later? All that would do is hurt your reputation and ranking.

Agreeing with both previous posters and taking a look at a local high school’s naviance scatterplots for UW, WWU, and WSU, you see the following:

School AvgGPA AvgSAT
UW 3.7 1258
WWU 3.37 1151
WSU 3.27 1127

UW’s scatterplot is remarkably dense with a crowded 3.5-4.0 and similar SAT scores. WWU’s scatterplot is a bit less dense but more dense than WSU’s. WSU’s scatterplot is remarkable as it is noticeably broader than UW’s or WWU’s both in terms of GPA or SAT. Compared to Western, WSU appears to have higher highs and lower lows.

Sample set 1(though I’ve looked at other high schools in the area and they are similar) and there’s no way to insert a graphic so you’ll need to take my word for it on the visualization.