W&L Class of 2023 RD + Johnson Results

Hello everyone, I just wanted to create this thread to help future seniors applying to college! I see this sort of thread a lot in other schools and thought why not start one for W&L. I know RD doesn’t come out until tomorrow but I know that the Johnson Scholars have already been notified of their decisions.

Choose One:
[ size=4][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted **[/color][/size]
[ size=4][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Deferred **[/color][/size]
[ size=4][ color=red][ b]Decision: Rejected **[/color][/size]

Objective
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II (place score in parentheses):
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parentheses):
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service:
Summer Activities:
Essays:
Teacher Recommendations:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you received a likely/possible/unlikely prediction:
Where else you have applied and/or have been accepted/rejected:

General comments/advice/hindsight:

I’ll start it off!

Decision: Accepted with Johnson Scholarship

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1420 but NOT submitted (you guys idk why the SAT was so hard for me)
ACT (breakdown): 35 Composite, 36 english, 32 math, 36 writing, 35 science
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 780 Spanish w/o listening, 710 math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.8
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School wasn’t submitting ranks but I was ~25/138
AP (place score in parentheses): Submitted 8 (5 5’s, 3 4’s), I got a 2 on Physics I and 3 on Statistics but did NOT submit them
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Cal AB, AP English Literature, AP Spanish Literature, AP European History, AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP Art History
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):

  • Senior Class Committee President
  • Freshman Retreat Counselor
  • Concertmaster/ Principal Second Violinist for city youth orchestra
  • Morning announcer haha
  • Hispanic Honor Society
  • 30 Hour Famine Student Coordinator
  • Student Government/ Leadership
  • Service Org. Chapter Trainer
  • Service Org. Chapter Senior Leadership Intern
  • Service Org. Founding Member of National Council
  • Service Org. Event Speaker / Recruiter

Job/Work Experience: None

Volunteer/Community Service:

  • SUMMER!

Summer Activities:

  • in 2016 was youth head of a program that gave pool safety to low-income children for free at YMCA
  • after that, spent my summers working in rural Latin-American communities collaborating with local youth to establish sustainable microprojects
  • in 2017 went to the highlands of Nicaragua and catalyzed construction of communal house for children’s vaccinations
  • in 2018 went to the Andes Mountains in Ecuador and worked with the community to develop a microenterprise centered around guinea pigs (they ate them lmao)

Essays (1-10 Details):

  • Common: 8/10, about struggles I initially faced w/ my summer in Nicaragua and how I learned from them
  • Johnson: 10/10, extremely proud of what I created, chose the prompt “create your own class” and showed the intersection b/w my interest in: Latin-America, Government, Politics, development, and service.

Teacher Recommendations:

  • AP Span. Lang Teacher: 9/10 → she introduced me to the Service Org. and I TA for her
  • AP Lang Teacher: 7.5/10 → she liked me and I liked her but I was never really outstanding in her class
  • Counselor Rec: 9/10, school is small so we get a lot of individualized attention
  • Additional Rec: 10/10 CEO of the Service Org., met her in the field in Ecuador, bonded w/ her b/c we’re both from the same city

Interviews:

  • Initial Group @ DIVE: 8/10, wasn’t outstanding but the admissions representative liked our group
  • Panel Interview @ Johnson Weekend: 9/10, actually quoted my essay which kinda caught me off guard but allowed for deeper conversation
  • Group Interview @ Johnson Weekend: 7/10, I couldn’t think of anything original → it was meh

Other:
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
School Type: Public magnet (this means that the school is all AP and has less students)
Ethnicity: Asian and Hispanic
Income Bracket: > 300k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM b/c of Hispanicity? Maybe?
Intended Major/Minor: I really don’t know, my blanket areas are: Politics, Economics, Romance Languages, and Latin-American Studies

Reflection:
Strengths: Work w/ the service organization and Johnson essays!!! I can’t stress this enough but find something that you love doing and do, do, do it!
Weaknesses: Second semester junior year hit me like a truck! Was not the best academically…

Where else you have applied and/or have been accepted/rejected:
Accepted: Boston College A&S, Bowdoin
Waiting: Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Middlebury, Wesleyan

General comments/advice/hindsight:

  • General: Find your passion and create an image of yourself that admissions officers can use to get a better sense of who you are. Even though I wasn’t the best statistically, I was able to describe exactly “this is what I have to offer to the school.” Don’t give up hope! Also apply for the fly-in programs!

Extra for Johnson:

  • The Johnson Weekend is CRAZY fun but please do not go too wild! It’s fine to go to parties and chill w/ upperclassmen but do NOT do anything that you regret-- remember, you are there for a scholarship weekend and you don’t know who’s reporting back to Admissions
  • The individual interview is important! Prepare correctly.

Final: The Johnson Scholarship is an incredible opportunity and I cannot describe how much I love this school! The administration is working hard to improve diversity on campus and I can tell especially by how they are crafting this year’s class. Don’t gloss over W&L, it’s an amazing school with incredible opportunities.

Decision: Accepted
Objective
Major: Political Science
ACT (breakdown): 31, 32 SS w/ 36 E, 28 M, 33 R, 30 S
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Did not take thank goodness.
Unweighted GPA : 3.85/4 4.25 W/4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 9%
AP (place score in parentheses): Did not send.

Senior Year Course Load: AP Environmental Science, Symphonic Winds, Concert Band, Jazz Band, AP Chinese, Newspaper, AP Statistics, AP English Literature.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Made All-State Honor Band, featured nationally for my hobby.

Subjective
Extracurriculars: First chair trombone in all school bands/orchestra for all four years, first trombone in district all four years, hosted local antique collectibles conventions.
Job/Work Experience: Instructor at Parks and Recreation
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteered at historic home and for Parks and Rec
Summer Activities: Played in community college band and worked
Essays: Solid 10/10, I spent a lot of time on these
Teacher Recommendations: English teacher’s was probably 8.5/10, she liked me but wasn’t used to writing them.
AP Gov/Econ: probably a 9/10, did well in his class and we get along really well, but he is a bit disorganized so who knows for sure.
Counselor Rec: 6/10 She has 700 kids total in a school of 4000 so I doubt it was very personal.
Additional Rec: 10/10 My band director and I are close. He is quite caring and detail-oriented so I’d imagine he did a great job.
Interview: 9.5/10 I said most of the things I wanted to but I was a bit nervous.

Other
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): n/a
School Type: Large, urban, public, competitive
Ethnicity: white
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none at all. I’m a regular white guy.

Reflection
Strengths: Essays, course rigor, EC’s
Weaknesses: Test scores
Why you think you received a likely/possible/unlikely prediction: I’ve done well in music and that probably came through at the Music Honors Weekend. My essays were strong and I demonstrated a lot of interest.
Where else you have applied and/or have been accepted/rejected:
No from UCLA, UCSB, Williams, and Swarthmore. Yes from Pepperdine, URichmond, UCSD, Baylor, Whittier, USD, and UC Davis. Have not heard from a bunch of schools yet.
General comments/advice/hindsight: I’m very surprised I got in, perhaps they took me because of yield protection. I did well in high school but didn’t have straight A’s or a 1500 SAT. I was smart to visit, interview, and do basically everything I could to demonstrate interest without being a suck-up. Spend lots of time polishing your essays and demonstrate interest. I’m sure that it helped save me from a rejection. This is my number one school so this is very exciting!

Decision: Accepted Johnson Scholar

SAT I (breakdown):1530 total, 750 reading and writing, 780 math
ACT (breakdown): 35 composite, 31 math, 35 science, 36 English, 36 Reading
SAT II (place score in parentheses): didn’t take any
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Couldn’t tell you: weighted is a 4.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parentheses): 5 AP Bio, 5 AP U.S. Gov and Politics, 4 AP Euro
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature and Comp, AP Calculus AB, AP Psychology, AP Physics 1
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended Scholar

Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
-Varsity Soccer
-Varsity Mock Trial
-Club Soccer
-Piano
-Sophomore Retreat Leader
-Varsity Cross Country

Job/Work Experience:
-Ice Cream Scooper at Local ice cream store

Volunteer/Community Service: volunteered at local hospital for 2 years, volunteered at center for autistic children, volunteered at nonprofit that provides prom dresses for underprivileged girls

Summer Activities:
-Science Research at a clinical research lab in my local hospital

  • Continued volunteer at local hospital

Essays: My favorite part of the application process - was very proud of them! Pretty sure they’re solid

Teacher Recommendations:
-Bio teacher: probably pretty good, I think she liked me a lot and she’s written lots of recs before
-English teacher: hopefully very strong. I loved my English teacher and he writes beautifully, so I imagine his recs are very well written

Counselor Rec: Probably the weakest part of my app - she doesn’t know me super well.
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview:
-alumni interview: 4/10 - not awesome
-on-campus interview: 7/10 - better, but still not my best
-Johnson interview: 9/10 - I loved this interview - felt like I was able to present myself well to them!
-Johnson group interview: 8/10 - not as good as the panel interview, but still okay? maybe a little meh

Other
State (if domestic applicant): OH
Country (if international applicant):n/a
School Type: small, private, competitive
Ethnicity: white
Income Bracket: upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nothing! haha I’m pretty normal

Reflection
Strengths: Grades/Test Scores, Essays, and Individuality - I expressed a lot of my personality in my essays and interviews
Weaknesses: First two interviews, lack of SAT II, senior year grades are lookin a little rough
Why you think you received a likely/possible/unlikely prediction: I think I was admitted because my stats hit the standard, and my essays are strong. As for the Johnson, I think it was mostly because of my personality. I was very comfortable in my interview and I actually think that helped me! I was able to communicate my passions, ideas, and enthusiasm more effectively.
Where else you have applied and/or have been accepted/rejected: no where else! I went ED at w&l

General comments/advice/hindsight: Take time to find what you love about w&l, and write a strong supplemental essay about that. A common theme at w&l is that everyone there loves it - including the admissions officers. Sell them on your story, and how w&l could fit into that story. Make sure to show some demonstrated interest - that’s important, especially if you’re on the bubble of getting in or not. But most importantly, and I cannot stress this enough, be genuine. They just want to know who you are, so don’t shy away from what makes you uniquely you. That is what they are looking for! Don’t be afraid to take a risk in your application (maybe writing about something that you wouldn’t have originally), as long as it is true to you.

As for the Johnson, I wrote a previous response about that in a different thread. You can check it out in the thread for Johnson Scholarship - Class of 2022.

nice

hey eli