<p>Can't argue against the kid who got in because of football. Some people are more talented in sports than others and have that extra advantage. Believe me, if you were all-american, a college will still take you and expect less from your ECs and scores. Hope you have mid-tier safeties in mind because no way should a student expect an acceptance from WashU even if your SAT was 2400 and 4.0gpa. At a certain point, the scores matter less. Although I am surprise your leadership roles didnot stand out.</p>
<p>Last year, I got wait-listed at WashU but got into Yale (didn't show any "demonstrated interest" in either)...take it for what it's worth.</p>
<p>D was just wait listed at WUSTL but accepted Stanford EA. Different places, different needs. She probably wont accept the waitlist.</p>
<p>virtuoso and Jazzy's posts confirm how random WashU admissions process is. They do truly have Tufts syndrome. As an addition to these comments, I was waitlisted at WashU last year while getting into other good schools. I have seen only 2 people getting rejected from WashU at all, all waitlists.</p>
<p>That's sad. I never knew colleges will hold back admissions if you are too qualified. Guess UVA won't want me now. :(. :p</p>
<p>There's no way you got waitlisted because of your credentials...I'm sure it was just circumstantial or part of some devious strategy they have to scare off high scoring applicants.</p>
<p>Not all schools care about demonstrated interest. State schools don't, for the most part. Wustl is one of the MOST interest-centric schools I know of.</p>
<p>Come on deter, "some devious strategy they have to scare off high scoring applicants"?? Say what? </p>
<p>Are you implying the accepted students have lower stats than those WL?</p>
<p>I think WashU, like most of the top univ, accept students that fit their school. My D studied their program and discussed why she want to be part of that program with the professor and the interviewer. She gave such a good arguement, the interviewer told her that she and the program are a perfect fit.</p>
<p>On top of that, she has a superscored 35 on ACT, 3100 total from 4 SAT II, and a perfect 4.0 GPA. It may not be as good as that of OP, but is way up there.</p>
<p>I'm sorry if I offended you, it was not my intention. It's just that I've reading around and seeing a lot of highly qualified people get waitlisted or rejected. I have nothing against WashU; in fact, I was accepted so I have no reason to bash on it.</p>
<p>"This question shouldn't be taken in a conceited vain. I know it sounds cocky, but I ask honestly, how the hell wasn't I accepted?"</p>
<p>You're bright enough to be applying to Wash U and Yale, but you haven't figured out that getting the good grades / ACT / SAT / ECs is merely the ability to enter the lottery? Wash U is no one's safety. No one's.</p>
<p>good point. very good point.</p>
<p>Why is college admissions always likened to a lottery around here ?? A lottery is a random process, college admissions isn't! It's a tiny bit annoying for the people who get admitted to top schools to hear that "the whole thing is a crapshoot anyway" and "getting into these schools is a total crapshoot, nobody knows what's going to happen!" Sorry to be off-topic, but that's always irritated me.</p>
<p>As for WashU's waitlist vs. accepted students.. from personal experience I've found that some extremely, extremely qualified students are getting not accepted, not rejected, but waitlisted at WashU - as if the school is saying - we realize that you're amazing, and for that we can't reject you outright, but we don't think you actually want to come to our school, so you go on our waitlist. But there are probably others on the waitlist who are there because they are genuinely a bit under the level of the accepted students, and not because of lack of interest or any other "tufts syndrome" related issue. So on the whole, the waitlist pool probably isn't as strong as the admit pool, but I wouldn't hesistate to say there is a significant group of students in the waitlist pool that is stronger than many of the admitted students and would have been easily admitted if interest had been demonstrated in WashU as a top choice, not a backup.</p>
<p>wait, amb3r, do you work in the washu admissions office or something?</p>
<p>I went to a counselors workshop held by WashU last Spring. They made copies of three PERFECT applicants actual files for all the counselors attending and distributed them to all of us. They explained only one of these applicants was accepted-but we did not know which one. Each table of 10 counselors was suppose to review the file (transcripts, application, letters of rec etc),come to an agreement and chose one applicant to accept and see if we matched WashU's decision. Believe me, these were good, solid applicants and each one of them deserved to get in. There were about twelve tables of counselors and three of us chose the actual applicant that was accepted. It was one of the most interesting things I've ever done at a workshop. The reps from WashU wanted us to see how admissions is so quirky...(my word).</p>
<p>The reps also went on to explain their waitlist...you may not be encouraged by this though. 85% of the counselors in the room had a kid placed on the waitlist at some point and asked what the deal was. The reps explained that a regional rep has the authority to put a student on the waitlist after they have been denied admissions. In other words, there is no vote on the waitlist. There are many, many, many students put on every year.</p>
<p>no i'm not working in admissions anywhere :P</p>
<p>bus52, what made you guys choose that particular applicant? and what was WashU's rationale for admitting him/her over the others?</p>
<p>amb3r: haha okay. your use of the word "we" and similar made me think you might work there</p>
<p>"Believe me, these were good, solid applicants and each one of them deserved to get in. There were about twelve tables of counselors and three of us chose the actual applicant that was accepted. "</p>
<p>Right, that's the whole point. All of these students were qualified and deserved to get in. They only had X spots, so only X of them were admitted. That's why it's a lottery.</p>
<p>The reps from WashU explained the reason the chosen student was granted admission was the "well roundedness" of the applicant.....It really boiled down to what they were looking for at that moment. The chosen boy had a little of everything...sports, solid grades, nice letters, had worked (they liked this) and was involved in leadership. The two other applicants had varying degrees of fabulous ECs and were equally worthy.</p>
<p>I do remember them focusing on the fact that they wanted the essay to feel like it was sincere and that the kid wrote it. In one of the packets, the letter of rec mentioned the wrong student's name in the body of the letter and the reps were fair about this and explained it wasn't the student's fault. They also really scrutinized the app and showed how many different things (based on dates listed) each kid was doing at one time. Sometimes it showed they were really busy and involved, other times the reps commented that it looked like the student was trying to pad their year and questioned how good a job they were really doing at each thing.</p>
<p>We chose our student (who was NOT the admitted one) because we liked his essay. It was less self indulgent and funny. I will say that everyone at our table was split between two of the applicants and we went with the majority. We didn't care for one of the three applicants simply because his entire packet was very one dimensional(music) and it just wasn't our thing. However, several groups chose him.</p>
<p>I'm not sure I'd call it a lottery. While I could have flipped a coin, these reps didn't miss a thing. Unlike the UC system here, where appliactions my get a 5 minute read, WashU appears to scrutinize their material. </p>
<p>Again, I think the point was to show the counselors in attendance how hard it is to chose. Nobody should expect an easy acceptance into this school.</p>
<p>When I say it's a lottery, I am NOT saying that the admissions officers just flip coins or play paper-scissors-rock or take every nth application. I am saying that all you are really buying are tickets that get you considered, and it still IS a crapshoot that on that particular day they chose the well-rounded kid as opposed to two other kids who, as you said, were equally qualified and equally worthy. </p>
<p>In other words, rejection doesn't mean that you weren't worthy. Which is the trouble the OP seems to have - he was rejected and he thinks that he "deserved" an admission because of his stats and is all upset that WU isn't recognizing his worthiness. WU isn't telling him he's not worthy of WU-i-tude. They're just not admitting him, that's all.</p>