I feel like people who say WashU waitlists overqualified applicants or students who would get into “better schools” are not being very informed. The middle 50% of students have an ACT between 32 and 34- it’s hard to be much more qualified than that.
Every admissions office uses somewhat different criteria even when it comes to “peer” schools, since every school has a different fit. Thus, students can be accepted by one peer school and not another- that’s just how it works with highly selective schools. WUSTL has about 29,000 applications and there are unfortunately more than enough qualified students to fill the freshman class.
For students who were waitlisted or rejected, good luck with everything. You will end up at the college that is the right fit for you. It may seem like the end of the world now, but you may barely remember the college application process a year or two from now. Keep in mind you can receive a fantastic education wherever you go.
@kROCK91 haha if the belief that washu “rejects/waitlists overqualified candidates” assuages their bloated egos, let them be 
@kROCK91 @yellowboy @SkeezeyJay I’m glad there are at least SOME reasonable people on this thread!
The fact that WashU’s yield rate is still pretty low (despite its supposedly ‘long tradition of waitlisting overqualified applicants’) means that they’re not simply ONLY accepting all 2nd tier candidates and rejecting/waitlisting overqualified candidates, a point SkeezeyJay made earlier. Think about it: If WashU was only accepting lower tier candidates, wouldn’t its yield rate would be much higher by now? If you look through the results thread, several people who’ve gotten in to WashU have already received likely letters from Ivies and high-ranking LACs (including myself). 66% of the students WashU accepts end up matriculating elsewhere (presumably more “prestigious” places.)
Are they trying to protect their yield? Of course! But you’ve got to be kidding me if you actually think that WashU waitlists every single super qualified applicant, or if you feel “flattered” that you were waitlisted. lol anything to boost your ego!!!
@spuding102 I am so, so, so, SO sorry that you were waitlisted last year. 
Please accept my SINCERE condolences. How unfortunate you’re still so bitter about it that you would try to make accepted students feel bad and feel like lower-tier applicants.
Going along with this, I would say a really big skill to have in life (not just college) would be resilience. When I applied to college years ago, I had several acceptances, one waitlist, and a few denies. I still think the school that waitlisted me is a fantastic school. Think about the locus of control. You can’t really entirely control whether a selective school takes you or not (despite what some people may believe). You can control having backups and you can definitely control your own expectations and reaction to what happens.
I’m still proud to be accepted, no shame in being admitted to a top private university
@ambitious19 Im not bitter that I did not get in to Washu. I got into Duke and I would have gone to duke even if I got into washu. I did not invent this about washu. Search college confidential
@ambitious19 @spuding102 There’s a bit of truth in both of your guys’ statements, so there’s no need to get riled up! Wustl does accept the highest tier of students, so anyone who gets accepted should be pretty happy and proud. Congrats!
Now, wustl does want to make its matriculation rate better, so they are wait listing a lot of students who they feel will not join the college anyway, unless they explicitly show demonstrated interest! This means, many of the wait listed students probably are overqualified! This is why wustl is seen as a school that likes demonstrated interest. They want to make sure that the people who get accepted will actually go there, because let’s face it. Wustl is an amazing school, but many people use it as a backup for places like ivies.
Sure, plenty of colleges probably wait list many students, but wustl being a higher tier college probably gets a lot more publicity for it. Just my two cents.