Waitlisted? I bet all the students accepted are all of Harvard -calibre.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
41

<p>I’m going to say this, and then I’m not going to say anything more about this very heated argument:</p>

<p>The reason why there’s a lot of … shall we say… speculation? on the topic of WashU admissions, is that WashU is definitely notorious for WL’d a lot of students. The argument isn’t about “a few extra points on a silly standardized test”, but just about the entire package in general. I have high scores and GPA, but I definitely didn’t think - “Well I have the stats, I have to get in!” I thought the entire package was very competitive. </p>

<p>And I assume that’s what a lot of CC-ers, most of whom are hoping for HYPS, were really upset about. </p>

<p>Anyway, everything on this forum has gotten blown way out of proportion since so many CC-ers are so hyper-competitive. Seems like some who genuinely love WashU were rejected, while a bunch of others who applied to WashU as a backup were waitlisted, and are upset about it. And on top of all of that, the acceptees feel like they have to defend their accomplishment.</p>

<p>To those who were rejected: You will find the right place for you. I know what rejection feels like! I was rejected by Yale EA. Although it wasn’t my top school, it still stings to know that I definitely will not be attending that school this fall, no matter what. However, April 1st is coming, and I’m sure you all applied to other universities- one of which will be right for you.</p>

<p>To other WL’ers: Stay calm! If you love WashU, definitely make that known to them to increase your chances of getting in! And if you don’t, April 1st is coming soon! As far as I know from past years’ forums, getting WL’d at WashU is not a dark, ominous omen that you won’t get into HYPS or whatever other top school you’re applying to. So just… breathe ( : We’ll get through the wait together!</p>

<p>To those accepted: Be happy you’ve been accepted! That’s an amazing accomplishment. Just keep in mind the high caliber of applicants on CC - people get touchy really easily. I’ll admit - I was sort of blinded by rage for a few moments there when I first got my wait list decision. We’re not trying to take anything away from you, promise.</p>

42

<p>I think people are overreacting about whether the “interest factor” was detrimental in their admissions. I pretty much ignored WASHU since I submitted my app and I got accepted. My stats aren’t stellar by any means but their apparently good enough.</p>

43

<p>Handiman - I think most folks here would be thrilled with your ACT score - 34</p>

44

<p>LOL…I cant believe they waitlisted me…So far i’m accepted into Cornell, vanderbilt, and six other schools and would have chosen Cornell or Vanderbilt ahead on Washu anyway. They were like a safety. I quess they smelled the fact that I just wasn’t into them much anyway. The only thing that sucks is that they left me before I had the chance to tell them that I just wasn’t that interested, LOL. Did I accept a spot on the waitlist? HELL NO! Also I was given the Chancellors Scholarship at Vanderbilt…1 of the 42 kids who got that scholarship…So for many of you waitlisters, being waitlisted is not an indication of your qualification, its more that Washu have a complex that you wouldn’t choose them in the end, because their yield rate is extremely low. they have the nobody loves me for me complex…LOL.</p>

45

<p>Jamaica- I think they smelled the fact you write things like “LOL…I cant believe they waitlisted me…So far i’m accepted into etc etc” like you are entitled to something. </p>

<p>Some of the above posters put it accurately- Just because you think you’re great doesn’t mean top schools will think you are. You are applying against a pool of 22,000+ applicants. Maybe someone just stood out more than you did. </p>

<p>Congrats on your other acceptances. Go to the school that most fits your interests, not the one that you think will give you the largest (yet ephmereal) ego boost.</p>

46

<p>You will make yourself nuts if you try and predict admissions decisions by comparing one school to another.</p>

<p>My son applied to Wesleyan (by most measures an easier school to get into than WUSTL) and showed extreme interest by applying ED, having an interview and multiple campus visits. He was waitlisted (not even deferred). </p>

<p>He was accepted to WUSTL without even having an interview, visiting or showing any more interest than submitting an application.</p>

<p>He’s still waiting for replies from eight other schools, so I don’t know how this whole thing is going to play out, but I’m expecting some more surprises are coming.</p>

47

<p>The waitlisting all “Ivy League” caliber applicants theory doesn’t hold water. Admissions committees are trying to build a well rounded class and it is unpredictable what they are looking for in applicants.</p>

<p>My nephew (a couple of years ago) - </p>

<p>2390 SAT (one and only testing)
National Merit Finalist
Presidential Scholar semifinalist
IB
Val of his hs class
did historical research at a national museum
incredible science and math mind AND an incredible writer
(and so much more I don’t remember now)</p>

<p>Accepted - Washington University in St. Louis, Northwestern, Cal Tech, Harvey Mudd
Waitlisted/Denied - Harvard, Stanford, MIT</p>

<p>We just got Chancellor Wrighton’s annual “State of the University” letter yesterday (my D is a WashU junior). It notes that “the 1513 feshmen who enrolled last August were selected from an applicant pool of more than 23,000 high school graduates…The number of applicants for one of those approximately 1,500 spot in the Class of 2014 is even higher.”</p>

48

<p>Although interest DEFINETLY is not the sole factor of getting into WashU, I think it certainly helps (some people at least). It makes sense that they would want to accept those who for sure WANT to go to their school no matter where else they get in. However, they will accept those super qualified students who did not show as much interest either. Personally, I was somewhat suprised that I even got waitlisted considering my lowwwww test scores (28 ACT), however I did a lot to show my interest and I think that is what helped me. There were however a few kids from my school accepted who were really casual about the whole thing, like ‘I applied just because there were no essays’ or ‘*** i got in? i didn’t even want to go there!!’. Needless to say these people can #@#^ you off, but, just know that at least there will be a few more people on the waiting list.</p>

49

<p>About how many ppl are waitlisted? Like a few hundred, a thousand? </p>

<p>Also, do other colleges like Duke, UPenn, JHU dish out any indication of acceptance chances this early like WUSTL does?</p>

50

<p>Jamaica: If you knew that all along, then why did you need to justify it with a bitter rant response. Obviously you have a double standard.</p>

51

<p>Harvard students are of Washington University in St. Louis caliber! After all, we’re the school that “has it all!” :D</p>

52

<p>FYI, I just posted the following on a related thread.</p>

<p>OK, just for kicks and to see what all these theories are about I went through the entire results thread to date (about 8 pages or so) and computed the average SAT I scores of the accepted/wailisted/rejected students. I didn’t include in my averages students who either reported only the ACT score or for whom the ACT score would have been more favorable (of which there were 12 admitted, 7 waitlisted, 1 rejected.)</p>

<p>So. SAT scores: 49 admitted, 25 waitlisted, 6 rejected. The average SAT for admitted students was 2260.8, the one for waitlisted students was 2249.20, and the one for rejected students was 2076. So if you look of the average SAT score of the admitted students vs. waitlisted students, you’ll notice that they’re virtually identical (fyi, there were three 2400 perfect scores among admitted students and two among waitlisted ones, once again almost even.) I believe this shows that SAT scores alone didn’t determine the outcome; it must have been the other components of the application, some objective, some largely subjective, that tipped the balance one way or another. One thing is clear: if WashU blindly waitlisted anyone deemed “Ivy material”, at the very least the students with perfect 2400s, if not the other numerous ones with scores above 2300 or in the high 2200s would not have been admitted. Which just doesn’t seem to be the case.</p>

53

<p>If you talk about unpredictable- </p>

<p>I got waitlisted at Brandeis University, and accepted from WashU. </p>

<p>Supposedly WashU is a much better place than Brandeis, so I really think college admission is unpredictable. Also, I made it clear that WashU was my first choice school, and I so I wrote a letter to them talking about my interest, and also called the office to let them know. </p>

<p>I think that WashU wants people who really wants to matriculate.</p>

54

<p>pimouse:
As a Brandeis alumnus, I can tell you that Brandeis truly values applicants who express interest. If they don’t think you are serious about Brandeis (and making it clear that another school is your first choice is a good way to confirm that), then they <em>will</em> reject you regardless of your credentials.</p>

<p>But anyway, congrats on the WashU. admission.</p>

55

<p>I’m new to the thread, but wanted to know which Ivy schools send out the likely letters. I just got waitlisted to MIT btw and wanted to know if I would get some early indications from some of my other schools soon :D</p>

56

<p>i was accepted and i’m certainly not harvard-calibre. (im actually quite intimidated by the majority of students who ARE in fact Harvard material)</p>

<p>I was accepted into WashU, Loyola Marymount, Univ. of Miami, UC Davis, Lincoln Univ. in Pennsylvania, St. John’s and rejected from UCLA and UC Berkeley (<-I’m assuming, don’t know yet).</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 1910
SAT II: Spanish 630, Literature 640
ACT: 30
GPA: 3.75 UW</p>

57

<p>I got accepted too but showed no interest, which was surprising to me. I’m just going to copy paste this info from CollegeBored:

WashU’s priorities in admissions is quite different than most schools
Interest is present, but only “considered” and then look at how much stuff is in “very important factors”… only 3-4 of those listed out of 11 are “stats”
every college considers different factors</p>

58

<p>Just one more anecdote to add to all the noise… I was accepted at WashU and Michigan, still waiting to hear from HYP, UVa and Wesleyan. Regardless of where else I get in, WashU is by far my first choice. HYP has the name recognition, but WashU has so much more that I love.</p>

59

<p>So does anybody really know how many are on the waitlist, and what our chances are? In some places I read that about a thousand are waitlisted and that about 100 to 150 are taken, so that would be 15%. Anybody know if this is true?</p>

60

<p>Everyone I know that applied was waitlisted.</p>

<p>Really strange actually.</p>