<p>first off, I cant remember why exactly I decided to apply to WashU(engineering), (I was trying to decide btw. ann arbor). but, I've already applied and want to know if I even stand a shot of even getting in, so I know how much effort to devote to merit scholarships, mostly just Rodriguez and Langston fellowship</p>
<p>gpa: 3.67 UW, around 4.1 W
sat: 2180 (710,710,760)
sat 2: math 780, ush 710, physics 680</p>
<p>8 AP's by graduation</p>
<p>*super super competitive top notch high school( if they even look at the context of my grades)
I already put my activities on common app, but mostly just sports, volunteering, and a couple engineering activities, I guess 1-2 of them would be "semi- unique"</p>
<p>My questions are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>how do I fare of even being admitted into the university as a whole?</p></li>
<li><p>im going to apply for Annika's scholarship just because it has a couple extra essays and no work,</p></li>
</ol>
<p>but how competitive am I for the Langston fellowship? idk if a 2180 is considered "97th percentile or above", but I haven't been able to find the stats for people who've got this fellowship. Im kinda hesitant about asking my teachers for L.O.R's again, especially after the 10 they had to write for me, but will do if im truly competitive and it will boost my chances.</p>
<p>please help a poor guy out!=)</p>
<p>you mean the Langsdorf. The SATII will help but the 710? on the SATI won’t. The 3.67 is on par with the 2180 so neither one helps the cause. There will be engineering and applied science majors with much more consistent high math scores and really high GPAs. Have you compared your SATIs with WashU’s 25-75 range? Then there’s this from the webpage: </p>
<p>“Finalists will be selected based on academic achievement, leadership ability, research or other creative experience, contributions to school and community, written and spoken communications, recommendations, and potential for professional achievement. Recent finalists have been academically near or at the top of their senior classes and have achieved standardized scores (ACT and/or SAT) in the 97th percentile or above.”</p>
<p>There are only 10 Langsdorfs, so what do you think?</p>
<p>as for admission, it could happen, but no one should count on getting into washu. Not getting in might be a good thing if in general one doesn’t like going the extra mile. It’s a pretty intense place academically.</p>
<p>I go to a very academically rigorous high school and have a lot of extracurricular activities; however, the first two years of high school I struggled with juggling academics and EC’s. I was also diagnosed with a learning disability at the end of my Freshman year. As a result, my GPA is quite low 3.2 (un weighted). But my transcript shows upward trajectory. In Junior year I got 1 B+ and 5 A’s in first and second semester and in first semester of Senior year I got that same grades only while taking 4 AP classes. What are my chances at Wash U? I’ve also played 4 years of varsity volleyball (and I was captain) and have a good to strong studio art portfolio. My SAT scores are also not high because I have problems with timing–as a result I have 1800. I have a lot of volunteer and work experience under my belt though. I hope to be a communication design major at Wash U.</p>
<p>THanks</p>
<p>hopefully - I would have to think your odds are very low. But perhaps more importantly, there are a lot of schools that are very strong in your intended major where you are probably a better academic fit. Why is WUSTL the place you want to be?</p>
<p>Each of the applicants in this thread would do well to open their minds to one of the thousands of other schools at which they are more likely to fit. No one should insist on attending a school where one will not be happy because one is going to spend one’s days wondering what one is doing at that school. There’s so much mystery around this process of choosing a college, so much misinformation, even among professional college counselors. It really is a pity, and, having been one of them, I feel for the young people and parents who make decisions based on lousy info.</p>
<p>fallenchemist - Thank you for your feedback. While I know a cumulative 3.2 UW GPA is quite low, I feel as though the student I have been for the past 2 years (with a junior and senior GPA of 3.85 UW) is a good academic fit for Wash U. Additionally, I come from competitive private high school that ranks in the top 25 private schools in the nation. </p>
<p>WUSTL is the place I want to be because it is one of the only schools in the country that offers both a strong liberal arts education as well as a strong communication design/art program. I don’t want to go a strictly art school, or a school that doesn’t have a very strong academic education. What’s more, there’s a plethora of diversity of Wash U as well as all the perks of a mid-sized university, including accessibility of the professors, small and personable class sizes, and challenging academics. </p>
<p>Is there any way that the admissions committee that reads my application will see me not as the student I was in my freshman and sophomore year but as the student I’ve been for the past 2 years: the girl who has learned from the imperfections of her past and has never stopped improving?</p>
<p>Hopefully - While I hate to be this person, but I worry you’re falsely inflating your own chances. If you’re telling yourself that a 3.85 is “a good academic fit for WashU” I worry that you are going to be terribly surprised and disappointed come March.</p>
<p>Your gpa (no matter the upward trend) plus your low SAT means you are facing very tough odds to get in. There are literally thousands of applicants with 2200+ and 3.9 (cumulative) uw gpa’s. And I’d wager they’re much better academic fits.</p>
<p>When schools like WashU/Duke/wherever talk about “liking” upward trends, they’re typically not talking about <3.0 to 3.8. They’re talking 3.7 to 3.9.</p>
<p>The only person I know who got into WashU with a ‘poor’ gpa (I think she said it was a 2.9?) had unbelievably awesome ACT scores and an IB diploma. Plus, she had a hook that made the admissions committee look twice (don’t want to go into personal details here). </p>
<p>I hate to sound so harsh, but unless you have something unbelievably special about you (like she did), you are not going to be admitted.</p>
<p>Johnson 181-- thank you for being so frank with me, I actually really appreciate it. My intention was not to inflate my chances, I was merely stating my story to get an understanding of how I would fair in terms of other applicants. I understand that there are thousands of applicants with with near to perfect GPA’s and SAT scores; but in terms of GPA, because that is a relative number, I wonder if all those applicants come from highly competitive high schools (or if that even makes a difference, I don’t know). But yes, my low SAT scores are definitely going to hurt me. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what defines something as “unbelievably special” or a “hook”, but I am applying as an art major, could this potentially help if my portfolio is quite strong? I have two friends with similar scores (3.3 an 3.4 GPA) who got into Wash U last year and the year before with their art portfolio. However I’ve also heard that this generally does not happen. I know I have a strong portfolio, I just don’t know how strong because art is subjective. </p>
<p>My application to Wash U is definitely a shot in the dark. I’m totally aware of the amazing applicants I am up against. Is my application just a waste of money then? Even though I really feel like I am a good fit for the school?</p>
<p>hopefully - A more positive suggestion I can make would be attend a school that, while obviously not your first choice since WUSTL holds that honor, is a solid program academically with decent art programs to start out with. If you can show WUSTL that you can get great grades at a strong, 4 year college elsewhere, you can try to then transfer in. It is still a long shot, but I really will be shocked if your stats will get you in right now. 1800 is very low for WUSTL, and while the improvement in your grades is great, I just don’t think you appreciate the strength of the applicant pool you are up against. Johnson181 talked about it, but let me put it another way. Why should WUSTL give you more credit for improving your grades than they give a student that made excellent grades all 4 years of high school? And let’s assume that student has 2200+ SAT scores. Now imagine there are some 15,000 or so of these students for about 1500 slots at WUSTL. I think you can see now why your chances just are not that good.</p>
<p>So just to be clear, transferring into WUSTL is no picnic either, even if you got straight A’s at a decent school. Sometimes there just aren’t any openings, and when there are the competition is at least as fierce as for freshman admittance. I understand this is all very discouraging for you.</p>
<p>But don’t, don’t don’t tie up success in your future with going to WUSTL. It is a wonderful place, but as jkeil says there are thousands of schools and out of those, there are at least a few dozen that would fit you well. Open up your thinking and find these fast. It is getting late in the game, too late already for many of them.</p>
<p>Edit - I overlapped with your last post, so some repetition there. But I definitely wouldn’t call your application a waste of money. If you hadn’t tried, you would always wonder. No sense in that. Better to get denied than not try at all, absolutely.</p>