<p>I got in, and while I'm qualified (neither under or over) I'm definitely not a shoo-in.
I'm just humbled by the number of talented students they waitlisted this year.
Tufts Syndrome seems to be too simplistic of an explanation for Wash U admissions because I saw that many "overqualified" applicants got in (2350+ SAT, high GPAs, great ECs). At the same time, many did not, and it literally seems like they picked out of a hat!
It doesn't seem like demonstrated interest is the factor either, as some strong kids who showed interest got waitlisted...and some strong kids who didn't show interest got in.
Idk it just confuses the heck out of me.
Thoughts?</p>
<p>They must have been looking for what they believed was the best match of the qualified students.</p>
<p>Demonstrated interest (visits, interviews) is a huge factor. No matter how strong you are, WashU seems to waitlist you if you don’t show interest.</p>
<p>At an admissions presentation at MIT, the admissions officer said that MIT feels that anybody who scores 700 or above on each section of the SATs can succeed at MIT, and that students who got a 700 should not take the test again, since it would not help them to get higher. At that point, other factors come into play. </p>
<p>That is what holistic admissions, which WashU practices as well, is all about. Once a student reaches a cutoff in grades or test scores (and this number varies from school to school), the admissions people look at other factors, such as ECs, fit, major, geographic diversity etc. etc. Thus, a 2380 is not necessarily a stronger candidate than a 2280. They are both deemed capable of doing the work, and the analysis turns to other factors. Similarly, someone who is at the top 10% at one school is not necessarily weaker than someone who is in the top 1% at another.</p>
<p>As mentioned, many people who did not demonstrate interest got in. I think the problem is that people seem to think they “deserve” to get in as long as they have good grades, which in these times of high competition is not the case in many schools, be it Harvard or WUSTL. In my opinion, WUSTL is trying to become a more elite school, and is hence making its admissions process more similar to that of the higher-ranked Ivies.</p>
<p>It is hard to predict these things. It pays to apply to more colleges, My son was WAITLISTED today in Wash U (huge disappointment), but got a likely letter from an IVY league school the same day. Hard ro predict.</p>
<p>Not to be overly arrogant or anything, but I consider myself to be an “overqualified” applicant. Hence I was surprised that I got in. However, now that I think about it, I did visit WashU (I live in CA). I wrote a “Why WashU” in the “Additional Information” section of the Common App, even when I’m not supposed to. So in the end, they probably thought that I would be a good fit for WashU, and hence accepted me.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong - I think WashU is a great school. Like many other people here, I disagree with the way they handle the waitlist system.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I’m “overqualifed”–although I fit the 2350+ with 4.0 description–but if I am, I recall now that I’ve shown a lot of interest over the years. I requested more information as early as sophomore year, went to local admissions rep visits at my school, and I’m also a legacy.</p>
<p>I think massgirl92 may be on to something. It isn’t necessarily just Tufts Syndrome going on, although I personally still feel that WUSTL practices a bit of that.</p>
<p>Many of the things said before me might be true, but we on CC also see a limited part of the applicant. We cannot get a complete sense of a student’s contributions in activities outside the classroom, cannot read the essays, the letter of recommendations, and we also don’t completely know the rigor of each hs and its history with WUSTL. </p>
<p>When we see one 2350 getting accepted, and another not, it appears random (and it definitely is a crapshoot to a certain extent), but there are a lot of different forces going into the decision.</p>
<p>Sophomore campus visit: check
Junior campus visit: check
Local Wash U event: check
On Campus Interview: check
Pre-application: check (ASAP)
Apply early: check</p>
<p>anything else to demonstrate my ‘interest’?</p>
<p>@sharpenedpencil, I don’t care what that MIT admissions officer said, I don’t believe for a SECOND that at top schools test scores don’t come into play once a student reaches 2100. </p>
<p>@20more, a case like yours is exactly why I’m so baffled by their admissions process. You’re a very strong applicant, and you showed a ton of interest as well.</p>
<p>@iceui2, I also visited and wrote a short “why wash u” essay in the additional info section.</p>
<p>I fit that stat range, but I didn’t visit or have an interview. I’m pretty surprised to have been accepted–and relieved at the same time.</p>
<p>Didn’t anyone notice one important trend on the official decisions thread - FA!!!</p>
<p>I was very shocked by this. Most of the accepted did not apply for aid and most of the highly qualified who were waitlisted applied for FA.</p>
<p>Also, WU is highly criticized for the waitlist pool which is in the thousands. SO please if you were waitlisted don’t anticipate a later acceptance (last year no one of the 3,000 came off the list)</p>
<p>I was looking at the decisions thread earlier and saw that a recipient of the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship was rejected–not waitlisted, but flat-out rejected. I also saw that people who weren’t in the top 10% of their class get accepted. </p>
<p>My conclusion: you can never know what is going through the admissions officers’ minds. I should point out that a lot of the “less qualified” applicants (only about 2100-2150 on SATs, barely in top 10%) who get in go to independent/private schools, and do not apply for FA. I think part of Wash U’s strategy to become more like an Ivy is to get a more wealthy student body because in reality, it is all about money (in terms of becoming a more prestigious school).</p>
<p>“Demonstrated interest (visits, interviews) is a huge factor. No matter how strong you are, WashU seems to waitlist you if you don’t show interest.”</p>
<p>I don’t think this is that big of a deal, because I got in but didn’t visit or get an interview. The only interest I showed was when WashU visited my school (up in CT) and I attended the visit.</p>
<p>“I don’t think this is that big of a deal, because I got in but didn’t visit or get an interview. The only interest I showed was when WashU visited my school (up in CT) and I attended the visit.”</p>
<p>Same here. I just went to the school visit thing.</p>
<p>I just think it is a crap shoot. They could accept the 2000 or so students they did today or they could have accepted 2000 completely different but equally qualified students. I am a national merit finalist and got 2280 (one sitting) on the SAT. 740, 770 and 790 on 3 SAT-II. 9 APs (6 this year), all other may classes are honors except for things like PE, religion, health (all required). Unweighted GPA of only 3.75. No extracurriculars and the one or two I did have I was just a member. No sports. Very little community service. I did visit and had an interview. What scares me is what will happen at the other schools I applied to. I just see so many amazing candidates waitlisted or denied. My father and I joked that based on the write-ups every person denied or waitlisted had better stats than me, better extras, etc.</p>
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<p>Don’t colleges keep tabs on who attends those meetings? The colleges that visited my school had us sign up prior, presumably so that when the regional rep was reviewing the apps s/he could weed out those who hadn’t bothered to even attend a meeting and therefore had no interest in the school.</p>
<p>To the OP and anyone else “baffled” by these decisions:</p>
<p>I legitimately don’t understand… did you expect to be accepted? Your questions and comments seem to indicate that Wash U admissions are predictable. Did you think that only SAT scores or GPA or a couple of outstanding extracurricular accomplishments matter? I really don’t understand what you expected going into this process. </p>
<p>Any highly selective school makes decisions that seem arbitrary. There were over 28k people that applied this year. If you didn’t get in, that’s the simplest and most logical reason. There’s probably hundreds of people similar to each person applying, but only a couple can be chosen. If you applied to any school in the top 20, youre going to receive a mix of outcomes. If you were waitlisted or rejected at Wash U, you’ll probably still be accepted at other highly ranked schools. And if you were accepted here you’ll probably be waitlisted or rejected at Ivies and other schools. Looking back to high school, I don’t recall anyone batting 1,000 for every single school they applied to. </p>
<p>Wash U hasn’t been a safety school for at least a decade, which is more than half of your lives and my life. These same threads were on here last year when I was applying and checked out collegeconfidential. Don’t people do any research about the admissions process or colleges before applying? At least at the high school I went to, Wash U was generally considered to be at the same level of the “lesser Ivies” in terms of selectivity and prestige (and at the very least, equal to the U Chicago/Northwestern/Duke set of schools) and no one was surprised at a mix of seemingly random decisions when they came out. The one thing that was different, though, were that the people that eventually ended up at Wash U (including me, if I might toot my own horn :p) were generally more low-key about their decisions and life in general. But, seeing some comments on here, I seriously wonder how other high school students view Wash U, what is told to them by other people, and more importantly how overconfidentially some people seem to view themself. I really don’t understand what some people expected going into this application process. This baffles ME more than anything else.</p>
<p>Congratulations to everyone who got accepted. You deserve it!</p>
<p>I am not going to accept the waitlist spot. It is kind of sad ending for me.
Wash U was my first college visit, first interview and first college info session.</p>