<p>The stuff I’ve been seeing from the waitlisted/rejected applicants on the WUSTL board is absolutely pathetic and gives justification to why this site/its users are so made fun of in the “real” world.</p>
<p>Agreed, people are making it sound as if being accepted to washu makes you less competitive at ivy’s, and that the real hpy students got waitlisted… I think that’s a stretch…
Most applicants that apply to schools on this level are extremely competitive, and thus the adcoms look for “fit”, which has the apparent effect of randomization… Perhaps all those who claim they were waitlisted due to being overqualified are simply arrogant/unable to accept their decision, and perhaps this shone through in their app.</p>
<p>I agree. If those waitlisted truly had confidence that they are overqualified and bound for HYPSM, they would not feel the need to bring down those who were accepted.</p>
<p>My school had about 40ish kids apply. About 30% accepted, 65% waitlisted, and 5% rejected. </p>
<p>The ones who were accepted were the most qualified candidates from my school. Out of the 30% accepted I would say about half of them will end up at an Ivy. Out of the 65% waitlisted I would say about a fifth of them will end up at an Ivy.</p>
<p>After seeing the admissions numbers and the very high average SAT/ACT scores I think it is fair to say the"Tufts Syndrome" is beginning to become antiquated. </p>
<p>With that being said I’m sure there are some applicants that the admissions committee easily discern that the student will most likely end up at HYPS and may have decided to waitlist them. Top applicants are dime a dozen nowadays, but one of those special applicants are still a diamond in the ruff. I’m sure less than a 100 diamonds in the ruff applied to WUSTL let alone become waitlisted.</p>
<p>WAITLISTED
2340 SAT I
2280 SAT II
93/100 GPA
Eagle Scout
ranked 2nd in the nation at a certain academic extracurricular
president of state latin club of the year
prestigious law firm internship
out-of-this-world rec letters
Accepted: Chicago + Merit Scholarship & Likely letter from Duke University</p>
<p>I sort of agree with the above sentiment about the speech coming from rejected / waitlisted candidates insofar as it is kind of pathetic. The strongest argument I have seen made is just the “WashU is trying to sculpt a class” argument, which is totally reasonable.</p>
<p>HOWEVER,</p>
<p>I wonder why WashU doesn’t have a single supplemental essay? that’s the kind of thing i think would really come in handy in differentiating among an avalanche of ‘qualified’ candidates in order to sculpt</p>
<p>I agree it’s pathetic that some of the students that were waitlisted are trying to boost their ego by putting others down and saying it’s because they were “over-qualified.” But, I also agree that WashU has no reason to accept someone, no matter how qualified they are, if there is no evidence that they will actually choose WashU if accepted. </p>
<p>For example, I know for me and a lot of others, we just applied to WashU because it didn’t have a supplemental essay, and we heard it’s a top/pretty good college. While I cannot speak for the rest of the people who were waitlisted, even if I were to get accepted, I would not have chosen it: I didn’t really have a reason for applying other than ‘why not’. </p>
<p>WashU’s goal is to create a class, not to seek out high achieving students and purposely waitlist them.</p>
<p>The question is though, how do they gauge which students would consider attending if accepted?
I applied for two reasons: 1) no supplement and 2) wanted to see if I’d get in.
I got in, but I have no intention of enrolling.</p>
<ul>
<li>my daughter is in her second year at WashU - This is just my opinion and I’m not trying to be mean, but if you think you’re OVERQUALIFIED for WashU, you’re probably not the type of student they want. Scores and grades are great, but WashU is looking for a particular type of student. What they read in the essays and what they see and hear in the interviews (if available) carry a lot of weight in admissions.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>Also, only so many applicants can be admitted. I would be proud to get waitlisted by WashU with over 28K applicants. You have to know you’re the cream of the crop if that happened and, as many others have said, you’ll get admitted somewhere that is right for you.</p>
<p>I know one thing, this time next year, you won’t even be thinking about this because you’ll be in the middle of mid-terms or headed off to spring break!</p>
<p>*I wonder why WashU doesn’t have a single supplemental essay? that’s the kind of thing i think would really come in handy in differentiating among an avalanche of ‘qualified’ candidates in order to sculpt *</p>
<p>I agree with Metaphy6 on this. It would also probably discourage applicants who have no real intention of going to Wash U but just applied because there was no supplement required.</p>
<p>^ In regards to the supplemental essay question, I completely agree that it is a good point to bring up. But at the same time, doesn’t it make a little sense they don’t want you to have to write more essays? WashU is a top-14 school, but their reputation as an elite school or a “lower” ivy isn’t quite on par with that ranking. I think WashU wants as many applicants as possible, that way they can select a very exceptional class to continue to boost their reputation. But seeing as it’s not well-known to all, one of the major appeals of their application is that it lacks supplemental essays. Most kids applying find out about WashU their senior year and say “hmm…that’s a pretty good school…top-14…high scores…why not?” Until they become more popular as a lower ivy like Duke and Hopkins, lack of supplemental essays is a major appeal to applicants…as is the free airfare/lodging visit paid by Olin 
It keeps kids interested, and ensures they bring in an amazing class to the school that will both succeed and boost their reputation</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Wesleyan, other highly selective schools, also lack a supplemental essay. Yet, you don’t see this palaver on their threads. It seems that many kids here made a wrong presumption: they assumed that WashU was a match school rather than a reach. With over 28,000 applications from many of the best qualified students and a very selective admissions rate, this school is a reach for anybody, as are all schools ranked in the top 15.</p>
<p>I was not waitlisted, I was flat out rejected.</p>
<p>I got the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship, and similar scholarships from Emory and Rochester, which equates to those three schools valuing me as one of the top 70-150 students of their respective applicant pools, while WashU doesn’t even value me as one of their top 8,000 or so applicants (accepted + enormous waitlist-- I don’t know the exact number).</p>
<p>I’ve made a few posts about this, but I have not been one of the waitlisted posters crying “overqualified” to feel better and downplay the accepted students. I am saying, however, that it makes little sense why I would be rejected from WashU. I was a great applicant (as other top college have agreed so far), and showed interest via campus tour and local info session.</p>
<p>I did not have an arrogant application. I showed interest in the college. There isn’t much reason as to why WashU would assume I wouldn’t go there, unless they simply thought I would have better monetary offers from similar schools or choices at better schools… which is what I believe we are calling overqualified.</p>
<p>R-Mom makes a point which inspires me to offer this conjecture:</p>
<p>WashU enjoys an exceptionally unique spot in the spectra of ‘perceived prestige’ and ‘real prestige.’ While its name, age, and location suggest banality to an ignoramus, anybody who has ever looked in a FISKE (or browsed CC, for that matter) knows what caliber WashU really boasts. </p>
<p>Likewise, and perhaps as a result, there is a spectrum of candidates in terms of “how qualified they are for WashU” That is, there is a huge population of highly qualified candidates, the middle fifty percent —of the top one percent, (a pool which I’ll call ‘X’), half of whom select state schools as safeties and WashU as a reach. The other half of ‘X’ have a distorted impression of themselves which skews the other way, and apply to HYPSM as reaches with the assumption that WashU is a target. </p>
<p>The consequence is that WashU receives an overwhelming nearly 100 percent of ‘X’, twice as many as those who apply to HYPSM’ and probably five times as many X-members as those who applied to an given specific one of HYPSM. But WashU can only take a handful of X, at which point ‘financial need,’ ‘perceived interest,’ ‘unique contribution’ or any of the other theoretical factors brought up in this forum may come into play. After that handful is taken up, the remainder of X is given ‘waitlisted’ designation.</p>
<p>keellota, you seem like a reasonable person, and I think that you are going to do well in life. However, to assume for any reason that you deserve to get into a top school is arrogant in and of itself. As you have posted in a couple of places, you have great offers at schools that are level with WashU in terms of academic prestige and opportunities for their students. </p>
<p>Because of my over enrolled class, this is most likely going to be the most selective year (in terms of percentage) in WashU history. Combine this with the fact that you applied BME, which is probably the hottest major in the entire university right now. It was never a great chance for anyone, and you came up on the short end of the stick this time.</p>
<p>I have never considered myself as an ‘overqualified applicant’.
I do not have any national level recognition and I am not an academic superstar either.
I am trying to understand why I was waitlisted after showing ton of interest (campus visit, interviews …). I really hope this is not an indication of what is coming in late March or early April.</p>
<p>GoldOwl, liquidwords, pkm2322, whatfunii, galssesarechic, preppy1993, sayxanythingxx, mazzpaws, ZExodus2008, chlorinated, mteverest, kuroxramen, Netking, mt1993, communist101, fugitivechemical, iamthesunking, heinzketchup…….</p>
<p>Congratulations! You guys are truly amazing.</p>
<p>^^^A thoughtful post, metaphy6. I get what you’re saying. Perhaps you’re on to something.</p>
<p>@keellota, I might be thinking of a different person, but aren’t you from the Nashville area? Considering that you applied to Vanderbilt as well, could that have left the impression with Wash U admissions that you wouldn’t attend? I don’t know. Just thinking out loud. Not that it would necessarily be a fair assumption … some kids would much prefer to attend a school AWAY from home, as opposed to in their own backyard. But maybe your hometown, and the fact that you applied to Vandy, affected your decision? … No idea; simply a thought.</p>
<p>keellota, first of all, a hearty congratulations on your scholarships! Clearly you’re trying to make sense of this rejection but admissions at this level is like the unretrievable black box of a crashed plane. Getting scholarships at those schools will not necessarily correlate w/ gaining admissions at any of the top 15 schools even with amazing stats, and vice versa, not with 80%+ to 93%+ rejection rates. (My son who has a profile/stats similar to yours applied for a scholarship at WashU and didn’t get it; he was an Emory Scholar nominee and wasn’t selected; but he’s been admitted to UMichigan, UChicago and Brandeis w/ a scholarship, and now WashU.) When you’re applying to these schools which have thousands of kids w/ stats similar to yours, it really comes down to luck. Based on what you’re saying, it sounds like you expect to be accepted to your reach schools because you were awarded scholarships to schools which don’t necessarily have the same overall number of tippy-top applicants from which to choose. In this crazy admissions cycle, that’s just not realistic. But, no doubt it’s a wonderful honor to have been chosen for those awards and you should be very proud of that accomplishment. Congrats again.</p>
<p>Rmom is correct. If only it was as simple as being a top student, visiting a campus, and having good scholarships and you’re instantly in to a top-15 school. It’s all a crapshoot.</p>
<p>I think keellota understands that. That is, even if you are qualified sutident, you may not be admitted. Keellota’s is writing about the rejection compared to not getting even a wait list, especially if Wash U wait lists lot of similar students.</p>
<p>But that’s just it, parent62. In any admissions category – getting accepted, denied or wait listed – it’s a crapshoot. There are thousands of well-qualified kids who will be denied or wait listed to these highly selective schools this year. Who knows why some will make the wait list while others won’t. Maybe the admit committee needs to have some back-up trombone players on their wait-list.</p>