<p>So sorry, stresscasejen. Admits were down this year (17% v. last year’s 18.22%). W&L accepts a fair number from the wait list most years (with the exception of last year, when their yield was much higher than usual). If it is your dream school (& if financial aid is not a factor, as there’s seldom $ left for admits from the waitlist), send your ad com a note expressing that W&L is your first choice & you will come if admitted. Include any awards you’ve received since you applied. </p>
<p>You may be happier investing your energy into the other schools who admitted you & deciding to bloom where you are planted. What you do in college is more important than where you do it. With your stats, there are surely other good schools who want you. College admissions is a crap shoot; it stings to be rejected or waitlisted, but sometimes there’s just no way to make sense of the decisions.</p>
<p>stresscasejen- you are just a bitty bit over the average WL admit. If you havent shown the love to WL you are guaranteed a waitlist. This is brought to you by a highly unscientific straw poll of gossipy moms ;)</p>
<p>Actually your stats are a somewhat higher than the typical accepted student at W&L. Its Avg SAT’s are about 2060. Your class rank is better than most and the rest of your resume looks good. </p>
<p>Only thing I might say is that if you did not interview that is a way for someone with your stats to get WL’d. </p>
<p>IF you still want to go send them a letter telling them you will go if accepted. Your finances might affect the results because Wait List admits ususally can afford to go, or mostly can. Like every other school they use full pay tuition dollars to fund some of the financial aid they give so they have to see how much of the aid budget is extended to admits and then how many admits take them up on it. IF things are in balance they can take some kids with need off the WL. If they are out of balance like last year the WL kids are all full pay.</p>
<p>There are really very few schools which can afford to be truly need blind. W&L would not be one of them. They are generous if they want someone. Less so if they are neutral or want someone less.</p>
<p>They will go to the Wait List, everyone does. Last year they took about 10% of the class that way, so they really were not quite as selective as the 18% indicates.</p>
<p>stresscasejen - I know someone who got into W&L from the waitlist. She’s a junior there now and loves it. She, (mostly likely her helicopter parents, in reality,) went back to W&L and told them how much she loved the school, yada, yada, yada, and they offered her admission. My guess is she is full pay, so YMMV, but the chance is still there.</p>
<p>I got in! I am so surprised. I got denied from UVA and waitlisted at U of R. 99% sure I am going.
SAT 2040 (CR780-QR660-W600)
SATII-US History 660, Literature 650
GPA: 3.84
Class Rank:32 of 312 so not even top 10%
EC: Jazz Band
Demo: White Male from Virginia, income bracket $100,000
I had a very successful interview (i assume because im admitted)
and apparently I had a great essay from everyone who read it. I am stunned that I got in to the point where I think it may be a mistake but I am euphoric! Also I got $33,000 grant from them!</p>
<p>D was accepted.
ACT: 32
GPA: 3.9; 4.6 weighted
top 5% of class (364)
We are stunned at the Financial Aid offer - much less than expected, and we qualify for Pell grants!</p>
<p>The portal keeps telling me my email doesn’t exist in their database! And they sent me an email a few months ago saying that they have my email and yadda yadda. But I can’t create an account! I emailed them a couple of times, no one ever answers me. I have no idea what the problem is</p>
<p>I was somehow waitlisted, which came as a huge surprise after getting accepted into Bowdoin, Grinnell, Haverford, Kenyon, Oberlin with lots of merit aid, as well as a few other schools…
SAT - 2320
GPA unweighted - 4.0
7 AP’s between junior and senior year
EC’s - Chess team captain, award winning debater, 150+ hours of community service (including starting a few of my own programs), local youth group leader, etc.
Interview - Decent
Essays - Very good, from what I’ve heard</p>
<p>If in the interview you did not place W&L reasonbly high on your list that is a possibility. Also, with stats like that you could have qualified for a Johnson interview possibly. If you did not at least apply for one they could have read that as not intersted. If you needed money they may have decided that they had enough students like you in the mix already who seemed to have more interest. Level of interest is very important there.</p>
<p>I agree with the above re interest and interview. If in the interview you even breathe that W&L is not a top choice or one of your tippy tops (and God forbid you mention an Ivy or Stanford) you will never get admitted and, at best, you will be on the waitlist. W&L is absolutely notorious for wanting to feel the love and if you have top stats and don’t give 'em the hugs, they are just as happy to ding you. That’s how they keep that 20% acceptance rate: they are very, very, very careful about taking only the very clingy types. For those of you with high stats and rejections or waitlists, understand that this is core to the W&L psychology and you cross this at your (obvious) peril.</p>
<p>Placido240, thats not entirely true. W&L has no problem if they know you are considering an Ivy or Stanford, if they know that W&L is at least a school that you are strongly considering. However, if they can tell that you view W&L as a safety or back-up, or don’t even bother to interview, then yes you may get waitlisted. </p>
<p>This is in large part because W&L is looking for more than just high grades and scores but for someone with the right character. And more often than not, someone who has W&L high on their list with be more likely to have that character than someone who just threw W&L on their application list because of its academic reputation and would only end up going if they didn’t get into their top choices.</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations to those of you who were accepted to W&L. Going to Washington and Lee may turn out to be the best decision of your life, as it was for me. To those of you who were not admitted or placed on the wait list, I’m not going to speculate why. I am not affiliated in any way with the admissions office; I am simply a very happy alum who loves W&L deeply. One of W&L’s greatest strengths is the alumni network. Many of my friends got their jobs through alums. I have a W&L sticker on my car and have had numerous strangers come up to me, simply to say they went to W&L too. From job interviews to random parking lot introductions, being able to say “I went to W&L” opens doors and establishes great relationships. If you graduate from Washington and Lee, you will join a proud, loyal, tight-knit group of people who share an undying affection for W&L. It is my guess that the admissions office knows of the intangible benefits we reap as alums from our common pride in sharing an alma mater, and that is one of the reasons they prefer applicants who have a strong desire to attend the school. W&L is a special place. It is not for everyone, but for those of us who love it, we are forever proud and grateful to have had the privilege of attending. Although many of you are understandably confused and frustrated as to why your stellar “stats” did not gain you admittance to W&L, I appreciate that W&L looks beyond numbers to ascertain those applicants who will truly love the school and cherish their time there. The admissions office’s selections likely have less to do with statistics and yield numbers, and more to do with the unquantifiable aspects of a Washington and Lee education. Congratulations to all of you, and I sincerely hope that your college experience, wherever you go, is as wonderful as mine was.</p>
<p>hey y’all! w&l class of 2016 here! my name is kaleigh and I’m from Houston, tx. I visited w&l four years ago and fell in love with it, but just revisited a few weeks ago and chose to go there for sure. my stats are:
ACT - 35
SAT - 2350
SAT IIs - 780 and 800
GPA - 3.2
5 APs, all 5s</p>
<p>so has anyone turned in their housing forms yet? I chose Gaines, always going with the newest!!</p>
<p>redguard117, can you say anything more about the dorms? My daughter thinks she wants Gaines, mainly because of the AC, but she also likes the suite style, and that fact that it may be quieter. She stayed in Graham-Lees for the Johnson competition and she thought it was kind of loud and had a crazy lay-out. What about the other 2 dorms? </p>
<p>She is definitely planning on going through sorority recruitment and wants to meet people, but is a little worried that Graham-Lees could be a little toooo social/loud.</p>
<p>My daugther has accepted a Johnson but will be deferring until the fall of '13. That said she is interested in Gaines as well although her Pop thinks Grahm-Lee is the way to go. I was in one of the old dorms oh so many years ago and wish I had be in G-L. People seemed to meet more folks in G-L and have more fun.</p>
<p>Gaines didn’t exist when I went to school at W&L. I chose the new dorms becasue I wanted a single, another mistake.</p>
<p>Think about your sellection. Your first reaction may not be the best.</p>
<p>Our Johnson D lived in Graham-Lees this year in a tiny single room. There are lots of singles in G-L, so if you want one & get your housing form in promptly, you should be able to get one. It’s not considered weird to have a single, as nearly half of the kids live in one; my D liked being able to have a place of her own (she’ll have a roommate in sorority house as a sophomore) where she could have some down time when needed. </p>
<p>Lack of a/c was only an issue for the first couple weeks of school, and she was not in room much anyway. Put a box fan in window and get a small desk fan. Kids who are smart enough to get into W&L will figure out crazy lay-out (even I did by our last visit). Didn’t plan on studying in room anyway (anyone can get a reserved carrel in the library); occasionally had loud music from one neighbor in the wee hours but overall was happy with G-L. </p>
<p>Gaines is a great location if your kid will be in music/art/theatre classes but otherwise is definitely off the beaten path. G-L is closest to other academic bldgs & dining hall, which is helpful when it’s cold. No matter which dorm your D is in, she’ll still meet plenty of people if she joins a couple of extracurriculars that interest her & accepts/initiates invitations when possible. Everyone will be looking to meet people & make friends. Consider a Pre-O trip if possible. In addition to meeting the kids on the trip, they get to know the upperclassmen who are trip leaders, and having moved in early means that on regular move-in day, your kid can be the one who knows where things are & how they work!</p>