WashU - Does it hurt your chances if you don't apply for a merit scholarship?

<p>I understand your point, texaspg, and I won’t deny it has merit. If being need aware is a policy they have willingly undertaken because it is good for the university (which is the position taken by Wrighton as he stated in that article:

then why not make it clear in the admissions portion of the website? Having said that, I also understand their wanting to avoid getting into long debates about this policy, since a lot of people have the highly mistaken notion that economics shouldn’t be a factor as to whether one attends WUSTL or a state school.</p>

<p>As I stated before, if a school doesn’t claim to be need blind, one should assume they are need aware. Actually, I remember looking at the web site about 5 years ago and they did say they were need aware, and it does appear they have eliminated being as open about this. But I wasn’t saying they “always admitted to being need aware” on the web site, I was saying that, if asked, they always acknowledged this policy, as far as I knew. Thentheresme’s comment, along with the GW Hatchet article, appears to confirm this. In this day and age, a simple web search makes it clear quickly that WUSTL is need aware.</p>

<p>I can’t go to the mandatory visit weekend for all scholarships (will be away for foreign student exchange planned a year ago), so by default I can’t apply.</p>

<p>^ Did the school say there are no exceptions, no rescheduling, for valid reasons?</p>

<p>I can’t imagine there would be any way to reschedule, since the weekend is full of activities and stuff with other finalists. The dates are given in advance and a full ride is worth like $250k so if you get the opportunity to be a finalist I think they would expect you to make a choice between that or whatever your prior commitment was.</p>

<p>I’m not applying for scholarships because I have an important commitment I already made over that weekend. Plus, only the very best applicants get those full ride scholarships and I know I would never even make it through to the finalist round…</p>

<p>Can somebody help me out? </p>

<p>How do you request recommendations from teachers online instead of having to send the recommendations by mail?</p>

<p>

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<p>On the application page, underneath the essay, it says what you need to complete it. In that section, it says:</p>

<p>Submit two teacher recommendations, including a letter and the teacher recommendation form. If they are the same letters submitted for your undergraduate admission application, you must provide separate copies for each scholarship application.
Your recommender(s) may submit your letter(s) of recommendation electronically or by mail:
Request a recommendation via email (your work on this form will be saved)</p>

<p>Clicking that link will open a popup (make sure you don’t have a popup blocker being overzealous and blocking this) that has space for you to invite your teachers.</p>

<p>I received one of the extremely coveted scholarships at WashU and I would advice anyone and everyone to give it a shot no matter how strong/weak they think their applications are. Applying for scholarships at WashU gives them an insight into your personality/extracurriculars and in a way, also tells them that you are really interested in the school. I never expected to be a finalist, and If I hadn’t applied, I would be paying so much more. Also, if you aren’t able to attend the weekend, I’m sure they’ll help you sort things out.</p>

<p>@Tubacaflaca, If you don’t min, can you let us know what scholarship did you get ?
There are many scholarships. Is it better for WashU hopeful to apply all the available scholarships ?</p>

<p>QUESTION: I was nominated by my guidance counselor for a merit scholarship that I really have no chances of getting. I am not motivated at all to apply for it. Will the people making the admissions decision see my scholarship apps as well? Can they even tell I was nominated if I don’t submit an app? I really don’t want to half-a$$ the essays and it impact my actual admissions decision.</p>

<p>Tubacaflaca, can you please share any tips for merit scholarships. Do they look into family finances too? or just merit?</p>

<p>@Dad2013: Apply to all the scholarships that you think are relevant to your application, and give those essays your best shot. I was extremely surprised when I received my scholarship as I thought I stood a chance!</p>

<p>@Tropicalslushies: You should DEFINITELY apply! You’ll certainly regret it if you don’t and it’s all a crapshoot. I never thought I had a chance either. Give the essays your best shot, you have 9 whole days to work on them so get started!</p>

<p>@overanxiousmom: Well, work really hard on the essays. Give them your best shot. And they don’t look at family finances at all as these are purely merit based scholarships.</p>

<p>My junior daughter would love to attend Wash U, I think she would call it her first choice right now! We have visited once. Are you saying that some people receive merit scholarships who don’t have perfect/nearly perfect SATs? I assumed so many high level candidates apply, that she might not be considered. She will probably be in the 2100 range or so, maybe 2200 superscore. She does have very good extracurricular involvement that would match at least one of the scholarships, and does have good GPA, and can write a good essay, I think. Any input you can give would be helpful, thanks!</p>

<p>Well, my SAT score was not perfect or nearly perfect (below 2300). The scholarship essays are extremely important in my opinion and so is having extracurriculars/achievements that would make you stand out as an applicant.</p>

<p>Thank you Tubacaflaca. Your responses have been very helpful.
Do you know, if during scholarship application review, will they review the common app materials too. The reason I am asking this is because my D who has already been accepted by ED is applying for scholarship and she has many interesting facts in her is ECs attached to common app. I just wanted to know if they will will revisit her common app materials since she is already accepted.
Anybody who has an insight into this question please reply.</p>