@newjersey17 - “Wash U wants to accept the students that want them. I would too if I were in their shoes! That’s why they have ED. They care about interest.” It’s a well-known fact that ED is used by colleges to fill half (or whatever %) of their seats with full-price paying applicants!
@bordertexan - So your kid is not going to MIT either, due to financial reasons? Totally understandable.
When we visited last summer, they stressed not to apply ED if you would require a merit award to attend WashU. The few kids I am familiar with all are top students that applied RD and also applied for the Danforth scholarship, but not selected as finalists. They were all waitlisted.
Made me wonder how many top RD students that applied for the Danforth or other merit scholarships and not selected as finalist, were actually admitted. Maybe being a top RD applicant not selected as a scholarship finalist is the kiss of death. Anyone know of any RD applicants who would be in the top 25% stat wise that were rejected as scholarship finalist and admitted?
I know of 3 with very different backgrounds and ECs that were all waitlisted.
My son would fit into the top 25% stat that you are referring to…applied for Danforth and Moog and was not selected for either one, applied RD and was admitted. I think it is what so many people on this thread have already said. WashU gets literally thousands of applications from students who are “qualified”. Beyond that and out of that huge stack of applicants who made it to the final cut it is a match game…who fits…who wants to be there…and even some of those applicants are probably waitlisted.
@Madeon
I won’t say anything about this because I think others have already done a thorough job of it, but I’m genuinely curious to know who this teenage bestselling author is. Do you know their name/pen name?
@mom3eps Congratulations on your sons acceptance! Although it looks like your sons SAT score is a little outside the top 25%, which I believe is 2340+.
The criteria would be:
Applies RD
Applied for merit
Not selected as merit finalist
ACT/SAT: 35+/ 2340+
GPA: 3.9+ (Not sure on the top 25% GPA so just used 3.9)
Not trying to make any specific point, just having some fun. Although, I think my theory may have some merit based on what I have seen posted on the threads here. WAshU might assume these kids have options at better schools or better financial options at similar schools and are unlikely to attend without the merit award, which is probably true in most cases.
If @Madeon thinks I am hijacking the tread, I will not post anything else about this.
My son applied for the Danforth and was not selected as a finalist but then was admitted RD. My son also did not feel the need to write a best-selling novel, win national competitions, study for the SATS for months, or publish a research paper in high school but chose to enjoy high school on his own terms which included friends, jobs, and sports. Yes, he worked hard and did well and was happy to get one likely letter from an ivy but was more thrilled to get accepted to Wash U I think that he will choose Wash U regardless of any forthcoming Ivy acceptances because it fits the collaborative culture that he is looking for that is so hard to find at top universities. Put yourself in the shoes of an admission counselor reading the applications. If I was in their shoes, it would be so difficult to make admit decisions with so many amazing candidates but I do know that I would be looking for those kids that would fit the Wash U culture and contribute to a collaborative environment…kid who aren’t just trying to chalk up achievements like they are winning a prize by accumulating prizes but kids who are truly likeable, creative, nice, and curious…just looking at the highest SAT scores or the number of contests won would be so superficial and would create an environment that my son would not want to be a part of. A person is much more than the sum of his/her scores and achievements…if that was the whole selection game, then colleges would not even need to offer interviews or use admission counselors but could use computers to make their decisions. By the way, Wash U just topped the list as the #1 school for the smartest kids in a study put out by elitedaily.com…so maybe they are doing something right!
Ryan33
You are right…busted! I had in my head that my son was at the bottom of the top 25…looks like he is closer to dead center of the middle 50. Not exactly the example you were looking for. I stand by my statement though…I believe once you are in the range it becomes about fit, what you bring to the campus and desire to be there. WashU is my son’s first choice and I believe he was able to convey that which I’m sure factored into his acceptance.
@ava194 would you care to post your sons stats just for fun?
He scored 2340 (only took it once) and his high school doesn’t rank (he has a 4.0 unweighted GPA). He applied for merit but was not named a finalist but was accepted RD.
@ava194 Congratulation on his acceptance!
@hidalgo23- The MIT package is excellent, so he will most likely be attending, unless kid wants to go somewhere else.
@Ryan33 - Your theory is plausible. It always boils down to financial numbers, as college is a business.
Yes. Both my kids were in the top 25%, did not get a scholarship and were admitted.
I am also one of those RD applicants. Top 2% class rank, 2360 SAT, 35 ACT, not a scholarship finalist but admitted.
My son was admitted in RD round. Not a scholarship finalist. 2340 SAT, 800 Math II, 770 Chemistry, 760 Biology and 4.0 GPA.
I love Wash U, but there is no doubt that the school has become a major marketing machine in recent years. I can understand schools wanting to protect yield, but I was particularly turned off by both the quantity of mailings and then the last minute email encouraging my son to apply the week after RD apps were due. With such an already low acceptance rate, why would the school try to stir up additional applications? I am curious if the app is time stamped, and if so, why would the school accept a candidate that applied after the deadline? A late application doesn’t exactly convey genuine interest. After countless mailings and emails, this just seemed like one more maneuver in the ratings game.
@slk1022 - I noticed that too. In fact, most elite (and not so elite) colleges pay big money these days to top marketing consultants. At the end of the day, it’s understandably a big business. There’s an article at Forbes.com that shed some light on this. I found one aspect of these marketing efforts particularly misleading: they’ll claim an “average” FA amount (a very high number) but never disclose the percentage of the admitted who actually receive any, non-token amount (a very low number). One could call the schools to inquire about that but most don’t. My D (with top stats and everything else) only applied RD to Wash U because she attended the HS Summer Scholars program there (all As for college credit classes) so had app fee waived and plus no supplement required. All of her classmates/friends from the summer program who applied (mostly international) got accepted w/o asking for FA. My D got WL - not a big disappointment because the engineering/cs programs (her areas of interest) at Wash U is not all that prominent.
@hidalgo23
You have said two things with which I have to take issue. The first was:
That is hardly a well known fact and I challenge you to provide evidence of it. Personally almost everyone I know that has gotten into WUSTL ED has received some financial aid, and quite a few vey substantial amounts. And I have known probably 100 students over the last few years that have gotten into WUSTL ED. Also, WUSTL enrolls about 1/3 of their classes via ED, as one can see by looking at the common data set (CDS).
http://www.wustl.edu/policies/assets/pdfs/wustl%20cds%202013-2014.pdf
That same data set belies your other statement that I found surprising.
Check out page 20 of the CDS. Line H2e makes it clear that about 40% of the entering class is receiving need-based aid, and line H2k makes it equally clear that this amount is an average of $33,500+ per student. Even if you want to assume the most extreme case, which is that of those 651 receiving grant aid, 325 get about $65,000 and 326 get next to nothing in order to have a high average to a greater number of students, that is still not a trivial number of students getting aid. But how absurd that scenario is!! Far more plausible is that all 651, or certainly the vast majority of them, are getting substantial aid.
I am not sure where you get your information, but at least as it relates to WUSTL I think you are well off base.
@fallenchemist Again, saying “an average of $33,500+” is the amount of need-based aid (including all forms of loans) received per student is extremely misleading. According to Forbes article (“The Invisible Force Behind College Admissions”), colleges have every incentive to distribute $20,000 to four students ($5,000 each) than all to one really needy applicant. I would certainly consider a $5,000 grant/loan as token aid to those able to pay the remaining $60,000 (effectively a 7.7% discount even if it’s a pure grant). I never disputed the fact that if one digs deeper, as you did with CDS, the details are available out there. But the mass-mailing marketing message remains: “If you apply and get admitted, you’ll receive on average $33,500+ in financial aid.” The reality is, as it relates to WUSTL, 60% should expect to pay the full price, and the vast majority of the 40% who do receive any form of aid should expect a relatively small amount (could be all loans). Yes, there will be a few who will get a large share of the FA pie so they can appear in the next year’s marketing material.Yield-padding or not, it’s all a numbers game! And WUSTL is doing an excellent job at that.