@ackack You may well be right. On our admittedly small sample size (three), it didn’t work that way.
D1 (NMF, 5s on all APs but one, excellent grades, leadership, etc.) did the scholarship application, but didn’t have a chance to visit and didn’t set up an interview in time.
D2’s good friend (NMF, similar stats) did the scholarship app but didn’t visit and didn’t set up an interview in time.
D2, (also NMF with similar stats), did the scholarship application and visited.
D1 and D2’s friend were waitlisted, D2 was accepted.
2310 SAT, 3.9 UW, lots of leadership stuff, and solid ECs…but I didn’t visit or fill out the scholarship app so I’m assuming I got dinged for my lack of demonstrated interest. A little bit disappointed, but I’m already into one of my top choice schools with a scholarship and I considered WUSTL more of a fallback.
@Arimom2 I did the scholarship application and visited(with interview), but I also got waitlisted. My stats are on the RD thread if you wanna know those.
I can definitely attest to the importance of demonstrated interest. I was accepted with a 3.75 GPA and a 2250 SAT (admittedly not up to scale to a lot of other Korean applicants; my own counselor was shocked) but took advantage of the fact that an admissions officer from WUSTL visited our school, communicated a strong interest in the college, and left a pretty positive impression.
If you have any loved ones planning to apply in the future, I would therefore strongly, STRONGLY recommend visiting and getting an interview to communicate genuine interest for the school.
I’m also korean, admitted with a GPA of 3.73, crummy midyear report, 33 superscored act (32 from one sitting), and no APs or SAT IIs, demonstrated lots of interest.
Okay, I know I’m bitter about getting rejected, but this method of choosing kids really bothers me? Like a lot?
Because not everybody is going to get an interview and not everybody can actually afford to visit and the prompts for the scholarships aren’t always prompts that people can honestly answer. Also, in my case I’m especially screwed because I can’t even attend a college fair because I go to a goddamn online school.
Congrats to all who got in.
Son also waitlisted: 3.98/2330/34, applied scholarship and visited in the summer, no interview though.
I am sure everyone will find the right “fit” school for them so good luck!
Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t show enough interest. For what it is worth to add to the discussion, DD was waitlisted with a 2300, 3.75 UW (meh), 750 and 760 SAT II’s 9 AP’s, etc. She DID visit, DID do an amazing essay for scholarship, DID an interview, and met with admission person at her school, so a lot of interest was shown. So sometimes it just is what it is. Good luck!
For what it’s worth, I did nothing. Didn’t look at the scholarships, never visited, didn’t know they had interviews. Applied to 13 other schools. It’s really random, perhaps, if you’re borderline it helps a lot. But to be honest It’s random interest or no interest I was admitted to engineering with unstellar math grades.
Son accepted! We were worried because of the emphasis on demonstrated interest. He decided to apply at the last minute. Intended to do the scholarship apps but lost steam with all of his essays and didn’t end up doing them. Didn’t have an interview. But, great stats - 2390 SAT, 800/800/770 SAT IIs, 5 5’s on APs, NMF, etc. Glad he was accepted even though we didn’t have a chance to visit yet. School looks great. Congrats to everyone accepted!
S admitted.
4.0 UW #1 in class
35 ACT
5’s in APs
I think demonstrated interest must be key, as S’s stats are similar to students who were not accepted. This was a tough admit, to be sure.
Good luck to all!
