<p>But can having too many smart kids from X be worse than having some smart kids from X and some slightly less smart kids from Y? I would think that they would take all the candidates they want, despite geographic diversity. But perhaps this is where a waitlist comes in handy.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is Tufts Syndrome. It is just that Wash U is more selective than many people realize— almost as selective as some Ivies and more selective than some.</p>
<p>Any school that has to wade through 29,000 applications has to have some kind of system— in the end, it may come down to things like your gender, your major, geographic location, etc.</p>
<p>Getting in can only be a good thing, but not getting in doesn’t mean you won’t get in elsewhere.</p>
<p>Here you go…Now why is it some of you think these admitted kids look under qualified for the Ivys?</p>
<p>scores given in 25th / 75th percentile format</p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis
SAT Critical Reading: 680 / 750
SAT Math: 710 / 780</p>
<p>Harvard
SAT Critical Reading: 690 / 780
SAT Math: 690 / 790</p>
<p>MIT
SAT Critical Reading: 650 / 760
SAT Math: 720 / 800</p>
<p>Dartmouth
SAT Critical Reading: 660 / 770
SAT Math: 670 / 780</p>
<p>Brown
SAT Critical Reading: 650 / 760
SAT Math: 670 / 770</p>
<p>Princeton
SAT Critical Reading: 690 / 790
SAT Math: 700 / 790</p>
<p>Yale
SAT Critical Reading: 700 / 800
SAT Math: 700 / 780</p>
<p>Columbia
SAT Critical Reading: 680 / 770
SAT Math: 680 / 780</p>
<p>Cornell
SAT Critical Reading: 630 / 730
SAT Math: 660 / 770</p>
<p>UPenn
SAT Critical Reading: 660 / 750
SAT Math: 690 / 780</p>
<p>U Chicago
SAT Critical Reading: 690 / 780
SAT Math: 680 / 780</p>
<p>Stanford
SAT Critical Reading: 660 / 760
SAT Math: 680 / 780</p>
<p>I applied for financial aid- supposedly, the thing that led to a lot of “top applicants” being denied or waitlisted- and got accepted, receiving an Olin Scholarship for ~$20,000 per year. If you got into WUSTL (which had an estimated 17-18% accept rate this year out of 29,000 apps), you definitely have a decent shot at anywhere else you would want to go. So basically, congrats! Getting accepted to WUSTL is by no means bad, in fact I’d say it’s a good sign for your other choices…</p>
<p>My D got accepted at WUSTL and a few other selective schools till now. I am hopeful that she would get some Ivy acceptances next week. Don’t know what criterion WashU uses, but it doesn’t seem to be much different from other top schools.</p>
<p>^ I don’t know what criteria they use either, but I think it is different at each top school. For example, I was selected as one of the top 150 EA applicants at Notre Dame but waitlisted at WustL. I think a lot has to do with demonstrated interest- every school wants to increase yield- and whatever specific factors the school is looking for in that particular year’s class.</p>
<p>A note about the scores listed above: most of those scores are lower than the actual ranges. Additionally, pretty much every single school listed there had over 90% of applicants submit scores that were listed in those ranges; WustL had only 63%. That is a very noticeable discrepancy. I don’t know how they determine which students’ scores to use, but even if WashU had no impact on which 63% of scores were used or on the fact that they only had 63% vs. ~93% for the others, that score range could hide a lot.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Wustl having Tuft’s syndrome, but I would expect a school that accepted 2-3 times the percentage of most Ivy’s last year would accept a higher proportion of applicants with higher “stats.”</p>
<p>When it comes down to applicants who all have good grades, test scores, etc it makes sense when most are rejected except the few who have a demonstrated skill or passion sought by the university. However it is more understandable when an unusually large proportion of those student with good grades, test scores etc. are rejected from a school that accepts 10% or less of applicants rather than one that accepts ~20%.
None of these schools are by any means predictable, but the 21% A.R. is definitely MORE predictable than the 7.2% rate, or at least should be. </p>
<p>At any rate, congratulations to all those accepted- you all undoubtedly worked very hard and deserved it. I am contented understanding I simply did not have what WashU was looking for. But I still have good offers on the table already, as I’m sure all those accepted or waitlisted do and will.
Best wishes to all those expecting decisions in the next week or two.</p>
<p>^ It is because WashU also uses ACT score and only approximately 63% students report their SAT scores. By contrast, many east coast schools don’t.</p>
<p>@cjester,</p>
<p>I was accepted to WashU but did not visit or interview. Yet I have a few friends who were waitlisted and demonstrated much more interest than I did. </p>
<p>I was completely expecting the decisions to be the other way around since many people on CC talk about WashU and their “tufts-syndrome.” But I guess you can never really tell what a specific school is looking for as we are all just speculating.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to hear from an admissions officer what they usually look for. Most schools have a statement about it on their admissions site but I am too lazy right now to go searching haha. Maybe it is simply fit- how they think the applicant would fit in to WashU. Well not simply, of course, but perhaps firstly or generally.</p>
<p>Yea I wish we knew. The college admission process seems so mysterious for us outsiders. You always hear of those stories of people who get into one school but not the other, vice versa.</p>