<p>Can someone please weigh in on who the bottom 25% are that get in to Wash U and what advice can be offered to someone shooting for that? There's so much on this board for the people with top scores and GPA, but clearly someone brings up the rear :)</p>
<p>SAT = 2110
GPA = 3.5 unweighted</p>
<p>1 AP, lots of honors classes taken with A- to B range but school doesn't call them honors classes so the admissions office will have to know the school well to get that they are hard classes and often use college texts. Like our hardest chem class uses the same text used at Colby College but doesn't follow the AP curriculum. Very competitive suburban HS, no class rank</p>
<p>Varsity athlete and captain (being recruited, but coaches at WUSTL have minimal pull)
Club athlete 15 hours/week for 6 years
Tour guide/Student leader 4 years (irregular hours allowed it to fit with athletic commitments but I love being a guide)
Summer employment - sports camp counselor
SADD member
Community service trip to Costa Rica</p>
<p>For such a competitive/high-ranked school like Wash U, there’s never any way to know. An SAT score of 2100 is right around the 25th percentile, so you’re certainly in range with that score although the odds are not in your favor. GPA isn’t too impressive but not terrible. Extracurriculars are also decent but not outstanding. If Wash U is your first choice, apply ED and it’ll help you out.</p>
<p>It seems to my like your biggest challenge will be the admissions officers being unimpressed by your application as a result of not knowing your high school well enough. Make sure you speak with your counselor and find out what sort of information he/she will send Wash U. Then you’ll have a better idea of what you can include in your application in build on that.</p>
<p>I wish I could give you a solid answer, but there’s never any certainty in college decisions. Especially for a school like Wash U, which ranks consistently among the best universities in the nation (13th for the year 2011).</p>
<p>Actually the coach told me that he has less pull than any coach in the country. Other than an early thumbs down option from admissions (to spare me the trouble) there isn’t much else he can do. I got the sense he wasn’t messing with me and believe I’m on my own - which one could argue isn’t a bad thing.</p>
<p>Thanks for the support. I really like WUSTL and hope I get in, but if I don’t I’m not sure I’d want to start somewhere else and transfer. I don’t want to go into college planning on leaving before I even get there. College seems like it should be all about setting down roots and becoming part of a place. I’m just hoping to prove myself as best I can, guess there isn’t much else to do! Thanks - signing off.</p>
<p>cricket89: your mentality of college is very straightforward and worth noting. I would talk with admissions that you are confident about WUSTL (know it’s the perfect fit). Athletic+good SAT scores is not everything that’ll make up for admission. There’s an extra addition of INTEREST that follows. You demonstrate this. In your essay, tell your committee that you are into the WUSTL sports and that you would like to be part of it…etc. I think you have a decent chance, and you shouldn’t hold your head low b/c the coach is a less influential component in your selection. I think your essays and personal conversation w/ the interview guy will make it/break it. :)</p>