<p>I'm pretty sure that if a college sends you an invitation to visit, it does not guarantee a higher rate of acceptance at ALL. It's weird though. Lately I've been receiving a couple of college letters here and there, but WUSTL seems to be sending me the most. No lie, I've gotten about 8 letters in 1-2 months from them but I have not responded to any. The letters consist of invitations, Discovery Weekend, Scholarship programs, etc. about the school. Does this mean anything for me? Do they consider me a match for their school or do they at least see something in me that stands out?</p>
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<p>And you’re right. It means that because of your PSAT score or some other factor, you’re within their marketing range. If you’re interested in WashU, make sure to show interest in the school in return.</p>
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<p>They would like to see you apply, because there may be a chance that you may be a match for the school.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that’s just a ploy to get you to apply to WashU. WashU has a propensity to send out TONS of mail in hopes of getting more applicants. UChicago and other schools do the same thing.</p>
<p>^All true. Though I have to say WashU sent me the also. this year they had a record number of applicants (though every schools seems to have that too this year :P), about 25,000 and only about 1500 were accepted, and the waitlist was not used at all. However, in the end, WashU was the only excellent school I was accepted to, so it maybe that you are in fact within the acceptance range in WashU’s standards. </p>
<p>Though those letters do prove legitimate benefits. For example, I received emails about information sessions of the school nearby and I live on the East Coast. That way I pretty much got a chance to visit the school without having to travel halfway through the country.</p>
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<p>No, about 5000 people were accepted. Only 1500 actually matriculated to the school. If only 1500 were accepted, the acceptance rate would be 6%. The actual acceptance rate this year was more like 21%.</p>
<p>True, the waitlist was not used at all this year which leads me to believe that there was some overenrollment at WashU. If the OP didn’t know, WashU sends out FAR more waitlists than rejections. Why do they do this? Not sure, but it probably has to do with $$. Regardless, this technique has lead WashU to be colloquially referred to as Waitlist U.</p>
<p>“WashU sends out FAR more waitlists than rejections”</p>
<p>There is no evidence to support this claim. I think people in CC are more likely to post their waitlisting than rejection. So, don’t use CC to make generalization.</p>
<p>actually, it said on my accpetance letter that about 1500 were accepted among 25,000 applicants</p>
<p>^There’s no way that’s true. It may have been that 25,000 people applied for 1500 spots though.</p>
<p>Since they shoot for an incoming class of ~1500, one can assume they accept ~4500. That makes sense, since that’s around a 20% acceptance rate, and a yield of ~30%.</p>
<p>WUSTL is legendary for their spam mail.</p>
<p>To enroll in a university, one has to be accepted first. Hence 1500 were accepted and decided to enroll among 25000 applicants.</p>
<p>^Yes, that is true. But more than 1500 were accepted in total.</p>
<p>It’s all in the nuance of how it was worded.</p>
<p>Bottom line speaks for itself: Wash U’s 2009 entering class had SAT scores in top six in the country. Critics can carp, and WU doesn’t have the social cache of some other places, but it draws some of the brightest kids in the country.</p>
<p>And in other news…make sure to recycle the dozens of letters, brochures, and pamphlets.</p>
<p><<OP here</p>
<p>OMG I’ve gotten 5 more letters from WUSTL since I made this thread. RIDICULOUS</p>
<p>It’s no big deal. I got those through my Junior and Senior years.</p>
<p>The huge amount of mail they send out to thousands of students is well worth the money they receive through application fees and the reputation they receive by producing a lower acceptance rate.</p>
<p>^
This .</p>