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I've heard and read a lot about Washington University's hyperactive marketing program. My daughter and several other seniors in her public high school have received a ton of literature from them. I also heard that the college waitlists obviously qualified applicants that the admissions office thinks are using the college as a backup. That's a little crazy, IMO. Why blitz kids with mail and then put them off? Anyone else out there have any opinions or experience with this?

By David Hawsey on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 08:41 pm: Edit

John:

It is true that many colleges have decided to waitlist students that, as a recent trend has shown, won't matriculate anyway. There was a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (www.chronicle.com) that pointed out this trend.

The basic rationale is that, while these students would do well and have a wonderful experience at a university like WUSTL, the trend may be that fewer and fewer students end up choosing WUSTL. It wastes the college's time, and I can't blame the school for doing this. There is simply no immediate answer.

One way to help Washington Univ. as a student would be to apply ED and let them know they are the first choice. If not the first choice, and sincerely a backup, the student should be prepared to commit if they are turned down at their No. 1 pick.

We'll keep an eye on this in the future and report any new trends. You might ask your daughter and her friends to write back to WUSTL and ask why they are interested in them as students. An honest, energetic relationhsip that introduces the student to the college, and the college to the student is always a win-win situation.

BTW, look for my own college, Albion College, on the football field this weekend at WUSTL as the Britons look to go to 4-0 in NCAA Division III play!

D.

By Tina on Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - 01:24 pm: Edit

So, how does one send a strong message to WUSTL that they are not a backup choice? I mean, other than ED. ED kills one's chances for any merit aid, so there should be other ways...

By Dadster on Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - 01:57 pm: Edit

Maximum personal contact works for just about any school, Tina, not just WUSTL. An in-person visit, e-mails exchanged with the area admissions rep, etc. will all help to let the school know that they are important in your college plans. Expressing some specifics of what interests you about the college in your application materials will help, too. I'd say the applicants at most risk of looking like "backup" applicants are those who have little contact with the school, don't seem to have any special fit, and who appear to be likely to get into more prestigious programs. Note, too, that a waitlist isn't a rejection - if a superbly qualified, but waitlisted, applicant expresses interest in attending, there's probably a good chance an offer of admission would be extended.

By ron on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 06:10 pm: Edit

anyone gotten into Wash U. and want to share their stories?

By soph on Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 09:51 pm: Edit

WUSTL does have crazy marketing...I don't know how they got my address and everything, but I recieved mail from them (with my name on it too) and I'm only a sophomore.

By colleen on Thursday, January 16, 2003 - 10:26 pm: Edit

i got into wash u ed II and let me tell you, the ONLY reason i got in is because of the amount of interest i expressed. to tell you the truth, they weren't my first choice school- i applied early action to my first choice school, didn't get in, but meanwhile had been telling wash u that they were my first choice the whole time and that i was applying ed II so i could send them my fall term grades. i built up a pretty good relationship with my school's reader and that is the only difference between me and two equally qualified kids from my school who got deferred early decision. soooo - lots of contact!

By Steve on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 12:01 pm: Edit

Is there are difference in the applicatnt pool between ED1 and ED2? I have a GPA of 3.97, ACT of 32
and average EC. Are my chance any less in ED2?

By me on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 01:09 pm: Edit

whats the climate like at WashU and also what is the workload in comparison to other ivy-comparable schools?

By Hash (Hash) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 05:52 am: Edit

Do you guys really think that Contacts or keeping constant touch with the admission office or expressing 1st choice school helps in admission process generally or jus " in wustl"?

If yes how do u guys know this inside story abt the college?

Its berserk!

By Abz1986 (Abz1986) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 06:12 pm: Edit

Climate is typical midwestern climate I would assume (hot summers, cold winters).

Oh yeah I learned on the information tour that they only will give 12 hours of credit for ALL your AP courses, you choose the hour distribution for each test. 12 hours IMO is just crap and sucks for kids who took over 4 AP courses and scored good on them.

And I think there is a mandatory english class all freshmen have to take, that AP English can't substitute

By Sydney (Sydney) on Friday, September 26, 2003 - 08:19 pm: Edit

I am a Wash U graduate, so I can answer a few of the questions listed above.

First, of all, if you took the PSAT, that's probably how Wash. U. got your name. Otherwise, your high school could be sending out your information to schools. But, Wash. U. is trying to get it's name out because it is probably the least known name of the top ten schools.

Secondly, weather. St. Louis gets all four seasons, which is sometimes nice for a person like me who grew up in Houston in which there are two seasons: hot or hotter. The summers in St. LOuis are very hot and humid (because it is ont he Mississippi), while the winters are cold (mild in comparison to winters in the northeast, but cold in comparison to southern winters). It snows probably about 3-4 times a year. Though every once in a while there will be a really cold winter.

Lastly, about APs. Not all APs are taken, but many are. I believe I placed out of 21 credits, which includes AP credit and taking upper level courses freshman year. There was a 30 credit limit when I went to school there. But now I believe that has changed. In fact, number of AP credits accepted is different for each college. This is directly quoted from the Wash U. admissions website (you guys should do a little web searching instead of making guesses):

{From:
http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/3rd%20Level%20Pages_FAQ_FAQ_Credit.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1 }

-Please Note: The maximum number of credit units accepted toward a Bachelor’s degree in Arts & Sciences or Architecture earned through Advanced Placement awards is 15. You can see a listing of APs accepted by Arts and Sciences by following this link:
http://artsci.wustl.edu/~college/First_Year/Placement/Advanced/index.html

-The School of Art students (Bachelor of Fine Arts) are awarded all credit that they earn.

-The maximum number of credit units accepted toward a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree earned through Advanced Placement awards is 30.

-Follow this link for a full online listing of AP scores accepted in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. http://registrar.seas.wustl.edu/AdvicetonewFreshmen/AP_Policy.htm

By Abz1986 (Abz1986) on Tuesday, October 14, 2003 - 12:39 am: Edit

Yeah everyone at my school who applied got waitlisted last year (and maybe some got rejected).. but I don't think they had much contact.

I would apply early decision, but its binding and I don't know if I have enough cash money to pay tuition if I do get accepted