WashU - New Early Action plan & policy changes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the emphasis on demonstrated interest is incredibly lame. this is gamesmanship 101

Then it is lame for Dartmouth, Northwestern, UChicago, Rice, and others I guess...?

wrong on dartmouth and likely the others too. you like
making up shit?

https://admissions.dartmouth.edu/glossary-question/does-it-improve-my-chances-if-i-demonstrate-interest-visiting-calling-emailing

The way that students shotgun applications these days to every Ivy or every T10, it’s no wonder the schools are requiring some level of demonstrated interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is heading to an ivy unhooked so I say this as someone whose kid wrote good essays:

The essays- esp supplementals -are a system that can be gamed. Getting rid of them makes perfect sense. They do not provide that much info on a kid bc of heavy editing but mostly bc kids who are applying to highly rejective schools either figure out how to write the essays or don’t. This is a game and waste of our kids’ time.

Get rid of them!!!!!

I agree- many colleges are all getting rid of supplemental essays because there’s so much cheating going on. Testing is the same with parents forking out thousands of dollars for test prep. My guess is schools are now re-evaluating whether essays and test scores submitted are truly indicative of students that are more prepared for rigorous college courses.

Essays add nothing to the applicant’s package

[Anonymous]

All 4 of my kids were accepted RD to WashU within the last 6 years. One attended—had an excellent experience and ended up at MBB. The others liked WashU a lot. The campus is beautiful and students friendly. Great academics as well. If they didn’t have HYP options, WashU would have definitely been on their short list. I think WashU is an amazing school, full of very bright students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All 4 of my kids were accepted RD to WashU within the last 6 years. One attended—had an excellent experience and ended up at MBB. The others liked WashU a lot. The campus is beautiful and students friendly. Great academics as well. If they didn’t have HYP options, WashU would have definitely been on their short list. I think WashU is an amazing school, full of very bright students.

Any tips? WashU is a very hard RD admit!!

[Anonymous]

WashU has already gone to the waitlist so seems like something might be in amiss in Missouri?

[Anonymous]

I think this is a good move for them. Mine intended to apply to WashU RD this cycle, but just ran out of steam with a bunch of other RD apps. I bet she would have applied if they had had early action just to have a decision earlier. Once it's in, tempting to switch to ED2 when it's already in and the first choice didn't work out...

Agree it's a great school and was bummed my kid didn't even apply, although she is going somewhere great. It's just a school that is not favored by geography so it's got to work a little harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another way to increase the denominator and drive down the acceptance rate. No self-respecting school removes or cuts down on supplemental essays.

IMO, WashU only appeals to strivers.

As long as you and your relatives stay the heck away from it, it must be on the right track.

[Anonymous]

EA makes sense. I have no idea why schools, except for the very top ones, do RD anymore. They loose good applicants to schools with earlier notification dates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is heading to an ivy unhooked so I say this as someone whose kid wrote good essays:

The essays- esp supplementals -are a system that can be gamed. Getting rid of them makes perfect sense. They do not provide that much info on a kid bc of heavy editing but mostly bc kids who are applying to highly rejective schools either figure out how to write the essays or don’t. This is a game and waste of our kids’ time.

Get rid of them!!!!!

How do you game them??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to figure out the downside of applying Early Action here? Particularly since it is now a pretty easy application? Get it done and get your response early. Probably not early enough to save you from doing other apps but early enough to know you are in somewhere if you get in.

If it’s being done to game rankings…they add EA to get more applicants. Then at some point EA applicants will be asked to switch to ED with the implication being you’re rejected if you don’t.

As an aside, my son applied to two EA schools. Both invited him to switch to ED. He didn’t. Accepted to both with giant merit scholarships (both schools don’t give merit to ED candidates).

I didn’t know many school with EA and ED. What are some do these schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is heading to an ivy unhooked so I say this as someone whose kid wrote good essays:

The essays- esp supplementals -are a system that can be gamed. Getting rid of them makes perfect sense. They do not provide that much info on a kid bc of heavy editing but mostly bc kids who are applying to highly rejective schools either figure out how to write the essays or don’t. This is a game and waste of our kids’ time.

Get rid of them!!!!!

How do you game them??

Are you seriously asking how essays can be gamed?

There is an entire industry of professionals who edit/ghostwrite college application essays and advise students on what topics to cover, what topics to avoid, and above all how to sound “authentic.”

The industry exists because it works.

Yes, many kids write their own essays. But it is entirely possible to pay someone to generate an “authentic” “personal” essay, or to massage your child’s actual authentic essay into one that will register as “authentic” with AOs. Students submitting those professionally edited essays are routinely admitted to the most selective schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to figure out the downside of applying Early Action here? Particularly since it is now a pretty easy application? Get it done and get your response early. Probably not early enough to save you from doing other apps but early enough to know you are in somewhere if you get in.

If it’s being done to game rankings…they add EA to get more applicants. Then at some point EA applicants will be asked to switch to ED with the implication being you’re rejected if you don’t.

As an aside, my son applied to two EA schools. Both invited him to switch to ED. He didn’t. Accepted to both with giant merit scholarships (both schools don’t give merit to ED candidates).

It’s not just the conversions to ED2. It’s also that students who would apply ED2 or RD if they don’t get into their ED1 will now apply in time for the EA deadline. Thus they’ll register as completed applications even if they get into their ED1 school and withdraw.

[Anonymous]

EA detracts from ED. All EA students are using your school as a safety if the school also has ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another way to increase the denominator and drive down the acceptance rate. No self-respecting school removes or cuts down on supplemental essays.

IMO, WashU only appeals to strivers.

Nope. We know many students there. Just a lot of exceptionally bright, dynamic kids. The only thing that WashU lacks is name recognition in some parts of the country, but that is rapidly changing.

Which has better nations name recognition: WashU, Emory, Tufts, CMU or Rice? Often see them mentioned together

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to figure out the downside of applying Early Action here? Particularly since it is now a pretty easy application? Get it done and get your response early. Probably not early enough to save you from doing other apps but early enough to know you are in somewhere if you get in.

If it’s being done to game rankings…they add EA to get more applicants. Then at some point EA applicants will be asked to switch to ED with the implication being you’re rejected if you don’t.

As an aside, my son applied to two EA schools. Both invited him to switch to ED. He didn’t. Accepted to both with giant merit scholarships (both schools don’t give merit to ED candidates).

The number of applications, yield, and acceptance or admissions rate are NOT part of the USNWR rankings. So posters who are ill informed should drop their claims that this is to game rankings. If schools want to "game" rankings, they can seek to increase the intake of first gen, increase the graduation rate of disadvantaged or Pell grant recipients (is the school good for social and economic mobility) , etc. Not that there is anything wrong with this but be informed. Look up the criteria.

True enough about the rankings.

But if you spend any time on this board, you’ll see that private school parents distrust rankings, and instead of chasing the school with the best ranking or the highest test scores, chase schools with the lowest admission rates. And schools like Wash U need to stay popular with the private school set to make budget.

DP this is pretty astute. Chicago and John Hopkins are often ranked higher but this board seems to love Brown even though it is known for grade inflation and easy to graduate from with useless degrees. This board also likes Dartmouth more than other higher-ranked schools