elephant in the room ...

indigoblue2
Sat, 12 Mar 2011 06:09:09 +0000

As a current WashU student, I want to congratulate those of you who got in. Welcome to an absolutely amazing community. You’re going to LOVE it here! And to those of you that were waitlisted and rejected- I really am sorry- but I have no doubt that you will all end up satisfied in the end. It’s easy as a high school senior to see college admissions as entirely blown out of proportion, but they really are not so important, and almost everyone really does end up happy, whether it seems like that now or not.

This leads me into my main point- stop. step back. breath. relax. and see things for what they are. WashU may have once been a safety school, but it’s not any more. We may not be ranked as high as HYPSM, but that does not mean we are any worse or any better a school. At some point it all becomes about your personal fit and experience, what school offers the specific classes you want, with the professors that will fit you best and offer you the most. There really is no best college. Yes, some colleges may be better than others, but ranking in anything more than broad categories is ridiculous, and to do this and set the Ivies in another category is ridiculous. WashU is a fantastic school academically, and they also give out great financial aid. I, myself, am receiving a significant need-based grant, as are many of my friends here. WashU, and I’m not just saying this to make the school look good…I’m saying it because I truly believe it and have seen this reflected in my experience here, is extremely committed to making it possible for students attend regardless of their financial background. I have many friends, for example, who called, requested more money, and were offered thousands of dollars more on the spot. WashU is not 100% need blind (they are need blind for the majority of applicants and then begin to look at that at the end of the pool), but they certainly are not basing the majority of their decisions on money- just a few. In addition, It’s extremely short-sided to assume that college confidential is a good reflection of applicants. This year WashU had, I’m fairly sure, over 28,000 applicants apply. Even if 2000 of them were to post on this board, which seems like a large overestimate, that is still only 7 percent. How can you possibly draw conclusions form such a small portion of applicants? I have even heard stories of people making up fake accounts and writing down fake profiles for getting into or rejected from schools as a joke. While I believe that most of your profiles are real, it is also important to remember that this is the internet and anyone can post anything- not everything you find on this board is going to be right. Lastly, I beg you all- please give WashU more credit. It is impossible for any school to accept all it’s qualified applicants, and getting in means more than having just stellar academics. Colleges seek to create a community, and that requires diversity. A college has to accept people with diverse interests and talents, and unfortunately, that sometimes means that qualified applicants don’t get it. But that said, it is rude, immature, and judgmental to assume the specific reason you didn’t get in…applying for financial aid, having too high an SAT score, etc. Seriously- none of that matters. Once you get to school, you realize that everyone is smart. Everyone is qualified. There are people here that could be at Harvard or Yale, but chose to come here, because college is more than just a name and for them, they felt that WashU would be a better personal fit. So please, stop insulting WashU on unsubstantiated basis. So please, just step back and try to see this as an outsider and think clearly. I know that many of you are probably upset right now…getting rejected and waitlisted sucks, I’ve been through it, but also please at least try to think clearly and not judge an entire university on what a handful of applicants write on the internet.