<p>Regarding Phead’s argument about schools pursuing their own interests, such as increasing rank, spending a lot of money, etc, and sacrificing financial need for students who NEED it, instead of giving merit aid to top students…</p>
<p>Phead, I know you’re a smart guy since you come from Hopkins (btw, I declined hopkins for washu), and i’m hoping you’ve taken a course in economics. Adam Smith, perhaps the most renowned economist of all time, came up with the idea of the invisible hand: the idea that pursuing one’s own interest benefits society. Almost the entire world’s economy is based on this idea, that’s why we advocate for free trade, etc, so i doubt this idea is completely bogus. </p>
<p>Honestly, it is sad that some students who need a lot of financial aid cannot receive what they need and end up going to their state schools. But let’s face it…college today is all about money. Aside from the very top schools, every other school’s endowment is only in the single digit millions. I personally know a lot of people who got great financial aid from washu and some who didn’t, but i’m sure that’s true for all schools.</p>
<p>To respond to your remarks about WashU’s waitlist and how it isn’t need-blind, first of all, WashU IS need blind for about 90% of their accepted students. The last 10% they aren’t need-blind mainly because they need to make sure they don’t run out of money. Usually, however, that rarely happens. </p>
<p>secondly, there is absolutely no solid proof that WashU waitlists kids who are overqualified. If you’re the best student, top of your class, write a great essay, great test scores, of course WashU, or any college for that matter, will want you! Remember that WashU doesn’t have a supplement so a lot of what they based their admissions policies off of comes from 1) the common app essay, or 2) teacher recs. They don’t have additional essays to gauge how mature, kind, etc. a student is. Just because someone with a 2400 gets waitlisted, doesn’t mean it’s cause he’s overqualified, maybe his essay didn’t appeal to WashU as much as he would have liked. A lot of students end up making their common app essay weaker because they have supplements to rely on, but not in this case. Find a statement from the admissions office saying that they waitlist overqualified students and i’ll admit i’m wrong about everything. But saying “hey, these 100 kids who are extremely good at everything got waitlisted, that means they MUST waitlist overqualified students,” is making an argument without real evidence.</p>