REMINDER: For those intending to apply for Washington and Lee’s merit-based Johnson Scholarship, your supplemental essay must be submitted by 11:59 PM in your local time zone on December 1.
The Johnson Scholarship for Leadership and Integrity provides full tuition, housing, and meals, plus $10,000 in enhancement funds to support travel, research, and internships.
Don’t miss your chance!
Do you think that the Dec. 1 deadline also applies to other optional elements? We don’t see them on the Common App, and I read somewhere that they are in the applicant portal, so my student would have to submit via the Common App before moving on to the optional essays. Not sure we can do all that before Dec. 1, honestly.
The complete CA application plus the Johnson supplemental essay are all due by Dec 1. If you have additional questions, I suggest contacting the admissions office; they are very helpful.
Thank you DramaMama2021 for reminding us! S24’s essay is almost done but he is dragging. 
Just submitted, fingers crossed 
. Gl to all other applicants as well.
Same here! Submitted last night, whew. My child wasn’t sure that their Johnson essay was their best work (and I have to agree), but at least they did try for it. It’s exhausting for a 17 year-old to be this introspective 
.
S24 promised to submit his tonight… We will see… 
Curious if anyone has experience with recruited athletes receiving the Johnson? Typically, those students are applying ED, so are committed to attending regardless of merit aid.
Great question. Any insight from the members?
Virtually no athletes get it. As I recall, when we looked into it when my son went through the recruiting/ED process, only one ED applicant had ever received the Johnson. (No idea if they were an athlete).
This is disappointing to hear with all the encouragement given to ED applicants to apply for the Johnson Scholarship (JS). While I am an optimist, I can’t help but feel gut wrenched for the ED1 students who applied feeling like they had a good shot at it.
Looking at the Class of 2027 statistics the math is hard for me to make sense of:
Based on applications and acceptances, it seems reasonable (to me) that close to 1/2 of the recipients would come from ED1, ED2, and QB.
Is any JS data tracked and reported (application info: ED1, ED2, RD, or recipient related data)?
I just googled to see if I could find any breakdown of ED vs RD and the Johnson Scholarships and I confess I found virtually nothing, so I don’t know what I based my numbers on. But definitely do recall looking into it to decide if it made sense for my son to apply.
I did find this blog, which touches on the ED issue:
Finally, paging @DramaMama2021 , whose daughter is a Johnson Scholar. She undoubtedly knows more about the Johnson than me!
I don’t know how much help I can be since my D is not an athlete. However, in 2020-21 one of our HS GCs contacted W&L on behalf of a classmate to ask if ED applicants were considered for the Johnson and was told they absolutely are. They also shared information similar to that in @cinnamon1212’s post above… that the majority of Johnson applicants apply RD to compare financial offers across schools, etc.
We were one of those… a “donut hole full pay” family with a budget set lower than private full pay to preserve funds for med school costs. So ED was not an option for our D. Anecdotally, a good many Johnsons are pre-med or pre-law.
The Johnson finalists we know that did not enroll at W&L had other offers they considered a better fit… merit award at a different school (e.g. Robertson, Morehead-Cain, Cornelius Vanderbilt, etc), accepted to a dream school/Ivy, etc. So our personal experience and that of kids our D knows further support the comments in the blog.
I hope that helps a bit. I’m happy to answer other questions (or ask the kiddo while she’s home).
ETA: My D just confirmed one of last year’s Johnsons applied ED (however, not an athletic recruit) but said that’s not common.
I think for some (middle income) D3 recruits at top academic/athletic schools, this is a tough position. They’re asked to apply ED, and only “committed,” once accepted by admissions. They’ve invested 100% into their academics and training to get to this point. As a parent, you do your homework and determine fit and feasibility. But recruiting is a roller coaster, so if the coach from their 1st choice school extends an offer, asking them to apply ED1, you commit to making it work.
Financially, we knew W&L was a stretch. Not easy, but possible. However, knowing his stats, and after hearing the admissions talk on the JS, attending a webinar on the topic, and talking to his W&L admission’s counselor, S went into the Johnson’s essay super excited and thinking he has a solid shot. By his own choice, he spent a LOT of time on the essay thinking “10% of the incoming freshman class receive the Johnson scholarship- I can do this.” However, I know now, the information we gathered and received from admissions, doesn’t quite match up with the real outcomes.
Oddly enough, the parental gut punch feels worse than the financial punch (although my husband might disagree). Feeling like I didn’t get all the facts and subsequently, didn’t prepare him for the actual odds of being selected.
With as much as the school promotes and encourages students to apply for the JS; 54% of students being enrolled from ED, and 25% recruited athletes, it seems like an area where transparency would be helpful.
Johnson Scholarship 2027 Stats:
____ students applied
____ students awarded
1 student awarded from ED
____ awarded from RD
Big picture- S is absolutely at the right place and hindsight scored 1. 
Should Johnson applicants send mid year grades when they are available? If so, should they send official copies or screen grabs? Also should they send them through the portal? My daughter is an ED admitted student so when know Johnson is a reach but wanted to make sure her mid year grades were there in time if they are helpful to the johnson decision process.
We were told they should send them when they were made available. If for some reason the committee had questions, they would reach out directly to the HS counselor.
Just a quick question, is the Johnson Scholarship a one-year thing only? I cant find anything on whether or not Johnson Scholars still receive the benefits & more past their Freshman year.
The JS is four years/8 semesters, plus a $10k stipend for summer experiences and other educational opportunities. It is a full ride (plus) for the complete typical undergrad timeframe.
Epic, thank you!
Does anyone know when/how johnson scholarship acceptance will be released? I know the website says early February but does someone know when it might be?
