The University of Washington in St. Louis is a prestigious mid-sized research university in St. Louis, Missouri. They are particularly well-known for undergraduate research opportunities, and students who seek out WashU are driven, creative, and hungry for opportunities to stretch themselves through collaboration and teamwork. They have a strong tradition of study abroad, with students taking part, and an even stronger tradition of service to the St. Louis community. The acceptance rate is about , but the Early Decision acceptance rate is closer to 25%. This underlines the importance of applying to first-choice schools early — and picking an ED school strategically.
WashU Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision avenues for admission. And, as a first-year applicant, you can choose to apply to the school of Architecture, Art, Business, Engineering, or the most popular option — the School of Arts & Sciences.
The most important piece of your application are your grades, followed by teacher recommendations, and how you’ve spent your time outside of school. WashU is so you can decide whether to submit an SAT or ACT scores. While not submitting scores will not negatively impact your application, submitting strong scores can significantly improve your chances of admission. We coach our students to put in the time to achieve impressive SAT and ACT scores because they truly can make a different, although it is technically unquantifiable. For WashU, a strong ACT is 34 or above, while a strong SAT is 1550+, and of accepted and enrolled first years have submitted scores in recent years.
In this post, we’re going to break down an unquantifiable part of your application: the supplement. Whereas scores and grades are numbers, your supplements, like your college essay, let you become a fully fleshed out human and jump off the page. Capitalizing on this opportunity is the secret to getting into a dream school, and we can help you get there.
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The WashU supplement has options, different avenues for expression, and it is also optional. We love that about it, but we also need to make one thing clear. Optional is not optional if you want to get it. Yes, they say that they won’t penalize you for not doing a supplement, but that’s actually a bit of a farce. When you complete a supplement, you are showing more of who you are and underlining your interest in the institution. Not doing a supplement…shows nothing. So, no, it isn’t optional if you want to get in. Now, let’s get into it.
WRITTEN SUPPLEMENT
The first WashU supplement is a written response, and you have two prompts to pick from. We’ll break each down to help you pick.
WashU is a place that values multiplicity of perspectives. We believe those perspectives come from a variety of experiences and identities. Respond to one of the following prompts to help us understand “Who are you?”:
WashU supports engagement in the St. Louis community by considering the university as “In St. Louis, For St. Louis.” What is a community you are a part of and your place or impact within it?
We love this prompt, because it gives you an opportunity to spotlight something that you care about and have invested time in. This should also be something that involves teamwork or collaboration. WashU is not looking for students who isolate themselves, or who are only interested in celebrating their own efforts. If you pick this supplement prompt to answer, it is critical that you respond with a story that spotlights an initiative or experience that you have had as part of a community that you have made a long-term commitment to. “As part of,” here is key, because they want to see you in concert with others.
This could be tutoring a younger student at your local library, executing an event for a community center or nonprofit, or rallying your neighbors together for a block party. Whatever your story, it needs to show the coming together that makes the community you are focusing on most important to you.
WashU strives to know every undergraduate student “By Name & Story.” How have your life experiences shaped your story?
This prompt isn’t bad, but we don’t like it as much as the first one. Whereas the first one insists that you focus on a community and your contribution to it, this prompt is more introspective, inviting you to dig into your life story. That can be great, but it can also lead applicants down a not-so-awesome road.
Often, we find that students read this prompt an immediately take it as a hardship test. They jump to answer with the biggest hurdle they have faced. We do not love this strategy. While many students have faced massive challenges, spotlighting the level of hardship you’ve had to overcome is not a great way of wowing application readers. There will always be someone who has had a harder life than you, so if you think a sob story is the way into WashU you are unfortunately wrong.
So, instead of a sob story or a hardship test, we encourage our students who want to pick this prompt to focus on something small but meaningful in their life that can be spotlighted in a way that is emblematic of a bigger theme. Maybe you watched your dad walk home from work from the window seat in your bedroom every day, a ritual that anchored your day. Or perhaps you built a frog pond when you were a kid and have trained your younger sibling to take care of it once you go to college. These are small stories, yes, but they show a lot about what you value in life.
VIDEO SUPPLEMENT
Next up is the video supplement. This, too, is optional. But it’s not. However, whereas grinning and bearing it when it comes to the writing is easy, videos are a different story. Most of the students we work with cringe at the idea of a video supplement. If it’s not their worst nightmare, it’s close. We spend a lot of time helping to prep our students such that the video becomes a massive and meaningful addition to their application.
All applicants have the option to upload a video to help the admissions committee get to know you better. This video is not intended to be a professional-quality production or rehearsed audition. Simply capture a quick video of yourself telling us about something important to you.
“Get ready with me while I tell you why I want to go to WashU.” (Jokes. Don’t do this.)
That’s just about all the guidance WashU gives you when it comes to the short video. It’s so open-ended that it is understandably overwhelming. When you can say anything, what do you say? We advise our students to share a piece of themselves that doesn’t show up in their application otherwise. Do not do a get ready with me.
This could mean demoing a dish you make for dinner every Thursday, performing a song you wrote all about your prospective major, or maybe showing off the juggling tricks you learned with your dad on the weekends. You can also simply sit in front of a camera and talk, and that’s totally fine to. WashU will, though, meet effort with attention. If you put effort into this video, they’ll take note.
As you prepare to apply to WashU, remember that applying Early Decision is the biggest boost you can get. WashU Early Decision I and Early Decision II options for admission, so if WashU is a top choice, but not your #1, it is a great backup if you don’t get into your tip-top school in the EDI round.
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