How Grace was accepted to WashU

Grace, a recent high school graduate, shares her experience of getting to Washington University.

Transcription

Kamila
Hey, college kids, welcome back to this week’s episode on my podcast, who cares about college? Today I’m going to be interviewing grace. So Grace, if you could please introduce yourself.

Grace
Hi, I’m Grace. I’m from South Coast, Massachusetts. And I just graduated high school. I will be attending Washington University in St. Louis, this upcoming fall,

Kamila
hopefully you will be going there. So about your school, is it a public private magnet school?

Grace
It’s a private college preparatory school. So I was lucky enough to have access to some higher level classes to help prepare me for college.

Kamila
Okay, so since you say this is a school that prepares you for college, how exactly did they do that? That they have like special workshops or classes?

Grace
Yeah, so the college counseling program is pretty robust. The beginning of junior year, you start to meet with your counselors. And we have lots of meetings about, you know, steps to take to prepare for college, and how to start preparing for the LSAT. So there’s just a pretty good support system.

Kamila
Do you think it gave you an advantage to being in the sort of college prep school?

Grace
Yeah, I definitely think so. Yeah.

Kamila
Do you think that you would have because I’m guessing that they kind of not forced you, but they expected you to start preparing for LSAT, and you went to these like, sessions and stuff? So do you think you would have been as like, disciplined if you were in a public school? Like, would you have started studying for the LSAT AC T on your own?

Grace
Definitely not. Um, I think it’s the kind of thing that you just keep putting off, you’re like, oh, that’s, I have to deal with that senior year under junior year, I don’t need to start worrying right now. And it’s super easy to push off studying for something like that. So they definitely gave me the resources we needed. I can’t remember what it was called. But they had us complete sort of this online program. Something similar would be Khan Academy, but not what. Yeah. Okay. So

Kamila
in your college prep, high school, did you have APS or like, IBS?

Grace
Yeah. So we had APs. We had something else called ATS. And that advanced topics. So it’s super, super similar to the AP, except for you’re not required to take the test. And it’s just a little less focused on the specific material that’s going to be on AP but it’s at the same level. And then there’s also just honors courses from squats.

Kamila
So would you have like an AP, let’s say, AP Biology and an 80 biology or is it like they have completely different subjects?

Grace
Yeah, so they’re slowly switching over all the APS to the 80s so it would some classes are still APS for example. Like the languages but I’m slowly switching stuff over so I believe like I took at chemistry I believe the BIOS switching over to the 80 and stuff like that. That makes sense

Kamila
so interesting. How does a TI affect your GPA cuz APS give you like that boost? So do ATS do the same thing? Yeah, I see. Okay, and what relatively like what APs and ATS did you take and kind of if you took the test, what was your average score on those tests?

Grace
Let’s I took seven APs and i i hit all the scores essentially, I got a five and Lang I got four and a lot in and I got a three and my at cam class. So needless to say that one did not go to colleges, but okay. And then the other ones were from this year, so I didn’t take all those tests. And the one that I did take BC Calc I won’t hear about till later. So

Kamila
yeah, so those didn’t go to the colleges. Yeah.

Grace
I just sent to two colleges. I see.

Kamila
Okay, but did they at least know that you were taking AP and 80 classes in senior year? Yeah. Okay, good. What did you take the SCT or the AC T or both? I just took the LSAT. Okay, so what did you get on the LSAT on all the times you took it whether you took it, you know, once twice or three times.

Grace
So the first time I took it, I got a 1440 and then I took it again again, and I got a 1510. But the second time I took it, like the main thing I was looking to improve was just my math score, which went up almost 100 points. So my thank you. I was very pleased and surprised to see that most of the schools I applied to actually super scored. So that would be a 1530 that I ended up getting

Kamila
off pretty good. So was that like the 50th percentile? 75th percentile for the schools you apply to like the most elite? I guess? Yeah.

Grace
Yeah, I would say that was the average for most of the schools that I applied to. I see pretty sure why there was like a 1520 is the average.

Kamila
I see. Okay, so for your college prep high school, you said they made you do a sort of online course, that’s similar to Khan Academy. So is that is that the kind of studying you did for the LSAT? or were there other books and like, practice tests that you had to take?

Grace
Yeah, so I did that the spring of my junior year. And I think it was good for sort of like, starting to think about the types of questions that would be on sa t and just kind of be in that mindset. The English section the like writing and reading section, is kind of more my strong suit. And I tend to generally do well with that for standardized testing, but definitely not the math. So after I took the LSAT, the first time, I had little little fiasco where I just, essentially I go to the bass section. And, you know, there’s like a part where you have to fill in the answers. Yes, I just forgot about it. And I just like closed my book, like thinking I was done with that section somehow.

Kamila
So do you think you would have gotten higher if you like, remember the answers?

Grace
I don’t know. But like, it was very tragic. Oh, my God. Well, anyway, um, so I ended up ordering this book over the summer, and it’s called P W. N, the LSAT. It was essentially just like a math workbook for the LSAT. And every week, I went through the book and sort of read this guy’s recommendations for little ways to like hack your way through specific problems that they have. And I ended up reading through the whole book. I don’t think I took any practice tests. But that is definitely the main thing that helped improve my score.

Kamila
I see. So you said that you’re more like better at the reading portion than like the math portion. So would you say you’re more of like a humanities person than a stem person?

Grace
It’s funny, because I feel like I’ve always succeeded more in the humanities, but I’m actually more of a stem person.

Kamila
Like you find interest in STEM more.

Grace
Yeah. So I’m looking to like major, and something STEM related, and call it

Kamila
so with your AP and 80, and maybe other honors classes? Did you have like a mix of STEM and humanities? Or was it like really concentrated in like the humanities or the stem?

Grace
It was definitely a mix. Mix. Okay.

Kamila
And what did your GPA come out to be like unweighted and weighted?

Grace
Um, I think so. I’m not sure how it would be unweighted. I don’t think they ever actually, like told us. But I believe I have around a 4.2. In the in the way did.

Kamila
Did they tell you your class ranking at least? No, we don’t actually do class rankings. So are they is that like a new thing at your school?

Grace
No, I don’t think unless they did it in the, like, long ago, and I’m not sure about it as long as, um, as far as I know, they’ve never done class rankings. Or it’s

Kamila
interesting, because my high school stopped being like class ranking after the senior after the seniors this year. That’s promising. Yes. I’m not going to get that. I guess. It’s kind of good because it can’t hurt me.

Grace
Yeah. Yeah. I think it kind of like, removed the stress of just trying to like vie for the top spa, instead of trying to personally do your best.

Kamila
Yeah, cuz I don’t think there’s like that much of a difference between being in the top 5% versus being in like the top 1%. I mean, you’re still showing that you’re pretty good at academics. So, yeah. Okay, let’s move on to my favorite part, extracurricular. So what kind of extracurriculars did you do both inside high in in high school and outside of high school?

Grace
Alright, so I was involved in a lot of sort of publications at my school. We have an art and literature magazine that I was an editor for for two years. I was also involved, and a fashion magazine that one of my friends created. So that was really fun. Once they I was a Coxon for two years what’s a Coxon? So do you know like rowing crew? Oh,

Kamila
yeah, but I thought they only did that in like college.

Grace
Yeah, so my school we actually we actually had a crew program. Coxon is the person who sits like, facing the rowers in the boat at the tip of the boat. And I have I wore a little headset, and basically I talk them through their like warm, warm ups. And during the race, I’m the one who’s commanding their strokes and everything like that and kind of providing the motivation because the goal of rowing is to like, go as hard as humanly possible.

Kamila
I see. So is that like the equivalent of a captain of a team?

Grace
I’m not really I guess, because we did actually have crew captains.

Kamila
Okay. So you’re like the motivational speaker? Yeah.

Grace
steered the boat. So I guess, the person in charge of making sure nobody dies?

Kamila
Pretty significant roles was a little stressful. Okay, so any other extracurriculars?

Grace
Let’s say I was involved in community service, sort of like independently and then also through my school. And I did a lot of art after school as well. And I was a stage manager for the musical for a couple of years.

Kamila
You definitely sound like a humanities person. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Like everything, the art and the music and your publications. Okay, and anything else?

Grace
Um, that’s all I can think of at the moment.

Kamila
Yeah. Okay. So what, which extracurriculars Do you think really helped your application? Or which ones do you think made? You look like a leader? Which ones do you think appealed mostly to the schools? Because you did apply to Washington University, obviously. And that’s a pretty prestigious school. So I expect they, I think that they expect a lot from their applicants. So which extracurricular Do you think stood out the most?

Grace
Yeah. So now that you say that I’ve thought of like the two other ones probably that are notable. And that is I was involved in a group called I am that girl. And basically, not sure if you’ve heard of it before, but they have chapters at different high schools and colleges across the country. And it’s like an inclusive community where we talk about different social issues, and just have really open honest conversations about feminism or body image and stuff like that. So I was a student ambassador for that senior year, just like a very meaningful experience for me. So I would say that’s something that perhaps might stand out. And then I was involved in a group called gains, which is girls advancing in STEM. And I was actually chosen to attend a conference at the at UPenn. past November. So that was really fun. And now maybe that’s my one little like, stem, extra curricular.

Kamila
Okay, so that’s interesting. So what did you did you make your common application about like, girl empowerment and feminism?

Grace
No, I didn’t for some of my essays. If a college specifically asked, is there an extra curricular that meant the most to you? Then I would write about I’m that girl. And I just can’t use that essay for any of those. Yeah.

Kamila
Okay. So if you don’t mind sharing, what did you make your common s Common App essay about, you don’t have to share the whole thing, but like maybe the general idea of it.

Grace
So I actually wrote my common app essay about reading. And just, I kind of like interwove, the story about me finding a very, like, specific quote, and a book that stood out to me. And it was all connected to trying to understand and empathize with other people as and also kind of like this curiosity that I have for learning about different perspectives. And yeah, so it was more of a creative approach to an essay not like, traditional transformation or something like that.

Kamila
So what was the prompt then for the coming up that you chose?

Grace
So you can actually choose to just write one without a problem, like, okay.

Kamila
Oh, so the one that you so I’m guessing you chose the one that didn’t? Like you can make up your own prompt. So do you have to say what that prompt is? Or can you just write an essay and say, like, Oh, I just chose to write whatever I wanted to.

Grace
Yeah, you don’t have to write a prompt or anything. So Oh, wow.

Kamila
That’s interesting. I feel I think most people probably choose that one. Yeah, I can imagine. So let’s move on to your recommendation letters. Who did you get recommendation letters from

Grace
So I got recommendation letters from my AP Lang teacher, and I 80 chemistry teacher. And I chose these two just because I feel like, well, I wanted a humanities and like a science stem math class, or something along those lines. And I have really good relationships with both of these teachers. And I feel like the role that I played in both these classes were very different. For example, English class, I was really involved in conversations. Whereas the chemistry class, it was more like my workload and attention to detail involving different problems. So I feel like they showed two different sides of my

Kamila
character. That’s good. And did you get one from your guidance counselor as well? Yes. Okay. So did you know your guidance counselor? Well, or were you just like another one of the many students that they had to write a recommendation letter for?

Grace
Yeah, so she was my, and our school, we call them like, advisors. So she was my advisor for four years. And she was my college counselor. So I knew her quite well. We were pretty good friends and stuff. So I felt pretty confident that she would write something nice about me. Hopefully, she did.

Kamila
So do you think she because I know guidance counselors and teachers in general have to write a lot of recommendation letters, and it can kind of get repetitive. So do you think out of all the recommendation letter she wrote yours kind of stood out a little bit because you had that relationship with her?

Grace
I’m not sure I wouldn’t say necessarily just because I know that. She’s very diligent when it comes to making sure she really gets to know every student that she’s counseling and writing a recommendation letter for so I’d say anyone who had her definitely got a good letter. Yeah.

Kamila
Okay. Now, let’s move on to the colleges you apply to. So give us just like a run through of all the colleges you apply to and then we’ll talk about the acceptance, the deferreds and the rejections.

Grace
Yeah, so I ended up applying to 11 schools, I think. I think that was a little too much. It wasn’t anything crazy. But yeah, so I applied to probably half of those early action. So it was kind of a variety and all over the place. For example, Santa Clara University, which is in California, I applied to two lane. I applied to you Chicago, UVA. No, I definitely had a variety.

Kamila
I see. So did you do the 333 system? Like, I know, you applied to 11 schools, but was it generally three reach schools, three target schools and three safety schools? Or did you just choose the schools that were like most appealing to you?

Grace
I kind of just chose the schools that were most appealing to me. But I did make sure that I was more confident and getting into some, I mean, obviously, you never know. But I did make sure that some of them I had a little more confidence in getting into and then put some ones on there that I was like, No way, but let’s just say

Kamila
so. Okay, so what colleges did you get accepted into?

Grace
Yeah, so I think, let’s say I got accepted into Santa Clara to laying, you have Denver, the first round. And I got deferred from you, Chicago, Colorado College and Georgetown. So I felt pretty good going forward. You know, I, as soon as I got that first acceptance, I was like, I’d be so happy to go to Santa Clara, I’d be so happy here. And all the stress was just taken off with me knowing it knowing that I go into one place.

Kamila
Yeah, so like, if you get rejected from the rest, at least you have that one school to go to.

Grace
Yeah, in my mind, I was like, I genuinely would be happy to go here. Every single school that I applied to, regardless of rank or anything like that I actually really loved for different reasons. So that definitely helps take some stress out of the situation.

Kamila
So what about the second round of colleges that you applied to after early action?

Grace
Yeah, so here’s where I started to get really stressed out because I did not know whether I wanted to ed to to wash you. Basically everyone told me that I would have a much higher chance of getting in if I did their previous classes like 80% were Ed acceptances or something

Grace
really? Yeah.

Grace
Wow. So While she would always been one of my favorites, but just kind of like pulling the plug on all the other schools was hard, because I did really like them as well. So I read a lot of online forums and comparisons between schools. Yeah. And eventually I did decide to Edie to to Wash U. And I applied to some other schools as well. But, yeah, you got

Kamila
accepted into Washington University. Yeah. So Washington University, you did say that all the schools were appealing to you. But did you have to like, did they require you to go if you got accepted?

Grace
Yeah, so I signed a binding EDI two agreements. So basically, I got in I gotta go. Typing steel.

Kamila
Okay. Yeah. And did you don’t have to share the exact numbers? But did Washington University at least, like grant you a good amount of financial aid? Do you? Do you feel like comfortable going there that you and that you won’t be in too much student debt after? Or is that something you’re still worried about?

Grace
Um, so like, luckily, like I’m in a good position with that. But I did not actually receive like financial aid from them.

Kamila
Okay, yeah. So for I know, you’re not in college yet. And this is kind of what I asked people who have already been in college, whether they’re in their freshman or sophomore year. But what club or class do you think do you think prepares you for college? What do you think is going to be like the most beneficial, whether it’s the rigor of AP and 80? Or was there a specific class that introduced concepts that you’re still using? So what do you think prepares you the most?

Grace
I definitely think the upper level classes will help me going into college. But also, I think, just in general, the workload, I thought of really, really late nights in high school, there was probably not a second where I wasn’t, like, stressed out about some paper or something like that. So I feel pretty confident going into college that I’ll be able to kind of like manage my time.

Kamila
And because you did have like a lot of rigor, you did have rigorous courses. And you did say you were staying up late at night. How did you balance the high school life because obviously, everyone wants to have a social life. But if you want to strive to like a really good elite school, you have to like take time, and you have to sometimes say like no to your friends to like going out. And so you can like study and stuff. So how did you balance your life with high school? And your extracurriculars?

Grace
Yeah, so this is probably not the answer that you’re going to want. But like, my balance was way off. I basically did not have a social life. Well, okay. I did. I did. But it was more like, the social life was within those extracurriculars. If that makes sense.

Kamila
Okay, so like, anytime you were out of school out of extracurriculars, you would basically studying pretty much. Okay. So do you, do you think do you think that paid off? It was unnecessary? It was unnecessary? Really?

Grace
I feel like, I feel like I could have, I don’t know, I feel like I could have manage my time better in some aspects. And I think I put too much pressure on myself, in terms of, you know, like, I don’t think you need to take be taking all AP and honors classes. It’s not worth it at the end of the day, because you should be like having a happy high school experience. You know,

Kamila
do you think that if you had changed up things, if you had been more relaxed about like, the whole college admissions process, which I assume is kind of hard to do, because you are in a college prep high school? So did you do you think if you felt more relaxed, you would have gotten into the same colleges that you did?

Grace
It’s hard to say, but I think I think when you’re less stressed, you’re able to be more productive in a way. And I think it’s entirely possible that I could have you know, if it’s just one class that you’re coming from New scheduled sometimes that that’s really what makes all the difference. And I don’t think that is going to really, drastically change anything going forward.

Kamila
So were there any people in high school that you knew that like, kind of really put a lot of effort into the academics but didn’t have like a really good sleep schedule or stuff? Or do you know, some people who seemed like they had their you know, life together, they seem to be doing good in academics, but also having a good social life? Were there people like that, who also got accepted into elite schools? So like, what kind of variety did you see in your high school?

Grace
It’s hard to say, but I feel like people who let me think about this, it really just depends on the person for me. It takes me a long time to do stuff a lot. Some people are really great at approaching new problems and are just easily really good test takers and stuff like that. For me, it’s like, I got to go the extra mile to get a good grade on something, it usually doesn’t come easy to me. So

Kamila
I see Amina paid off in the end you got into Washington. So that’s good. So let’s do one last question. So do you have any advice maybe for yourself? And for any kids who are either in the college admissions process or about to start, like, what would you tell them to do?

Grace
Um, I would tell them to, I feel like you should take classes and be involved in programs and extracurriculars that you’re really passionate about. Because the college admissions officers gonna look at your transcript and those classes and those extracurriculars is what represents the things that you care about and chose to spend your time with. So don’t don’t take random things that you don’t care about, and kind of think about, really what reflects your values and the things you’re passionate about?

Kamila
Is that the kind of advice you would give for your high school self as well?

Grace
Yeah, my college counselor, slash advisor told me something along those lines, junior year, so I can I can credit her with that. Yeah.

Kamila
And you really do seem like a humanities kids. I’m just saying. I mean, like your interest are really humanities concentrated. Yeah.

Grace
Oh, I know. I’m thinking. I’m studying, like, studying astrophysics, or Earth and Planetary Science and minoring in art. So it’s kind of like, very interesting combination.

Grace
It is kind of Yeah,

Grace
I actually had a someone on a college fair. At the time, I was like, oh, I want to be a chem major and minor in art. And he was like, That’s so weird. Xander for the college and so on.

Kamila
But like so did you hear entire life thing that you were going to be into STEM? Like you were going to major in STEM and like have a STEM careers that what you thought, cuz that’s what I thought.

Grace
Yeah, I don’t know. When I was much younger. I’ve loved writing. I mean, I still do. And I just, I don’t see that ever being a career for me, but more like, a side passion. I see. Always just, I don’t know, my dad is a conservationist. So I just like, love the outdoors. Love signs. It just, it makes me feel at peace.

Kamila
Let’s go. Yes. So many interests. It’s like all over the place. I know. I’m so sorry. I’m like bombarding you. No, that’s fine. That’s amazing. I’ve like that’s good that you have like many passions and stuff, because it’s obviously your Humanities person. But the fact that you’re telling me about like the outdoors, and you really enjoy it. That’s good, too. So did you say Did you say anything like that in your application? Like I love you know, writing. I loved being an editor for these publications. But did you also say, I’m interested in you know, the outdoors and studying the environment and stuff like that?

Grace
Yeah, so I’m trying to think back on to what I wrote. I think just like, perhaps the breath of my extracurriculars kind of represented that. But in my essays, I often kind of talk more about STEM related things. For example, I had an essay for WashU. And I think we’re supposed to write about a famous piece of work. Whether that be like literature and invention, something like that. And I wrote about Starry Night by Van Gogh and kind of talked about my love of art, and science, specifically space religious sciences. So I think I really tried to emphasize in my essays, sort of like my passion for the outside world and stuff,

Kamila
so yeah, so are you excited? I mean, it’s obviously going to be different for you freshman year, but are you like kind of excited to go in do you guys like figure out if you’re going to have you know, dorms yet and who you’re going to be dorming with?

Grace
Yeah, so I’m so so excited. Like the closer we get, the more excited I become. So while shoe so far, what they’ve done is they pushed back when we start a month. So we’ll be starting September. It was either the 15th or the 14th. I can’t remember what it

Kamila
looks like you’re starting academics or you’re actually going to the university.

Grace
Yeah, so we’re supposed to be going to the university. So we’ll happens but I think they’ll give us a more finalized plan by the end of July. Yeah, I’ve actually I found my roommate on a Facebook on our Facebook group chat.

Kamila
So you got you excited.

Grace
I’m so excited. She’s so nice. And I feel like it just with so much uncertainty going around it Nice to like, I have somebody out for me. And I know something for sure. So yeah, that’s good.

Kamila
I really hope the best of luck to you. I feel so bad for graduating seniors in both high school and college. And I feel so sorry for the freshmen going into college that are not able to go back. So I really do hope Washington does let you guys go and you meet your dorm mate. And you guys become best friends?

Grace
Yeah, I hope so. I think it will work out. It’s definitely hard to just because I’m like, There’s not going to be any sort of huge group activities. Yeah, true. socializing with people. But, um, one of the reasons I did choose WashU is because I feel like the community there is really strong and inclusive. So I hope they’ll be able to figure things out, and it will still be okay.

Kamila
Yeah. Oh, and I have one question that I think I completely forgot to ask you. But did you tour any of the colleges that you were attending? Because, you know, WashU was like, not close to Massachusetts.

Grace
Yeah. So I actually visited eight schools. I think some of them I didn’t end up applying to, but my family was so nice. And my mom and dad took me on, like, this whirlwind college tour. So we went to New Orleans, flew up the next day, went to Houston, flew out the next day and went to St. Louis, us. And we ended up in California. So it was, it was like crazy. But I actually did get to see WashU in person. And that campus is amazing. It seriously so on. You did.

Kamila
That’s good. So you think that going to the actual campus, if you’re able to is like a real benefit, because you can see the kind of people that are there.

Grace
Yeah, so it was the summer when I visited. So there just wasn’t a lot of people there. But I did interview. And I did get to meet a couple people. So that was very helpful. And also just I’ve never been to St. Louis before. I don’t really know what to expect. You if you asked me like, a couple years ago, if I’d be going to school in Missouri, I’d be like, what? But so I think it was helpful for me just because I had like no idea what I was getting myself into.

Kamila
Well, thank you very much grace for coming and being interviewed today. I hope you the best of luck with Washington, you know, getting good grades and stuff, but also having the college experience. So thank you very much for coming.

Grace
Thank you so much for having me on here. I really appreciate it.

Kamila
Thank you. It’s very nice talking to you.

Grace
It’s nice talking to you too.

Kamila
That’s it for my interview with grace. Let’s all wish her and other incoming college freshmen luck, but in the meantime, make sure to subscribe so you know when new episodes will be released. A little bit about my next episode, I’ll be interviewing Taylor who is a rising senior from GW. Hope to see you guys then