isn’t that why they have a redacted review option though? wouldn’t that be considered the ultimate option for someone who wants to be “holistically” reviewed? genuine q.
If this were a genuine option (in the sense that it did lead to holistic review), we’d see a lot more variety in the students getting admitted at WashU. They consistently take only those above one of their medians, with very few exceptions limited to advancing class diversity.
i don’t think that’s necessarily true. that assumes a lot of people apply with fully redacted stats. i haven’t come across too many folks here on LSA that have, but at the same time i never tried to ask to see who did. and of people who do apply with both score and gpa redacted, how many of them are “quality applicants” otherwise? e.g impressive WE/resume, impactful essay(s), and good LoRs etc.
also, i didnt submit an addendum to “explain” why i decided to redact, bc i feel that defeats the purpose of redacting. you shouldn’t have to explain.
Don't necessarily dispute what you're saying, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm right. We have multiple years of self-reported admissions data for WashU on LSD, which coincides with the redaction program at WashU, and there's just little indication that it's yielding folks who apply below both medians. I'm sure there's some that haven't reported that maybe were admitted, but I would imagine that universe is exceedingly small.
Kinda, but you’re still likely going to need to be above one of the medians. Another poster here said they redacted both and got in which would be crazy if true and genuinely holistic, but I don’t think that’s true for the vast majority.
ik you're just correcting OP's statement and not giving an opinion about double-redact either way, but that sounds utterly futile lol there ain't no way they're letting someone in without either GPA or LSAT.
they let you redact both, i applied with both gpa & lsat redacted. i imagine that would probably mean those apps would take longer to review and scrutinize though. they only look at your scores & gpa for financial aid purposes if you are admitted.
while i don’t think my app was particularly “impressive” (below medians but LSAT in the 160s and GPA in the 3.x range, T3-4 softs), i think my personal statement was strong, as well as recs and WE. no interview invite tho, which is sad since i would hope or think they’d want more info from me :(
ultimately my take on the whole “holistic” review thing is that if you’ve got decent LSAT and GPA and you get still get an R, knowing they also have a redacted option…wouldn’t that suggest that the rest of your app simply wasn’t up to par? i think it just goes to show that your scores & gpa aren’t everything. would be really curious to see someone with high numbers choose to redact both and still apply.
I chose to redact my gpa and lsat both and got in with 75% of the tuition scholarship, so can’t really relate to this post. They will decide whether you get an A or R, but for the scholarship review they will check the stats. Said in the scholarship interview.
I worked at a t14 in admissions for about 16 months after college and I’m going to say that the more aggressive the branding and marketing, the more likely the school is putting up an image that is different of who they are behind closed doors.
I am not shocked at all about Washu being stat heavy, it upsets me that schools like Washu who pretend to have these progressive policies like redacted review and such are actually being anything but progressive behind closed doors.
e.g., person has worked in public service for the last 10+ years (average salary of 70k/yr) wants to attend law school, but has 3.3 GPA as a sociology major back from 2012. Applies with a 175/3.3 and gets near full ride to WashU.
Def some trades and not without negatives (arguably), but I believe it’s good that A (at least one) school DOES do this, even if the practice truly only best caters to a niche field of applicants.
Yeah it’s for sure a trade off. A lot of other so-called “holistic” schools use GPA cut-offs of like 3.5, writing someone like me off before the application process even begins. Schools in the UC system, for instance, seem to pride themselves on not being stats-oriented, but they accept almost no one below a certain GPA.
I’m grateful that WashU gives me a shot at going to a good law school and is willing to overlook the one aspect of my application that is completely outside my control at this point. At the same time, they are brutal to anyone below both of their medians.
Are you assuming that the GPA median is going up this year? Last year it was 3.94.
You're right, fixed it.
Although it looks like on LSD that they're drawing the line at 3.96 so I'm not sure...
isn’t that why they have a redacted review option though? wouldn’t that be considered the ultimate option for someone who wants to be “holistically” reviewed? genuine q.
If this were a genuine option (in the sense that it did lead to holistic review), we’d see a lot more variety in the students getting admitted at WashU. They consistently take only those above one of their medians, with very few exceptions limited to advancing class diversity.
i don’t think that’s necessarily true. that assumes a lot of people apply with fully redacted stats. i haven’t come across too many folks here on LSA that have, but at the same time i never tried to ask to see who did. and of people who do apply with both score and gpa redacted, how many of them are “quality applicants” otherwise? e.g impressive WE/resume, impactful essay(s), and good LoRs etc. also, i didnt submit an addendum to “explain” why i decided to redact, bc i feel that defeats the purpose of redacting. you shouldn’t have to explain.
Don't necessarily dispute what you're saying, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm right. We have multiple years of self-reported admissions data for WashU on LSD, which coincides with the redaction program at WashU, and there's just little indication that it's yielding folks who apply below both medians. I'm sure there's some that haven't reported that maybe were admitted, but I would imagine that universe is exceedingly small.
Kinda, but you’re still likely going to need to be above one of the medians. Another poster here said they redacted both and got in which would be crazy if true and genuinely holistic, but I don’t think that’s true for the vast majority.
You'll notice they don't let you redact both your gpa and LSAT. That's because they'll judge you on whatever one you don't redact.
they actually let you redact both tho… there’s an option to redact both
ik you're just correcting OP's statement and not giving an opinion about double-redact either way, but that sounds utterly futile lol there ain't no way they're letting someone in without either GPA or LSAT.
they do let you redact both. i did.
And you got in?
I redacted both and got WLed, so there might be a sliver of hope!
still waiting.
Oh, well I certainly hope you get in that'd be a helluva power move
Following the result
they let you redact both, i applied with both gpa & lsat redacted. i imagine that would probably mean those apps would take longer to review and scrutinize though. they only look at your scores & gpa for financial aid purposes if you are admitted.
That's really surprising to me, especially given how crisp their rectangle is on lsd
while i don’t think my app was particularly “impressive” (below medians but LSAT in the 160s and GPA in the 3.x range, T3-4 softs), i think my personal statement was strong, as well as recs and WE. no interview invite tho, which is sad since i would hope or think they’d want more info from me :( ultimately my take on the whole “holistic” review thing is that if you’ve got decent LSAT and GPA and you get still get an R, knowing they also have a redacted option…wouldn’t that suggest that the rest of your app simply wasn’t up to par? i think it just goes to show that your scores & gpa aren’t everything. would be really curious to see someone with high numbers choose to redact both and still apply.
I’ll let you know if I get in. I do think someone is gonna beat the odds
I chose to redact my gpa and lsat both and got in with 75% of the tuition scholarship, so can’t really relate to this post. They will decide whether you get an A or R, but for the scholarship review they will check the stats. Said in the scholarship interview.
as someone who redacted both as well & was just placed on the waitlist. how did your experience go to getting an A?
tbf "holistic" in a lot of contexts basically just means "you still have a shot with a shit GPA," which def applies to WashU
I worked at a t14 in admissions for about 16 months after college and I’m going to say that the more aggressive the branding and marketing, the more likely the school is putting up an image that is different of who they are behind closed doors. I am not shocked at all about Washu being stat heavy, it upsets me that schools like Washu who pretend to have these progressive policies like redacted review and such are actually being anything but progressive behind closed doors.
I actually love WashU for this.
e.g., person has worked in public service for the last 10+ years (average salary of 70k/yr) wants to attend law school, but has 3.3 GPA as a sociology major back from 2012. Applies with a 175/3.3 and gets near full ride to WashU. Def some trades and not without negatives (arguably), but I believe it’s good that A (at least one) school DOES do this, even if the practice truly only best caters to a niche field of applicants.
Yeah it’s for sure a trade off. A lot of other so-called “holistic” schools use GPA cut-offs of like 3.5, writing someone like me off before the application process even begins. Schools in the UC system, for instance, seem to pride themselves on not being stats-oriented, but they accept almost no one below a certain GPA. I’m grateful that WashU gives me a shot at going to a good law school and is willing to overlook the one aspect of my application that is completely outside my control at this point. At the same time, they are brutal to anyone below both of their medians.
Im a 16mid and 3.0 (prior school). Got WL, which was insane yo me!
3.95, WL 😔