First-Year U.S. Citizen/ Permanent Resident Applicants

WashU offers first-year applicants a choice of three decision plans – Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision.

Early Decision plans

You may apply to only one college or university under a binding Early Decision (ED) plan.

If WashU is clearly your first-choice school, we encourage you to apply under the Early Decision option. Early Decision I and Early Decision II candidates receive admission decisions and financial aid offers earlier than regular decision candidates. WashU will meet 100% of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students, regardless of your chosen decision plan. The academic scholarship process is separate – scholarship decisions are not made until well after the Early Decision notification dates.

Your Early Decision application is a binding commitment that you will attend WashU if admitted. Early Decision candidates and their counselors and a parent or guardian must sign the Early Decision commitment statement on the application. You may apply for regular admission to any additional schools you choose. If you are admitted to WashU, you must withdraw applications filed at other colleges and universities.

Some applicants not admitted under Early Decision may be deferred to the Regular Decision application period for re-evaluation. However, some applicants may be denied admission.

Regular Decision plan

If you are interested in WashU, but are unsure whether it is your first choice, you should apply as a Regular Decision (RD) candidate.

You must select one of our undergraduate schools (Architecture, Art, Arts & Sciences, Business, Engineering) when you apply. This school serves as your home base, though you are welcome to take classes in or transfer to the other schools as your academic interests evolve. 

You will also be asked to select a primary academic interest on your application, but you don’t need to formally declare your major until your second year. 

Since WashU uses a holistic application review process, we do not require specific courses for admission.

Successful candidates’ transcripts often include:

• 4 years of English
• 4 years of mathematics (architecture, business, and engineering strongly recommend calculus)
• 3-4 years of laboratory science (engineering recommends chemistry and physics)
• 3-4 years of history or social science
• At least two years of the same foreign language in high school
• Arts & Sciences recommends both chemistry and physics for students who plan to do coursework in pre-medicine or the natural sciences.

Other important parts of your application

• Grades and class rank (if your school ranks students)
• Counselor recommendation and one teacher evaluation
• A 200-word response to the question “Please tell us what you are interested in studying at college and why.”
• Extracurricular and community activities
• The Common Application or Coalition Application essay
• A portfolio is required for applicants to the College of Art. Portfolios are strongly encouraged for applicants to the College of Architecture.

Optional supplements

The following items are not required as part of the application process. They are simply ways for you to add another dimension to your application – something that we might not learn by reading your transcript or your personal statement. And if you don’t want to submit any supplemental materials, that’s OK. Applicants will not be penalized for opting out. They are truly optional.

• Video or writing supplement
• Schoolhouse.world certifications
• Standardized test scores

WashU accepts self-reported scores on the Common App and Coalition App. We hope this policy makes the application more accessible for you, since you don’t have to formally request scores and pay for them to be sent to WashU during the application phase. If you enroll at WashU and submitted unofficial scores, we will then ask you to send official score reports from testing agencies. 

• Either SAT or ACT – writing is not required.
• Test results from any of your high school years are acceptable.
• We consider only the highest individual scores, whenever they occurred.
• The last test date accepted will be the December testing (October if applying Early Decision I).

To apply, use either the Common Application or Coalition Application. Both applications open on August 1 and must be completed by the appropriate application deadline.

Common Application

Students who apply via the Common Application will complete both the basic application and the WashU-specific questions while logged in to their Common Application account.

Coalition Application

Students who apply via the Coalition Application will complete their profile while logged in to their Scoir account. Upon submitting their profile, students will be taken to the WashU Pathway to complete the WashU-specific questions.

Within a few days of submitting your application for admission, you will receive login instructions for the WashU Pathway.

In the WashU Pathway, you will see:

• A checklist showing the status of each piece of your application
• A link to your financial aid portal (if applicable)
• Instructions for submitting an optional 90-second video

Admission decisions will be posted in the Pathway as soon as they are released.

WashU meets 100 percent of demonstrated need for all admitted students without loans.

When filling out your application for admission, indicate your intent to apply for need-based financial aid. Once you submit your application, we will create an account for you with Student Financial Services, and your application begins!

Your WashU Pathway will include a current checklist of your support materials:

• School report and official transcript
• Teacher evaluation
• Counselor recommendation
• Optional – Self-reported or official SAT or ACT scores.
• TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test for students whose first language is not English
• Portfolio (required for students applying to the College of Art, strongly encouraged for students applying to the College of Architecture). The portfolio should be submitted using SlideRoom. 

If you don’t want to submit a supplement, that’s OK. Applicants will not be penalized for opting out of submitting a supplement. It is truly optional.

This optional question allows you to add another dimension to your application – something that the admissions committee might not learn by reading your transcript or your personal statement.

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?
• WashU strives to know every undergraduate student “By Name & Story.” How have your life experiences shaped your story?

Coalition Application

If you’re completing the Coalition Application, you may submit the optional Writing Supplement through the WashU Pathway after you’ve submitted both your profile and the WashU-specific questions.

Common Application

The optional Scholarship Writing Supplement serves as our application for our Signature Scholar Programs – the Danforth, Ervin, and Rodriguez Scholars Programs – as well as the Howard Nemerov Writing Scholars Program for applicants to Arts & Sciences.

Coalition Application

If you’re submitting via the Coalition Application, you will apply for our Signature Scholar Programs and/or Nemerov Writing Scholars Program through the WashU Pathway after you’ve submitted both your profile and the WashU-specific questions.

Letters of recommendation

The scholarship committee(s) will review the required counselor and teacher letters of recommendation submitted with your application. You may submit an optional third letter of recommendation to invite someone who can speak to your contributions and commitment to the community.

The $75 nonrefundable application fee is required to complete your application. You may pay the application fee using a credit card when you submit your application for admission.

Fee waiver

We are happy to waive our $75 application fee for financial aid applicants as well as those for whom it would present a financial hardship.