A GUIDE TO COLLEGE and UNIVERSITY ACCEPTANCES for STUDENTS FROM WALTER JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL - Updated, Summer 2008

Every year high school students and their families search for the most "appropriate" college. To assist students in exploring options and identifying schools to investigate further, this College/University Data Guide has been researched and developed by a former Walter Johnson High School (WJHS) parent, Dr. Jim Lipton. This is the tenth consecutive year that a revised Guide has been posted on the WJHS web page. It has been updated for 2008 and contains pertinent information about colleges and universities in the United States and other countries to which WJHS seniors have applied and been admitted from 2006 to 2008.

This version of the Guide differs from the previous ones in several ways. First, information is included only for students from WJHS due to the unavailability of comparable data about the entire group of Montgomery County graduates for 2007 and 2008. For the 2008 Guide, all information was obtained from a database maintained by the WJHS Registrar. Only summary data were compiled so that no individual students were identified at any time. Second, data cover only three years, 2006, 2007 and 2008 to insure consistency among SAT scores (the SAT Reasoning test was revised in 2006 to include three components - math, writing, and critical reading - with a maximum score of 2400). Third, data have been obtained about the initial college/university at which WJHS graduates matriculated. Thus we now know where students have applied, were accepted, and initially attended. Of course, this information is based on student reports and thus may be incomplete. Fourth, higher education institutions are divided into three groups: U.S. colleges and universities, schools which have a special focus (e.g., art, music), and schools located outside the United States. The latter two groups were included in this revised version given the interest expressed by students and parents in previous years.

The Guide is compiled from students' reports of their applications, acceptances and planned matriculation. It is not meant to be exhaustive. Be careful about drawing conclusions based on some small sample sizes. We caution you that the data are not meant to "guarantee" admission, but there is lots of helpful information. Also, you should remember that many factors in addition to grades and SAT scores are taken into account by colleges when reviewing applications. These include essays, letters of recommendation, accomplishments in the arts, music, sports, non-school competitions, and community activities.

In the linked table for U.S. colleges and universities, the following data are included by college, for WJHS students accepted to the institution from 2006 to 2008: 1) state; 2) number of WJHS applicants; 3) percent of students admitted; 4) mean weighted grade point average (WGPA); 5) lowest WGPA for an accepted student; 6) mean SAT Reasoning (SAT I) scores (maximum score = 2400); 7) lowest SAT score for an accepted student; and 8) yield of WJHS students for the college, where yield indicates the percent of accepted students who indicated that they would attend or matriculate at the school; it is calculated by dividing the number of matriculating WJHS students by the number of students accepted. For statistical reasons, only colleges/universities at which at least four WJHS students were accepted are included in the table of U.S. colleges/universities. It should also be remembered that data represent only those students who submitted information to the WJHS Registrar. Thus data for all WJHS students accepted by any college may not be included in the tables. U.S. colleges are arranged alphabetically by state.

The table of colleges with a special focus also lists schools by state. For institutions outside the U.S., schools are listed by country. In these two tables, colleges are included at which at least one WJHS student was accepted. This was done because relatively few WJHS students applied to and were accepted by these types of institutions. However, detailed data about WGPA and SAT scores are provided only for colleges/universities at which at least four WJHS students were accepted from 2006 to 2008.

Please remember that not all WJHS students may have provided information about every school to which they were accepted or at which they matriculated.

Click on the appropriate link to see some colleges that have accepted WJ students over the last three years. These links will open new browser windows. Close the windows to return to this page. Happy Searching!

U.S. Colleges/Universities

Colleges/Universities with Special Focus

Non-U.S. Colleges/Universities

Here are Some Interesting Facts about WJHS Students who Graduated Between 2006 and 2008 and Applied to U.S. Colleges

• They applied to 569 different colleges and universities.
• At least one student was accepted at 494 different colleges and universities.
• The ten Schools with greatest number of applicants were: University of Maryland College Park (n=540), University of Maryland Baltimore County (156), Towson University (151), Pennsylvania State University (140), St. Mary’s College (Maryland) (112), University of Delaware (103), University of Michigan (94), New York University (83), Syracuse University (82), Boston University (81), tie between American University and George Washington University (80).
• The schools at which the greatest percent of students were accepted (based on at least 20 students applying): Catholic University of America (90.0%), West Virginia University (85.4%), Pennsylvania State University (83.6%), McDaniel College (80.0%), Arizona State University (77.3%), Hofstra University (75.0%), Eckerd College (73.9%), Salisbury University (72.4%), University of Connecticut (72.0%), Ursinus College (72.0%).
• The schools with highest yield (% of accepted students who matriculated) for WJHS students (based on at least 10 students who were accepted): University of Pennsylvania (75.0%), Washington University St. Louis (63.6%), Eckerd College (47.1%), University of Virginia (46.2%), Clemson University (45.5%), University of Maryland College Park (45.0%), Emory University (44.4%), Cornell University (43.8%), Frostburg State University (42.9%), Dickinson College (42.1%).
• The schools with lowest yield (based on at least 20 students who were accepted): Goucher College (8.7%), Drexel University (9.1%), University of Pittsburgh (9.1%), George Mason University (10.0%), Pennsylvania State University (12.0%), James Madison University (14.0%), McDaniel College (14.3%), University of Delaware (14.5%), Ithaca College (16.0%), American University (17.1%).

Sincere thanks are extended to Ms. Bryna Blaine, WJHS College/Career Coordinator, and Ms. Gayle Evans, WJHS Registrar’s Assistant, for their generous help in obtaining data for this Guide.

To obtain more information about this database, the institutions listed, and other colleges/universities not included in this guide, raw data for all tables or to address any questions or comments, please feel free to contact former WJ parent Jim Lipton at jalipton@ix.netcom.com.