Perhaps the time has come to question the purpose of the UW.
If we are here to serve our state‘s best students, then why should they go here when the ivies now offer full boat scholarships to any kid good enough to get in? Perhaps instead Washington should be investing resources on helping our best high school kids so they can apply to Harvard or MIT?
One surprising answer may come from a colleague who runs a nationwide program for elite URM students. This friend recruits top scoring under represented minority (URM) students from the 7th grade around the US. His program mentors them, gets them into elite secondary schools, mentors them through college, and then helps them get into PhD or professional doctorate programs. His program is awesome. His program has a 100% record of success with admissions and an 84% record of success at the doctoral level.
Now my friend wants his kids to consider the UW as undergrads!
Why? Many of these kids can get into to an Ivy at a lower cost than possible at any state school. My friend, however, has visited the UW and feels that we can offer the support that URM kids need while providing an atmosphere of socio economic diversity that the Ivies can not.
Stanford announced that students whose families make less than $125,000 can…