Helping your Students Find the Right Fit

Save the dates for our upcoming virtual Counselor Roundtable events. Come together in professional partnership with Willamette admission staff and college counseling colleagues to discuss the challenges facing the current cohort of college-going students and how we can best support their plans for the future.

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Willamette University is a proud member of the Colleges that Change Lives non-profit organization. Since 2009, CTCL has recognized the tireless work of individuals who counsel students in the college search process with the Counselor of the Year Award. We join them in celebrating this year’s recipients.

Willamette practices holistic admission and values academic curiosity, service and contributions to others (including family commitments), and extracurricular involvement and leadership.

In assessing academic preparation, Transcripts are evaluated on an individual basis taking the school’s profile and academic resources into consideration. We strive to admit students who have made sound choices to challenge themselves academically where there are opportunities to do so. We use a weighted GPA when awarding merit scholarships and will recalculate if the school does not provide a weighted GPA. For schools where a narrative transcript is used in place of a GPA, we ask that you please provide an estimation of what the GPA might be so as not to disadvantage the student in our merit scholarship process.

We counsel prospective students in our information session, interviews and essay writing workshops that the essay is another way in which we assess academic preparation. We advise students to present their best work with the strong recommendation that they write an original essay for their college application. We encourage students to seek outside help when it comes to proofreading for basic errors or seek guidance on content and structure, but caution them against having their essay over-edited or written by someone else. While Willamette understands the use of AI programs, such as ChatGPT, as tools that can be helpful in the writing process, an applicant should not submit an essay in which any portion of the writing has been generated by anyone except the individual applicant. Use of AI to organize an outline or basic list of ideas at the preliminary stage of the writing process is acceptable; use of anyone's wording, thoughts, grammar or written work in essay form - AI or human - other than that of the applicant is strongly discouraged.

SAT and ACT Tests are optional for admission and are not factored into the merit scholarship award for any applicant. There is also no additional work required of an applicant if they choose not to submit test scores. If an applicant self-reports their test scores in the Common Application or Coalition on Scoir, but indicates that they do not want those scores considered, the scores will be redacted from their record before their application is reviewed. A student’s choice to apply test-optional is a very personal one, and we do not seek to advise or sway a student in either direction. However, if an applicant would like to ask questions about our test optional policy we encourage you to have them contact their admission counselor.

Willamette accepts the Common Application and the Coalition on Scoir. A Counselor Recommendation and the School Report Form are required credentials to complete an application. If you feel that you are unable to provide a recommendation letter for your applicant, we ask that you indicate so on the Counselor Recommendation. Applicants without a viable letter of recommendation from their counselor should be encouraged to submit a letter of recommendation from a teacher in a core subject area, so long as it does not increase any barriers to the student in completing their application. While not required, we also greatly appreciate a School Profile, particularly if it tells us more about your school and senior class than what is indicated in the School Report Form.

Willamette is a great choice for high-achieving students who thrive in a close-knit learning environment. Students in every major collaborate with professors on cutting-edge research and meaningful work, and they forge lasting friendships in a rich array of activities outside the classroom. We offer more than 50 academic programs, including 5 dual-degree options.

We hope these resources will give your students and their families a greater sense of our academic and social community. Please contact your admission counselor, bearcat@willamette.edu or 503-370-6303 if you have any questions.

Students can decide whether their standardized test results accurately reflect their academic ability and potential. Should the student submit them, the test scores will be reviewed with other indicators of their academic ability. Review Willamette's FAQs about being test-optional.

Willamette University's Counselor Advisory Board members are asked to serve for 2-3 years, meeting three times annually.

For the counselor, the benefits of serving on an advisory board include the opportunity to get to know an institution more deeply and develop a meaningful collaborative partnership with an institution where there is a mutual fit for their students; to get an inside look at what challenges admission offices are grappling with; to build their resume with unique professional development.

For the university, a collaborative partnership with an advisory board may provide insight into how campus events and marketing materials are received, how financial aid packages are interpreted, and an inside look at how students and families perceive their institution.