Three days, 166 competitors and roughly $250,000 dollars for each of the 80 finalists selected — no pressure, right?
From March 6-8, I participated in the finals weekend for the Johnson Scholarship at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia. W&L is a small liberal arts school of around 2,400 students.
The Johnson Scholarship, established from a $100 million dollar donation in 2007, is W&L’s full-ride scholarship. Winners of this award are guaranteed to receive tuition, room and board and other funding to meet additional financial need. It also grants access to a $7,000 summer stipend for research or study abroad.
As you would imagine, the process by which they actually choose these winners is rigorous to say the least.
I arrived on Sunday, where I met my host for the weekend. Each of the 166 finalists stayed with a host student for the weekend.
Following our first meal in W&L’s dining hall, finalists attended an opening ceremony with speeches from staff, W&L President Kenneth Ruscio and a current Johnson scholar.
The next morning, I sat in on several of W&L’s classes. I was assigned intermediate Spanish and introductory theater courses, which reminded me of my time here at Guilford. Class sizes were small, even in the intro course, and strongly emphasized collaboration and discussion. Students did not call their professors by their first names though.
Following a luncheon with other finalists, we had the opportunity to visit the various academic departments for their open houses. The professors, as well as their level of engagement and interaction with students, were, again, very reminiscent of Guilford.
In fact, W&L has a culture and value system very similar to that at Guilford. At W&L, they have a completely student-run honor system, one which regulates not only academic affairs but also interpersonal interactions.
That night, we had a dinner with W&L faculty and staff. After, we had our first interviews.
Each candidate was interviewed by a panel of three, which consisted of two faculty members and one current Johnson scholar. The interview covered the important parts of our application, pinpointing the topics and themes we had written about and seeing how we handled being asked tough and specific questions about them.
They were not only trying to evaluate us as candidates but to entice us as prospective students. I am sure every scholarship weekend has a similar goal, but it felt like W&L had spared no expense trying to keep us busy and entertained.
Speaking of expenses, there was one distinct difference between W&L and Guilford: money. W&L has a noticeable abundance of it.
Though we may not have enough money to, for example, hire the dog from the original Broadway production of “Legally Blonde” — W&L did: his name is Chico, and he has his own headshot — Guilford still has been able to foster the same values and liberal arts model of education as more financially successful schools such as W&L.
As for the scholarship, I recently found out that I was chosen as one of the few recipients and will most likely be attending W&L next fall. I guess I will see you soon, Chico.
