Looks like the world is changing, into a woman society. Options

[Devastation]

i've been noticing the change in movies, singers, careers and alot of other things that women are rising to the occasion. its good to see them finally take a step. pretty soon its going to be herstory instead of history. well maybe not that, but soon a woman president.

[ComradeRed]

Wash U at St. Louis bases its scholarships entirely on your application essay ... and they only offer 15 at each school ... it's very hard to get them.

There could've been other reasons as well, like if the woman was poorer.

In my experience, gender-based affirmative action is very low ... women only get a slight boost over men. Chances are she had a much better essay, or was poorer than your brother (income-based affirmative action is in very high effect).

Furthermore, I can tell you right now that very few scholarships are subject to affirmative action (except for scholarships that are only for blacks, etc.) Admissions IS, but financial aid isn't. I have close friends who work as admissions staff at Chicago and Duke (I've also recieved very in-depth information about Brown's admissions office when I was there this summer), which both have similiar financial aid programs to Washington University.

Full merit-based scholarships are usually based on arcane criteria like how much they like your essay, that it is NOT a good idea to depend on them. I've been sent applications by every Ivy League school except Columbia without asking, I have five 800 SAT 2 scores, including Writing and Math 2C, straight-5s on AP Tests, qualified to the AIME twice, had my school's highest Math League scores since Sophomore Year, ranked in the top 5% of my class, which is already one of the most competitive schools in Pennsylvania, National Merit Scholar (226 on the PSAT), 1590 SAT, 2nd place debater in my state, a national semifinalist in debate, 300 hours of community service, and I've attended three years of summer school and have straight-As at four different colleges, including an Ivy League one, and I'm doing a MAJOR research thesis senior year of high school... And I'm not even trying to get merit money. My friend at Chicago said that the process is unpredictable as hell and usually depends on how much the reading committee likes your essay more than anything else such as grades, tests, etc. You simply can't blame affirmative action for that. It doesn't play a role.

Moreover, Wash-U is very richly-endowed. Even if you didn't get merit-based aid, I'm sure that if you really needed the money, you could've gotten need-based aid.