Access to Excellence Application

Thank you for your interest in joining us at Access to Excellence (A2E)! We are excited to share the Bearcat experience with you.

The theme for this year's A2E event is Uplifting Our Peers. Willamette aims to support students, staff, faculty, and community members in many ways. From hosting our lūʻau and Social Pow-Wow to rehabilitating the lands of Willamette's Zena Forest. We strive to create a community of supporters and hope to bring together a group of students with a mind for community care, respect, and compassion for one another.

To qualify, you must be a high school senior, gap-year student or transfer student who has been, or will be, admitted to the Willamette University College of Arts and Sciences for fall 2023 entry.

As a program designed to increase access to higher education for students historically marginalized, we strongly encourage students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to apply. This includes, but is not limited to:

• First-generation college students - those with parents or guardians who have not obtained a bachelor’s degree.
• Students who self-identify as a student of color, such as American Indian, Asian, Black, Hawaiian, Indigenous, Latinx, Native American, and/or Pacific Islander descent.
• Students eligible for the Pell Grant or who qualify for free or reduced lunch in secondary school.
• Students with DACA or undocumented immigration status.

Please submit the application below, including your contact and demographic information and the two short essay questions. If you have accessed this application through your applicant status page, some information may be pre-filled.

If you have not submitted your Common Application, please do so by the Regular Decision priority deadline of February 1, 2023. All supporting materials must be received by February 8, 2023.