Miah Bressie, a high school senior from a small town in south-central Missouri, had barely heard of Washington University in St. Louis—let alone considered applying—until a student in the graduating class ahead of hers was accepted last fall. Nestled in the rolling hills of the Ozarks, Bressie’s blue-collar hometown, Houston, has a median income of $40,893 and a bachelor’s degree attainment rate of just 14.5 percent. So for Bressie and many of the other 70-some students in her graduating class, attending a selective, private institution like WashU was seen as out of reach. But then an admissions representative from WashU showed up at the Houston High School college fair last fall, and Bressie’s outlook changed.