Hi everyone!
I was accepted by Washington University in St. Louis. I researched the crime rate for St. Louis ad turns out it is one the highest in the U.S. .
It scared me away from the University. Unfortunately, I did not look into it before applying.
Now I don’t know if I should accept the offer.
I think the campus is in the safer side of the city but I will need to network and travel around so I am not sure I will feel safe there.
Thoughts?
There is crime everywhere unfortunately. WUSTL is West of the city. Like anywhere you should avoid being in the wrong places at the wrong time. The campus is well contained and frankly St Louis is one of the best cities in the country. I’d love to have gone to school there.
You can find reasons to discount a school and I’m not saying crime isn’t a concern but I personally wouldn’t discount WUSTL vs any other school because of it.
You have to decide what is best for you but you will find crime at all schools that you look at.
Good luck.
If you have already been accepted, am I correct in assuming that you applied ED1 to WashU? If that is the case, you kind of have to accept the offer 
.
I honestly can’t think of a single major US city that doesn’t have a “bad area”, or an area that is considered less than safe … NY, LA, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Seattle, Detroit, Washington DC, Miami, Baltimore, San Francisco, Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis, St. Louis, etc …
East St. Louis is burdened with poverty and crime. It is no where near the WashU campus. I am not from St. Louis, and my opinion is no more valid than anyone else on here regarding WashU safety, but I would not list WashU in a top 10 list of major US universities where I would be particularly concerned with crime.
I would assume that the campus police is protecting the students. My child attends a university in the midst of a large city. The campus police dept is top notch! Most universities realize that unless they keep the students safe, enrollment will drop.
This type of post is super common. I always find it interesting that people rarely question the crime in New Haven, CT (Yale), in a not great city, or Los Angeles (USC), where the campus literally abuts a pretty bad neighborhood.
This list doesn’t include WUSTL on the first page (not sure it’s on the list at all), but it does include U Penn and several other famous universities.
Most crime on campus (which is where you spend 90% of your time) is related to alcohol and sexual offenses. If you want to know more about any college’s actual crime stats, just Google name of college Clery Report. Be sure to look up the Clery Reports for some other well known colleges too, for comparison. I think you’ll find that WUSTL is actually very safe.
I would have zero hesitation about my kids attending WUSTL. Given the 97% freshman retention rate, it seems most kids are living crime free lives and are probably happy, in fact. Unhappy students don’t stick around for their sophomore year.
My son went to grad school at WUSTL – as others have said, the neighborhoods around the University are not where the high crime is happening and are very vibrant places to go for food, music etc. A student’s typical experience of the community would not bring them into the high crime areas.
There have been dozens of posts recently focused on New Haven! There is a small subset of CC posters who apparently feel uncomfortable visiting (or living in) a diverse city where there are wonderful things (great museums, terrific restaurants, nice parks and places to walk, lovely neighborhoods with beautifully maintained old houses) and not so wonderful things (homeless people, poor people, integrated neighborhoods where not everyone is an upper middle class professional).
There are so many suburban and rural colleges in the US-- someone who doesn’t like city living (which likely means some crime, given population density) should avoid city campuses. But New Haven takes a LOT of heat on CC.
WUSTL seems like a country club to me. Rolling lawns and lots of greenery, heavily patrolled by campus police, separate geographically from the high crime areas of St. Louis. I wouldn’t hesitate to have a kid there. But if the OP is uncomfortable with city living…
My larger point is that people rarely debate attending Yale because of the city it’s in. If people get into Yale, they generally go.
WashU is in a very nice area of St. Louis. And the campus is kind of self contained. No major through streets on campus itself.
Linda, I will tag you the next time this comes up! Why do you think the CC crowd favors Princeton over Yale (hint- it’s not so you can wear orange at your reunions!)
I don’t think Yale is concerned about its yield rate. It’s 1% lower than Princeton, according to this:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/universities-colleges-where-students-are-eager-to-enroll
As an aside, there are a couple of colleges in this list that many people haven’t heard of. And the Liberal Arts College yield rates are interesting too.
I am digressing. WUSTL is a safe campus and that’s what the OP should focus on. It’s probably not too likely that students will be venturing into crime ridden areas unless they choose to. As mentioned before, all big cities will have areas with crime.
I wouldn’t hesitate to go to WashU. In fact, we’re considering buying a second home in one of the neighborhoods that abuts the campus. Forest Park is amazing, and the areas around, Central West End, DeMun/High Point, Clayton, etc. are all very vibrant.
That said, east of Skinker and north of Delmar, crime rates rise as you get closer and closer to the river. Be smart. You’d avoid certain neighborhoods at night in any city. Chose where you go wisely. Like most any other urban environment, it’s about time and place.
Enjoy!
My girlfriend and I spent time in St. Louis last October, and we spent a fair bit of that time in and around WUSTL. We parked nearby and walked around.
The school is in a nice part of town – it is nowhere near downtown St. Louis, or across the river in East St. Louis. We actually walked around downtown St. Louis as well, and for an urban downtown it was pretty nice.
So I’ll join others in saying that you shouldn’t worry about crime at WUSTL. Just exercise common sense.
A. Why don’t you go for a visit and see what it feels like?
B. East St. Louis is a bit gritty. Truthfully, I have not been in over 20 years, so I can’t tell you what it looks like now.
I think you will be fine and congratulations on your acceptance. Also FWIW, my DD’s classmate goes there. He loves it.
If you’ve been accepted already, you must be ED1, and you are required to go there, you can’t just back out. How are you going to reject the offer?
I’m not sure why people keep bringing up East St. Louis? It’s literally across the river and in Illinois. Miles from WashU.
And trying to figure this out AFTER you’ve applied ED and been accepted is exactly why no one should ever apply ED without properly researching a school.
You’ll be fine. Congrats on your acceptance to a GREAT school!
My son graduated last May and never felt unsafe. Were there issues around campus, of course, but as others wrote there is crime everywhere! The campus is beautiful and surrounded by upscale houses and apartments. Even the park across the street is safe.
You applied for a great education and that is what you will get.
And as with anywhere you go, you need to be aware of your surroundings and and travel with others at night.
I am from St Louis. Grew up there and then lived there for many years and still have family and friends in the area. The area in and around Wash U, the campus and areas like Univ City and Clayton are very nice and safe. Like any big city there are pockets of crime. Anywhere around wash U campus and to the west is very safe. Areas close by like Central West End where the wash u Medical school is and research center and siteman cancer center and affiliated hospitals like Barnes Jewish hospital and St louis childrens hospital are all very nice. Of you are pre med or medical related you will be hard pressed to find a city with better Medical
Schools and nursing schools and allied health schools like PT OT RT speech pathology etc programs and experiences. The medical education in St Louis and wash u med school is top notch. Also places to the immediate west of campus like Clayton, Ladue, and all the west suburbs.
Also Forest Park is very close by and is one of the nicest and coolest city parks in the country and the second biggest city park, next to Central Park in NYC. What is nice about Wash U is it is also far away enough from most of the crime in the city of St Louis but close enough to easily get to the good parts of St Louis to see and do fun things like the Zoo, the botanical gardens , the art museum, the science center, the city museum, the Arch, a Cardinals game, Blues game, the Anheuser Busch brewery tour, fun restaurants and bars are all within 20-25 minutes from campus. It is not too far from South City where there is a little Italy with tons of excellent Italian restaurants it is an area called The Hill. And about only 15 mins from St Louis univ and its campus all its area places,
25 mins from Soulard an old cobblestone street area where the AB brewery is with a lively nightlife and several really good Irish Bars. Lots of ofher great places these are just a few. That being said you will want to stay away from north city st louis. Where a hug me amount of the crime is. But not close to wash u or anything I mentioned. Another good thing about being in st louis is you arent too far away from Chicago or Memphis or Kansas City for a fun weekend away. Good luck with your decision.
Exactly! East st louis is nowhere even remotely close! a 30-35 minute drive and
Across the huge Mississippi river.
Am an international graduate student (cant visit the campus beforehand), no ED.
I am concerned that as a grad student, ill have to and travel around to network