<p>Hey all, I am a newly admitted student who have already decided to enroll. However, I am having some concerns about Wash U's reputation. Basically from what I have known, Wash U seems to be the least well-known school among the top 20 and my uncle hadn't even heard of it(he's over 60, that explains sth.). He strongly recommended UCLA over Wash U, which made me confused and unhappy. Also, rumors had it that Wash U is probably overrated in terms of ranking. For me, I am interested in Biology & BME related stuff and Wash U is definitely among the strongest.
So my concern so far is that I want to know whether the above are true. Also, will this lack of fame hinder my potential of getting a good job? If current students can tell me sth. about the career center or how Wash U is received by employers, that would be the best. :)</p>
<p>Wash U has an excellent reputation. One reason your uncle may not know this is that Wash U’s rep has improved nationwide a lot in recent decades–to a large extent because of aggressive efforts the school made to recruit top students from all over. So relax.</p>
<p>My son is also enrolling. WUSTL has a phenomenal reputation among those entities that count- grad schools and employers. You are going to get a phenomenal education. I am so obsessed with academics (I’m a physician) that I would not have let my son, who is as focused as I am, enroll at a school that did not have a stellar academic reputation (he wouldn’t have enrolled either). Have your uncle research the academics at WUSTL. The school is first rate in so many aspects. I think that the school is not as well-known as others schools since it is located in the Midwest and not on either coast. Rice University, another outstanding institution, suffers from a similar fate based on its location.</p>
<p>As the school does not suffer from a lack of fame, I certainly do not think that is going to hinder your job prospects. That being said, it also will not automatically get you a job. You will still need to excel in your course of studies. Few uncompetitive student should ever rely on a school’s reputation for a job.</p>
<p>I do think it’s fair to say washu is one of the top 20 schools which is least known by the average person. That being said, med/grad schools think highly of wustl, as do major companies. Smaller companies (especially those on the coast, as PsychoDad10 mentions) might not be as familiar with washu, but I’d bet a lot of them are at least somewhat aware it is a good school. Washu tends to have good job/grad school placement, so I would not by any means rule it out on that criterion.</p>
<p>As for washu being overrated, well that is partially subjective - it depends on what one considers a “good” university. There are those who claim that washu unfairly manipulates their numbers in order to improve their ranking, but I have yet to see any evidence that they purposefully do so at any greater rate than the more well known universities.</p>
<p>College is what you make of it. Most kids can become successful attending a wide range of colleges. My D had higher “ranking” schools that accepted her but decided to attend Washu for fit. That is what will lead to her success since she will be happy there - not the prestige of the school.</p>
<p>You have nothing to worry about. WashU was a regional university until say, 2 and a half decades ago. So during your uncle’s college days, I’m pretty sure WashU was unheard of in areas outside of missouri and a few neighboring states. But today, it’s a completely different scenario, with WashU’s reputation increasing year by year as more and more students and employers and starting to recognize the quality of academics at WashU and the quality of students produced respectively. It’s already a top 15 university and only has great prospects ahead of it.</p>
<p>Thank you all. It’s good to know that Wash U is well reputated nowadays. That clears some confusion caused by my family. Actually I am international student (my uncle is American though) and after taking couple campus tours I found Wash U the one with the nicest campus atomosphere as well as top-notch academic qualities so I decided to enroll. It’s just frustrating when my relatives pursuaded me to attend higher ranked colleges such as Penn by saying they haven’t heard of Wash U.
Thank you all for clarifying all the confusions. Now I am even more confident about my decision. :)</p>
<p>My D turned down Stanford for WashU. What would your uncle think about that, eh 
If your uncle were a west coaster, that would seem like really crazy! FWIW, she has no regrets about her choice.</p>
<p>@jvtDad
Nice guess! He is indeed a west coaster who has lived there all his life. Probably that fact explains why he views UCLA with awe.</p>
<p>Not many friends of mine have heard of WashU, but most of them are interested into Engineering and that kind of stuff. The ones that are interested in a medical profession have heard of the name or know where the school is and know about it.</p>
<p>Sorry to bump up this thread but how is WashU’s law school placement compared to other top schools?</p>
<p>Short answer: I don’t know.</p>
<p>Longer answer: From what I gather, GPA/LSAT are more important than undergraduate school when it comes to being accepted to law school. Thus, I think washu is about as good as anywhere else in that regard. That being said, I don’t believe that washu is particularly known for its pre-law program. I haven’t been able to find any placement rates of any sort, so I don’t know how accurate my guess is, but I assume Washu’s placement is average.</p>
<p>[Early</a> offers to Harvard law school on the rise | Student Life](<a href=“http://www.studlife.com/news/2010/01/25/early-offers-to-harvard-law-school-on-the-rise/]Early”>Early offers to Harvard law school on the rise - Student Life)</p>
<p>^this was for kids graduating in 2010, so if WUSTL continues its rise, the numbers will look even better by 2017 and beyond</p>
<p>Basically, WashU is good school with really bad name recognition for a school of its caliber. This won’t hurt you for grad school placement…but it could affect job placement after undergrad because WashU is not that well known.</p>
<p>^ Totally untrue and completely baseless. Employers and graduate schools are well aware of the reputation of WUSTL.</p>
<p>Have to agree with psychodad. Just because Bob from down the block may not have heard about WashU doesn’t mean that the people that count ( employers and grad school admissions) aren’t well aware of it and its reputation/academic status. We’re nearly 1000 miles away here on the East Coast and GCs at the local high school are recommending the top tier students consider it…</p>
<p>Our school is same as janjdjad, East Coast, big push from GCs to consider WashU, in part because WashU has feted them with free trips, etc. Little real selectivity when it comes to kids accepted, some 5 or 10%, plenty not. That’s how much WashU wants to up its profile in this sector of country. Other comparable and even lower ranked colleges much more selective here.</p>
<p>^ I disagree with the assertion that Wash U is not selective. just look at their mid 50% range scores for SAT and ACT are extremely high, comparable to many other highly selective schools in the country. The students are also a very high caliber. While many of these students could’ve chosen to enroll at Ivy League institutions, they specifically chose WUSTL for a particular reason, and that is because they absolutely loved the institution and wanted to be there rather than being attracted to a brand name. And for the record, the school does not lavish prospective students with free trips. The only free trip that they offer that I know of is for students who were admitted via regular decision to come take a look at the school. They may offer a free trip for certain groups to come for special weekends, but that is a common occurrence at many schools. And as long as things are done ethically, I see no reason for a school not to try to increase its name recognition in other areas of the country. Just look at what the University of Chicago has been able to do in the last few years.</p>
<p>To be fair, @PsychoDad10 and @janjdad, Washu is fairly unknown for how high it’s ranked - they even sell t-shirts with the catchphrase “It’s in St. Louis, dammit!” That is, in my opinion, an accurate representation of what an average person knows about wustl. That being said, obviously important people know about wustl. ILoveCollege99 concedes that it will not affect graduate school admissions, and I agree. He also says that it might hurt job placement, which I do believe is plausible; I’m willing to bet that there are some small companies out there who have not heard of wustl, and would therefore hire an applicant from cornell, for example, over a similarly qualified applicant from washu. Obviously this isn’t the case for all employers, or maybe not even most employers, but I do bet that it happens.</p>
<p>Just a thought- Duke is a school with academic quality similar to WUSTL. I think it’s pretty fair to say that most people in the country have heard of Duke, specifically because of its prowess on the basketball court (I would bet that a lot of average Joes wouldn’t even know how great the academics are). I’m sure WUSTL could choose to go in this direction if it wanted to- not sure if the school has ever looked at this angle</p>