<p>Irrespective of what my course of action towards WashU would be, the question is: did the riots actually dissuade people from applying?</p>
<p>That said, several colleges with urban or suburban campuses exhibit some form of “bubble effect”, whence the on-campus social environment is more or less markedly different from what happens off-campus, e.g. people on-campus are more friendly towards students of color than the people outside.</p>
<p>You are missing the whole point. There was one riot and that was not anywhere near or on campus and it had nothing to do with Wash U. So your question is irrelevant. </p>
<p>My opinion is that the number of applications haven’t changed. The university is still highly sought after. Good luck trying to get in. </p>
<p>Personally I think this subject should be closed. </p>
<p>Uh, I don’t think the subject should be closed. I’d rather discuss it and allow for several opinions. It is a topic that should seriously be considered - the city that a school is in.</p>
<p>I believe the number of applicants may have changed. I would not assume most people applying to WashU or SLU would know exactly how little the events in Ferguson are physically affecting the university or its student body. Most people know that Ferguson is in St. Louis and the media has been creating images of “rioters”, burning cars, and ruins everywhere. We here know that WashU, as a university, has not been affected by the protests in Ferguson. We also know the university has not been affected by the extraneous looters and rioters. That has been almost solely restricted to Ferguson. The average applicant probably does not understand that much.</p>
<p>Peaceful protests came up today in West County mall, the Galleria, and other parts of the town. I am keeping up to-the-minute on all of the events with the protests. Some may be heading to South County mall tonight as well. Nothing on WashU campus. Not even in Forest Park as far as I’m aware, which is right outside WashU. I’d imagine that would be a hotbed for protests, but it’s been fairly quaint as usual.</p>
<p>The thought process of a significant portion of kids applying to WashU would likely be “WashU is in St. Louis. St. Louis has a lot of riots going on! WashU is unsafe”. Informed applicants or those who live in St. Louis (such as myself) understand that is not the case and so that is why I have applied. early decision for me.</p>
<p>This being said, WashU still has a comparatively easier application process (no supplements, superscoring, etc.) so I doubt it will make a huge dent in applicants, but certainly a smaller amount than without the protests. I would think most people applying to elite schools won’t scratch off WashU since it’s another application that doesn’t require too much else.</p>
<p>I will also add that the Ferguson protests will not damage WashU’s reputation. Although, I did not really like the President’s letter regarding the subject and I would imagine many others wouldn’t like it as well. That’s not really representative of the university’s quality, however.</p>
<p>I would expect SLU to draw more from within Greater St. Louis (or Missouri in general) than WUSTL does so I would say that SLU would take less of a hit than WashU. Or that commuter applicants are more likely to be aware of such differences within St. Louis areas.</p>
<p>That said, how significant is the social “bubble effect” at WashU?</p>
<p>As far as how many will be applying to wash u this year… that shouldn’t be a reason to apply or not. It should be on other factors such as fit. You ought to visit wash u to see if this university fits you. Only you will know if it fits you or not. In case you aren’t aware almost 30,000 people applied last year for only 1,600 spots. </p>
<p>Every college has a bubble effect especially if that’s what you choose to do. That’s what is neat about college, you have so many choices to choose from. You can even be a politician. Wash U has an 18 year old politician! </p>
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<p>SLU is on Grand Ave. If you go down Grand Ave. a bit further than SLU you’re in North St. Louis. WashU is in a comparatively safer part of the city. Additionally, Grand is a major road that goes through SLU’s campus. SLU is more integrated into the city, but is still fenced off and remains a safe campus. WashU is, as you said, not as far downtown. It’s right next to Forest Park and a nice residential area, and is also close to the loop. SLU definitely has easier access to the rest of St. Louis, but WashU is comparatively calmer. Some may be appealed to either scene.</p>
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<p>I don’t think we are debating whether or someone wants to apply based on the number of applicants this year. We are debating on how/if the protests in St. Louis have affected the university.</p>
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<p>IDK if I know the definition of bubble effect… but…If I know what a bubble is, WashU is really sunk into the community. Stereotypical rectangular-glasses messenger bag college students are found walking down the loop, sipping from coffee in the hip cafes and yogurt joints. Forest Park contains the Art Museum and the Zoo among other things. You can tell if a student is a WashU student. This isn’t a bad thing. Most people like WashU’s presence where it’s at.</p>
<p>And, even if WUSTL didn’t see any decrease in its applicant pool, could the riots cause some kids that initially wanted to apply there ED switch to RD? Or downgrade WUSTL from Xth choice to a lower position in their attendance preferences?</p>
<p>It depends on how many well qualified and smart applicants one assumes would be 1) naive enough to not do the research on the geography and social situation of STL as a whole, or 2) is politically opinionated/interested enough to care about the effects, or 3) have parents that are 1 or 2. Altogether, I don’t think this is a very large demographic at all, and probably won’t affect applications.</p>
<p>Maybe compare to USC or UCLA’s application data near the LA riot time frame?</p>
<p>Sometimes well-qualified and smart applicants are just overworked (when you have 4-6 ECs and a similar number of AP courses) to be looking at the social situation of a city a school is in, especially since many of these students will apply to 10+ schools (and sometimes 14+) so it’d be hard to keep track of such municipal information for equally many schools.</p>
<p>And sometimes, naive parents may very well not have attended college themselves. But naïveté is not mutually exclusive with being opinionated…</p>