<p>Hey Everyone,</p>
<p>Some of you'll out there are probably still deciding which colleges to apply to and I thought it would be a good idea for me to speak about WashU; and perhaps some of you'll may be interested in the school after reading this post.</p>
<p>So I'm an Indian international student at Washington University in St. Louis and I've had an amazing and fulfilling experience here thus far. To begin with, it's very probable that many of you'll have not heard of WashU or are confusing it with the University of Washington, Seattle aka U-dub or Washington State University, both of which are completely different and unrelated institutions in located in Washington state. WashU, as the name suggests, is located in St. Louis Missouri (Don't worry, the name can be very misleading; we even have shirts that poke fun at the name)</p>
<p>WashU is a very well regarded private university that is often compared to Northwestern, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Brown, Hopkins, Emory to name a few schools. WashU has been consistently ranked between 9th and 14th in the United States over the last decade (US News and WR) surpassing a few more well known schools like Brown and Cornell. Even though rankings, in my opinion, shouldn't be the be the sole reason to chose a university, I'm just putting these stats out there for those of you who may hold rankings with great importance. One reason WashU isn't the most well known of schools in India lies in the fact that WashU only rose to prominence in the 1990's, unlike many of it's present day peer schools that have been highly regarded for more than a few decades. But the number of students from India attending WashU is increasing by the year. There were only half a dozen students from India in my freshman class, but that figure more than doubled in the current freshman class and I'm confident that this trend will continue with futures classes. Also, a recent study ranked WashU students as the smartest in the nation (Student here are really smart, that's all I have to say to that):</p>
<p>Rankings do somewhat correlate to the reputation of the school and the quality of education, but they must not be your sole reason to apply to WashU or any other school in the US since unlike schools in India, most of which are fairly similar in terms or curriculum, courses etc (only to be separated by rankings, quality of students, infrastructure and facilities), schools in the states are very different from each other which every school having it's own vibe, kind of students and culture. Each institution has a very different feel to it and many students are attracted to WashU because the quality of life here (Luxurious dorms and great food; ranked No.1 for both), abundant research opportunities for undergraduates, the extremely flexible curriculum and the just the feel of the place in general.</p>
<p>WashU's focus on it's undergraduates is perhaps another reason that students might wish to attend the school. Some of the other big name universities out there have a huge grad school focus, leaving relatively limited resources undergraduates, which may be a turn off for many students. WashU is a medium size school with approximate 1600 students per graduating class and most classes have less than 30 students or students or so (except for many of the intro classes which tend be on the larger side) which might not be the case at the some of the larger schools out there. Professors are very approachable and many students, including some of my close friends, have participated in research with some of the professors over the years. If some of these factors interest you, you should definitely look into applying to WashU.</p>
<p>Based on my few years here, I can confidently assert that WashU is one of the most flexible schools in the nation, something many students might find very appealing. Switching majors with just an email and double majoring across disciplines is very doable at WashU and in fact, about 50% of the students body has more than one major. Many students coming into college are undecided about what want plan to study and this flexibly gives them the opportunity to explore by taking interesting classes across disciplines and then deciding where their passions lie. I never thought I'd study what i currently am if WashU hadn't given me the opportunity to explore and take classes across disciplines. The administration is extremely supportive, with students receiving individual advising and ample resources and opportunities to get tutored or receive any sort of help.</p>
<p>Located in the Midwest of the United States, WashU is often stereotyped as a school with very friendly and humble students and the stereotype holds true for the most part with international students usually having no trouble settling in and adjusting to the new environment. I'm sure many of you'll maybe anxious about moving to a different country. WashU is aware of this and tries it's best to make the transition as smooth and enjoyable as possible.</p>
<p>Lastly, the financial aid for international students is great with many students receiving nearly full rides. Also, WashU offers merit based scholarships to over a hundred students and I personally wouldn't have been able to attend WashU if it weren't for one of these. Here is a list of the scholarships you could apply for:</p>
<p>If WashU is the kind of school that you see yourself attending, I strongly encourage you to apply! Choosing WashU over some of the other schools that I was accepted into was perhaps the best decision I've made and I've never regretted it.</p>
<p>It'a not too late to apply:
* Jan 15th deadline
* No supplements to the Common app, just one essay.
* Multiple scholarship opportunties.</p>
<p>There are a multitude of activities, organisations and clubs to get involved in, but this post is already getting very lengthy, so feel free to comment on this thread if you have any questions and I'd be more than glad to answer your questions. I hope this post helped those of you'll who made an effort to read it. Good luck with all your applications, I know this could be a very stressful time.</p>
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