<p>Just in general the area the schools are in, if you feel safe on campus or in the immediate vicinity, etc.</p>
<p>Don’t worry it’s in a pretty good area. The campus itself is completely safe and the surrounding area has a heavy police presence because the bars used to get out of control but now the area of Wash U is very college student/ family oriented. I live in STL btw.</p>
<p>Yep, general area is pretty safe. Can go anywhere near campus during the day and feel pretty safe, as well as walk through campus at night and still be safe. Obviously, like in any big city, if you wander around the surrounding areas at night, than that is a bit risky. Overall, safety should not be a deterrent for choosing washu.</p>
<p>The area around WashU isn’t that bad. St. Louis is a very dangerous city though. US News ranks St. Louis as the most dangerous city, and Forbes ranks St. Louis as the second most dangerous city. </p>
<p>[1</a>. St. Louis: The 11 Most Dangerous U.S. Cities - US News & World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/news/slideshows/the-11-most-dangerous-us-cities/12]1”>http://www.usnews.com/news/slideshows/the-11-most-dangerous-us-cities/12)</p>
<p>[2</a>. St. Louis - The 10 Most Dangerous U.S. Cities - Forbes](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlj45jggj/2-st-louis/]2”>http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlj45jggj/2-st-louis/)</p>
<p>Those crime rankings are extremely misleading. They rank cities based upon crime rates within city lines. It just so happens that the city lines for St. Louis happen to enclose the .25% of the metro area which is most violent. By comparing crime rates in the metro areas themselves, we see St. Louis is roughly 140/330 on the most dangerous cities list.</p>
<p>Secondly, reporting rates differ between cities. E.g. NYC does not report thefts from cars of value less than $1000.</p>
<p>Thirdly, homicides are weighted the same as theft in the formula. It’s certainly arguable that a “real” ranking should not do so.</p>
<p>Last, but not least, one’s risk for being the victim of a violent crime depends far more on one’s individual demographics rather than the city ze lives in.</p>
<p>A recent Gallup poll showed ~75% of St. Louisians felt safe walking alone at night in the area they live. This is the 14th highest figure in the top 50 most populated metro areas.</p>
<p>St. Louis is big. Even if it has dangerous parts, that doesn’t mean all of its parts are dangerous. That’s why these general statistics aren’t much help.</p>
<p>It’s so frustrating how you guys can’t even accept simple facts. If multiple sources rank St. Louis as one of the most dangerous cities, its pretty safe to bet that St. Louis is dangerous. Furthermore, WashU is ranked as the 12th most dangerous campus according to the Daily Beast. </p>
<p>12, Washington University in St. Louis<br>
St. Louis, Missouri
Total enrollment: 13575
Criminal Incidents (most recent 3 calendar years):<br>
Murder: 1
Negligent Murder: 0
Forcible Rape: 22
Nonforcible Rape: 0
Robbery: 59
Aggravated Assault: 30
Burglary: 159
Motor Vehicle Theft: 144
Arson: 1</p>
<p>In all fairness, the best way to gauge how safe the students are is not too talk to people who are overly protective of WashU and will deny any bad things about WashU on collegeconfidential. You should really just contact students at WashU and ask how the crime in St. Louis affects them.</p>
<p>WashU is located in a lovely area. It’s right next to a beautiful urban park and the city of Clayton (which is the hub for local businesses and government and features upscale shopping and restaurants). The Ritz-Carlton is nearby. Within walking distance of WashU are beautiful old homes that are where a lot of the old money in St. Louis live. Some of these places are millions of dollars worth and rival what you’d find on the North Shore of Chicago, the Main Line of Philadelphia, and so forth.</p>
<p>St. Louis has some dangerous areas, but they are nowhere near the campus, and citing high crime rates as a reason to avoid WashU would be about as stupid as saying that you shouldn’t go shopping on Michigan Avenue in Chicago because there’s gang violence on the South Side of Chicago. This is a non-issue for anyone considering WashU.</p>
<p>Ilovecollege99</p>
<p>I agree, it is frustrating when people can’t accept simple facts. I agree with you - inside city limits, St. Louis is very dangerous. However, the city limits of St. Louis are not at all representative of the metropolitan area as a whole. Just because multiple sources make the same mistakes, doesn’t mean it is any more valid.</p>
<p>I provided multiple reasons why the study was flawed, and why one cannot apply it to the entire metro area, yet you choose to ignore it for what reason? Take a look at this analysis of metro areas as a whole (not just inside city limits), and maybe you’ll realize that the St. Louis metro area isn’t particularly dangerous as a whole.</p>
<p><a href=“http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2009/MetroCrime2009_Rank_Rev.pdf[/url]”>http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2009/MetroCrime2009_Rank_Rev.pdf</a></p>
<p>Finally, the on-campus statistics are often inaccurate. For example, the one murder cited actually happened as a result of a domestic dispute at a hospital which wasn’t on Washu’s campus. I could point out other rankings which do not have washu in their top 25, like this one: [Most</a> Dangerous Colleges In America - Business Insider](<a href=“Most Dangerous Colleges in America”>Most Dangerous Colleges in America)</p>
<p>As for the ad hominem attack, well I don’t have much to say about that. If me providing data and showing how the studies you site are flawed is being “overly protective of WashU” and denying “any bad things about WashU” then I really can’t respond to that. For the record, I am a student at washu, and crime has not impacted me negatively.</p>
<p>As a current Wash U student, let me tell you that you feel safe. I wouldn’t go walking around at 3 in the morning, but if you did, I think you would still probably be okay. If you are on the campus, there are no issues. If you go off campus, there is very little to actually worry about.</p>
<p>The high crime area is East St. Louis. That is where the gangs and murders are. WashU is not near East St. Louis - it is on the other side of the river.</p>
<p>i.e. not in Missouri.</p>
<p>When we have visited my son who is a WashU student, we have felt perfectly safe on and around campus, on the loop, etc. </p>
<p>Once while searching for a supermarket by car, we made the wrong choice of heading into a bad neighborhood, and and it felt much less safe. But that just isn’t an area where students would normally go. So, I don’t see safety as an issue.</p>
<p>Ilovecollege - Actually you are the one with the problem, because you take an overall statistic that includes the northern side of St. Louis which is horrible, yet miles away from WUSTL. No one from WUSTL would go there. onecot mentions East St. Louis, which is even more horrible, but that is not actually part of St. Louis so is not in the city crime stats, but is in the metro area crime stats.</p>
<p>All one needs to so to see this is to look at a crime map: [St</a>. Louis, MO Crime Map - Showing Crimes in St. Louis - Crime Statistics, Alerts and Reports - Crime Stops Here](<a href=“http://spotcrime.com/mo/st.+louis]St”>http://spotcrime.com/mo/st.+louis) and you can readily see that there are some thefts in the area but no violent crime. So obviously you are wrong. Your reasoning would be like using the fact that areas of NYC like Harlem and others should be used to say Lower Manhattan is unsafe. Ridiculous.</p>
<p>Of course, at WUSTL one should still use normal common sense caution when out at night, off campus.</p>
<p>Ilovecollege, rather than being ignorant and believing misleading information, you may want to take a look at some actual facts. Daily Beast is an awful news source. Here’s a letter written by a Wash U anthropology professor, clarifying St. Louis’s ranking as the most dangerous city:</p>
<p>[Letter</a> to the Editor: The facts behind St. Louis? crime rate | Student Life](<a href=“http://www.studlife.com/forum/letter-to-the-editor/2010/12/03/letter-to-the-editor-the-facts-behind-st-louis-crime-rate/]Letter”>Letter to the Editor: The facts behind St. Louis’ crime rate - Student Life)</p>
<p>I went to Wash U in the early 80s and was raped while jogging in the Wash U. stadium. A local man who wasn’t a student, committed the rape. He was on campus because the school let local non-students use the gym on certain days to play basketball. While it’s true one side of the campus borders a beautiful wealthy area, the other side, near the gym and stadium in those days, and I assume still, borders an extremely low income and dangerous area. You absolutely must be very careful, particularly at night, when on campus in certain areas.</p>
<p>The Wash U Police Dept lists daily crime statistics :
<a href=“Crime Log Archives - WUPD”>https://police.wustl.edu/Pages/Daily-Crime-Log-Archive.aspx</a></p>
<p>The Student Life newspaper covers crime stories.
<a href=“Police Beat - Student Life”>http://www.studlife.com/category/news/police-beat/</a>
<a href=“wupd - Student Life”>http://www.studlife.com/tag/wupd/</a>
<a href=“crime - Student Life”>http://www.studlife.com/tag/crime/</a></p>
<p>As to what is considered “safe” may be a relative term to the other campuses being considered.</p>
<p>It is safe! St Louis is a dangerous city, but WashU is not located in the city; there have been incidents (burglaries and the like) mainly off campus and late at night. I feel very safe on campus at all hours. Just be smart about where you are at what time and be cautious.</p>