Is Wash U Safe?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>Upon reading about the two recent incidents that occurred in the Wash U community, I decided to start this thread to learn whether students actually feel safe at Wash U. </p>

<p>I know common sense plays an important role with regard to personal security, but is the campus safe (ie south 40, the park)? Or is it just off-campus risks that cause all these troubles? Is it dangerous only at night (like after midnight), or pretty much all day in certain areas?</p>

<p>I will be attending Wash U this coming fall, and I am curious to know how the West St. Louis atmosphere is. I visited last month for four days, but it was too short to really know how the campus was like. Also, since I live in a third world country, I am very concerned about my personal security. Any helpful anecdotes would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>Congrats on your acceptance. I’m a member of the class of 2014 as well and I live in St. Louis.</p>

<p>As for the area around Wash U, I would say it’s as dangerous as any other city. The Loop does have some issues, especially at night, but if you travel with other people you’re ok. Because Wash U is so close to the loop, off-campus areas between campus and the loop are more prone to crime. Obviously, be smart. Absolutely don’t go to the loop at night without a large group, but travel with at least one other person at all times. </p>

<p>Although I’d say that Wash U itself is safe, other areas around Wash U aren’t the best either. I’ve had some problems at the Galleria, the closest mall, and Tropicana, one of the close bowling alleys. I actually don’t go to either anymore because of these issues. However, I think with large groups from Wash U, you’ll be fine. </p>

<p>Wash U isn’t in the city, but it’s not in the suburbs either. As long as you’re smart, and try not to leave campus at night, I wouldn’t be too concerned. However, I will admit that certain areas around Wash U aren’t the best. I hope that helps your concern.</p>

3

<p>It’s fine. </p>

<p>There are always going to be outlier incidents that happen – such as two in that one week recently (very unfortunate, and sad). Both happened around 2:00am… not a very popular time to be walking around. But, as college students, you will be up that late from time to time, so be cautious and smart when you’re about to leave campus. There are lots of security measures in place now, and many have been expanded in light of those events. </p>

<p>Wash U is bordered by 4 distinct ares on the sides of campus. The East border is Forest Park – a beautiful, large park with museums and other activities, that I’d consider a very safe park. The North border is the Loop (see description below). The West border is Clayton, with multimillion dollar homes and private streets. The South border is Wydown, which is part of Clayton and has more super wealthy homes. One of the things I love about Wash U is the mix of areas near campus… gives it character, as opposed to it being in a secluded rural atmosphere or the middle of the big city. Lots of socioeconomic diversity in the neighborhoods surrounding campus. Gives you exposure to all walks of life. </p>

<p>The Loop is a lot of fun and a great resource to have so close to campus. BUT, you do want to be cautious when walking there late at night/early morning. The pathway leading to the loop is about a 5 minute walk behind a residential area, so it’s kind of quiet and may seem eerie when walking alone. It does have lamps and the standard college blue emergency phones every couple dozen feet. 999 times out of 1000, you’ll have no safety concerns when walking to the Loop, but there’s always going to be the one outlier that give people reason to doubt how safe it actually is. </p>

<p>Not going to the Galleria mall, as the previous poster said? That is more of a personal thing and you cannot argue when someone has personal experiences, but I’d say 95% of Wash U students don’t share that feeling. It’s a nice mall. I suppose you can go to the Frontenac mall, where there for sure won’t be any issues… Frontenac is just this ridiculously old-moneyed area where the only safety issue would be not stopping for a full 3 seconds at a stop sign. </p>

<p>Any college will have outlier incidents. The real question is “is Wash U more safe or less safe than other colleges?” not “is Wash U Safe?” This should be more of a relativistic argument than an absolutist argument. You are not any more likely to be one of those outliers than at most other colleges in Wash U’s peer range. Vanderbilt, Rice, Boston College, and UPenn are probably the most comparable colleges in terms of immediate surroundings (feel free to add/remove some, but I personally feel that they are most similar to Wash U in terms of nearby surroundings). If you have any experience with those colleges, you’ll have a relatively good idea about what to expect around Wash U. </p>

<p>At Wash U, to show how relatively infrequent these incidents are, they get front page coverage in the student newspaper, and all-school Emails, and increased safety measures. If they happened like once a week, it wouldn’t be as publicized of an issue. I must admit that Wash U has done a great job of increasing awareness of the incidents and beefing up safety measures to prevent further incidents.</p>

4

<p>You’ve had issues at the galleria?</p>

<p>The only issue I’ve ever had there is being asked to see my id (they thought I was somehow under 16), and I had to convince them that my id was not fake (it said I was 19… who gets a fake id that says theyre 19?)</p>

5

<p>I wanted to chime in with my opinion here. vbball, I agree with your list of peer institutions to WashU and their respective safety levels. However, I will have to say UPenn is much worse than WashU in terms of safety. I went to school in Philadelphia (for undergrad) and the location of UPenn is pretty bad. If you stay on campus you should be safe, but leave campus at night without a large group and you might be in trouble. Plus, I think Philadelphia is much more dangerous than St. Louis and UPenn is more “in the city” than WashU is. Granted, UPenn is not in the most dangerous areas of Philadelphia (which tend to be in North Philadelphia - Penn is in West Philly), but it’s not a great area either.</p>

6

<p>In terms of location and this same discussion about safety, Tulane is actually remarkably similar. Both private schools of about the same size, they are both in cities (New Orleans for those of you not familiar with Tulane) famous for violent crime but that crime is almost all in areas well removed from campus. Both are surrounded by some of the largest, old money homes in the city, they both have huge parks with a zoo and golf course across the street (although Forest Park offers more attractions), and Tulane has Magazine Street that is somewhat similar to the Loop, although not as neon. I guess I could even say Wash U has the light rail and Tulane has the St. Charles Streetcar, but that might be stretching things.</p>

<p>Anyway, we Tulane boosters have these same questions come up all the time and the answers are just as stated above, as they would be for any school no matter how safe it seems: Use common sense and keep your radar on all the time. Being drunk and alone at three in the morning is asking for trouble anywhere. I grew up in St. Louis, and Wash U is as safe as any urban university there is, in fact safer than most because it is in a very nice area. This should not be an issue that keeps you up at night this summer at all, just pay attention to the safety talks when they are presented. These people know what they are talking about, and (can’t say it enough) use common sense, and then double that. Besides, always more fun being with people, right?</p>

7

<p>Penn is far more dangerous, as is Yale. And Brown, too, from what I hear. But you have to be careful in any big and/or old city.</p>

8

<p>I didn’t think it was unsafe when I went there in the summer. The campus itself and the 1 mile radius around it looked nice to me, there are some really, really nice homes surrounding it and there’s Forest Park with musuems in it. So yes, it really is not bad compared with some other campuses. </p>

<p>The business district of St. Louis is okay too, but yes, when I went to the Galleria I thought it was kind of ghetto. St. Louis might be known as not-too-safe overall, but I don’t think that really applies to WashU.</p>

9

<p>Thank you all! Your input has indeed helped me become a little more familiar with the campus atmosphere.</p>

<p>and @melrosedal, congratulations to you too.</p>

10

<p>You can track St. Louis crime incidents here</p>

<p>[St</a> Louis Police Dept SafeCity2](<a href=“http://safecity.slmpd.org/MapMain.htm]St”>http://safecity.slmpd.org/MapMain.htm)</p>

<p>Bounding roads will be needed -Skinker to east, Forsyth to south, etc. You can search around the area if you invest the time.</p>