Is Wash U St. Louis really a top tier school?

<p>^ Minus the condescension, your post would present a useful reminder concerning statistical significance. And I concur that drawing conclusions from this data is clearly problematic. But however flawed, this data is the only glimpse we are likely to see, and therefore I did use it to inform my opinion to some degree (mostly concerning financial need practices). I presented it as a personal opinion (with caveats). I do think it is useful to remind those viewing results threads of limitations of the sources and sample size.</p>

<p>Hopefully this thread can move past the shock of a slight adjustment in one persons opinion being voiced (opinion has been expressed in this thread previously), and everyone will try to keep the discourse on a higher level.</p>

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Relevant, robust data is available from a number of reputable third-party sources. Beyond the random sampling of self-reported CC users, I would suggest taking a look at the National Center for Education Statistics, among others.</p>

<p>[College</a> Navigator - Washington University in St Louis](<a href=ā€œCollege Navigator - Washington University in St Louisā€>College Navigator - Washington University in St Louis)
[College</a> Navigator - Northwestern University](<a href=ā€œCollege Navigator - Northwestern Universityā€>College Navigator - Northwestern University)</p>

<p>Hinsdale, It was not my intention to be condescending. </p>

<p>Look, the real point is that the students who were admitted to Wash U should be celebrating their acceptances to a wonderful school.</p>

<p>^I concur, profnomad. As is the general consensus of this thread, WUSTL is not only one of the most well regarded universities in this country; it has one of the most difficult admission gates to hurdle. Those rare applicants that are actually offered acceptance should be extremely proud.</p>

<p>So then you’ve answered your own, question, hinsdale. WashU is a well-regarded university and does deserve its spot as a top-tier school. </p>

<p>And I do agree with profnad, everyone who is accepted should be really happy. All CC has been doing since decisions came out is latching onto the ā€œoverqualified applicantā€ excuse, and I’m sure it has made many very well-qualified people who were accepted to question their credentials and their potential happiness over the situation. CC is a forum for discussion, but also for support. And no one deserves to be put down over a decision that was out of all of our hands.</p>

<p>lol, if only what you say were true, thentheresme. CC has become a private vs public school boxing match. And also a place for denouncing the USNW Rankings and promoting Berkeley over all private institutions save HYPSM. Occasionally you’ll get the fanatic who thinks Berkeley is on par with Harvard.</p>

<p>Berkeley is not up for discussion here, so the point is moot (though I haven’t noticed that, is it really true?). I really do wish it was more a place for support, though it did help me in some ways before actual decisions started coming out in December. After that, however, I can’t say so much for support as for people to attack other members and schools themselves. Like someone else said earlier, rejection is personal. It’s never your fault, it’s the schools. And unfortunately, WashU seems to bear the brunt of most of this.</p>

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Leave RML out of this:)</p>

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<p>I understand. My brother felt this way when he got into Duke RD among Ivies including Yale and Berkeley(gasp!) and chose to attend. He didn’t find support in these forums especially since the last year and a half, Duke bashing was scarily popular. According to him there was a certain user JohnAdams guy who was the forefront of all that. I think he’s banned now.</p>

<p>Anyway, my brother chose to never come back to this forum and found support from family, myself included, his friends and school. I suggest you feel happy and look forward with the idea that you can tell people you go to a USNWR top 15 school in the nation. Be happy.</p>

<p>WUSTL is certainly a top school and has been so for years. What I think is amusing is how so many of you seem to think that because it’s lesser known in the east / west, that therefore it’s not as good. My take on WUSTL is that it’s been an excellent school for many years – all the midwesterners have known this forever – and the east / west coasters are simply late to the game in their recognition of it. Which doesn’t make WUSTL ā€œa late entry to the elite gameā€ - it makes the east / west coasters who never looked at the world outside their own regions late entrants to the game. </p>

<p>It’s the same thing when you see things like Oberlin or Grinnell being described as ā€œup and coming.ā€ Huh? They’ve been excellent for years. Who hasn’t known that? Where have people been? Oblivious to anything outside a 300 mile radius of their own backyards, clearly. That doesn’t make those schools up and coming - it just means that finally some people decided to think nationally.</p>

<p>MrPrince - JohnAdams is back - his new screen name is onecircuit.</p>

<p>But why would your brother need ā€œsupportā€ to choose Duke RD?</p>

<p>He wanted to know that he was making the right decision. Sometimes he isn’t confident with himself. He’s got self esteem problems every now and then. He’s working on it. He felt really hurt when he felt a lot of people ganged up on Duke and bashed it. Obviously he needs support on whether he did make the right decision considering he will be on his own for the first time of his life far away from California. </p>

<p>In the ā€œrealā€ world outside, a lot of people were amazed and came to him for tips, etc. He felt really happy. He loved Duke when he visited. He got an ego boost. But I guess he felt it crushed when he saw what people like JohnAdams said about Duke. :(</p>

<p>Right now, he’s very secure with himself. He doesn’t care about opinions on CC. He’s enjoying his education both academically and socially. </p>

<p>Also, isn’t it against CC policy to have multiple users?</p>

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<p>Oh believe me, I’m extremely happy. I’m beyond happy, actually. </p>

<p>It’s just sad that I have to defend my decision and my school so often when I don’t actually attend it yet. There are people from my school who are going to…I don’t want to say lesser colleges, but smaller and not quite as well-known schools, and they even sneer at WashU every once in a while. Then again, my area happens to have a very CC-mentality: ivies or bust.</p>

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<p>I wholeheartedly agree! After I got in, all of the sudden there were so many parents of friends who went there and were amazed that finally someone had looked past the east-coast prestige and fallen in love with their alma mater. Hopefully, more and more people will continue to start to see that there is more than just empty space between the Atlantic and the Pacific in terms of colleges and universities.</p>

<p>" Hopefully, more and more people will continue to start to see that there is more than just empty space between the Atlantic and the Pacific in terms of colleges and "</p>

<p>You mean, you hope that more and more people from your particular area start to realize that. Plenty of people already recognize WUSTL as a great school and know little to nothing about east and west coast schools. Anyway, why are you so concerned? Let the people in your area not know about WUSTL. That’s their problem, not yours.</p>

<p>Your problem here lies in your achievements. Washu look for people who have achieved outside school academia. It is high on research and Volunteers. My son got accepted early decision, class rank 1/575, lots of AP courses, but was also an Intel ISEF finalist for 2 years and 6 years of research behind him, with numerous awards, regional and state level. He applied November…accepted early December. Maybe you should have thoroughly researched the college. Did you visit, another major point in acceptance, and an exceptional application essay. He received $50,000 scholarship on merit.</p>

<p>It’s sort of medium tier.</p>