<p>My parents seem to think that WUSTL is a waste of money because "no one" has heard of it on the east coast. I really want to attend this college but I need help convincing my parents that it's worth the costs (we don't qualify for financial aid). Tips and advice are welcome.</p>
<p>WUTSl is a great school, yes, it is not very well known in the East area, but is is very known in the midwest, it has great pre-med program,
It is also very rich school, you can get pretty good financial aid, it has been ranked top 15 for many years.</p>
<p>It really depends what you want after graduating. WashU is great and well known if…</p>
<p>1) You plan to go to grad school. Any grad school
2) You plan to go straight into getting a job in the non-northeast
3) You plan to get internships/experience over your four years and then get a job after grad school</p>
<p>It is probably not the best choice if…</p>
<p>1) You want to find a job just based on the prestige of your school and not on your out of class experience
2) You want to go into a field like investment banking, where the top companies may recruit just at huge schools or top Ivy’s
3) You want to brag to all your northeasterner friends and make them jealous.</p>
<p>And look into merit scholarships.</p>
<p>^ On the second part…</p>
<ol>
<li>No, no one can get a job just based on the prestige of her school. That helps, but not the only factor. My neighbor’s Harvard grad is still looking for a job since graduation.</li>
<li>It seems a fair number of Olin folks get these jobs. Either that or the Olin stats are fairy tales, which I believe it isn’t. Just so you know, not all Ivies and the big dogs are target schools. Only some. The rest, you can initiate your own search.</li>
<li>Haha, that’s true.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yay olin!</p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D600 using CC App</p>
<p>Yeah, an average person in the streets of the NorthEast might not know what WashU is. They also might not know what UChicago or Northwestern are. They might even think UPenn is state school (hopefully a more rare misconception). All of the listed are fantastic schools regardless. I know you don’t care what the average person thinks (hopefully). The average highly educated person knows WashU, and knows that it is an excellent school.</p>
<p>I agree with all the previous comments. To convince the folks though, maybe show them the US News rankings. WashU is at #15, right after Johns Hopkins and before Brown, Cornell and Rice.
[National</a> University Rankings | Top National Universities | US News Best Colleges](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities]National”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities)</p>
<p>Oh, and did I mention WashU was ranked US’s 5th most stressful college in 2011? :D</p>
<p>WashU is ranked #14, not #15.</p>
<p>WashU used to be ranked 12th though. Anyone know why it dropped a bit? (Not that the difference between 12th and 14th is that significant–I’m just curious)</p>
<p>An article in StudLife speculated that it’s most likely a change in the way USNWR does its rankings and not actually a deterioration in the quality of Wash U.</p>
<p>It was 9th back in 2004. Not that I see why it matters.</p>