Um… I’m going to be completely honest. I applied to this school based on the recommendation of my counselor and its lack of a supplement. I refused an interview offer and was completely expecting a rejection because I did know that Wash U cares about demonstrated interest.
Somehow… I got in.
I’m still waiting for Ivy decisions and a decision from Rice, which is my number 1 choice at the moment, but would like to know a little more about this school, which is I know is academically exceptional. I looked around the website and read a bit of the 101 reasons to go to WUSTL, but do any poster’s have any broad information about the culture of the school. What is it like, what makes it great, why is it special, etc…
I want to put in the due diligence and consider this school, and this seemed like a decent place to start.
I know nothing about WUSTL either, but this is my exact situation to be honest. I all but forgot I’d even applied.
Yeah, I hope my original post didn’t sound arrogant or apathetic… I just don’t know if I’ll have time to go to an admitted students day and I want to have as much information as possible. WUSTL is expensive and I need to decide whether its worth it over UT Austin, which for a state school, is pretty solid
- I think WUSTL is a peer of Rice.
- The dorms and food are supposed to be really impressive.
- WUSTL is located in a city known for beer, pizza, barbecue, hosting a World's Fair, the Arch, and the Cardinals. St. Louis is, I think, kind of a Midwest/South hybrid -- technically in the Midwest, it sports cold(ish) winters and has South-like heat in the summer.
And another “sage advice” about getting to know the school, demonstrating interest, showing fit, writing essays that show knowledge about the school etc etc bites the dust 
When a school wants somebody, it just wants somebody I guess, forget everything else
Congrats BTW!!
Maybe read the other thread in this forum:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/684907-101-reasons-to-attend-washu.html#latest
Has anyone seen anything about admitted student’s weekend/ Spring Days, anything like that as a chance to visit the campus and see more about it? It will likely still be too $ for us (even with a need-based scholarship), but would love to at least theoretically plan to visit.
I’d wager you’ve got top 1% test scores and/or would be full pay. That trumps “interest” for WashU, they looove high scores in particular.
@CalDreamin Have your child check the portal for a tab to attend admitted students’ weekends. I have heard that if you’re admitted and haven’t yet seen the school, Wash U will pay for airfare. Not sure if this applies to all students, though.
@mamaedefamilia Thanks so much, found it! You are right there are a bunch of Spring Preview Days (I couldn’t find by just googling) and also multicultural days (URM).
@MYOS1634 wait is WashU not a need-blind school? Aren’t pretty much all schools need-blind? Also your wager is correct
Wash U is a great school, but do you really want to be in St. Louis?? You will probably have some better locations to go if that is an important determinant for you.
So much for the theory that WUStL considers showing interest to be important. >:D<
@londondad actually… as someone from Dallas, I have a sharp dislike for Houston, but I am still willing to go there for Rice, so location is not a huge priority. However, I"m not sure that WUSTL is enough of an academic opportunity to make me want to go to an out-of-state school. I like knowing that I can drive home in 4-5 hours whenever I want. Can anyone give me a pitch for why WUSTL?
Yeah, I kinda wondered about that. A long time ago I used to go to Houston on business and hated it. Then I started to go to Dallas and realised how much better Houston was.
St Louis is sort of a hard sell. I guess it might be fun to go to a Cardinals game occasionally?
@jjjjjjjjj492 I can’t seem to find the source I looked at, but from what I’ve heard, WashU isn’t need blind
A few random things about Wash U
Has some of the nicest dorms around
Values ED - so a lot of kids on campus really want to be there
Not as ethnically diverse as some of its peer schools
Fairly high contingent of NY/NJ kids for a mid-western school
Large Jewish population
Work hard/play hard culture
Administration worked hard to increase applications and go from being viewed regionally to nationally
Big endowment
@Katyedfd that makes me a little wary… from looking around this forum it seems like WUSTL’s reputation has been besmirched by their manipulation of admissions statistics and other things. It’s kind of strange knowing that a school might have only accepted you because you can pay full price…
@Katyedfd You are right - WashU is not need blind. Wikipedia has it listed in the following category “U.S. institutions that are not need-blind for U.S. applicants and meet full demonstrated need”
Note: All of the typical peer schools for WU (Northwestern, Rice, Vandy, ND and Chicago) are however need blind.
@jjjjjjjjj492 exactlyyyy. I guess it makes sense, but it sucks for us. Hopefully we a greater chance with our other schools that are need blind