<p>Is it true?I saw that it was ranked like the 4th most dangerous city in the US?!!</p>
<p>Really?!?!?! That’s not good.</p>
<p>St. Louis is a dangerous city overall, but the metropolitan area is quite safe.</p>
<p>[Crime</a> and social issues of St. Louis, Missouri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_social_issues_of_St._Louis,_Missouri]Crime”>Crime in St. Louis - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>That’s more the downtown area that is the problem. Wash U itself is in a fairly upscale area, and is pretty much a bubble separate from the outside world. The nearby areas (like Clayton) are home to very large houses. While Wash U is fairly close to the downtown area that is home to the statistics, it is a very safe campus.</p>
<p>-sigh of relief-</p>
<p>I’m applying.</p>
<p>Also, as a general rule, whenever anyone is talking about the BAD St. Louis, they generally mean St. Louis East, which is in Illinois- not even Missouri. </p>
<p>Either way, the majority of crime on campus is crimes of opportunity- ie leaving your dorm room open and someone just walking in and stealing your laptop.</p>
<p>
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<p>Untrue; downtown St. Louis is quite nice. The “bad” area is East St. Louis, which is on the other side of the river.</p>
<p>Wash U is technically in Clayton, MO. Classic old, upscale homes. “Old wealth”, if you will.</p>
<p>Biggie_Smalls, don’t let the false rumors you may hear dissuade you from applying to Wash U. That should be low on your list of 89 Things to Worry About.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>lol sheltered people</p>
<p>north st louis and east across the river are where you get the problems. If you head north from wash u a few miles, you’re in the hood, if you head about 10 miles east, you’re in the hood. welcome to the midwest.</p>
<p>I don’t think that it has anything to do with being in the midwest. More like, welcome to a big city.</p>
<p>well st. louis is pretty high on the crimes lists, but like everyone else said pretty much east and north st. louis are the problems. the campus has it’s own police and is pretty safe, but don’t go into east st. louis at night, not even cops do that…</p>
<p>hahahahha Yakyu Spirits love your response. Many urban areas have a less safe section. You just need to be smart</p>
<p>I was in St Louis last week on vacation. Yes it does look run down, old and for the most part depressing. But it did not look unsafe at least during the daytime. There are some nice areas too. WUSL is a great school with top notch faculty and students. Go ahead and apply. Good luck.</p>
<p>TheKiwiOnPrairie - Just remember that WashU is in Clayton. If you think the Clayton area is run down, then you must live in an incredible area. It has some of the nicest neighborhoods that I have seen.</p>
<p>The thread was about St Louis (even if in the WashU forum). My comments referred to the metro area of St Louis, not specifically to Clayton. Take it easy ST2.</p>
<p>No problem - just want to make sure that people understand what the WashU area is like.</p>
<p>For the real info, visit the site by US Dept of Ed.
Required reporting from colleges.
WashU looks to be among the safest.</p>
<p>[Campus</a> Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool Website](<a href=“Campus Safety and Security”>Campus Safety and Security)</p>
<p>I was born and raised in New York City. I’m an over-paranoid jerk, I don’t trust anybody, and I’m leery of anybody whose skin is a different color than mine. I’m also leery of anybody whose skin is the *same color *as mine. I’m leery of everybody, and I think everybody is out to mug/rape/rob me. Don’t use me as your prototype.</p>
<p>I just got back from WUSTL, I was there for a full 72 hours, out at all hours of the night, to and from the Delmar Loop, and *at no time *did I look over my shoulder, *at no time *was I leery of others with different color skin, and *at no time *was I paranoid.</p>
<p>Just some anecdotal evidence, take it as you will.</p>
<p>I lived in St. Louis area for over 35 years. St. Louis is a good sized city (metropolitan area) of about 2.5 million. Like most cities, good areas, bad areas - crime wise. Several on the post are correct. Most of the high-crime areas are north-city and East St. Louis -across the river, not in Clayton where Wash U. is. Many people that come to Wash U are relatively big-money people and Wash U. works very hard with the city of Clayton to make sure things are safe for those big tuition payers (many who come from the East Coast).</p>
<p>Something to note when looking at statistics regarding St. Louis. St. Louis city divorced itself from St. Louis County over 100 years ago and fixed its boundaries. Therefore, many statistics give St. Louis CITY numbers (city itself is poorer and has about 300,000 people) compared to St. Louis COUNTY and the the surrounding counties. St. Louis City is NOT part of St. Louis County. This is an important distinction to watch for when reading these type of numbers. They are often not comparing apples to apples.</p>
<p>Anyway, as said on this board, Wash U is in Clayton and bounded by University City. While it is relatively safe, like you should at any urban campus, use common sense and caution and you should be fine.</p>
<p>To be exactly truthful, the very eastern edge of Danforth campus actually does lie in St. Louis city (someone once told me the border actually runs through Brookings Hall!) The vast majority of the campus lies within University City’s zip code of 63130, but the dorms actually reside in Clayton’s zip code of 63105. But once again I agree with every one else here on the forum that the campus is extremely safe. There are isolated crimes here and there as there are on every campus, but you just have to use common sense and not be “lulled into complacency”, particularly with personal items that might be targeted for theft.</p>