My Weekend at Wash U

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
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<p>I never thought I'd post on CC, but here goes.
I spent this weekend at Wash U interviewing for one of the merit scholarships. Here is a summary of my experience.</p>

<p>I visited a few schools before I did the Common App, but held off to visit some until if I was accepted (including Wash U). I knew someone from my high school who went to Wash U, but otherwise all of my information came from the abundance of brochures, websites and a couple of emails to the Admissions Office to show interest. </p>

<p>The campus was like a mirage. The buildings are stunning, the landscaping was perfect, and the dorm I stayed in (Forsyth Hall) was the nicest dorm of any college dorm I've seen. People actually played frisbee in the Quad and were reading on the grass. Most of our meals were brought in, but the few times I ate the real campus food I was impressed. I can't believe this is what students eat every day. The new student center - the Duck (?) - had the best food and really cool hang-out type spaces. It was always packed when we went and was a short walk from the dorms. There was a fire pit going in the courtyard one night, which we didn't end up sitting around, but the fact that there's a fire pit is sweet!</p>

<p>The main planned activities we did were dinners, bowling, and a show that had A Cappella groups and comedy groups. Apparently A Cappella is really big at Wash U. We got to interact with lots of current students, a couple professors, and some of the admissions officers (who seemed to all be alums, and were overall just hilarious people; they even sang karaoke together at the bowling alley!). One night, I stayed up until 2:00am in our dorm's lounge with my host, some of the current students, and another prospective kid I met, just hanging out and talking about so many random things. The current students didn't even care that we were still in high school. It was so "typically college" that you hear about, you know? </p>

<p>We were all invited to camps, so there clearly was going to be some marketing/selling with the dinners and everything, but it wasn't at all necessary. The professors and admissions people were nice, but it wasn't the fake kind of nice. All of the current students we hung out with seemed to be genuinely excited to be at Wash U, and had a balance of fun, friendly, and intellectual. Everyone had more than one major, which struck me as really interesting. They were the kind of kids I WISH went to my high school. </p>

<p>My only complaint is that we hardly saw St Louis. I really wanted to see more of it when coming this weekend, and we didn't even step into the Forest Park that they plug every two minutes. The current students do seem to like St Louis enough, and Wash U seems to be in a nice and accessible area. Not the most thrilling of cities, but decent enough, and I suppose I don't want to be in a big city, anyway. It's not too big of a deal, but it would have been nice to do more there. </p>

<p>So far, I've been accepted to Wash U, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Ohio, Michigan, and a likely from Columbia. Waitlisted at Chicago, and rejected from Wesleyan which I expected (showed NO interest). Still waiting to hear from Yale and Brown. Yale was previously my #1 choice, and I did like the school overall. I was never wild enough about it to apply EA, but it has an amazing reputation and was the nicest school of the ones I had been to. I applied for need based financial aid, and it's about the same at the schools I got into so far. </p>

<p>Even if I get into Yale or Brown, I'm going to Wash U. Even if I don't get the merit scholarship at Wash U, I'm going to Wash U. I don't care. I can just see myself (and anyone, really) being very happy here and be able to make an impact. My college search is over, and it feels so good.</p>

<p>I hope this helps some other people out there.</p>

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<p>I visited a few months ago, and had a similar reaction then. Time has faded my enthusiasm; I started to question my initial infatuation…</p>

<p>But your post re-inspired love for WashU.</p>

<p>Perhaps I’ll see you there. (accepted too! =D)</p>

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<p>I agree with you. I had a similar experience this past weekend, but I did get to Forest Park on Thursday, and it’s pretty :). Saturday night I didn’t even go to sleep because a bunch of us (finalists and current students) were hanging out in a common room. Amazing time.</p>

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<p>kasiiaaa: was that by any chance at Danforth- 3? I’m asking because I was at the Danforth -3 common room until like 3:30 on Saturday night!</p>

<p>anyway, like everyone else here, I completely fell more in love with WashU than I was before and I just now heard back from the Rodriguez already and it looks like I’m going to be a Bear next year…I can’t wait!!</p>

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<p>I agree with mypseudonym.</p>

<p>I am starting to wonder why I keep hearing one flawless report after another about washu besides from those who have been rejected. Perhaps their campus really is “heaven on earth”. This is the first time I’ve heard of anyone favoring it above some of the ivies though. Thanks for your input.</p>

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<p>@ FHN_dent: it’s THAT good. I know several people who would turn down the ivies for the amazing and unique place that is WashU, myself included :]</p>

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<p>I know of someone transferring to WUSTL next year as a sophomore from Penn.</p>

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<p>Everyone that was at Scholars Interview Weekend should hear about their final status sometime this week.</p>

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<p>Visited the campus in September, and I’ve gotta agree. The St. Louis part may not be so good (for me at least), but the campus itself is ungodly great. Going there again for Multicultural in two weeks…</p>

<p>Also accepted to Emory, Duke, and UF; waiting on Harvard (one more day). Emory’s got a great campus too, and I have no complaints with either. To the OP, there’s definitely money besides the merit scholarships/fellowships. Didn’t get Lien, but did get biomedical summer scholars and a package with an “Eliot” need/merit scholarship that pretty much covers tuition.</p>

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<p>How do finalists hear - email, phone? (Danforth)</p>

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<p>Usually a phone call.</p>

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<p>I was one of the honorary scholars that went to interview this past weekend and heard back on Sunday afternoon by phone.</p>

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<p>well, Was it by any chance Thursday night with the Ambrose Woo incident? </p>

<p>If not, forget I said anything. </p>

<p>Shout out to DY if she reads this for knowing my sn at Finalist weekend.</p>

<p>Havne’t heard abck yet. I can cspell</p>

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<p>penguinattack, I feel happy for you. When I was over there during the summer, I was also blown away by the campus (it’s even prettier during the evening). BTW the “Duck” is DUC= Danforth University Center.</p>

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<p>hahaha I was definitely there Thursday night during the Ambrose incident…funniest thing ever!!!<br>
I like how people would just walk by the common room, look amazed, point and laugh, and walk away…it was great!</p>

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<p>hey guys! spoon girl here! its nice because I think I can put a name with some of these user names now! especially for people who were haning out on Danforth 3! I heard about my scholarship this afternoon and :wink: and am SSSOOO excited to be attending WASH U in the fall!</p>

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<p>hahahahaha Adventurous Adrienne - good stuff! I’ll be seeing you at Pre-O this fall, I’m so excited for the familia! BTW, you should check your FB, I wrote on your wall twice! And if you don’t know who I am by now, that’s just sad (I am spoon-breaker :])</p>

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<p>yang: oops, saw your post on another thread first. You totally made me reset my password to this account. It’s a good thing your sn was pretty obvious, though I felt like a total nerd for mentioning CC at dinner. XP</p>

<p>Wish I could have been there at the Ambrose incident. Someone needs to find the picture! (Also, do you know if the Rube Goldberg Youtube videos are up?)</p>

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<p>wats the rube goldberg youtube video? and i knew who you were when i read your user name! lol! and how can i forget spoon breaker?</p>

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<p>Aww… you guys seem to have had a lot of fun at WashU… Too bad I didn’t apply for scholarship and am international so it’s too expensive for me to fly there to visit…</p>

<p>Thank you for the input though. You made me feel so happy that I got accepted at WashU! Right now it’s a likely choice but I’m still waiting to hear from Tufts (most likely will not attend…it can’t beat WashU!), UMich, Cornell, UPenn, and Brown. I got accepted at Emory too, and for someone who is planning to go to MBA school it is quite attractive. =)</p>

<p>How was the ethnic diversity at WashU? Do you see people of different races hanging out together? And WashU is GREAT, but I’m a little worried about its lack of recognition outside Midwest. Prestige and job placement is very important to me, as my family is paying the full tuition and we want returns on our investment.</p>