<p>Fallenchemist you wrote my thoughts - but you wrote them far better than I was even thinking them! From the first post I was put off and actually totally understood doubtful’s comments (even his original ones)… Good luck humboldt</p>
<p>Thanks for your good advices, Fallenchemist and many other CCers. I called Wash.U. last Friday. According to a travel agent from Wash.U., it costs about $1000 these days, and they can reimburse it up to $300. Perhaps, I have to pay the deposit and visit after May 1.
BTW, “There are a few grammatical errors in it for someone so smart”: Not trying to argue, but this is not an English class, and not every smart people (I have never said I am smart on this thread) need to be good at grammar.</p>
<p>Also, I would like to know a lot more about Wash.U.'s class environments, including competitiveness for getting an A (I do not want to be in an environment like UC Berkley or JHU; I prefer schools like Brown or Harvard because it is relatively easier to maintain good GPAs), professor teaching skills, whether I can get to know with professors, and get good letters of recommendation (if I perform well, at UCs even if you do well, it is harder to interact with professors), etc. I would appreciate if you give me some actual examples.</p>
<p>i believe you can get your deposit and housing fees waived if you ask.</p>
<p>WUSTL. Especially if you’re going to grad school. Great reputation. A real honor.</p>
<p>How can I get my deposit and housing fee waived? I have never heard of it.</p>
<p>@Humboltd -></p>
<p>What sets Wash U apart from the pack is the collaborative atmosphere. From all the schools I visited, and my friends at similar schools (and ones ranked higher), we have it SO nice here. It’s just the type of student that chooses to attend Wash U… you’re more low-key, you have a great work-life balance, and academics don’t define your college experience.</p>
<p>I mean, you will work hard, and you will be challenged. You will need to work hard to maintain a good GPA. Which is good — you are going to college and should not want a cake walk! But, at Wash U, people WANT you to do well. The people you’ll meet on your freshman floor, your advisors, your professors, and the Cornerstone center which is a GREAT resource to use.</p>
<p>There are going to be those outlier people who focus WAY too much on studying, but you’ll find that at any Top Tier college. I just think that Wash U has much fewer of these people than other similar schools.</p>
<p>One of the primary reasons I chose to come here was because I knew that the academic atmosphere was more laid-back (while still being challenging and intense), and I haven’t been let down since. You can infer a lot about a school where 2/3 of people have more than one major. The academics aren’t so cutthroat where you just spend all of your time struggling to do well in one major. At Wash U, the curriculum is so much more flexible than most places, and you have enough time and energy to devote to more than one concentration. </p>
<p>A lot of it comes down to what you choose to major in (pre-med will clearly be more intense than political science, for instance), and your work habits. As long as you have solid work habits coming in, know your own limitations, and are willing to ask for help — then you will be very successful here :)</p>
<p>How much cutthroat is there at WashU compare to the other schools, like Dartmouth, Northwestern, JHU, Penn, Berkeley, NYU? How hard is to get an A at core courses like Math, English, Science, Social Science, etc?</p>
<p>WashU is not cutthroat. I’m not going to make any comparisons between other schools because frankly, I’ve never attended those other schools so I wouldn’t know beyond what I’ve heard, which is hearsay.</p>
<p>Getting an A is relative to the individual person and to the class. If you’re in the sciences, the class is curved. You will get 50% on chemistry tests and end up relatively OK grade wise because of the curve. There are easier classes than others.</p>
<p>Kind of along what vbball touched on, WashU is not a cakewalk. I study hard for my classes (that’s what I’m doing right now, just taking a break at the moment… haha). But there are no cakewalks in your list of colleges.</p>
<p>WashU senior Biochem major here, finishing up my last semester and heading off to med school this summer</p>
<p>Just my 2-cents:
I had no idea how awesome a school WashU was for premed until I started interviewing for MD/PhD programs and realized how respected it is (by other undergrads and program directors alike). I had undergrad (and some medical students) from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, JHU, etc. say “wow! you go to WashU?! What’s it like? That’s so awesome blahblah…”<br>
Program directors were also quite impressed with my GPA (not a 4.0) given that I was at WashU, and told me so at interviews (not at state schools, interviews at Harvard, Duke, Yale, etc.). The WashU name really does pack a punch in the admissions process (probably due to its #3 med school ranking). </p>
<p>I was taken aback to say the least, given I always considered WashU good but not great. </p>
<p>I’m rambling but here’s the point:
WashU gets you all of the intellectual challenge, respect from med school interviewers, and research opportunities of Hopkins, etc. but without the cold-prickliness. I have never felt the need to compete with my peers, whether in General Chemistry or Adv. Quantum Mechanics. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed my coursework (at least in retrospect-it’s hard to appreciate the joy of learning during finals, but that applies everywhere). </p>
<p>Some specifics:</p>
<p>TA’s do not teach big lecture classes, the most they may do is lead a 1-2x per week subsection (15-30 students) or a lab section. </p>
<p>Getting A’s- I can’t really compare to other schools, but it’s totally doable (and you can have a social life, significant other, not go mad, etc.). Freshman year is filled with nervous energy, and you will probably feel like you are busting your a** to do well, but you eventually figure out that you can slack/relax a bit and do just fine. The overall neuroticism of you/your peer group also drops exponentially with each year.<br>
Also, depends on the class/prof. If you come to WashU, send me a message and I can give you advice as to which professors to avoid (for example, take as many math classes as you can with Prof. Yohe, but avoid Prof. Kumar like the plague, Frey is better than Hayes for Gen Chem, etc.) </p>
<p>Choosing another major-I have tons of friends who thought they’d be pre-med, discovered a love for Anthro or Women’s Studies, or Econ, switched, realized they still loved science too, came back into the pre-med fold, and are graduating with a science/social science or humanities combination and going to fantastic grad schools/med schools/social work programs. At the risk of parroting the admissions office: you really can do anything you want here (and do well when moving on the the next step). A warning, however: I don’t think WashU has quite the name recognition in other fields that it has in medicine (but is still quite fine). </p>
<p>Last thing: FOLLOW THE MONEY
My family’s financial situation tanked during my time here. Working full time until my scholarship kicked in was stressful as hell and wrought havoc on my GPA. A full tuition scholarship is a blessing-take it and run. I also know that there is a great sense of community among scholarship recipients here (lots of big sib/little sib programs, bonding activities and whatnot). </p>
<p>Dear lord that was a long post… Last thing for real: college will fly by, don’t stress about the decision (easier said than done, I know). You will do fine coming from any of those universities.</p>