<p>^
agreed with DarkKnight regarding the long name; as stated in my other post, I think there are certain benefits to the hidden gem quality… but while you are saying the mouthful of “Washington University in St Louis,” the person you’re talking to has likely since become attracted by something shiny by the time you finish saying it :)</p>
<p>A common discussion topic at lunch time seems to be “what you would you re-name Wash U?” There’s everything from “just drop the ‘in St Louis’ part,” to “Danforth University,” to “Brookings University,” to “buying George Washington University in DC and taking over it’s name”. I like the last proposition the best… we have $5 billion, that has to be enough money to buy GWU and have a satellite campus in DC</p>
<p>As an aside, I would like to point out that we used the name “Washington” before GWU or UW did.</p>
<p>wustl- 1854
gwu- 1904
uw- 1861</p>
<p>*note, gwu and wustl were founded before these dates, but this is when the names were changed to include Washington. Wustl was founded in 1853, as Eliot Seminary.</p>
<p>Another thing… in general, I’ve noticed that the average person only knows a handful of schools- HYP, big sports schools, and schools in the general region. When my neighbors/ family friends were asking me about college, I told them I was choosing between wustl, johns hopkins, and duke. Anyone that did not know wustl also did not know johns hopkins. If they knew jhu, they also knew of wustl. If they knew duke it was only because of either a) basketball or b) the lacrosse scandal.</p>
<p>I like the ideas of “Brookings” and “Danforth,” but paying to take GWU’s name sounds…expensive and not necessary, despite how cool it may sound.</p>
<p>but seriously though, has the faculty ever thought about changing its name? I mean, it was only about 30 years ago they added the “st. Louis” in the name?</p>
<p>Also, the only reason it’s called" Washington University" is because it’s founded on George Washington’s birthday. There’s already GWU, named in George Washington’s honor, so does the U.S. really need a school named after just Washington’s birthday?</p>
<p>and Johnson’s right, just about everyone I met in MO knew about WashU, wheres here in the east coast, where I live, its name is simply a ghost. Also, people don’t really know about colleges until they start looking at them, probably after sophomore year in high school. I, along with some other underclassmen, once thought MIT and Stanford were actually ivies, and it wasn’t until about 2 years ago I learned which schools are ivies and why.</p>
<p>I go to a public school, so close to no one knows what Wash U is. I cared at first because people don’t understand how prestigious it is. Now, I only care that people know it’s in St. Louis.</p>
<p>Here is the typical conversation…
“Where are you going to college?”
“I’m going to WashingtonUniversityinSt.Louis.”
“Oh, so you’re going to University of Washington in Washington state, UW?”
“No. Wash U is in St. Louis, Missouri.”
“What? Why are you going so far away when you can just go to Berkeley?”</p>
<p>I went to my middle school reunion, and I went to a private school. I could say Wash U, and everyone knew what I was talking about. It saved me a lot of energy.</p>
<p>Well, I used to feel that way. But I’ve learnt to like the name of the university. Most people who I talked to actually knew that it’s a good school. But this is because most of my friends are high achievers who go to other top schools. Also, who cares if the average people on the street dont know it. Do you prefer to go to schools like Ohio State or LSU which are known by the people more for their football teams? ;)</p>
<p>Yeah, I live in Los Angeles too. I’ve said to people “I’m going to Washington University in St. Louis.” and they actually respond with “Is that on the west coast?”</p>
<p>well you can fix the location problem by saying “Washington University in St. Louis, MO,” but that’d just be a bigger pain</p>
<p>and WEST COAST? Do schools no longer teach geography or something? I mean I’m not born in this country and even I know where cities are in the U.S; I bet even more international students know where St. Louis is.</p>
<p>but sometimes we can’t blame them. As I said before most underclassmen in my school don’t even know all the ivies or why they’re ivies; some even say any school other than HYPSMIT are simply terrible. But they’ll soon realize when they actually start looking at schools, so we shouldn’t be so quick to reprimand them for ignorance. I mean I myself didn’t know a thing about WashU until I found an article about the best med schools in the U.S. last year, which then compelled me to research the school more, and it was only then I realize how great WashU is. So don’t be upset if underclassmen don’t know about WashU.</p>
<p>well adults should know more, typically, unless they’re from a different country. Those few adults who actually don’t know are just simply oblivious.</p>
<p>I’m from Ohio, and WashU has always been well-regarded at my high school… 17 students from the class of 2010 applied to WashU. Most people know about WashU in my area, but we’re only 6 hours from St. Louis.</p>
<p>Both Rice and Emory also suffer from the problem too. I’m a Rice student, and very few people in Ohio have heard of Rice. So the problem y’all face is not uncommon.</p>
<p>^
I completely agree with you. I’m from Houston where many of my friends and teachers give me blank stares when I mention Wash U, yet everyone is familiar with and highly regards Rice.</p>
<p>Btw, I like how you’re using “y’all”…you’re turning into a true Texan lol</p>
<p>exactly, but not many people know about it here in the east coast where I live. That’s just the way it is: the only schools the average person knows are HYPSMIT, sports schools, and local and closeby schools; they don’t even know all the ivies.</p>
<p>I live about a half hour away from Wash U and I can at least tell you that it’s well-known here. lol I wasn’t aware people didn’t know about this school, as it is highly respected in my area.</p>
<p>Although I’m curious; does anybody know if Wash U tends to favor out-of-state students? I saw that only about 8% of the students there are from Missouri. Does this mean that Wash U wants more students from across the country, or does it mean that Wash U will want to look for in-state students to balance the geography of the student population? Or do these statistics mean nothing?</p>
<p>I’m hoping for the second option, considering I’ll be applying and I’m in-state. haha</p>
<p>It probably won’t help nor hurt you being from Missouri. Wash U, like many other schools, wants a diverse student population that draws people from all 50 states and several countries outside the US. The only advantage probably goes to applicants from underrepresented areas like Alaska or Wyoming.</p>
<p>Yeah that’s what I thought as well until I saw that statistic. Then I wasn’t really sure what to think, since that statistic could be interpreted in many, many ways without further explanation or context. Thanks.</p>
<p>I get that all the time lol… these average Joe’s down here in California really need to learn that UC’s and Ivies aren’t the only good schools… heck, some people don’t even recognize Ivy Leagues unless its like Harvard or Yale… kinda sad if you ask me, especially considering how crappy UC’s are becoming…</p>
<p>And about people asking where “Washington University in St. Louis” is, people just lose interest after they hear they hear the word “University,” as they just assume that’s the end of the name. Its really annoying, considering the whole point of adding “in St. Louis” was so people would know where it is…</p>