<p>I'm not a senior applying to WashU, but I was just wondering what all your impressions of the school are to get more of a feel of the "personality" of it. Are there any factors that would make you choose WashU over other schools, besides distance from home and financial aid? I've heard that they base admissions on demonstrated interest more than other schools do, but I'm not really sure if this is accurate.</p>
<p>Well, students here are generally very friendly. From my experience, Most students are approachable and can hold a good conversation. People are always willing to help, so it’s easy to reach out to others. There are many pre meds, which is neither a positive or a negative for me, a non pre med. Students work really hard here and also go out to the frats, clubs once or twice a week to have a good time. Honestly, you can find all sorts of students here, since students from all over the world attend WashU. You can find the extremely outgoing ones, the quirky one’s, the nerdy and the hipster kids. WashU is beautiful, and also amazing. </p>
<p>WashU tries it’s best to protect yield, so it prefers admitting kids that are actually considering attending WashU. Since WashU doesn’t require an additional essay to the common app, many students apply for the sake of applying with no real interest, so demonstrating interest does help.</p>
<p>tuba, how intense is the competition between students? how intense is the studying at WashU? Are students getting 8 hours of sleep on weeknights? Could you answer all three questions, please? Thanks.</p>
<p>Thanks! Are there really large sports and party scenes?</p>
<p>I can answer those. Wash U is a very collaborative environment, at least in my experience. For example, there are study groups called PLTLs for subjects like chemistry and calculus that meet every week and are extremely helpful in getting students to work together through problems. The people here are extremely friendly–today I sat down next to a complete stranger while preparing for a class and we just started chatting as though we’d known each other for years. It was pretty amazing. </p>
<p>Students don’t get 8 hours of sleep. Let’s be real–Wash U is extremely rigorous, and most nights people are up either studying or socializing until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, this certainly varies from person to person, but I’d say that most students probably go to sleep around 1 in the morning (at least that’s been my experience.)</p>
<p>Is the pre-med scene really competitive?</p>
<p>As you may or may not know, WashU’s pre med program is regarded very highly and is rated among the best in the nation. In addition, WashU’s med school generally ranks in the top 5 in the nation (Currently 6th). That being said, WashU’s pre med is almost comparable to Business at Wharton and Econ at Uchicago etc. It’s a top program attracting a lot of top students and hence, it might hard to make the top 20% of the class. However, students don’t go out of their way to get ahead of others. Students are very collaborative, study together and are always willing to help each other out. WashU also provides a lot of free tutoring and group learning sessions for those interested. It’s a great program, but it’s also alot of work.</p>