<p>DO you miss not having big sports at Wash U? (big sports as in Big 10 or Division 1)</p>
<p>Is the campus missing unity and spirit because of it?</p>
<p>What do the students ralley behind?</p>
<p>What unifies campus?</p>
<p>I am thinking of applying early, but i am feeling qualms because of lack of sports and spirit.</p>
<p>I think that community service is huge at Wash U. The residential community has lots of spirit, but sports doesn't rank #1 like other schools.</p>
<p>If sports, and especially Div I type sports are important to you, don't apply to WashU. Sports just isn't the top interest at WashU. On the other hand, if participation - meaning getting involved in all sorts of activities like community service, student run media, theatrics, student gov't, fraternities, sororities, etc. - is important to you (as well as challenging academics, of course), then WashU will be your cup of tea. WashU is a very active campus. The kids are joiners and doers.</p>
<p>I agree...sports here aren't very big. It's all D-III, and kids aren't really that into the teams here, even though we have nationally ranked volleyball and soccer programs. Community service here is pretty big though...there are always opportunities arising to do community service, whether it's charity events or volunteering at a nursing home.</p>
<p>In general, kids here are very outgoing and tend to join at least a few groups...great ways to meet someone and to get involved in the community. EC's here are well funded and very popular; there are more than 200 EC organizations with a shared budget of nearly $2 million per year.</p>
<p>I think that one of the reasons my S chose WashU is because sports are available but not dominant in the campus atmosphere and he was tired of his high school scene, where athletics definitely took center stage. However, he already has gone to more football games at WU than he attended while in high school. Go figure. And he's also joined an Ultimate Frisbee team and is considering crew and some club activities, also more joining than he ever did in HS. My impression is that the students do rally around specific events, such as Halloween festivities and the WILD event (a band-on-the-quad thing I think) and the Carnival and isn't there a dance-a-thon for charity? It seems like there are big special events that unify the student body rather than "the big game." To each his own depending on what you want out of the college experience.</p>
<p>if you enjoy the sports-based culture that you may have had in high school, DO NOT COME TO WASHU!!!</p>
<p>school spirit was a big deal at my high school, and i enjoyed it a lot. against the advice of my parents, i applied to washu and got in. well, let me tell you...i hate the atmosphere here. most people here don't care about athletics or school spirit at all; they mostly care about nothing but academics.</p>
<p>if you're into that, this school is perfect for you. there are numerous resources to help you with academics, the professors are great, etc. however, if you value the big-school sports culture, or a meaningful fraternity scene, etc., then you will be miserable here.</p>
<p>HRuski:</p>
<p>I guess you were the only one surprised about the sports culture.
[quote]
however, if you value the big-school sports culture, or a meaningful fraternity scene, etc., then you will be miserable here.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Didn't the warning by your parents or the division III status clue you in. Even your own post 'Big time sports "IT's Division III" .You can still follow the Cardinals, the Rams and the Blues.</p>
<p>Hey, I went to Northwestern and we won only one football game in my four years of undergrad, eventually earning the record for the most losses in a row of any Division 1 Football team. We had the sports, but that isn't always a positive! I went back to homecoming this year and we suffered the biggest collapse in Division 1 Football history, blowing a 35 point lead - can you imagine?</p>
<p>This said, these losses were among my best memories. We had fun!!</p>