<p>I got an email about me playing soccer and having good grades today. I've been getting stuff from WUSL for a while but hadn't really checked into it until now. Can anyone who goes there or who has toured it give me their thoughts on it?</p>
<p>Also, how's the psychology program there? That's my for sure major/career. And what about doing research as an undergrad there?</p>
<p>To sum it all up since I am violently cramming HL Biology right now, the campus is beautiful and definitely breathtaking. When it snows, it kinda even feels like Hogwarts, if you’re into that kind of thing.
It definitely has a very strong psychology program, I am actually going to major in PNP (Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology) which is a very interesting interdisciplinary program you might want to look into.
As for research, it’s completely painless yet rewarding to do research as an undergrad. There are various options available (as easy as talking to a professor) including research at WashU Med, the 3rd best research medical school in the U.S.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, I’ve never really known much about the school besides the stuff I get in the mail.</p>
<p>I definitely want to do research and already have some stuff in mind, so the easier the better. Do they give out research grants pretty easily or no? I know at Duke you can receive research grants as early as January of Freshman year (which was really exciting to me).</p>
<p>So what about the campus and surrounding areas? I’ve never been to St Louis and honestly no zilch about it. Is it a pretty cool place to go to school? Is the campus really compacted like Georgetown or a lot more spread out like Duke. (sorry, those are the only 2 colleges I’ve visited so far ha)</p>
<p>thanks for the insight! I think I might have to check out Washington University</p>
<p>If you just want really general information, it’s medium-sized school (1,450~ students per incoming class), and pre-med is the most popular direction students take, although that tends to diversify by the time students become sophomores, etc. The campus is really great - it was the best of any college I’ve visited, and has stellar ratings for food, dorms, and overall quality of life. The school only come to the fore-front of the academic scene in the last few decades, but at this point you really do have some great research opportunities, etc. </p>
<p>I’m definitely glad I ended up at this school, it really is a great place to be, and the atmosphere is generally considered a lot more up-beat and less stressful than other big-name schools. </p>
<p>A Cappella is pretty huge here, (unlike sports…); the weather in St. Louis leaves a bit to be desired, as it’s awfully close to Chicago and in the Midwest and all, but I suppose that’s a matter of preference. Class sizes are generally pretty small, aside from the few entry-level science classes.</p>
<p>Basically I’m just rambling though. I’d recommend checking out the “101 best things about WashU” thread, which is a work in progress but covers a lot of the stuff I’m really not going to rabbit-trail off into.</p>
<p>The biggest criticism of the school I’ve heard (of those that have any foundation in truth) is that the midwest/St. Louis aren’t as exciting as east-coast cities. Meh. </p>
<p>I’d definitely recommend visiting if you have the chance. You are a prospective for the class of 2014, I assume?</p>
<p>Yeah 2014. Did not even see that thread, thanks! I’ve actually gotten pretty excited about adding another college to my list. </p>
<p>So sports are small and A Capella is big? Wow that’s…different. How’s the social scene? Is it generally a pretty active/social place or are there a lot of recluses who never leave their rooms?
Are you from out of state or a Missouri resident? I’m from Florida so I’m thinking MO would be a big change, not necessarily bad though. I’m from a pretty small city in Florida so I don’t think it would bother me that St Louis isn’t more like Boston. And do you have any more criticism of the school besides the city?</p>
<p>If you don’t mind, what schools did you pass on to go to WUSL?</p>
<p>Ohh also, do you know if it is need-blind?</p>
<p>The social scene on campus is pretty good. It’s not the sort of school where everything revolves around Greek life at all, which can be a pro or a con depending on your perspective I guess. Lots of people do party on the weekends - really you can get involved in that as much or as little as you like; probably somebody else could tell you more as that’s not my thing. There are always those people who don’t leave their dorm rooms, but that’s not really a prevalent thing on campus at all. It’s probably about the same as any other school as far as that goes, I think.</p>
<p>I’m from Missouri, although I live about 3.5 hours drive from the school. The distance was pretty good for me, as I didn’t really want to feel obliged to go home every weekend but didn’t want to make things hard for myself for Thanksgiving break, etc. To me, the wind in St. Louis gets old and I had to buy a lot more warm clothes than I’d needed back home, which probably has more to do with walking outdoors to class, as opposed to staying within a single building all day during high school ;)</p>
<p>Other criticism of the school… hm. The engineering department isn’t (arguably) up to par with the other schools at WashU, with the exclusion of BME and (in my opinion) CSE. Mainly that’s just to say that the engineering faculty are a bit scarce and your course options aren’t all that broad. </p>
<p>The school is not need-blind, although all admissions sees is whether or not you’re applying for aid, not how much aid you’ll actually need, if I understand right. I had a lot of need and got in fine - I guess I was a strong applicant but I did get waitlisted/rejected/rejected at HYP so whatever that says. 
I turned down Drury, SBU, Cedarville, NTBI, and a couple of those schools that send out the “guaranteed acceptance” letters for whatever reason. Note, the schools I listed aren’t really at the same level as WashU - I skipped out on applying to comparable schools like Cornell, Duke, and Northwestern because I was sure I’d pick WashU given the choice in that group, based on my interests, location, etc.</p>
<p>Here’s a thread that should pretty well cover the negatives:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/653088-there-anything-you-dont-like-about-wash-u.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/653088-there-anything-you-dont-like-about-wash-u.html</a>
I’d take complaints about competitiveness and weird admissions policies with grain of salt, those really seem to be more rumour than anything else. A couple posters in the thread bring up stuff like how all the floors are co-ed, the campus is pretty liberal, pre-med is hard work, and so on - all of that is more or less true, though, if affects whether you think the school is a “fit” for you.</p>
<p>rk33 - Wash U is specifically need-aware. As far as sports, they are small in the sense it is D3, but they have a few sports where they consistently challenge at the top level of that division. I would also point out (you are WAAAAAY too young to remember this) but St. Louis used to be the soccer capital of the USA, and St. Louis U and later Univ. Mo. St. Louis were consistently rated near the top in D1 soccer. Not sure that matters so much now, although there is a huge soccer park further out west in St. Louis County. Just some interesting history that ties the city to soccer.</p>
<p>I think Wash U kids are as active or inactive socially as you want to be. In other words, you can definitely find a group that parties hardier, or a group that is more laid back, and everything in between. St. Louis itself kind of grows on you. It is not the active place in the same mold that Chicago, New York, Boston, LA, etc. are, but there is plenty to do, and a nice area called the Delmar Loop nearby that has places the Wash U kids go to lots. No doubt the weather change will be significant for you, but that will be true anywhere outside of the deep south or west coast.</p>
<p>Once you visit, you can see for yourself. I would recommend going in October, and stay 2 days and 1 night, or even 2 nights if you can. Get the feel of the place as much as possible. Then you will have a better idea how it stacks up against your needs and personality. Good luck!</p>
<p>So what type of students does WashU generally accept? Like SAT’s/valedictorian/people with a lot of leadership etc. What are they big on in their students?</p>
<p>What about graduate school? Do WashU graduates generally get in somewhere topnotch?(assuming they didn’t graduate with a 2.0)</p>
<p>The middle 50% for SAT is something like 1380-1540 (higher than some Ivies). Also, the class of 2011 had the 4th most National Merit Scholars in the country (241), the 2nd most for private schools (behind Harvard). </p>
<p>As for grad schools, check out the Career Center’s page in the graduation issue of StudLife:
[Student</a> Life](<a href=“http://www.studlife.com%5DStudent”>http://www.studlife.com)</p>
<p>That’s just a small sample.</p>
<p>I’ve talked to professors about grad school some. According to what they’ve said, WashU graduates tend to be able to get into better graduate programs than WashU’s own, although I’m pretty sure that’s excluding the graduate medical program, just because the WashU medical school is so tough to get into. Even there though, attending undergrad at WashU can give you a leg up.</p>
<p>Leadership, good stats, class rank, etc. definitely figure into the admissions decisions. WashU also tends to pay a lot of attention to students who show some interest in the school, like those who apply ED, apply for scholarships, visit the campus, etc. AdComs here tend to dislike applicants they think are just using the school for a safety-net, which isn’t all bad. It’s nice to know other students at WashU actually wanted to be there :)</p>
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<p>Crap. There go all my hopes of getting in!</p>
<p>False. Unless you didn’t have a chance in the first place.</p>
<p>Yeah, please don’t misunderstand what I meant by specifically. I didn’t mean that it was an overwhelming factor, I meant that they are specific about it on their web site. I didn’t know it myself until someone pointed it out to me. Anyway, don’t let it get you down, just go for it.</p>
<p>Yep, a LARGE percentage of WashU students get financial aid (does someone have the latest number?) so it’s definitely not like people who request aid don’t get in. And I don’t think they look at the actual amount of aid you need when you apply (could be wrong though) so it’s not like it’s something to worry about.</p>
<p>^
60% receive financial aid.</p>
<p>That’s pretty comparable to other similar colleges, so i don’t understand how they are “need-aware” and still have similar “% receiving aid” statistics as other schools who are “need-blind”. I think it’s probably because “need-aware” doesn’t mean they are looking at your parent’s income as much as you might think they do, and “need-blind” can be interpreted in a couple different ways. </p>
<p>Per wikipedia (hehe), “There are only seven colleges that are need-blind and full-need for all applicants, including international students. These are Dartmouth College, Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University, Williams College, Yale University, and Amherst College.”</p>
<p>Wash U does meet 100% of your “demonstrated” need if you are accepted. So, as long as you are accepted, chances are you’ll be getting a really get financial aid. “demonstrated aid” does vary from school to school, but Wash U is generally known for being pretty generous (#11 on Princeton Review for “students happy with financial aid”)</p>
<p>It could have something to do with the fact that they meet 100% of the calculated need. Maybe some of the others don’t?</p>
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<p>You know, after I got bummed about WUSTL being need-aware, I did a Google search on WashU’s need-awareness. It brought up a study showing that need-blind schools do not actually have a higher percentage of low-income students attending. So, need-aware schools actually attract and accept a higher number of low-income (Pell grant recipient) students. Kind of neat.</p>
<p>You’re right, it doesn’t really ruin my chances. But knowing that my EFC is an automatic 0 and my CSS PROFILE will come back <$2500 (depending on how much my income is this year), my demonstrated need is between 95% and 100% COA. That sucks, but at least the rest of my application is really on par for WashU.</p>