<p>I've always been interested in applying to WUSTL, but recently, I read that St. Louis is the fourth most dangerous city in the US. Could anyone who is attending or has attended WUSTL tell me what that's like? Would knowing that have changed your application decisions?</p>
<p>There are some places in St. Louis that you don't want to be, but the campus is very safe. I have lived near or visited the area my whole life, and as long as you are smart about where you go there aren't any issues. WashU does a lot to make students feel safe--blue light emergency telephones, 24/7 emergency number to call if you're feeling uncomfortable/threatened, police patrols on and around campus, text messaging emergency notification system, key card access to buildings and rooms, etc.</p>
<p>WashU has a similar service you can call after dark (or really anytime, I guess) if you don't feel comfortable. And there's bluelights pretty much everywhere.
Before coming to WashU, I was also pretty worried about the safety issue. However, after coming here I feel that WashU campus is pretty safe and for the surroundings...just be smart. I personally think that UPenn area, Philly, is more dangerous than WashU's. Furthermore, about 80% or more of WashU students are out-of-staters...and we aren't really that worried about the safety on campus, so you also shouldn't be that worried. =)
Yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned. At night I always see the police walking or riding around, and I definitely feel safe on campus at night. I mean, as long as you don't leave your door open with your laptop sitting there, you really aren't at risk. I don't know anyone personally who has had a problem on campus.
<p>WashU is very safe. It's located in Clayton, very suburby near a nice park.</p>
<p>St. Louis is alright. I'm a freshman and there hasn't been anything I've run into bad. I go around alone when I want and the only "dangerous" people I've met are creepy gangsters who hit on you randomly and go "can i hass yo numba" "whatcho name is" kinda thing.</p>
<p>Downtown can be "sketch" but I went to SLU to visit my friend yesterday and as long as you don't try to court attention or ask for trouble you won't run into it. I went to eat downtown and returned around 11pm with one other person and it was ok. The metro trains are hell now though.</p>
<p>Delmar Loop area is supposedly near an unsafe part of town. The people on Delmar seem ok...there are "creepy" people at 10pm on Saturdays sometime and to be honest, a polieman got shot there last month. But besides these things, it seems ok. I went by myself to buy a present and it was ok. On weekends it's a little crowded. Fontbonne kids come too, and WashU kids are like "Oh Fontbonne is so scary" but it's right next to WashU and perhaps they are more "hood" but I really haven't met any.</p>
<p>Apartments have been robbed and my graduate school friend said 5 cars got broken into on her street but they didn't have alarm systems. Also, don't bring a flashy car or one with no alarm system because often cars get stolen and are found in compounds in east st louis a few weeks later</p>
<p>Overall, I haven't run into anything yet and I love exploring. It seems alright enough to me.</p>
<p>St. Louis, like NY, Boston, Chicago and the like is a city. It has its good neighborhoods and its bad neighborhoods. You simply have to know where it is safe to be and where to stay away from. The good news about WashU is that it is in the beautiful suburban Clayton area, filled with lovely homes and is next to Forest Park. It it not like Columbia or University of Chicago which are both right in the middle of the true "city". The "scary" part of St. Louis is actually East St. Louis which is across the river and actually not in Missouri but in Illinois. WashU kids never have a need to trek over to East St. Louis. Also,WashU has a beautiful large campus and a rich and wonderful campus life, so while it is technically a "city school" it is really a campus school with access to a city. </p>
<p>By the way, there are some wonderful, fun, hip parts of St. Louis that are near the school such as the Central West End. </p>
<p>You really should go visit the school and see for yourself. It is one of the few schools that really looks like its brochure photos!</p>
<p>Alas, I have to make this same post almost every year when this stupid crime survey comes out. A link to the data is below. THE MAJOR FLAW IN THE REPORT is that they only focus on city limit data. Many cities, such as Atlanta, St. Louis, D.C., Detroit, Baltimore, etc, have very small geographical city limit areas compared to the metro areas, so this survey essentially measures crime in just the city center/downtown area. Other cities have consolidated city/county governments so the "city limits" are quite large and the survey measures crime in entire metro area.</p>
<p>At the link below, they show the cities ranked both ways. You will see cities like St. Louis and Atlanta near the top of the "city" list, but not even in the top 25 of the "metroplitan area" list.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that it is a stasticially flawed report and poorly used.</p>
<p>I've lived in STL for almost all of my life, and you really don't need to be worried. To echo people above, Wash U is in Clayton, not in the actual city, so it's really a safe area. Close by, though, is the Loop (which is an area with restaurants/bars, shops, a movie theatre, and a place for concerts) that many people seem to feel uncomfortable in. It's really not bad, but there can be some sketchy people wandering around. Usually though, there are enough people that you never feel alone. Just a rule of thumb, don't go by yourself late at night. Downtown STL often gets a bad rap, but it's really the same deal. It's got a lot of really cool areas - like down on Washington Ave. - and it's in the process of being brought back to life, but there are still some areas that may freak some people out. It's not really any different from any other city.
Bottom line: You'll be fine. Just be smart.</p>
<p>Hm I heard from my friend who goes to WashU currently and he says that the campus is safe. And the city is okay. But he told me that he went into the city once, and heard a 'bang'. And apparently a police officer was shot...... So I dunno.</p>
<p>What everyone else said before is a good representation of STL... especially the data fallacies for the crime study to begin with.</p>
<p>In my personal opinion, St Louis can be approximately compared with the layout/situation in Philadelphia: </p>
<p>Philadelphia is situated on the Delaware River, with Camden New Jersey directly across the river. Camden is rated #1 most dangerous city in the US according to that study. About 8 miles outside Philly is Bryn Mawr College, situated in an upscale suburban neighborhood of Lower Merion Township.</p>
<p>St Louis is on the Mississippi River, directly across from East St Louis Illinois. Unlike Camden New Jersey, East STL is not calculated as a separate statistical area, and instead is lumped into the St Louis Missouri calculation. Approx 8 miles outside the downtown area of St Louis is Wash U's campus, in the upscale suburban neighborhoods of Clayton/Ladue/University City. </p>
<p>If St Louis was like Philadelphia, UPENN would be approximately comparable to where St Louis University is located in the city (midway between Wash U and the mississippi river === midway between Brwn Mawr and the delaware river).</p>
<p>I totally agree with the last post. There is no reason why students would ever go to East St. Louis, IL so that's not really a safety concern. Granted, there are problems with St. Louis, but they are no different than problems you would find in any major metro area in the United States.</p>