<p>I was lucky enough to receive four great acceptances this year, and I've narrowed down the list to my top two. I really love both, even though they are quite different in some respects, and I know I'm going to have a really difficult decision to make. </p>
<p>Basically, my question is: why did you ultimately decide that WashU was the perfect school for you?</p>
<p>Obviously, I know that fit is different for everyone and whatnot, but I am just curious and some of your insights may help me decide. </p>
<p>Thank you so much for sharing!</p>
<p>I almost went to Brown for their open curriculum, ended up here because of, I guess, I liked the atmosphere better: I preferred the campus more (general feel, dorms, food), and it was closer to home. WashU’s practically as good in terms of academic flexibility, based on ease of taking elective classes and second majoring/minoring, so I felt that there was no loss there, and the anthro/bio/chem/engineering were solid here.</p>
<p>I applied to Wash U as a triple legacy and never in a thousand years saw myself coming here. After acceptances, I was between here, Cornell, and Northwestern. I guess it came down to a number of things. Wash U is the perfect distance from Chicago, where I’m from. Its not public transport away like NW or in the middle of nowhere like Cornell. I was also fairly certain I wanted to do BME, and that was what really shone for Wash U. When it came down to it, though, it was my visit that clinched my decision. It sounds cliche, but Wash U just felt the best when I visited. And no regrets so far!</p>
<p>Wash U was the only school that seemed to me that it actually tries to be better and exceed expectations. This feeling manifests itself in both academics and general student life quality. I’m from an area that does send a decent amount of kids to Wash U, but still most people just expect you to go to an Ivy or Stanford (etc) if you’re accepted - like, why would you even not consider doing so? Well, I considered Wash U partly because I just despise the name-recognition mentality. I wanted a place that was kind of challenging the status quo. But, beyond that, again Wash U just tries so hard to go above+beyond expectations, but it was really unique to me because kids here genuinely seem to want to make an impact and give back to the school. There’s just this energy that you’re trying to give back, and that really impressed me at the time. Haven’t been let down at all. Wash U used to be a real underdog in terms of elite colleges, and even though we arguably have “arrived” in many respects, there’s still this underdog mentality that you’re always working for something better. Hard to describe it better than that.
Tangibly, the academics are amazing, as others mentioned it is easy to have more than one major and I really didn’t want a school that had required core classes, the location was exactly what I was looking for (in terms of proximity to a major metro area, transit, not in middle of a city, enough stuff within walking distance), it is more laid-back than other places, and I really really just loved the feel/look of campus.</p>
<p>I went here because of the name and because it was close to home. The campus initially blew me away as well the food here. However, after almost two years I have mixed feelings about the school. If given the choice again, I probably wouldn’t have went here.</p>
<p>Some of the things off the top of my head that you should know…
The weather isn’t that bad but it can be unpredictable, like a week ago it was snowing and now it is relatively sunny. It will probably rain sometime soon hah.</p>
<p>Expenses…
They require you to take their health insurance even if you have health insurance that is better than theirs. The insurance and Student Health services is pitiful compared to other insurance/universities respectfully. Housing is pretty expensive although it is nice. The food is overpriced but nonetheless good. </p>
<p>The Athletic Center here is bad… They have very limited hours and the facility is out of date. Only three recreational basketball courts and they are frequently packed. The AC is located on campus away from the residential area, and the residential area gym is kind of inadequate for anyone’s needs unless you primarily focus on aerobics.</p>
<p>you can see a lot of wasteful spending/sustainability issues on campus.(IE. flat screen TVs everywhere to display a static message which a plastic sign could display easily.) But I guess you could probably say that about a lot of campuses. </p>
<p>If you are premed, I would advise that you go to a state school or smaller school because not only will you be able to stick out more but you will probably have better classes. In the end name recognition doesn’t make that much difference, and you could probably compensate for that and more by the higher GPA you get. I feel like at WashU, the worst professors teach the science/pre med classes. They can turn very interesting topics into a fight between going to sleep or not going to sleep.(loomis being the exception) But professors in psychology, anthropology, and other fields are very engaging and overall great professors even if their subject matter is dry. Also, academic advising is superb and they have a lot of resources related to academics, career, and other advising. So I’d consider this school strongly if money isn’t a problem, you aren’t pre med, and the other things I mentioned don’t bother you that much.</p>
<p>I not really sure why you think that premed here is bad. Yes some of the intro classes here are taught by professors with sub par teaching skills (math department especially), but what makes you assume that they’re going to be that much better at StateU? Also, have you checked the percentage of students accepted to medical schools from WashU? From 2004-2008, 71% of all applicants got into at least 1 medical school, and with a 3.6 or better than number jumps to 89%. Clearly, WashU does something right for its premed students.</p>
<p>As a side note, Frey and Bernatowicz ought to be mentioned in the same sentence as Loomis in my opinion.</p>