University College

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>Allow me to preface this by saying that I am a 24 year old student, I have recently obtained an associate's degree with a 3.7 cumulative GPA, and I am trying to enroll in a B.S. program this fall. </p>

<p>I applied to Washington University and was accepted, but I received virtually no aid. After crunching the numbers, I realized that attending Wash U would be a fiscally irresponsible choice on my part. In an effort to find an affordable program, I applied to SLU and received an adequate amount of scholarship and federal aid. Now, herein lies the problem; I've been convincing myself that SLU is the school for me for almost a month now, however, I still have a strong desire to enroll at Wash U. </p>

<p>Over the past few days I was exploring Wustl.edu, and came across the University School program for adults wanting to continue their education. After researching a bit further, I found that the cost is much less than tuition at the main campus. Of course, a website can only tell me so much, so I was hoping that some current Wash U students could offer their opinion on this program. Specifically; is this taught by the same faculty? Classes on the main campus? (and most importantly) Is the educational quality on par with Wash U, or even SLU?</p>

<p>Other than that, I would appreciate comments in regard to your general impression of the University College. Any and all information will be greatly appreciated. Also, I realize this board tends to accuse students of only wanting to attend a school based on its prestige (even if the accusation is untrue), so please know that I have other motives that have spurred me to reconsider Wash U - none of them being prestige.</p>

2

<p>There are a number of very good professors (Sened comes to mind) that are on faculty for both ArtSci and UCollege. But, on the whole, the faculties are rather different. This is not necessarily to your disadvantage though, for the best professor I’ve ever taken a course with works only in UCollege. </p>

<p>The academic quality will vary with instructors, some feeling the need to have easier courses since many of their students are working adults. But many others will hold you to a standard equal or greater to what an ArtSci student should expect. I think on the whole, it is perhaps not quite on par with ArtSci, but stronger than SLU. </p>

<p>The classes are all, with I would imagine maybe a rare exception every so often, held on the main campus. And many of the classes, excluding those that are 500-level or above (MA courses that require specialized program enrollment), will have an ArtSci student or two. </p>

<p>The main drawback would be if you’re interested in being part of a student community, UCollege doesn’t really work in facilitating that, since it is evening and weekend courses only, and the vast majority of students fall into the non-traditional category.</p>