We just got back from visiting Wash U and out of all the colleges we’ve toured, (Penn, Yale, Cornell and Duke), it really stood out from the rest as just incredible in all regards. The students were all so friendly, approachable and down-to-earth, the campus beyond gorgeous, the dorms and food unbelievable, and the neighborhood around campus is beautiful as well with so much to do…I know academically it’s top notch as well, so the question is, what are the negatives of Wash U, if any? My child is considering applying ED there after our visit, so just want to make sure that it’s as great as it appears to be?
It’s really a great institution. However, nowhere is perfect.
The one thing that comes up is how incredibly wealthy the student body is statistically. That might be a bummer for some.
The other is St. Louis isn’t a collegiate hotbed and there has been some unrest. Also no oceans or mountains.
But these are generalizations and it is exactly right for many academically gifted students.
Depending on which direction you go, the neighborhood around WashU may not be that great but the campus is gorgeous. I hear the food is awesome. Alums seem to love it to death. It does have a student body that is biased towards rich or upper-middle class (but that is true of almost all the Ivies/equivalents). It’s a Midwestern school so doesn’t have the alumni base and reputation of the Ivies on the coasts, Duke on the East Coast, or Stanford on the West Coast. It’s roughly a generation or two behind Northwestern in spreading its reputation to the coasts.
@PurpleTitan is right. But Wash u is really st the top of the wealthy student charts vs lower ses.
STUDENTS FROM … THE TOP 1%
($630K+) BOTTOM 60%
(<$65K)
- WashUniversity in St. Louis 21.7 6.1
- Colorado College 24.2 10.5
- Wash andLee University 19.1 8.4
- Colby College 20.4 11.1
- Trinity College (Conn.) 26.2 14.3
- Bucknell University 20.4 12.2
- Colgate University 22.6 13.6
- Kenyon College 19.8 12.2
- Middlebury College 22.8 14.2
- Tufts University 18.6 11.8
What major is your student? What part of the country are you coming from? I graduated from there nearly 30 years ago and at the time I’d say there were some tensions between kids from the midwest who were at their top-choice school and kids from the east coast who didn’t get into Harvard or Cornell and were a bit irritated at being stuck in St Louis for 4 years ;-). I’m guessing that issue has somewhat resolved in the past 30 years as everywhere has gotten harder to get in and people are all happy to be there. The weather in St Louis in September and October can be quite humid. At the time I was there the Greek system was fairly dominant socially.
As you can see, these are all fairly minor. It’s a great school. That said, personally I had a better social ‘fit’ at Berkeley where I went for grad school, but there are a lot of things that Wash U does better.
I came here to say pretty much the same thing as @privatebanker . The student body is wildly wealthy and lacks diversity. In a recent report, WashU has the lowest percentage of Pell grant students of any university in the country.
Another thing. This may be no big deal to you, but it turned me off big-time. Students have to swipe for each piece of food. Want a burger? Swipe. Fries? Swipe. Cookie? Swipe.
It seems that a lot of students we know were deciding this year between Cornell and Wash U or Duke and Wash U. Duke and Cornell seem to have better name recognition on the east coast, but Wash U and Rice were our favorites. They both have a happy, down-to-earth vibe, ironically for Wash U given the demographic! Our child wants to either be pre-med or possibly do something with Econ/finance, but of course that could all change. We actually really loved the area of St Louis it’s in, so viewed that as a plus. We just wonder about name recognition and ultimate job/grad school placement compared to peer schools and some of the Ivies.
The thoughts of a parent of a WashU 2022 student.
She loves WashU (Just finished freshman year).
She found all the talk about students being collaborative to be 100% true. They definitely help each other out.
Yes the meal plan is a swipe basis but it works out just fine. It allows you to take advantage of the many great options around campus, Whether you’re want a snack or a full meal…
She found it to be much more diverse than she originally thought. I think WashU is making every effort to change that reputation. But yes it could be more diverse.
Yes the campus is amazing. With the new East end transformation its getting even better.
The dorms are very nice.
Are there better cities than St. Louis. Definitely. But she has enjoyed St Louis. Campus is a quick metro link ride to a Cardinals game (metro link passes are free for students). Forest Park is right next to campus and is amazing (Zoo, Art Museum etc.)
@Fridaylover Feel free to reach out if you have any questions
BTW here are the admission statistics for the class of 2023
15% identify as black or African American, 13% as Hispanic, 1% as Native American / Alaskan, 1% as Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, and 20% as Asian.
Short answer is yes, WashU is really that good. Others have pointed out what could be considered drawbacks–the huge wealth disparity and, for some, the location. I was impressed with WashU but had concerns that the concierge level of service for students was inconsistent with preparing kids for life after college. Obviously YMMV–others could rather reasonably feel that the outstanding dorms, food, advisory services for students, relationships with professors and other students make it the ideal campus for student life. My own feeling was that the wealth, privilege and attention were not reflective of the real world and, outside the academic context, could be unproductive. Put it in the category of first-world problems–it’s a fantastic school.
The problem with Wash U is that 1. It’s in St. Louis, and so on either coast, most people confuse it with either George Washington or Univ of Washington; and 2. It’s a Division 3 athletic school, so it’s never going to be able to extend its academic brand into television. The reason schools like Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt and Stanford all have single-digit acceptance rates is because they are the only schools that combine Ivy League caliber academics with D1 sports.
Agree with post #10 I love WashU, but to me biggest knock is lack of school spirit.
Thanks, ParentFL, we felt Wash U was pretty special, it really stood out among the rest. We will continue to gather info from the great folks on this board as well.
I hope we can get a chance to visit U Chicago and Northwestern as well to compare on our next trip!
My son is a rising senior. The answer is quite simply, yes!
Current WashU student here! Yes, WashU is just that amazing, and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Some concerns about the lack of socioeconomic diversity are definitely very valid, but I will say that the university is working hard to accept students from lower income as well as provide them with more resources once they’re on campus. Plus, I’ve seen so much student activism surrounding these issues, and it’s truly inspiring to see students committed to equity. Hope your child has the incredible opportunity I’ve had to live and learn here!
Our good friend’s daughter has decided to attend Wash U next year over several other very tempting acceptances with arguably better name recognition on the east coast. After choosing Wash U, over U Chicago and Duke, I think her parents wondered if she was making a “mistake”, but she said she felt a warmth at Wash U she just didn’t get at the other schools. Once she attended accepted student day, the decision was very clear to her, and she came home raving about the friendly students and professors, gorgeous campus and surrounding neighborhood, etc…She said Wash U was by far the most welcoming of all the schools she visited.
Yes! It was amazing 30 years ago and my rising sophomore wholeheartedly agrees today. Friendly, supportive, and an incredible education.
My oldest is a rising senior at WashU. She absolutely loves it at WashU. Felt she belonged there the moment we stepped foot on campus during a visit her junior year.
A couple things that are “negatives” in my mind:
- Grade deflation… maybe not at Olin’s (B school, pre-school). My DD has never worked so hard in her life for her grades. A’s are very difficult to come by. Pre-med? Good luck with gen chem, orgo, bio, and physics.
Fortunately, it’s not cutthroat. There’s a lot of collaboration that goes on. Plenty of free resources to get help outside of classes.
But don’t expect to be that straight A student you were in HS though.
- Dorm location. DD lived in South 40 the first 2 years and the Village as a junior. I was happy with that because they’re right on campus. For senior year, she has to live on the Loop because not enough housing on campus. Granted, it’s still WashU housing on the Loop but I prefer she live right on campus.
She’s gotten the modern single dorm room each year. She loves the privacy it gives her but at the same time gives her an opportunity to socialize with her suitemates.
Overall, for my family, WashU is as amazing as we thought it would be.
I agree with @ChicagoSportsFn’s comments about WashU. Beautiful campus and excellent amenities, especially in the dorms.
Son will be a junior next year and it became his favorite school after he visited summer before senior year of high school. After his visit, he pretty much told everybody he knew that he would be attending WashU. He was pretty nonchalant about his acceptance, but it was a big surprise for the parents as he could have had better high school grades-UW GPA was about 3.67 even with a weighted 4.2, although his SAT score was 2290 on the old one.
His original favorite was Tufts followed by BU but WashU blew those 2 schools out of the water. He will be considering them for graduate school though since he likes Boston. Odd for someone born in Silicon Valley but his personality fits the Midwest and East Coast more.
WashU students will work hard. The average GPA is 3.52, which seems high given the school’s supposed reputation for grade deflation. BME and the hard sciences, especially any of the paths for premed are going to be difficult. Son has well over a 3.7 GPA with multiple majors/minor and works really hard. And yes, he actually has a higher GPA in college than in high school.
Your study group partners will invariably be your friends and they will stick together all 4 years. He has several buddies in a study group (they have been in the same classes for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and General Ed classes since freshman year) and they spend as much time hanging out, going out to eat, watching the latest movies, and playing video games as studying.
WashU might have its share of gunner types but the vast majority of the kids are collaborative and will help each other out. My son helped his friends figure out Multivariable Calculus as he took the class before they did. The 3 of them review their CompSci assignments together to make sure the code compiles/runs correctly. And the 3 of them call each every night now that school is out for the summer-that phone bill is going to be pretty expensive since we have a Californian, a kid from Chicago, and a kid from Cleveland.
WashU has a high SES and the FB photos of the kids will show trips to Europe and ski trips. But during my visits on campus I haven’t seen any overt ostentation.
My son’s Chicago friend is from a well off family-the kid went to UChicago Lab and both parents are Chicago alumni with MBAs from Booth. The father is a VP at a major investment firm and probably makes more in a month and a half than I will in a year in my engineering job. Yet my son says his friend is really down to earth. There are also kids with a low SES attending WashU and my son knows a few of them as well. To him they’re his classmates regardless of their background.