<p>Is this actually a good school??
I was looking at US News Top Colleges and it was Number 11 above Berkeley an dmany other colleges??</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>Some people find their admissions practices shady, but the school itself is top-notch, though not quite HYPS level in terms of prestige.</p>
<p>IMO this school's only problem is its lack of immediate name recognition.</p>
<p>just curious, why are their admissions practices shady?</p>
<p>Wash U. is top notch. My son is a freshman there, having applied Early Decision. My daughter will start there next year, also an Early Decision applicant. My husband and I both went to Harvard and have high standards. Our son and daughter chose Wash U because of top notch academics, a happy and balanced student body, and one of the most supportive administrations you will find.</p>
<p>some people say it is shady because they advertise alot. they have sent me at least a copy paper box full of letters.</p>
<p>So by advertising a lot, it seems like they want to get more underqualified applicants, so that they can come off as more selective. Whether this is fair or not, I do not know.</p>
<p>When there are about 3400 four-year colleges in the US, it is fair to say the WashU is every bit as good as any school in the country. It does not have the name recognition of say Harvard, but anyone who knows that University of Pennsylvania is not a public university would have heard of WashU.</p>
<p>When you talk about name recognition, the public has really only heard of some of the ivies, MIT, Stanford, and schools with football or basketball teams. The part of the public that knows colleges know that WashU is a great school.</p>
<p>i live in stl so my opinion may be a bit biased. people around here know it is a good school but for the most part the best students just use it as a backup to their ivy ambitions. recently washU finally caught on after one of their classes over enrolled (dont quote me on this) by ~100 students. also they tend to accept a lot of kids that normally wouldnt get accepted to other "top tier" schools around the country. plus the school itself doesnt have much of the same effect on the community as a school like Harvard has on cambridge or yale and new haven.</p>
<p>but if you are from out of state and want a undergrad program where a large majority (~75% no joke) are premed than WashU is for you.</p>
<p>just to add one last thing. if anything try to get into washU for medical school, it is definitely one of the top 3 in the nation. the average MCAT score is something outrageous, like an average of 12.1 in each section (higher than HYPS).</p>
<p>As the 1.2 million high school graduates chose their colleges each year, the competition at the very top colleges goes exponential as you approach #1 on the USNWR charts. Harvard at #1 is denying 90% of the applicants. More telling, Harvard is denying around 60% of the applicants who have perfect SAT's of 1600/1600. Moving down from #1, the competition actually starts to look a little saner by the time you get to #10 or #15 or so. WashU doesn't have the name recognition of HYP. Not every valedictorian in every high school in country who was student council president and got 1400 on the SAT is applying to WashU the way that they do to the ivies. All of the top 12-15 schools in the country only have room for so many freshman (Harvard takes 1500). That is out of 1.2 million high school graduates.</p>
<p>I'm also from St. Louis, and from my experience, Wash U isn't talked about a whole lot. Only a few people I know are applying. However, I know they have a rockin' medical program and...uh...my piano teacher used to teach there. </p>
<p>I didn't apply, because I have to get out of MO.</p>
<p>I agree with Dufus on the above. </p>
<p>Wash U does not yet have the name recognition of some other schools. We're from California, where its name is still getting established. But its academic reputation among academicians is solid, and not just in the pre-med fields, but also in areas such as English and Psychology. Like any school, it won't fit everybody. But the Ivies also won't fit everybody. You have to think about how the school will fit once you get there because it will affect your well-being, as well as your chances of doing what you want in grad school. A lot of people asked us incredulously why our kids had applied to Wash U early, being strong students, quadruple Harvard legacies, partial URM's, etc. Our answer is what I said above: outstanding academics recognized by those who know, a HAPPY place to attend school where they can balance rigorous academics with emotional health, and a dynamite administration.
If Wash U is a fit, then don't worry about name recognition. It has it where it matters. If not, then look elsewhere, but base your decision on the fit along with the school's academic reputation. If you don't, I guarantee you will regret it. ;)</p>
<p>How good is WashU in areas like economics, math flim studies and philsophy?</p>
<p>stupefied06-"i live in stl so my opinion may be a bit biased. people around here know it is a good school but for the most part the best students just use it as a backup to their ivy ambitions. recently washU finally caught on after one of their classes over enrolled (dont quote me on this) by ~100 students."</p>
<p>Since when was WashU a back up, for the local kids? My school sends off plenty of top kids to WashU every year ED I/II. Most top St. Louis students tend to have WashU as their top school with St.Louis University and Truman next followed by Mizzou as the safe bet. I don't care if you have a 5.0 go to Priory and have a 36 ACT, it's not a backup.</p>
<p>BTW what high school do you go to?</p>
<p>i am international and wash u is not so well known.
but those who know it, know it that it is damn good!! for academics, ECs, especially research opportunities!!!!!!!!!
it can be compared to Ivys.</p>
<p>"compared" to as in how does it compare? One can compare any school to an IVY school. They still won't be an IVY and they many times don't come out well in the comparison...........probably not what you were trying to say.</p>
<p>by "compare," i mean it is upto the level of any IVy school!! (not in terms of popularity though.....only in terms of faculty, selectivity, students, academics, etc.)</p>
<p>right. [10 characters]</p>
<p>Bishop: What you said about mom555 was totally inappropriate, not to mention being stupid in content. I'm very close to making a complaint to the moderator myself. I notice you have 9 posts so far, and one of them was to attack mom555. There are many adults helping on CC, including myself. Although some of the parents seem overly involved with their children's applications to college, many are quite informed about the process and are trying to help by providing information and making the process easier. If a person were applying to college, would they want mom555's advice or yours?</p>
<p>Bishop, you really need to restrain yourself from making these immature comments.</p>