<p>Hello, I am a HS Senior debating on whether I should apply ED to WashU or apply both in regular.
What are some differences of these schools? like pros and cons?
I would like to know
1. professor accessibility
1.a) I know at WashU, professors mostly teach the classes; it seems like at JHU, professor accessibility is going to be a lot less, since so many more undergrad
2. which one more liberal arts feel? I want to explore a lot. I want to do pre-med, but also humanities. How are humanities in both schools? How are the engineering schools?
3. DC (Baltimore) v. St. Louis
4. Party culture?
5. Better to get good grades??
Sooner the comments are, the better! Thanks everyone! </p>
<p>@sarahvanilla: They are both outstanding universities. Since you have only three days remaining until WahUStL’s ED applications are due, I will offer obvious – but critical – advice:
- Can you unquestionably afford WashU?
- Is WashU REALLY your certain first-choice (yes, I appreciate the likelihood that the questions posed above are intended to elicit additional information/opinions, but ED truly requires a “no doubts” personal commitment). Are you at that point for WashU? </p>
<p>If you can answer both question affirmatively, only then you’re ready to apply ED to WashU.</p>
<p>If you’re having any doubts about applying ED, and it appears that you do, I think it’s best to just do regular decision for both colleges. ED should be used only if the school is unquestionably your number one choice.</p>
<p>Also, based on the questions you’re asking, I don’t think you know enough about the Wash U experience to commit to it with ED.</p>
I taught math at Wash. U. for many years. The students are very bright, but the administration wants “retention” and “no problems”. Here is a summary of what happened when I taught differential equations at a level similar to MIT.
The chair of the math dep’t told me that he wanted me to make the class the normal “cookbook” course, telling me to teach students only the steps to work problems like those that will be on the test. He said to do this so that he wouldn’t have “problems”.
An Engineering Assoc. Dean (and Dean of Student Academic Integrity) was concerned about students doing poorly on an exam. I wrote him that almost all of the ones who had done poorly had cheated on the homework. He wrote back: don’t “discourage” them, “retention” is important.
Though the Math Chair kept refusing to show me the “complaints” he was “dealing with”, I finally managed to get a copy of them. Here is what I saw.
An Engineering student tutor “complained” that he “…cannot do…most [MIT} problems …and [he] received an A [in the standard “cookbook” version of the course]…”
An outraged father wrote the Deans that his “understanding” was that the average on a test was 47, and that I didn’t even curve! It was actually 67 – several points lower than the other three tests, and about 40% of the class made A’s, no one below a C. The Deans responded to the parent by asking for his son to report on whether I had “improved”. The student’s “report” made it clear that he did not even recognize that homework problems were on the test – some word for word!
The Chair of the Math Department told me that Math had just “wrested” a course from Engineering, and they weren’t going to let Engineering “wrest” this course from Math. Clearly, there was a competition to see who could meet the “wants” of a few students to the detriment of all students. The course was worth a lot to the winner’s budget. (A Dean had told a previous Chair that he wanted “no complaints”, even if that meant a reduction in standards. That is apparently how the winner is determined.)
I give this example because I was there, not because Wash. U. is the only school behaving this way. There are schools that are ok, though, but you have to beware of those that aren’t.