<p>For somebody who physically cannot visit the campus, but is extremely interested in applying, I would like to know what some of you guys dislike about Wash U. Just so I can get a better feel of what the school is like.</p>
<p>Food: Delicious
Dorms: Excellent
Campus Buildings: Beautiful and new (Gothic-styled architecture)
Students: Friendly and Happy. After all, happy students tend to be friendly.
Weather: Pretty good. (A nice place to experience the 4 seasons mildly)
Sports scene: Bad…As long as foot ball is concerned.
Party scene: Good for a top school (It’s not well known, but there are parties almost everynight and you just need to find it, which is not really hard)</p>
<p>The only thing I don’t like is the weather. Last year we went 2 weeks with near 0 weather and no snow. And it was windy. And all around miserable.
Then again, I like the weather in September-October and April-May (I like humidity…)</p>
<p>Mind you, this is coming from someone with ties to southern CA and the south in general. I refused to apply any further North than Maryland (JHU) because I really don’t like the cold.</p>
<p>There’s another thread on this topic a little ways back, I believe.</p>
<p>I’ve had a difficult time navigating their website. But I guess that’s a virtual thing.</p>
<p>Brick & mortar? Hard-pressed to find something. Gimme a few years. ;)</p>
<p>yeah, not many people know this but WashU’s party scene isn’t that bad. They might not have an extremely large greek system like USC, but there are parties on certain floors almost every night, and it surprised me when I visited because I was expecting everyone to be studying. Kind of glad to hear social life isn’t as bad as people make it out to be.</p>
<p>Is flooding a big issue for the campus?</p>
<p>There’s no flooding anywhere near the campus.</p>
<p>Good to know…thanks for the response.</p>
<p>Some of what annoyed me (though I think you’ll find certain details less salient):</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The cluster system - This is especially painful if you’re transferring from another school, as it all but ensures you have to more annoying gen eds on top of the several you’d likely have completed at time of transfer. Starting out as a freshman this should be less of an issue, but many people still do find it rather annoying. And certainly their point isn’t hard to understand. It is so problematic that it is being subject to a major overhaul. But I’m not sure when the changes will go into effect.</p></li>
<li><p>Weather - Not something WashU can control, but something that’ll obviously impact you if you find yourself there. I found it to be more than a bit unpredicatable, especially with respect to the rain storms. And, at least for my taste, I find it is way too hot there most of the year, certain parts of the winter excluded. Of course, it’s worth noting that before starting at WashU, Cleveland was the warmest city I ever lived in. So I suspect I’m a bit atypical on this one.</p></li>
<li><p>Administrators - Most are dedicated and helpful. I have nothing but positive feedback for the vast majority of them. Jill Carnaghi on the other hand, as I’m sure most any student will tell you, is an awful blight on this university who actively tries to suppress everything from a richer Greek scene to conservative-oriented student events. And she’s broadly empowered enough to have a good measure of success in her efforts to thwart fun and free expression. She’s bad enough if you’re not on her radar. If you’ve got to deal with her (as could well happen if you’re active in student life), that can be even more painful.</p></li>
<li><p>Campus internet - Now, as somebody that lives off campus, this isn’t an issue I have to deal with. But as has been suggested to me by several friends who are not so fortunate, the network access you’ll have in your dorm is restricted, and things like torrenting are, without the aid of a VPN client and a strong outside network to fall back on, entirely inviable. Which, when you consider the capacity of the network, is downright depressing.</p></li>
<li><p>Independent Studies - As a staff ed in our campus paper that I wrote a while back covered, undergrads enrolled in ArtSci and the other traditional schools cannot take independent study courses with UCollege professors. This may seem trivial, but they have departments that exist nowhere else in the university, as well as experts who offer courses in no other division and have specialties held by nobody else. Yet we are denied the opportunity to take advantage of them based on some outmoded and unsound rule. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>If these sound like minor gripes, that’s probably because they are. I didn’t start at WashU, so I can especially appreciate it by comparing it to the hell from where I came, and yet rose colored glasses long removed, I don’t have major complaints. There are certain things like the above, or other things I didn’t hit on like the continued decline in quality of the campus paper, that annoy me and other people too. But in the areas that matter, the experience is great. And so finding a more substantive complaint really isn’t feasible.</p>
<p>Gprime listed some really good points.</p>
<p>However, I’d just like to point out that the cluster system is only for artsci students. As an engineering student, my H/SS requirement is simple and easy to complete (I’ll be done with all that by fall of my junior year).
Mind you, the majority of students are artsci though… but I love not having to deal with the cluster**** that is artsci reqs.</p>
<p>I thought most schools restrict their student’s internet access by blocking torrents, it’d suck if it’s just WashU’s lol. Is Jill Carnaghi an adviser? If so, i’m glad I don’t have her.</p>
<p>Yeah I’ve never heard of her but I’ll take your word for it.</p>
<p>Just wanted to say that **architecture **students get their BAs or BSs from College of Arts and Sciences, so we have the cluster system also 
However, I don’t think it will be that bad because I believe 2 of the 4 clusters are filled by required classes anyway. My NS Cluster is giving me a little trouble. I’m leaning towards CalcII and CalcIII, but I don’t know if I’m setting myself up for advanced enough math classes that I will be grilled with work/disinterested.</p>
<p>nooob, I know some do, but whether or not most do I cannot say. I’m only going by experience. And my former institution, Case Western, did not block torrents. </p>
<p>As to Carnaghi, she’s currently the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Students/Director of Campus Life. So no, she wouldn’t be somebody that you’d have as an advisor. But if say you were on the executive board of a Greek organization, or were in charge of events programming for certain campus groups (especially political ones), or were in student government, you’d be forced to associate with her, almost always to negative ends. She’s miserable.</p>
<p>Two things that concern me about WashU are:
-From what I hear, people out of WashU get worse job opportunities right out of college, on average, than similarly ranked schools. Well, that’s what a report said, and the students I knew that went there agreed.
-It manipulates the rankings and waitlists overqualified people, which can be really annoying. Some people really want to go there that are super qualified but don’t want to apply ED for various reasons.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good school. You just wanted me to critique it, so I did.</p>
<p>I think all colleges in this range “waitlist” overqualified people. The Ivies do it too, its generally more acceptable because ivy admissions are for the “cream of the crop”. Perhaps it’s more that they don’t want to have a campus full of egotistical bio drones.</p>
<p>Also, I think rejecting a college based on the restrictions on pirating is lame. I realize most of your peers may pirate and all but its sad that such a complete disregard for the law and ethics is prevalent. </p>
<p>There are a few minor annoyances that I’ve found for freshmen. Most of the downsides to WashU are found in other top private colleges…unnecessary requirements, large pricetag, competition, and etc. </p>
<ol>
<li>Freshmen aren’t allowed to have a car on campus. Sure you have the free metro link pass and things like Wecar but they aren’t too reliable when you want to drive large distances. Nothing like having your own car. </li>
<li>They make an expensive meal plan mandatory for first years. Additionally, even if you have insurance through your parents, they make you take WashU’s health insurance. </li>
<li>Very few people(except doctors and other select professions) will be able to recognize that you are going to a top flight school. Many will think you are going to a school in Washington until you get to the “St. Louis” part.</li>
</ol>
<p>However, all students I’ve talked to are unnaturally happy, almost as if WashU pays them to be this way during visit weekends.</p>