<p>then how would you define WashU’s setting? because from what I’ve read and heard about it, I like it quite a lot, but it’s relatively small size compared to say Ann Arbor or Penn State (both of which I’m applying to) makes me a little reluctant… In my opinion a school with more students is more interesting :)</p>
<p>WashU definitely is a smaller size in student number but it’s really not all that small…more than 7,000 undergrads and about 7,000 grads…that’s a pretty good-sized school. Also the campus is in St. Louis which is a pretty sizable city. Even if you find that the campus itself is too small for you (which I doubt you will), there are tons of other colleges in St. Louis (for instance SLU). St. Louis isn’t a small city by any means - you won’t run out of things to do…
For the size of the school, I’d say 7,000 is a great number - there’s always gonna be someone that you don’t know.
Hope that helped!</p>
<p>WUSTL puts you at a disadvantage in the job market by geographic location. Sure, you’ll be able to get a job at a large company in the midwest, but good luck explaining to those of us in the northeast that a school in St. Louis is something to be impressed by. </p>
<p>If you want to live in the midwest your whole life, WUSTL is a great school. Just don’t try your hand at wall street. You’ll be laughed out the door.</p>
<p>wow, informative…you are obviously not very well…informed.</p>
<p>I guess the conclusion is that if you go to WUSTL, you will be working at McDonalds for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>cmon guys…</p>
<p>First of all, the OP has made it pretty clear the IBanking is not his chosen career path; his intended major is IR afterall. </p>
<p>Secondly, WUSTL definitely attracts IBanks. It may not be as heavily recruited as Columbia, Dartmouth or Penn, but Citi, GS, JPM and MS all recruit at WUSTL.</p>
<p>
Sorry, only McDonalds in the midwest. Good luck explaining your WUSTL degree to the McDonalds hiring managers in the norheast…</p>
<p>Informative’s not sophisticated enough to recognize that there are companies in the Midwest that pay exceedingly well, and people in St Louis who could buy and sell all of us on this board. He is sort of the epitome of clueless provincialism.</p>
<p>Well it seems WUSTL is pretty underrated…! anyway, what would you say about its liberal arts programs? because I’m interested in social studies/humanities/liberal arts and I don’t want a school that focuses too much on say engineering or microbiology…</p>
<p>prince93, I will be a freshman at WashU this year and will most likely be studying something in the liberal arts. I got accepted to Tufts as well, so I know quite a bit about it. Tufts is without a doubt better for IR, but unless you’re 100% sure that’s what you want to do (which you probably aren’t), I’d say they’re pretty much equal in every other area, with WashU maybe being a bit better in the sciences. WashU also has a very strong foreign language program, which would definitely be helpful for anyone interested in IR. </p>
<p>What made WashU stand out for me was the fact that everyone was so happy and friendly. I went to a frat party the night I stayed there (apparently I wasn’t supposed to… OOPS, whatever I didn’t drink lol) and the next day at least 2 or 3 people I had only met at the party waved at me. A girl I didn’t even know let me stay in her room for the night (WashU apparently doesn’t do a good job at getting the word out about hosting so there was none left XD) and she took me to the party as well. I loved WashU so much that after I sent in my deposit, I took myself off the Williams and Northwestern waitlists.</p>
<p>Tufts seemed to be quite the opposite. It’s not that people were mean… they weren’t, but people were less courteous and more “in their own worlds” than people at WashU. I was hosted through the April Open House program at Tufts, and my hosts were quite noisy at 2am (working on final papers, which I guess is understandable) and at lunch, only 1 person stopped to talk to us about Tufts and that was because he was waiting for his friends to get to the dining hall. Once they came, he just got up and left. I probably just had a bad experience, but I can safely say that the culture in the midwest is definitely much different from the east coast.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t know if this is a plus or minus for you, but both schools have relatively in depth requirements. They’re not “core” curricula like at Columbia or UChicago, but for example, at WashU there are 5 areas that you have to take at least 3 classes in each. At Tufts, you’re required to take either 3 or 4? semesters of language. You mentioned Brown which has a completely open curriculum, so I figured you should be aware of this.</p>
<p>Also, WashU is in an awesome location. I’m NOT a big city person (I hate NYC), but STL is really nice (at least by campus… East St. Louis, not so much, but I’ve never actually been there). There is a park about a 5 minute walk from the admissions building that is bigger than Central Park in New York City and there are some other awesome things to do, like going to this museum that’s basically a playground for adults :).</p>
<p>If you’re REALLY into IR, I’d probably recommend Tufts or Georgetown, but if you’re undecided, WUSTL is really a great place to be. I don’t know how job placement is at big companies, but that’s not what I want to do and not what you want to do either (otherwise you’d be asking about the B-school). I don’t think the difference between Georgetown, Tufts, WashU or JHU would make a huge difference for grad school admissions though, and WashU accepts a pretty significant number of WashU undergrads to their med school which is ranked top 5 (which you’re not really into either :P).</p>
<p>I’ll let you know more specifics in a month or two if you want after I get on campus :). Feel free to PM me! It’s just that I haven’t really seen any of the typical WashU posters post on here, so I figured I should chime in. Hopefully ravencroft or marcdvl (I may have remembered those usernames wrong, but they’re people who post on the WashU boards often) or another current WashU student will comment soon too.</p>
<p>EDIT: WOW I wrote a novel XD Also, just in case you were wondering, the incoming freshman class has people from every US state other than North Dakota… haha I checked our online directory thing. Also, I don’t think staying in the Midwest would be the worst thing in the world. The people there are much nicer than the Northeast.</p>
<p>"Also, I don’t think staying in the Midwest would be the worst thing in the world. The people there are much nicer than the Northeast. "</p>
<p>Good. Justification is fine. You could also transfer to an school on the coast.</p>
<p>Informative, most people on this board are going to wind up having pleasant upper middle class suburban lives. How do you think an upper middle class suburban lifestyle in Chicago or St L or Minneapolis differs from a similar lifestyle in suburban NYC, Boston or Phila? I think you have no clue whatsoever that upper middle class suburban living is pretty much the same wherever you go.</p>
<p>^ Right. S/he’s not there yet 
And, Pizza, you remind me of Tolstoy, “every happy family…” :)</p>
<p>Wash U is a great school. The midwest and St. Louis is just as good as the East Coast. And lots of companies hire Wash U grads. For example, there was one boy who interned at Boeing one summer after his other internship fell through and now he is working for Boeing and making six figure.</p>
<p>rainbowrose, thank you very much for you answer! it’s very complete I think, especially because it sounds like you got admitted to some of the schools I’m looking at too! I would like to know more about your experience at WashU in a while, so watch for my PMs! thanks everybody else for the answers! Anyway, how’s the financial aid at WashU for international students? because i want to apply for it but I’m not sure if it’ll hurt my chances of getting in! Is it a need-blind admission?</p>
<p>Fortune 500 in Missouri:</p>
<p>1 Express Scripts
2 Emerson Electric
3 Monsanto
4 Reinsurance Group of America
5 Ameren
6 Charter Communications
7 Peabody Energy
8 O’Reilly Automotive
9 Graybar Electric
10 Centene</p>
<p>In Illinois:</p>
<p>1 Walgreen
2 Boeing
3 State Farm Insurance Cos.
4 Archer Daniels Midland
5 Kraft Foods
6 Sears Holdings
7 Caterpillar
8 Abbott Laboratories
9 Allstate
10 Deere
11 McDonald’s
12 United Continental Holdings
13 Motorola Solutions
14 Exelon
15 Illinois Tool Works
16 Sara Lee
17 Baxter International
18 Navistar International
19 R.R. Donnelley & Sons
20 Aon
21 Discover Financial Services
22 W.W. Grainger
23 OfficeMax
24 Dover
25 Fortune Brands
26 Smurfit-Stone Container
27 Tenneco
28 Anixter International
29 Integrys Energy Group
30 Telephone & Data Systems
31 United Stationers</p>
<p>^ So one should go to the University of Illinois over WUSTL? Got it. Nice logic.</p>
<p>For your information Informative, Illinois is a bordering state (across the Mississippi River from St. Louis). Chicago employers recruit at Wash U.</p>
<p>Somehow I doubt informative’s knowledge of the world outside Boston extends to knowing that St. Louis is the closest major city to Chicago. That would require distinguishing between all the midwestern states, which are just one undifferentiated mass of corn and wheat fields.</p>
<p>I’ll give you Chicago, Indianapolis, the Twin Cities…but St. Louis?</p>