<p>What is it that makes you want to go to WashU? Why does it stand out from other colleges you researched or are applying to? What initially drew you to it, and, if you go there, what ultimately led you to choose WUSTL over other schools you were accepted to?</p>
<p>Basically, what makes it so special?</p>
<ol>
<li>My most important piece of the puzzle was a great architecture program (BS and BA undergrad, plus a nationally well-recognized and well-ranked Masters program)
----Plus if architecture unfortunately doesnt work out how I plan, there are a multitude of other great programs at WashU to switch to w/o having to transfer. I’ve heard only good things about WashU’s flexibility with whatever you need to happen, whether it deals with dorms, majors, schools, financial assistance, career services, anything.</li>
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<p>2.BEAUTIFUL campus +Forest Park (huge public park) adjacent to Danforth (main) campus… its one of those places where you’ll always see ultimate frisbee, pickup football/soccer games, or students lounging around in groups or in hammocks.</p>
<p>3.Amazing food… I could not live at a college with bad food-- I would be miserable. WashU has several main dining halls, each with an amalgamation of different food styles, plus many smaller dinging places.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Large, well-maintained, modern dorms with air-conditioning… enough said there (sub-free also available if you so desire).</p></li>
<li><p>Accessibility and safety. WashU provides transportation all over campus through buses and such. In addition, there is a somewhat new metro stop in the corner of campus to get you all over STL. Furthermore, the loop is not a far walk away with more great food and some shopping. A little ways away (in a car) there is a cluster of HUGE, i mean HUUUGE, shopping complexes with any store/restaurant you will ever need. (I live in NJ and it dwarfs many of the shopping complexes here, so I know what I’m talking about haha)</p></li>
<li><p>It always seems to be everyone’s mission when I go there to be as helpful and nice as possible. They want your experience at WashU to be the best it can be. This is not even just for info sessions/tours… I was there over the summer for a few weeks and the mood never changed. Students (and I can completely see how this is how WashU really is) said that the pace is measured, not fast and competitive like the Northeast top schools. However, there are still the high standards that those who attend WashU want to have expected of them.</p></li>
<li><p>Size. 6500-7000 seems the perfect amount for me because its small enough to feel like a real community (you’ll understand why when you visit), yet its not like you’ll be running into all of the same people everywhere you go. I think it gives you the flexibility to make your WashU social experience whatever you want it to be.</p></li>
<li><p>The most telling sign that WashU is the place to be is that I never hear complaints… If there are complaints, usually it is something insignificant, followed by a laugh by the student who says other than that, there’s nothing else they could possibly complain about. I would choose WashU over any Ivy, Cambridge, etc… any school. WashU is where I want to be. </p></li>
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<p>Hope this answers your questions haha :)</p>
<p>sorry… i keep trying to delete and repost it w/o duplicating, but it keeps doing it (and no, I did not Ctrl+C the duplicated version) haha</p>
<h1>8 for me too.</h1>
<p>The biggest reason I chose WashU was the atmosphere - everyone is driven, but relaxed, and students are very collaborative. My experience in engineering (and even in the pre-med courses too) was that students all worked together, not cut-throat at all. Professors, TAs, etc, were also very accessible and helpful. Everyone is friendly and genuinely loves being there, which makes you really love it too. </p>
<p>LOL - newprov #5… which shopping area? We do have the longest strip mall in america 
…though I’m not sure that’s something to be proud of?</p>
<p>laurezer… im not sure exactly how to get there. Im talking about that whole area (maybe it was by Frontenac? I stayed at the Hilton Frontenac while I visited once and I may be mistaken, but I thought it was around that area) It just looked like very big malls in the same general vicinity.</p>
<p>Nearby mall is probably the Galleria, the Boulevard, Brentwood Center, Brentwood Promenade cluster. Metro stop either Richmond Heights or the next one down, Brentwood. Maybe 10 minutes by Metro. There are also other large malls in Frontenac and West County.</p>
<p>And to add to the list, the accessibility of research labs was a huge draw for me. With the combined facilities of the main campus and medical school, there are far more labs than there are undergraduate students. Thus, it is really easy to find a lab where the research is interesting. Moreover, you don’t have to fight with other students to get into top labs. Its all part of the WashU vibe of accessibility and collegiality.</p>
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<p>This is extremely interesting to me, because I’ve noticed that as well. The only people who seem to really complain about Wash U are those who were rejected or waitlisted. In other words, the biggest complaints come from people who don’t go there.</p>
<p>Go figure. ;)</p>
<p>Yeah the only complaint (from people who actually go there) are just the construction… <em>maybe</em>, and that’s only if they’re being nitpicky. It is really an ideal and focused school.</p>
<p>My son was accepted to WashU and Honors College UF and waitlisted at UNC. WashU is so expensive with no grants or scholarships. Deadlines are approaching and I don’t know what to do. Is it really worth the almost $51,000 per year?</p>
<p>hikingmom^ I’ll tell you what my parents told me when i started looking at colleges. The value that you put on WashU all depends on how much your son loves it. They told me they would be willing to pay the expensive schools if it was what I really wanted and would make me really happy. If an expensive school was just sorta kinda what I wanted then the money isn’t really being to put to good use. So if your son really really loves WashU, then I’d say it’s worth the 51,000. If he’s just soft on it and thinks he could be just as happy at UF then perhaps not. It’s just something you guys have to decide.</p>
<p>Hi Hikingmom - Unfortunately no one can answer that question for another person, since we cannot know if your son would be miserable at a large school like Florida, or would love the big time sports there, or hate the colder St. Louis winters (compared to Gaineville) or how personally disciplined and motivated he is (presumably pretty good since he got into these great programs) or or or…I say the last one because I find that one of the biggest factors in the quality of a school isn’t the faculty, as you might expect, but the quality of your peers. College is full of distractions and having really smart classmates keeps one honest and helps one excel.</p>
<p>Beyond those factors, I think another major one is what are his plans? If he will most likely go on to grad school, law school or med school, then where he goes undergrad makes less difference also in his overall professional career, although one has to keep my comment about performance and peers in mind. But as long as he is the kind of student that will do really well because he is self-motivated to do so, then he should be fine no matter where he goes, within reason. It isn’t like Florida is Podunk U. They have some excellent faculty and programs there, it just is not at the level of a Wash U in general. But again, mostly it is his fellow students that will not be uniformly as competitive as at Wash U, and he will find it much easier to get top grades at UF, possibly too easy.</p>
<p>So to sum up how I would approach your dilemma, I would assess my child’s overall needs regarding what would make one school or the other a great experience for them, take into account my most honest take on their personality, and combine that with how likely it is they would go on beyond a Bachelor’s degree. It is a lot of money and could be useful later, whether grad school or helping with a down payment for a house or lots of other things. But if Wash U is the perfect environment for him because the kids are so bright and the professors are more accessable and the classes are smaller, then it probably is worth it. Not sure that helps, but it is the reality (I think) of a very hard decision.</p>
<p>Hikingmom - I just thought of something else too, because we went through a bit of a similar thing with my daughter. She got a full tuition pkg at Tulane, full tuition + additional $$ at Barrett Honors College of Ariz. State, and accepted at Wash U with no merit aid at all, like your situation. We wouldn’t qualify for need based aid, yet Wash U would be impossible for us to afford.</p>
<p>She is going to Tulane, which would seem like an easy decision but actually wasn’t because she is going to major in Asian Studies and Tulane’s program was a bit weak there, while ASU has a strong program and is creating almost like a separate campus for the Barrett kids. That helped eliminate some of her “giant state school” worries, as that environment does not suit her all that well. Tulane though is beefing up their Asian studies through a Dept. of Educ. grant and so that really made a difference. If money were not a factor Wash U was her top choice, but she did not think there was about $40K a year difference between Wash U and Tulane, or even ASU/Barrett for that matter. She would have had to take on considerable debt, and this way she will come out of her undergrad years debt free. She is very likely to go on to grad school, which is another factor.</p>
<p>Why do I bring this up and what does it have to do with your situation? It serves as background regarding the final factor in her decision, an article in the New York Times:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/us/17university.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=arizona%20state%20university&st=cse[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/us/17university.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=arizona%20state%20university&st=cse</a></p>
<p>While this centered mostly on ASU, it strikes me you might want to think about this phenomenon of shrinking state budgets and how they could affect UF also. Just food for thought.</p>
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<p>Hikingmom - If you are financially able to send your son to any of the choices he has, then I would let him make the choice. If you are not, that is a different story entirely. Fallenchemist made some very good points, especially about the other students at the college your son selects. I use to think it would be the professors at a school, or the study abroad opportunities, or the research programs that would be the most important factor to consider. I now feel that the single most important consideration is the quality of your peer students. The students at WashU are amazing. Our daughter had four year free ride offers, full tuition offers and schools acceptances where she wasn’t offered a dime. She receives a small NMF scholarship and a small Robert C Byrd scholarship at WashU. She chose WashU and we make it happen for her by living in a nonextravagent manner and being creative with what we have to work with (borrowing life insurance cash value, etc.). There is a thread on CC asking parents whether they would send their kid to the pricey private school if they had to do it again. I thought you might like to read it - </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/659838-worth-would-you-do-again-3.html#post1062020945[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/659838-worth-would-you-do-again-3.html#post1062020945</a></p>
<p>This is what I posted on the “would you do it again” thread - </p>
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<p>Midwest Parent - Great story, that must have been completely awesome for you. I agree with you, if it had come down to Big State U (with money) vs. Wash U (without money essentially; she gets the NMF money too, but I wasn’t even counting that since it is such a drop in the bucket, lol), we would have found a way to make Wash U work. While she (and we) think Wash U is a step higher than Tulane academically right now, she really loved it at Tulane and I think she will be pretty happy. And full tuition at a great school like Tulane is hard to argue with. I just wish Tulane’s dorms were as nice as Wash U’s. Oh well, maybe the warmer weather and New Orleans food will make up for that some. Best of luck to your D in her last 2 years. Is she going to study abroad?</p>