In-laws have taught at JHU, a large State flagship, and now an Ivy. They loved their time at WashU, even though they are from the Coast. If they had been offered a position there, they would’ve gone.
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This article says 3,754 Applied ED
Washington University accepts exceptional students after an exceptional admissions cycle | The Source | Washington University in St. Louis (wustl.edu)
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According to the article they fill 60% of their class from ED 1 and 2. 1795 spots * .6 = 1,077 admitted ED which is a 29% acceptance rate for ED.
btw, I bet the difference between accepted and the class size is deferrals from last year.
I think deferrals are some of the difference between target and actual (199 extra freshmen), but it’s not even half of it.
1899 put down deposits spring 2020
1891 were still in the system end of summer
1804 were actually there midway through first semester.
At the very most that’s 95 deferrals. I imagine it’s closer to 50. A handful of kids leave a school between start and mid first semester realizing they made a big mistake. I’d also imagine that a lot of kids in the fence took the deferral as an opportunity to reapply elsewhere this year.
1994 kids in 2025 - 50 deferrals - 1795 = 149 extra bodies. And they moved 150 people off the South 40 to open up beds.
Bigger reason: Admissions at WashU didn’t adjust their acceptance rates downward as much as nearly any of the other most selective schools. They got an unanticipated yield boost from kids who in prior years would have been admitted elsewhere.
It will be interesting to see how this affects future planning. They could try to revert to their initial undergrad targets by accepting fewer kids next year.
Or they could treat this as an opportunity. Put another 300 beds on the South 40 by building out the village concept a bit and keep an entering class target of 1950 or so. They have the academic room with the East End expansion.
One of their differentiators vs peer schools is that they aren’t quite as much of a lottery for admission. You can kind of view it as a sweet spot. When you focus only on the most qualified portion of the top school applicant pool, they can still be picky but not end up taking only 10% of those kids. They’re closer to 25-30%.
Eventually, we’ll see domestic enrollment declines everywhere as the high school aged population declines. So they could either expand the international pool or decide to mandate on campus living an extra year. Which frankly isn’t a bad idea anyway. There are positive outcomes to keeping students on campus longer.
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Any idea if ED2 provides as much of an admissions bump as ED1? Or does WashU fill most of the class in ED1?
They don’t break that data out, but I’ve seen general comments from admin which suggest they don’t treat the two pools differently.
Another thing to keep in mind with ED is that many schools use that as a time to admit athletes. Unlike D1 and NESCAC schools, WashU and schools in its conference (UAA) dont really guarantee/slot athletes, so the ED acceptance rates are a bit closer to an unhooked candidate’s true odds.
ED is still skewed a bit by legacy (WashU doesn’t give a huge bump here) and children of faculty members (don’t know how big of a bump).
Anecdotally, admit rates for unhooked kids in the “stats wheelhouse” at Ivies+another 5-6 schools tend to be about 8-15%. With a legacy that might jump to around 30% on average. Same unhooked “stats wheelhouse” applicant at WashU is getting admitted roughly 25-30% of the time. With a legacy/faculty dependent it’s probably closer to 50-50.
So ED1 might be loaded up with more legacy/faculty dependents and generate a higher aggregate acceptance rate compared to ED2. But if you’re comparing similarly unhooked kids, I would think acceptance odds in both ED rounds is pretty similar.
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From personal experience Wash U does offer spots in ED1 to athletes.
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Not sure about WashU, but colleges typically target certain combined number of ED1 and ED2 admits. If there’re more ED1 admits (perhap because of higher number of ED1 applicants), ED2 admit rate will likely drop, and vice versa.
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Agree. Not many colleges divulge separate EDI and EDII statistics.
Many schools use ED2 to fine tune according to institutional needs and fill some holes from EDI…meaning ED2 results can be highly variable from year to year. AOs also have the benefit in ED2 of having seen much of the RD pool as well, including whether or not each AO’s most desired students have applied.
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If 3,734 applied ED then that makes it 13% of the total applications were ED…much higher than the 6.6% the previous year.
I know this thread kind of died down a little bit, but I still want to comment. I ED1ed to WashU this year. I live in California. Literally, no one at my school knows about WashU, not even most of the teachers, even if it is a prestigious school. All of the kids from past classes at my school have always applied to all of the Ivies and all of the other top schools. They later regret on not applying to more T20s and T30s.
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I feel you. I am in California and when I talk about WashU, everyone says “Do you mean UW?” They offered to pay for me to visit, so I am going out there next week to check it out. I am applying RD because I need to check out the financials before I decide, but good luck with your ED app!
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@p047664, @CO22, for what it is worth, Washington University is well known and respected at private prep schools in California. For example, one Southern California prep school sends around 10 to 12 kids there a year.
I have a kid who is a current freshman at WASHU. some of the positives include: VERY generous financial aid. They will help with things you may not even consider if you ask such as: paying for the required health insurance and through requests, students can get money to use at their discretion or to buy interview clothes etc. This year, every student who qualified for financial aid was also given a stipend for a computer. As stated, they will pay for select students to come visit. They will put you up in a beautiful hotel, and cover travel. Every student/family is assigned a financial counselor who stays with them through the 4 years. They will take special circumstances into consideration.
WASHU genuinely cares about the students and parents. They keep everyone in the loop on all matters. There is easy communication and so much help with any issue. It is super easy to get questions answered in our experience.
Academically it is easy to double major & minor or major with 2 minors. You can add a second business major to any other degree. It is easy to change plans/majors even between colleges, and so far has been easy to get into desired classes. Class sizes are small overall. You will get a 4 year advisor who will meet with you regularly beginning the summer before freshman year. For every major or minor you declare, you will get a separate advisor for each. There is so much help from free tutors, peer tutors in the dorms & writing, career centers etc - there are so many assets to help students succeed. WASHU is obviously well know/great for anything in the health care area. If you are pre-med there is a med-prep curriculum that will set up shadowing etc for credit. There is a somewhat competitive program that allows students to train as EMT’s on campus and obtain medical work experience. Anything pre-professional will have advising available. They also are amazing for undergrad business with St Louis having a blossoming start-up industry. There are even student run businesses on campus you can buy into or start with assistance. Current ones include a laundry service, barber shop, thrift store, bike rental and others. I don’t know their national reputation in other areas such as engineering
Other students are not overly competitive and really work together. The type of student that seems most prevalent on campus is the naturally smart but not excessively type A personality that has been involved in multiple extracurriculars. That value a social life but take school seriously. There are many many different interest groups/ extracurriculars and social groups on campus. Some are competitive to get into, but most are not. There are club sports that allow flexibility and are not all time consuming. 99% of people you will encounter are friendly and helpful!!
Mental health is taken seriously and so many options for help.
The campus is beautiful and the dorms are amazing. Food choices are very good as well. If you are into the Arts, everything is available on campus, with an on campus Art museum, theater and dance spaces. You can major or minor in music, theater, dance, Art etc.
The campus feels very safe and is next to a beautiful park and gorgeous homes. There is a strip of restaurants, shops &venues a few blocks from campus called the loop. They have an awesome rec center and a great variety of exercise classes daily. they have an indoor cycling room and pre-covid would offer free neck shoulder massages to students.
As far as cons: They are division 3 so no big sports culture. They are excellent within the division 3 sphere however.
If you go very far off campus, the area becomes unsafe so need to know the area -true of any larger city.
the weather is humid in summer. It was in the 90’s into early Sept. Overall climate is very nice compared to rest of midwest/Northeast - as winter significantly shorter and milder, but obviously depends on where you are coming from to compare.
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Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed and helpful opinion.
Many reviews (not just yours!) of WashU sound almost too good to be true. The university has done an amazing job of elevating its reputation and brand. One thing I was shocked to learn was WashU’s incredibly impressive endowment. From what I have read, it is double or almost double universities like U Chicago, Vanderbilt, Duke, Dartmouth, Cornell and of course, the Ivy League’s poorest member, Brown. Where did WashU get so much money?!? With such a strong endowment comes many of the things you describe … leadership, organization, expertise, facilities, infrastructure, and opportunities for its faculty and students.
I have a current junior and senior who will be applying this year and next year. They are both very strong students. My junior seems to be a great fit for WashU from my perspective. My senior is extremely socially conscious, liberal and truly altruistic - more like a Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Pitzer, NYU or Berkeley fit. But he seems to be very fond of WashU, and it is not a whimsical interest …. he has spent a lot of time researching possible college options.
With that framing, what is your impression of the student culture? I have the impression (which may or may not be accurate) that WashU may not be the best fit for him. I have heard WashU described as “a country club”, that the students are “preppy” and more skewed to wealthy than almost any other university in the country. I have no specific evidence to back this up, but my opinion is that the students may be more politically moderate? And even though the university does a great job to try to convince me otherwise …. perhaps not particularly welcoming of diversity … in all its potential forms? Obviously this is a generalization, and like I said, perhaps not a very accurate one. And of course, a moderate size university will have people of all personalities and persuasions. But I know my son will not be happy or comfortable in a place where there is inequity for anyone, whether it is directed toward him, or toward anyone else.
I would love to hear more about opinions of WashU’s student culture. Thank you!
I have similar concerns - WashU is in Missouri of course and even though the university and immediate town appear reasonably liberal, we have ruled it out as the state is extremely red and a student isn’t always encased in the bubble of the school and immediate neighborhood. And of course state laws will impact rules around covid safety, guns, and lgbtq rights in a way that will impact the university.
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This is my perspective of the WASHU student/campus culture as a parent:
WASHU genuinely is trying to make a place for everyone. They have gone need blind and have initiatives for low-income students in Missouri & Southern IL. There is the prevailing tone of respect for diverse opinions. The student body is diverse culturally and ethnically. The LGBTQ community is embraced, as are differing religious organization. There is not a preppy vibe - really those who flaunt wealth are somewhat looked down upon for it. Politically, the student body definitely leans left, as does the administration. However, there is still an openness to acceptance of differing viewpoints that is NOT present at the IVY my other kid attends.
WASHU is a unique blend of the typical liberal elite academic institution, located within a very culturally diverse area/city of a conservative midwest state. In my opinion, they are not trying to exclude anyone, rather trying to include everyone. My opinions are based on visits and talks with my kid who LOVES WashU so far. My kid is a URM, from a center-right family. They went to Catholic middle and high school /and was home -schooled for most of grade school. Rather than exclude others based on differences, for the most part the students group up based upon who is in their dorm and who has similar extracurricular interests/classes. My kid’s friend group has a mix of ethnicities, socio-economic status, sexual preferences and religious foundations.
There have been a few minor slightly uncomfortable conversations for my kid, mainly some of the liberal minded within the friend group initially telling my kid they would not be comfortable with them/our family if we “voted for Trump.” and some other similar things because of being conservative Christian that caused initial distress. There is now more a feeling of "I know you -I like you , lets have fun, debate issues in a respectful manner & learn from each other on all sides.
I feel if your son wants to be open to a range of diversity that also includes diversity of thought, WASHU could be a great fit & he should visit if possible. By and large, like most universities, it is NOT the liberal minded student that will feel out of place. It is the opposite. However, at WASHU it feels like they are looking to build a student body that does embody respect/civility for others. That does not equate to agreement with others on every issue, but living in a bubble/political echo chamber does not prepare our kids well for most future work environments.
I will say, one thing I notice, but I think it is more generational, is that kids go out to eat or order Grub-hub weekly. This is not how it was when I was in college! I don’t know if that is a sign of wealth/privilege or if that is just how this generation functions. The food on campus is great - but I think eating out is just part of “being social.” This could be an issue if a student cannot afford this, however to address this issue, the student union does have the program to provide weekly discretionary funds to students who apply. In my day I just accepted being a poor college student and moved on, but truly they are trying in so many ways to make sure no student feels excluded from their peers.
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Thank you for your insights, woarble. That was all very helpful information.
I particularly agree with your comment that it is definitely not in our childrens’ best interests to drop them into a far left or far right environment …. that does them a great disservice for life in the real world.
The dining out is interesting …. like you said, I guess that could be a little uncomfortable for students who can’t afford to do that, but it sure sounds more wholesome and appropriate compared to many other college social alternatives!
I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Does WashU give slots and likely letters to recruited athletes?
Every school uses different terms, but my D was told she had a spot if she applied ED1. She was a competitive admit anyway, so it might not have been a heavy lift by the coach.
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