Washington University St Louis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school doesn't have a national reputation, despite its ranking.

I do not believe this is true at all. I knew about it 30 years ago and it's one of my DD's top choices now. She visited it and loved it and she is a top student (as are the kids from our HS who go there). Wash U is about as far from an unknown as I can think of.

[Anonymous]

The school doesn't have a national reputation, despite its ranking.

I know people who grew up in California, the East Coast, and the Midwest who all attended Wash U in the past 10-15 years. If it doesn't have a "national reputation" why is the school drawing from all over the country?

[Anonymous]

The school has a national reputation among upper SES. If you grow up in mid to lower SES, you are more familiar with the division 1 top schools or the Ivies.

It is in a grouping similar to Harvey Mudd - unless you are in a group that knows it, you are unaware what a great place it is.

[Anonymous]

Rep of having a relatively big number of Jewish students.

[Anonymous]

but thy were pumping up their ratings by calling anyone who inquired about the school for information an “application.”
Playing the USNWR game. Got a lot of egg on its face for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been baffled in the other direction -- why does WUSTL get discussed as a top school for high-achieving upper middle class kids? I recognize that people choose colleges for a host of different reasons -- academics, sports, location, job prospects, prestige, networks -- but to me, regardless of category, there seems like there's always a more appealing alternative than WUSTL. I'm not saying it's not a good college -- I just don't see it as likely to be many kids' first choice. Taking Ivies and Ivy-equivalents off the table, I'd think that USC or NYU, Northwestern or a variety of different SLACs, Johns Hopkins, Ann Arbor or Madison would all be schools that are accessible to the kinds of kids WUSTL is trying to attract and all of them seem to me to have something more going for them than WUSTL. What's WUSTL's comparative advantage? (That's not a rhetorical question -- I'm perfectly willing to believe that the school has programs or virtues I'm unaware of.)

+1

[Anonymous]

but they were pumping up their ratings by calling anyone who inquired about the school for information an “application.”
Playing the USNWR game. Got a lot of egg on its face for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school doesn't have a national reputation, despite its ranking.

???????

Doesn't matter where I go, if it comes u,p that I am a WUSTL alumna, I always get a positive response. It has a great reputation among academics, medical professionals business people, and legal professionals.

The only person that it doesn't impress is my MIL who was a legal secretary her entire life and has no college education at all. She was trying to explain to me how Arizona State was so much better....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:but they were pumping up their ratings by calling anyone who inquired about the school for information an “application.”
Playing the USNWR game. Got a lot of egg on its face for that.

As did the Naval Academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:but thy were pumping up their ratings by calling anyone who inquired about the school for information an “application.”
Playing the USNWR game. Got a lot of egg on its face for that.

Yeah maybe, but they got the last laugh, right? They elevated and have stayed a top 25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school doesn't have a national reputation, despite its ranking.

???????

Doesn't matter where I go, if it comes u,p that I am a WUSTL alumna, I always get a positive response. It has a great reputation among academics, medical professionals business people, and legal professionals.

The only person that it doesn't impress is my MIL who was a legal secretary her entire life and has no college education at all. She was trying to explain to me how Arizona State was so much better....

Better than what? A community college?

[Anonymous]

Washington University St. Louis is considered a top school in th Midwest along with University of Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, Notre Dame. They all attract lots of students from the upper Midwest, all over the U.S. and international students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rep of having a relatively big number of Jewish students.

Midwesterner here. Yes, we always called it Wash Jew. We were young and stupid. Not on the caliber of Northwestern or U of Chicago. Still great school I would liken the academics/SES to Notre Dame without a national name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:but they were pumping up their ratings by calling anyone who inquired about the school for information an “application.”
Playing the USNWR game. Got a lot of egg on its face for that.

When I was looking at schools back in '96 they also invited every applicant to apply binding Early Decision so that their "yield" would increase. The year after they did this their USNWR ranking went from like 20 to 7 or something nuts like that. Totally gaming USNWR. Kinda sleazy but a solid school either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:but they were pumping up their ratings by calling anyone who inquired about the school for information an “application.”
Playing the USNWR game. Got a lot of egg on its face for that.

To be honest, I had never heard of this school until 2012, when my high school senior began receiving 1-2 pieces of mail from them every week. It made me wonder why they were trying to hard to get applicants. Now I know.