Why so much WUSTL/WashU hate on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the heartland. For a coastal kid who is a Democrat, it is not appealing to go to a restrictive red state.

It isn't a heartland/coastal thing. California has MAGA areas as well as liberal ones, as does Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois . . . you get the idea.

Important to know to avoid being surprised when you send your kid to a school in a MAGA region within a liberal state by accident.

lol
But there is no college in central valley California. Even organge county college campus is blue as it can be.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is well respected particularly for engineering and architecture and it is by far the hardest cal state to get into. It is in a maga area plus it is big in agriculture studies and attracts many maga rural students. For public universities in CA it is probably the whitest and one of the more conservative (as far as CA goes) schools.

This is pretty accurate. We visited and we were shocked at the lack of diversity for a CSU even though I had seen the numbers. During the presentation for parents and students before the tour, they actually showed a slide of a hip hop club with all white and Asian kids. The kids are also relatively wealthy, consistent with these fields of study. I wouldn't say that the city of San Luis Obispo is MAGA, like the nearby Central Valley and Salinas Valley, it is more of a socially liberal upper middle class coastal city, more like Monterey than say, Newport Beach.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, there are > 20% Latinos at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It's NOT all white. I don't see how Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a maga school. No way. And no! San Luis Obispo is not a maga city.

In terms of Asian, 14% at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, vs 40+% at UCLA/UCB. Happy now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, there are > 20% Latinos at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It's NOT all white. I don't see how Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a maga school. No way. And no! San Luis Obispo is not a maga city.

In terms of Asian, 14% at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, vs 40+% at UCLA/UCB. Happy now?

Cal Poly is not diverse in a California context, UCs are more diverse, as are other CSUs. Cal Poly is 50% white, and it is 23% Hispanic, which is different from Latino, an unknown number would be considered white as well.

You notice when you visit the campuses, UC Davis, the historic agricultural school rival of Cal Poly, looks very different. San Luis Obispo is a beautiful place to go to school, and the Thursday night farmer's market is wonderful.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t read all of these posts but there were 3 main reasons Wash U was scratched from the list as undesirable: (1) it’s engineering offerings are way behind other schools and anemic; (2) we stayed in downtown St Louis and it was depressing and dead; and (3) no direct flights. That we were there during an evangelical conference didn’t help either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My *perception* is that it is a fine school with some good/great programs, but it isn't tippy top known for anything.

Personally I agree with a lot of what the OP wrote. The campus beautiful and contained with a great view of downtown. Adjacent to an Olmsted design park, on a street car line from the airport to downtown. It has a lot going for it.

But compared to other schools that it competes with, there isn't those one or two programs that really get kids excited. It is a strong D3 sports school, but that doesn't give rah-rah culture, so to me, it is one of those schools that is good in every area but not superlative in any area.

You can go down the list of peer schools:

Northwestern: Journalism/Theater/Sciences/Econ
Chicago: Econ, hard sciences
Carnegie: Strong sciences, theater
Georgetown: SFS

Other schools have that one or two things that make them stand out. I don't know what that is with WashU, though I would have been more than happy for any of my kids to go there. I personally loved it.

I disagree. WashU is amazing in the biomedical and related sciences and has a top-notch med school. It is a lot like a slightly lesser-known Hopkins without as much grind.

washu engineering and other stem like physics and math is abysmal compared to hopkins. not that close imo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, plain and simple, no NE/Ivy person is ever going to say that any US school is better than an Ivy. They just aren’t. And whatever kind words they say to your face, they’re sneering inside. That’s why it’s best to avoid these people. They have misplaced contempt.

Trump. Zuckerberg. Musk. Altman. All Ivy. All contemptible. Successful? Yes. Rich? Yes. Smart? Yes. Decent human beings? You gotta be kidding. Of course, other schools have their crazies, but the Ivies mint these crazies in droves.

altman is stanford and there are plenty of schools better than ivies and recognizes as such in the NE. MIT and Stanford in particular

[Anonymous]

This thread is hilarious! WashU has really strong premed, BME & business programs.

My kid was offered admission to several ivies, Chicago, and Northwestern but ultimately chose WashU partially because it didn’t have that grinder culture. They attended one of the highly regarded magnets in this area and wanted a different experience for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hilarious! WashU has really strong premed, BME & business programs.

My kid was offered admission to several ivies, Chicago, and Northwestern but ultimately chose WashU partially because it didn’t have that grinder culture. They attended one of the highly regarded magnets in this area and wanted a different experience for college.

WashU is an amazing school

[Anonymous]

I honestly have not seen any hate.

[Anonymous]

So WashU is okay, all love and no hate? DCUM approved?

[Anonymous]

The hate goes back to the fact that some posters are willing to pay full price for an Ivy, MIT or Stanford. If not one of those schools, then they think you should go to their state flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is dying to go to college in St Louis.

Yet people fall all over themselves to be admitted to Johns Hopkins.

[Anonymous]

One of few top schools that has not been hit hard by Trump. A good choice for the next four years.