This is a typical ignorant remark from someone who knows nothing about WUSTL. For starters, it’s NOT in the south. |
WashU peer schools didn't drop that much. Georgetown 0 spots, Notre Dame, Rice and Emory 2 spots, Vandy 5. WashU 10. It's obvious WashU was gaming the rankings. |
| The list is dumb but WashU is declining |
I think you mean Columbia was gaming the system as there was clear evidence for that |
Quite the contrary, WashU is a great place to go to school. Great academics, beautiful campus, strong outcomes… |
| These are some of the big name schools have gotten caught not just gaming whatever that means but actually cheating and sanctioned - Berkeley, Emory, Columbia |
Huh? Chicago is great. STL is a dump. And the politics are crap. |
Chicago is a dump post Covid |
It’s quite clear that you’ve not visited WashU and its surroundings. |
My kid loved it…inc the city. |
| Did anyone find out why? |
There probably isn't some specific data point. As always with college rankings, it's perception and groupthink. For some reason, Boston College is an it school this year. Who knows why. WashU not so much. And again who knows why. I'd guess WashU students are more academically gifted than BC students, but Missouri probably doesn't help. It's a great campus in a nice area, but it's not a desirable region. Missouri really needs to get it together. Tennessee has Nashville. Texas is Texas. But St. Louis, Missouri feels pretty remote and that affects things. |
In fairness, last year's USNews rankings were pretty garbage. They dropped all the things that matter in their algorithm - class size, qualifications of instructors, years to graduate, etc - and added things like number of Pell Grant students. It's why public colleges rose so dramatically all of a sudden. The top private universities, including WashU, are pretty good with financial aid and therefore students don't need Pell Grants. Going forward, if you want to see gaming the rankings, look for a big spike in low income students. |
This is the reason. Most families care deeply about class size. When US News dropped that consideration, you can see how little the rankings meant. Wash U is an incredible school. They spend generously on their students, they provide a great education, a great facility and great opportunities. |
Agree with this. Nothing about WashU really stands out. |