Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 15:45     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.


In terms of prestige, a comparison could be made to a top SLAC. Many uninformed people are clueless when it comes to Williams, Amherst etc but that doesn’t mean they are not prestigious.

You must be the peers & ties dude and it kills you to see anyone not idolize wash. So you come back with a comparison that matters to absolutely no one. Consensus of this thread is that wash prestige is a big step down from the Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. A good school for smart kids still.


NP - you seem to have a fixed mindset. Are you the same poster who keeps posting over and over “STL is gross”? I don’t attend but I believe its prestige (which you seem to so slavishly care about) is on par with the non HYP Ivies.

Aww, you're confused. I don't care about prestige at all and I never commented on St Louis. But I do find the wash/cmu tie ranking interesting and suspect both are good for smart kids and similar gritty down-to-earth metropolitan areas.


Too much seems to be made of St. Louis. The school is adjacent to St Louis in the fancier area but is kind of a bubble. There is nothing gritty at all about the WashU campus. Might be one of the most pristine, manicured college environments I have ever seen.


When the only thing within hours of driving is an apocalyptic crime scene of a city, it definitely matters.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 15:33     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.


In terms of prestige, a comparison could be made to a top SLAC. Many uninformed people are clueless when it comes to Williams, Amherst etc but that doesn’t mean they are not prestigious.

You must be the peers & ties dude and it kills you to see anyone not idolize wash. So you come back with a comparison that matters to absolutely no one. Consensus of this thread is that wash prestige is a big step down from the Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. A good school for smart kids still.


NP - you seem to have a fixed mindset. Are you the same poster who keeps posting over and over “STL is gross”? I don’t attend but I believe its prestige (which you seem to so slavishly care about) is on par with the non HYP Ivies.

Aww, you're confused. I don't care about prestige at all and I never commented on St Louis. But I do find the wash/cmu tie ranking interesting and suspect both are good for smart kids and similar gritty down-to-earth metropolitan areas.


Too much seems to be made of St. Louis. The school is adjacent to St Louis in the fancier area but is kind of a bubble. There is nothing gritty at all about the WashU campus. Might be one of the most pristine, manicured college environments I have ever seen.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 15:30     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.


In terms of prestige, a comparison could be made to a top SLAC. Many uninformed people are clueless when it comes to Williams, Amherst etc but that doesn’t mean they are not prestigious.

You must be the peers & ties dude and it kills you to see anyone not idolize wash. So you come back with a comparison that matters to absolutely no one. Consensus of this thread is that wash prestige is a big step down from the Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. A good school for smart kids still.


No I am more distinguishing between name recognition and actual prestige. The Ivy League schools certainly have more name recognition than a lot of schools. But they are not necessarily that much more prestigious.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 14:41     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.


In terms of prestige, a comparison could be made to a top SLAC. Many uninformed people are clueless when it comes to Williams, Amherst etc but that doesn’t mean they are not prestigious.

You must be the peers & ties dude and it kills you to see anyone not idolize wash. So you come back with a comparison that matters to absolutely no one. Consensus of this thread is that wash prestige is a big step down from the Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. A good school for smart kids still.


NP - you seem to have a fixed mindset. Are you the same poster who keeps posting over and over “STL is gross”? I don’t attend but I believe its prestige (which you seem to so slavishly care about) is on par with the non HYP Ivies.

Aww, you're confused. I don't care about prestige at all and I never commented on St Louis. But I do find the wash/cmu tie ranking interesting and suspect both are good for smart kids and similar gritty down-to-earth metropolitan areas.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 14:07     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.


In terms of prestige, a comparison could be made to a top SLAC. Many uninformed people are clueless when it comes to Williams, Amherst etc but that doesn’t mean they are not prestigious.

You must be the peers & ties dude and it kills you to see anyone not idolize wash. So you come back with a comparison that matters to absolutely no one. Consensus of this thread is that wash prestige is a big step down from the Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. A good school for smart kids still.


NP - you seem to have a fixed mindset. Are you the same poster who keeps posting over and over “STL is gross”? I don’t attend but I believe its prestige (which you seem to so slavishly care about) is on par with the non HYP Ivies.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 13:46     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.


In terms of prestige, a comparison could be made to a top SLAC. Many uninformed people are clueless when it comes to Williams, Amherst etc but that doesn’t mean they are not prestigious.

You must be the peers & ties dude and it kills you to see anyone not idolize wash. So you come back with a comparison that matters to absolutely no one. Consensus of this thread is that wash prestige is a big step down from the Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. A good school for smart kids still.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 13:39     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.


In terms of prestige, a comparison could be made to a top SLAC. Many uninformed people are clueless when it comes to Williams, Amherst etc but that doesn’t mean they are not prestigious.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 12:11     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
To the average person, the differences are substantial. Wash U is often confused with University of Washington-Seattle.

To employers, depending on industry, it can also be sizable. The Ivies are all target schools for finance. WashU Olin is a notch down, but still very formidable.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 12:07     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote: I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.

But any age understands location, location, location. It’s just silly for wash fans to act like it’s not something wash has to overcome for a lot of bright students.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 11:52     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Huge difference. No comparison. I grew up outside the USA and no one there has heard of Vanderbilt or Wash U


Globally, the only schools that really register are Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and NYU for some reason.


Not true. I’m Italian, worked in Germany, UK, Dubai and Tokyo over 25 years. Now in the US.

Sure the ones you mention everyone knows PLUS:

Wharton, Yale, Princeton, Michigan, UCLA, Cornell.

I dont care what anybody else here says. Outside of these 11 schools, nobody else knows much about any of the other schools….it is that simple. These command respect. Everything else is (oh…let me look at it as I dont know much about it….)


Agree. People globally absolutely know Cornell.
And Michigan and UCLA.


I just googled and AI tells me that WashU has the highest percentage of international students (over 30%) compared with Cornell (26%), Michigan (13.9%) and UCLA (a mere 11%) of its student body. So, which school is it that is not known internationally? Data does not lie!


So stupid. Percentage doesn't reflect international reputation. Absolute # of international students at each school are roughly similar: 5-7K.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 11:02     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
I have no relationship to WashU but with anyone with familiarity with colleges, it is regarded as a top school filled with bright students. For people unfamilar with colleges, or over ..say 60 years old on either coast ... they may be unware of the school almost completely.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 10:14     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:At Louis is a hard stop for some people.

The school itself is nice but a lot of people care about location. It is geographically isolated, essentially in the middle of nowhere.

If you can get over that, it is nice.


+1

STL is gross. MO is red state disaster.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 09:44     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
My kid has thrived there as well. Stunningly beautiful campus, high caliber academics and peer group, mostly small, seminar-style classes, fun social scene. Downtown St. Louis is not so nice, but the section Wash U is in is like Chevy Chase or Bethesda. No, it doesn’t have quite the prestige or name recognition of the Ivies, including Cornell. But it’s a fantastic school.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 09:20     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DC is headed to WashU in the fall. Was lucky enough to be a recruited athlete. As a HYP grad, I was really floored by the campus visit. This school is as well resourced as any Ivy. I believe the endowment is around $12 billion which exceeds all three of the Ivy peers mentioned - even Cornell which is much larger. So much to like about the school. Statistically the student body is just as strong as the other schools (test scores etc). Name recognition is certainly worse versus the other schools. Many people don’t know it but these are also the same people who probably can’t name all the Ivy League schools or just aren’t familiar with the college landscape nowadays. Outcomes seem to be excellent nonetheless. In terms of whether it’s prestigious this is just dumb- 12 pct acceptance rate with avg SAT well into the 1500s. It’s an elite school.


Congratulations!

DS is also eyeing on WashU and has talked to the school coach on recruiting. He was told not to submit an SAT unless it's over 1530. Did your kid submit SAT? If yes, would you mind sharing the score? Thanks.


DS was told 1500 minimum. Did not submit his 1430. Had multiple 5s on AP tests which we did submit but only after “strong” pre-read came back. Applied ED1 and got in. Very strong but not flawless transcript, mostly As, high (but not super high) rigor, one outstanding non-athletic achievement and generally goods ECs. We are all very excited! Such a high quality school in so many ways. DS feels very lucky to have the opportunity.


Thank you for sharing. I am excited for your kid. Best wishes


Thanks! He has worked hard and will make the most of it.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2025 09:07     Subject: Differences in prestige over WashU versus an ivy like Cornell, Dartmouth or Brown?
At Louis is a hard stop for some people.

The school itself is nice but a lot of people care about location. It is geographically isolated, essentially in the middle of nowhere.

If you can get over that, it is nice.