Anonymous wrote:I went to WUSTL for grad school and love, love, loved it! I arrived as a West Coaster who grew up with beautiful scenery and liberal surroundings, so St. Louis took a bit of getting used to, but by the end of my time I was absolutely in love with the city and miss it terribly.

Loved the campus, loved the surrounding area (bike rides in the Ozark foothills! Free admisison to the Zoo and Art Museum! A super cool historic downtown library, etc.)

The only knock I have against it (and why I encouraged my kid to go to a SLAC instead) was that it has a big graduate school, so a decent amount of classes taught by TAs.

This is not how it is now. My kid has never had a TA teach a course. Did you attend in the last 2-3 years?

I have a close relative who chose WashU over their highly ranked state flagship (not UVA) because they (1) lived too close to the flagship and (2) was a top student who applied and was rejected by the Ivies and frankly thought they deserved something better than the flagship. Money was not an issue.

Now in a PhD program not particularly highly ranked, and with the benefit of hindsight and maturity, they mildly regret the decision and wished they’d gone flagship. They now will tell you it was a foolish decision financially and academically driven largely by ego. Had they stayed local, they think, not only would they have saved a ton for a better than perfectly acceptable degree, they likely would have performed better academically and gotten into a better program. It’s not like the state flagship doesn’t hold sway with top graduate schools — many of the best ones do.

It’s hard to argue with their revised way of thinking.

I went to WUSTL for grad school and love, love, loved it! I arrived as a West Coaster who grew up with beautiful scenery and liberal surroundings, so St. Louis took a bit of getting used to, but by the end of my time I was absolutely in love with the city and miss it terribly.

Loved the campus, loved the surrounding area (bike rides in the Ozark foothills! Free admisison to the Zoo and Art Museum! A super cool historic downtown library, etc.)

The only knock I have against it (and why I encouraged my kid to go to a SLAC instead) was that it has a big graduate school, so a decent amount of classes taught by TAs.

Anonymous wrote:It’s an excellent school, anyone claiming otherwise is speaking nonsense. I have zero affiliation and my kid didn’t apply, but facts are facts. It amuses me when people disparage any T25 school, they are objectively wonderful schools. Obviously fit and preference matters in choosing.

Absolutely. There some people with extreme opinions

Anonymous wrote:Look, I hate MAGA as much as the next guy. And I hate strict abortion laws. And I hate religion being shoved down my throat. You name it I hate it.

But the “I wouldn’t send my kid to a red state because of abortion laws” is so damned privileged. The laws aren’t about you and your rich kid at a fancy college who can get herself taken care of at the drop of a hat. They’re about poor folks without alternatives. Stop thinking only about yourself.

If your kid gets pregnant there’s Illinois practically across the street. I’m sure you can spring for the Uber.

Yes, this is true, but things are changing quickly under Trump and I wouldn't assume that UMC privilege confers protection.

It’s an excellent school, anyone claiming otherwise is speaking nonsense. I have zero affiliation and my kid didn’t apply, but facts are facts. It amuses me when people disparage any T25 school, they are objectively wonderful schools. Obviously fit and preference matters in choosing.

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Anonymous wrote:It’s an Ivy League back up and it’s expensive as hell. Anybody living in VA who’s good enough to get into Wash U but not an Ivy is far better off going to UVA.

WashU opens far more doors than UVA

Agreed….not even close.

Disagree. I would pick UVA every day of the week.

UVA is a great state school, but I think that is your DMV bias talking. WashU is better almost across the board — with exceptions being PoliSci / Law. As a WashU grad, I will be the first to say that St. Louis is lame, and Missouri politics are awful, but the school is exceptional.

UVa is much better for business/finance as well so...

Yea, sorry WashU booster but I disagree. They are very much on par in terms of academic reputation. In fact, UVA’s “peer assessment” score with US News (which is based on surveys of deans and administrators of the colleges) consistently has UVA higher.

Anonymous wrote:Look, I hate MAGA as much as the next guy. And I hate strict abortion laws. And I hate religion being shoved down my throat. You name it I hate it.

But the “I wouldn’t send my kid to a red state because of abortion laws” is so damned privileged. The laws aren’t about you and your rich kid at a fancy college who can get herself taken care of at the drop of a hat. They’re about poor folks without alternatives. Stop thinking only about yourself.

If your kid gets pregnant there’s Illinois practically across the street. I’m sure you can spring for the Uber.

Agree.

I actually think that troll is an anti-semantic. Sometime they pretend they are Jewish themselves, and claim not to send their kids somewhere.
It's truly an insult to so many Jewish families who have kids at WashU.

Anonymous wrote:it feels a bit like Emory with the east coast kids who target WashU - nobody’s first choice

This is false. Many high stats premed kids ED WashU and get it done with. Difference between WashU premed and other top school premed is minimal to zero.
Premed kids are the most down to earth ones. Prestige is secondary to them.

It's very different from Chicago kids, they may ED Chicago due to the perceived prestige but truly not their first choice.

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Anonymous wrote:There seem to be random anti-Wash U comments on this board, made in response to other inquiries. They are usually brief with no details. Curious why people seem to have a strong anti-Wash U sentiment and what it's based on? I was thinking maybe it's the location or the state, or are there other compelling reasons? What type of student thrives there? (referring to Washington University in St. Louis)

Do people care enough about WashU to hate it? On the other hand, Emory and UVA, that's hate.

It's moving up in rankings so people want to hate on it.

I don’t hate WashU but it’s nowhere nearly as high in the rankings as it once was. It’s pretty settled where it is.

Look, I hate MAGA as much as the next guy. And I hate strict abortion laws. And I hate religion being shoved down my throat. You name it I hate it.

But the “I wouldn’t send my kid to a red state because of abortion laws” is so damned privileged. The laws aren’t about you and your rich kid at a fancy college who can get herself taken care of at the drop of a hat. They’re about poor folks without alternatives. Stop thinking only about yourself.

If your kid gets pregnant there’s Illinois practically across the street. I’m sure you can spring for the Uber.

it feels a bit like Emory with the east coast kids who target WashU - nobody’s first choice

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Anonymous wrote:There seem to be random anti-Wash U comments on this board, made in response to other inquiries. They are usually brief with no details. Curious why people seem to have a strong anti-Wash U sentiment and what it's based on? I was thinking maybe it's the location or the state, or are there other compelling reasons? What type of student thrives there? (referring to Washington University in St. Louis)

Do people care enough about WashU to hate it? On the other hand, Emory and UVA, that's hate.

It's moving up in rankings so people want to hate on it.

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Anonymous wrote:It’s an Ivy League back up and it’s expensive as hell. Anybody living in VA who’s good enough to get into Wash U but not an Ivy is far better off going to UVA.

WashU opens far more doors than UVA

Agreed….not even close.

Disagree. I would pick UVA every day of the week.

UVA is a great state school, but I think that is your DMV bias talking. WashU is better almost across the board — with exceptions being PoliSci / Law. As a WashU grad, I will be the first to say that St. Louis is lame, and Missouri politics are awful, but the school is exceptional.

UVa is much better for business/finance as well so...

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Anonymous wrote:There seem to be random anti-Wash U comments on this board, made in response to other inquiries. They are usually brief with no details. Curious why people seem to have a strong anti-Wash U sentiment and what it's based on? I was thinking maybe it's the location or the state, or are there other compelling reasons? What type of student thrives there? (referring to Washington University in St. Louis)

Do people care enough about WashU to hate it? On the other hand, Emory and UVA, that's hate.

Their DCs were rejected and they feel they shouldn't have been.