College Visit Notes: Washington University in St. Louis

Earlier this fall, I traveled to Washington University in St. Louis (Wash U) for a counselor program.  My visit included info on admissions, a panel with the deans of the five undergraduate divisions, a tour of campus, and plenty of time to interact with current students.  As I've mentioned on this blog before, I grew up in St. Louis.  And though I know the city well, I knew surprisingly little about Wash U prior to my visit.  Below are the main messages I took away.  More photos available on instagram.

Wash U is student-centered.  Wash U pays a lot of attention to what makes their undergrads happy in terms of environment.  Students are supported with what sounds like tons of advising, from both academic mentors and peers.  The university fosters both intellectual development and community engagement.  All freshmen live on the "South 40" - 40 acres of land with new residential and dining space.  You can live in traditional or suite-style dorms.  All freshman live in what they call residential colleges, which include some live-in faculty members.  The spaces are beautiful; Wash U's res life was recently ranked #1 by one of the publications that rank those sorts of things.  The food is also impressive.  If you want to get off campus, all students have free access to St. Louis's public transportation.  Also, the U-City Loop is a brief walk from campus and includes lots of food, nightlife, and some university-owned upperclass housing.

Wash U's academics are incredibly flexible.  Virtually every student I met was pursuing multiple, sometimes quite different, academic programs.  Interested in neuroscience, dance, and Arabic?  Fine - you can explore all of those.  Students are offered lots of advising so that they don't get lost.  It's totally possible to chart your own path, no matter how diverse your interests are.  Additionally, there are some year-long seminar courses, collaborative classes, and service-learning opportunities.  You can start the business curriculum in your freshman year, which is somewhat unique among highly selective undergrad business programs.  This includes taking a business freshman seminar class in which you work towards creating a marketable product.  The engineering college emphasizes creativity and imagination, along with problem solving.  It offers a 5-year BS/MS as well as a 5-year BS/MBA.  Students go on to business school, law school, and med school, along with those who pursue careers in engineering.  If you're interested in design, visual arts, or architecture, you can study in the Sam Fox College of Art and Architecture while continuing to take classes in other disciplines.

To me, Wash U is a great fit for someone whose intellectual curiosity pulls them in different directions.  Socially, Wash U's culture isn't dominated by sports or Greek life.  It actually sounds like the DIII sports, though very competitive, aren't much of a draw.  Instead, students seemed to have lots of varying social interests.  They also come from all over the place - lots of different types of people from highly diverse backgrounds.  The common thread was that they were all engaged in the Wash U student community in multiple ways, while at the same studying interesting combinations of majors and disciplines.