Washington University in St Louis Top Questions

There is a lack of socioeconomic diversity.

I would consider the worst thing at my school to be the amount of pressure that students deal with. Our classes are very hard and require an immense amount of work so it is definitely hard to manage everything. Although the classes are very interesting they are also very difficult so that is the worst thing about my school.

The food.

In my opion some of the food is overpriced, and the fruit is terrible.

It's expensive but they do offer a lot of scholarships.

Wash U lacks a lot of school spirit, especially associated with athletic events.

Coming from a family of an extremely low income, this school in the beginning was very intimidating for me and takes some time to get used to since many of the students who attend here come very successful families and can be standoffish initially.

There is no worst thing about Washington University in St. Louis. As someone looking to go into the medical field this is one of the best universities in the country. Sometimes it is a bit complecated to get the correct class, but that seems to be pretty normal on most college campuses these days.

Students that absolutely believe they know what they want to do with their lives is a both a good and an evil, in this case it can be the worst thing about the school. On one end, the masses of students that are on a Pre-Medicine track are encouraging. These students are focused and dedicated, they have drive and dreams that keep that striving to achieve in school. However, there is great value also in having variety and diversity in a university's population of career goals. It feels few that are not looking to be in medicine.

The worst thing would be financial stereotypes. There are a lot of rich people who come here because they can afford it and are smart enough to get in. In contrast, there are a lot of students on financial aid who do not have the luxury of coming from a rich family. This affects social life at Wash U. My friend group has essentially been shaped by socio-economic class becuase we can all afford the same type of restuarants and understand when a friend cannot go out 3 nights a week because they simply cannot afford it.

The only con to WashU is the cost of tuition. They do offer a lot of financial aid options; however, the tuition is around $60,000 not including living expenses.

I'd say the fact that it's so hard to get leadership positions or competitive spots, because everyone else around you is equally (or moreso) talented and motivated. There's so much competition for spots that I really want, like the spot for Student Action Committee or Uncle Joe's counselor, I may not necessarily get the position I want, which is what I consider the worst thing, for me atleast.

Personally, I feel the school should allocate more funds to student activities. There are times where one might feel how the organizations on campus can be more than they already are, and this is often because many of these groups are cash-strapped. The engineering clubs could use more resources to build bigger and more comprehensive projects. Community service groups can use funding for their trips to other neighborhoods and even other countries. The student experience would definitely be richer if this allocation would occur.

For me, the worst thing about my school is how far it is from home. While I do enjoy being independent, the distance and the price of plane tickets means that I do not get to go home very often.

Unfortunately, I feel as though the advising at our school does not give as much guidance as one would expect. Students are expected to plan their college careers one year at a time, and if there are plans that are unexpected that come later, there is little academic flexibility because of underpreparedness.

The worst thing about WashU is the little bubble it is surrounded by that "protects" the students from the very dangerous St. Louis. Yes, it "protects," but considering that each student will be living in this city for at least four years and that it is thank to this city that each one of their educations is a posibility, I think St. Louis deserves a little more from each one of us. Of course, if a student really wanted to, they could get more involved, but in general it requires a lot of effort.

The difficulty of the classes is what I consider the worst thing about my school. All challenging classes are fun, some classes at Washington University in St. Louis seem impossible.

So far I've found the worst thing is the limited time I have to take the number of class I am interested in. I have only completed one semester and I already feel that time is running out. I imagine that this feeling will only continue to progress as the number of semesters until my graduation strinks down from what is now seven to what will be only one and then zero. And as I eventually declare a major, the flexability in my classes will shrink a little more. Thus the worst thing is the feeling of being limited.

WashU is extremely expensive. It is a great education, but tuition is very high, and altough Studend Financial Services is helpful, the aid given is not always sufficient. I would not be applying for this scholarship if it was. Otherwise, I am very, very happy here.

The students here are very focused on being well-rounded (which the school encourages). While I think being mulit-faceted and having diverse interests is important, the obsession here with being well-rounded actually suppresses individualism and diversity on campus.

Although there is a large support for tolerance for certain religions or lifestyles, there is also a very large intolerance for Christianity or conservative lifestyles. The community is very liberal, and I along with many other students are very accepting of that view. However, being a conservative Christian myself, I often feel judged or unaccepted because of my conservative lifestyle. If I were to change it, I would want the campus to be equally tolerant of both liberal and conservative views, so no one feels excluded or persecuted.

Academics are highly stressed at Washington University in St. Louis. Being a top caliber school, sometimes referred to as the "Harvard of the Mid-West" academics are sometimes overwhelming to the incoming Freshman. However the resources provided to help the student succeed are numerous and the small class sizes allow for individual attention and help. A-average students in high school should be expected to be challenged for that ellusive 4.0. However through the WashU exprience students will be transformed into Scholars.

A lot of students, particularly those who are pre-med, tend to stress out over grades. A lot of people come here and don't do as well as they expect, so some of them just keep beating themselves up over grades.

Everything here is very expensive.

The worst thing would have to be the lack of athletic events. Many large schools division 1 schools have large football games or other athletic events that the whole school attends. These events form a point around which students can bond and get together to have a great time. However, this is something that WashU lacks. It has many nationally recognized athletic teams, but few students attend these competitions and there is a decided lack of school spirit.

The one thing that stands out about Washington University in St. Louis is its library. Or rather, its library closing time. As a prospective freshman, I visited various schools with tour guides professing their 24 hour long libraries. I thought, who would want to stay at the library for so long? However, as a freshman, I knew all nighters well. What escaped me during exams (Hell week) was the college tradition of holing myself up in the library. Since the library closed at 4, I continuously lugged my books back to my dorm, defeated by the early closing hours.

The location. While St. Louis ranks #1 in most dangerous city in America, WashU (as us students like to call our school) is luckily in one of the safest areas of St. Louis-near the upper-middle class suburbs of Clayton. Yes, living in the suburbs is safe... but it is boring. Also St. Louis is inconvenient to explore without a car, it's a small, deconcentrated city making the metro useless. Also if you are big on food, shopping, partying- it's a bit of a downer.

The lack of school spirit here at Washu is rather depressing. Coming from a high school that had it's entire student body attend all games against our rivale school, attending a college that has none whatsoever seems odd. I have absolutely no qualms wearing high shool paraphernalia yet I feel not as proud when I wear WashU and tend to only do so in the comfort of my room and within campus only.

Overprogramming. It's difficult to schedule events because it seems like there is always so much going on.

I think the worst think about Wash. U. is that it's fairly segregated and although there are cultural events on campus, there is a pretty significant lack of diversity, with no lack for upper-class, white kids.

Public Transportation system of St. Louis is slow, unhelpful, and badly needed for freshmen

worst thing about the school is that it is sometimes too much work and not enough play and there are a lot of wealthy students

The worst thing about the school is in fact what it is best known for; so many students are pre-med at Wash U. Because of the eminence of WUSTL's medicine program, the science classes are designed to weed out potential doctors, the exams are written so students will fail them, and most of the help and tutoring focuses is steered towards chemistry, physics, and other subjects guaranteed to appear on the MCATs. While no department is ignored, it is much more difficult to obtain help in the humanities than it is in any area of the sciences.

There isn't enough community involvement or socioeconomic diversity at WashU. The student body doesn't realize how priviledged they are. Everyone thinks they are "middle class" but the average student's family is quite a bit wealthier than middle class families where I grew up. Students often don't appreciate how lucky they are, and even when they do that knowledge doesn't often translate into action. This isn't to say that WashU students are selfish. They tend to verbally support social change, but this rarely translates into any actual action.

Sometimes the social atmosphere can promote distant and superficial relationships between friends. Sometimes it is common to have a huge group of good friends but not a lot of really close friends.

Very sterile, money focused environment

I think the racial divisions are tough. I am a black student and the majority of the people I know are black. I do everything with that small group of people and now that I'm a senior, I wish I chose to meet more people, because there are SO many cool people here.

St. Louis weather is cold, and I am from LA so it is the worst thing about WashU

The worst thing about Washington University is the cost of education. Because the school is so expensive, it is difficult to have a diverse socioeconomic student population. I also think that since students pay so much money, there should be better regulation of the quality of teaching. Oftentimes, Wash U hires professors with Ph.Ds, who are sometimes more interested in pure knowledge than in teaching their students in an organized, efficient manner.

How well a student does or how much they will learn in a class depends heavily on the professor of that class. While all of the professors here are very knowledgable in their feilds, some cannot relate to students or are not actually responsible people-they may take far too long to return papers or emails. These are the exceptions however, the the many great professors who do a great job and care about their students.

All of the students are so competitive and looks down on you if you don't have a job right out of college

I guess it's that it is really challenging, and so it can be stressful, but there are a lot of built-in stress relieving activities as well, usually sponsored by student union groups.

No school spirit.

The expense

There are very few bad things about Wash U, but one is the student health services program - they are rude, have inconvenient hours, and diagnose everyone with mono without checking their symptoms thoroughly!

The intense competition aspect

The worst thing about our school for most people is the lack of cultural and socio-economic diversity. However, for me it is not so much of a problem because even within the usual bounds of society there is range and diversity, and I look for that. I like to see people for who they are and not where they have come from, even though that can be interesting. However, this is usually the general complaint...there isn't much else to complain about.

I dislike that my school is always asking for more money.

People don't necessarily eat meals together because the campus is large and you're in a different part of your friends or sometimes you just don't have time to eat so you need to get used to eating alone at least once a day (usually lunch and then meet up with friends for dinner).