Washington University in St Louis

Aside from the obvious fact that Washington University is widely regarded as one of the top schools in the country, I believe that what makes attending Wash U so special at this time is the confidence in itself. What I mean is that this school is an up and coming school. Improvements are being made across the board constantly and it's only a matter of time before Wash U becomes an "elite level" school rather than a second tier "elite school". Everyone on campus has a great sense of pride in the school and they have good reason to feel proud. A Wash U degree is impressive right now, in the future the value and prestige of it will become much greater.

Unlike the "Ivies", Wash U has a much more laid back atmosphere which for many students is ideal. Pressure comes from students' drive to succeed rather than from competition with peers. The people are friendly and are diverse in their demographics. This school also goes out of its way to cater to the needs of a student from anything to food to tutoring to health services. Quite impressive.

The school has become one of the "hip" places to go for top quality students who are more concerned with quality as compared to quantity. I believe the administration doesn't want to run a "hip" school, but is instead striving hard to create a prestigious university that commands the respect of its Ivy League bretheren. Clearly, this school matches up very strongly academically, financially, and physically (in terms of the campus) with schools like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. The respect isn't there, yet. 20 years from now, it will. No doubt. The students though are what define Wash U's character and what brought me to the school. They are very motivated and smart, but in the same sense they don't show it and rub it in your face. I feel a sense of commoradorie rather than competition with my peers and that helps to make the environment much more pleasant. Wash U students are very approachable and the faculty is very accessable. In addition the alcohol policy is quite liberal here and the university treats its students like adults. Any 18 year old would agree that's a good thing.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2006

Individual Value: A+, Surrounding City: B

I transferred from the University of Miami (FL) because the kids there were more interested in getting a degree so as to get a well-paying job as opposed to learning cool things. WashU has surpassed all of my expectations in this regard. The kids are all very bright, but you won't find any of the Ivy league elitism here (even though WashU out-ranks alot of them in most popular college rankings). In fact, a good number of professors here are refugees from the big names because they specifically wanted to get out of the Ivory Tower atmosphere of the ivy leagues. In short, come to WashU if you want a fantastic education from some of the leading minds in the field, an intelligent but unpretentious student body, and the resources afforded by one of the wealthiest schools in the nation. The only real negative is the poor name recognition. Expect to get a lot of "go huskies" and the like from the uninitiated ;)

3rd Year Male -- Class 2004

Education Quality: A+, Scholastic Success: B