<p>^^^^cosine45, were you given very generous need-based aid, or very generous merit-based aid?</p>
<p>Outside of the relative “handful” of huge, full- and half-tuition scholarships that are published on their website, we’ve had trouble finding much mention of Wash U’s merit-based awards. Are there others (merit-based) that are fairly significant?</p>
<ol>
<li>Halal food</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>1st on Huffington Post’s “Friendliest Colleges” list 
[The</a> FRIENDLIEST Colleges](<a href=“The FRIENDLIEST Colleges | HuffPost College”>The FRIENDLIEST Colleges | HuffPost College)</li>
</ol>
<p>I like how it’s taken more than two years and you guys still haven’t finished this list. There are so many great things about the school but no one on this forum to inform us about it.</p>
<p>I’ll help more once I get to campus! I don’t think I can say much from being on campus for 5 days altogether, 3 of which were during the summer for ArtSci weekend.</p>
<p>supersizeme if you look at the list most of them are pretty silly reasons. I suggest that everyone look at quality reasons to go to a school rather than looking for a multitude of superficial/unimportant reasons. Not to say that there aren’t quality reasons to go to Wustl but people here often make it out to be the best college known to man which is quite the stretch.</p>
<ol>
<li> Bringing back SEAS BS/MS automatic scholarships. Because finding out you get $16,000+ off a Masters program when you didn’t apply for any money is awesome ;-p.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Amazing study abroad programs including a premed one on the French Riviera</li>
</ol>
<p>I just applied to WashU and can’t wait to hear back! it is one of my favorite schools and all of this info has only made me love it more! can anyone tell me what the weather is like? I’m from California so i’m a little worried</p>
<p>Hey laxforlife,</p>
<p>I’m from California too and although the weather is MUCH different here in st. louis, I like the change. St. Louis has a good sampling of the four distinct seasons with usually only a couple inches of snow each year. Yes, it does get cold, but as long as you have a good winter jacket (and maybe a scarf), it’s not too bad. I wouldn’t worry too much about it; it’s a big change but you’ll get used to it and maybe even grow to like it!</p>
<p>THE FIRST OFFICIAL COMPLETE THREAD!</p>
<ol>
<li>The architecture of the buildings is classically gothic and beautiful.</li>
<li>Big university resources, smaller LAC-style attention to students (and AN EXTREMELY
SMALL % OF CLASSES TAUGHT BY TAs - and when they are taught by TAs/Grad
students this seems to be a good thing - e.g., the Writing 1 class).</li>
<li>Academic Flexibility – Easy to switch schools within WashU and to double major/minor.</li>
<li>Amazing pre-professional programs and resources, especially for pre-meds through the
renowned WUSTL medical center</li>
<li>The quality of your peers</li>
<li>Some of the best dorms in the country</li>
<li>Some of the best food for a university</li>
<li>Genuine Midwestern friendliness and helpfulness</li>
<li>Lack of cut-throat competitiveness amongst students, more collaboration</li>
<li>Easy access to metro and bussing (FREE!)</li>
<li>2nd best DIII sports school in the United States</li>
<li>Professors are more undergrad-focused than other top research universities (but
renowned in their research fields as well!)</li>
<li>Undergrads have limitless research opportunities.</li>
<li>Beautiful campus (where students are playing ultimate frisbee, football, or in hammocks
on the quads).</li>
<li>Forest park across the street (HUGE park with free museums and such).</li>
<li>The Loop (great food and shopping) within walking distance of the university.</li>
<li>Humongous shopping complexes not too far away (by car, Clayton area?)</li>
<li>3 large hospitals within the area.</li>
<li>Exceptional academic advising</li>
<li>Amazing diversity of the student body</li>
<li>Abundance of outstanding prearranged extracurricular activities available to student
body (tutoring h.s. students, hospital volunteering, etc.)</li>
<li>Amazing merit scholarship opportunities not found at any school of WashU’s caliber.</li>
<li>Central United States location that allows for relatively easy access from both the East
and West Coast.</li>
<li>Hammocks all over campus. ‘Nuff said.</li>
<li>Loads of brand new buildings and a strong commitment to construction and
development…</li>
<li>St. Louis’s fabulous music scene.</li>
<li>Crazy huge endowment that allows for lots of free trips to campus and subsidized
FOCUS excursions and everything a student could want.</li>
<li>Summer excursions like ArtSci Weekends and FSAP that allow students to get
acclimated to campus before Orientation.</li>
<li>Awesome Pre-O’s!</li>
<li>Residential colleges that allow freshman to have connections to sophmores.</li>
<li>Really nice programs for frosh like FOCUS and Freshman Seminars and MBB, Text and
Tradition, Medicine in Society…</li>
<li>They send you a lot of mail and you feel really good, especially when it’s priority and
you’re like “OMG they spend $4.95 on ME!”</li>
<li>Outstanding Financial Aid</li>
<li>St. Louis has some fabulous food. The Hill, Ted Drewes, Tin Cup. Also the amazing
Missouri Bakery with the best cheesecake I’ve ever eaten.</li>
<li>Involved and caring students (hirako, don_quixote, johnson181, balancedhelium, etc.)
and parents/others (midwest parent; st2, fallenchemist; palmalk, etc.)</li>
<li>WILD (Kid Cudi and the Black Keys in a few weeks!)</li>
<li>Award winning and AMAZING a capella groups</li>
<li>The best dressed university chancellor in the country who has a bowling alley in his
house!</li>
<li>The Bunny. Enough said.</li>
<li>Thurtene Carnival, largest in St. Louis, tons of food, games, rides. Greek life also plays a
big role in the carnival.</li>
<li>The Holi Festival. Students gather on the Swamp for the school’s largest water balloon
fight. Everyone gets wet, muddy, and most importantly, everyone has fun.</li>
<li>The Gargoyle</li>
<li>Highest “Survey-per-week to Student” ratio</li>
<li>FLAT SCREEN TVs everywhere!</li>
<li>Smart kids yet no snobbiness</li>
<li>WUstock by the CS40 for free</li>
<li>Ursa’s hot chocolate bar with 10 different kinds of hot chocolate, 6 kinds of homemade
whip cream, and crepes on friday nights </li>
<li>Become a part of the best Baseball city in America (Just 5 train stops away from Busch
Stadium) </li>
<li>Adjoined to the library is Whisper’s Cafe - where you can go for your late-night studying
or cafe food run!</li>
<li>If you’re into any of the hard sciences: the best, top-notch, cutting-edge, fully-
stocked laboratories and the myriad of research opportunities that come with them</li>
<li>The award-winning, always fresh and interesting StudLife</li>
<li>Moonlight Breakfast </li>
<li>Walking distance to The Loop, a bustling avenue of shops, cafes, and restaurants</li>
<li>Did I mention the gorgeous campus? Call it fairy-tale or robust and gothic, whatever
you wish, but it is GORGEOUS.</li>
<li>Jazz at Holmes’ Lounge</li>
<li>The Campus YMCA and the spawn of volunteer and community outreach programs,<br>
including the Social Change Grants</li>
<li>Gelato and crepes in Ursa’s, Froyo at Bear’s Den</li>
<li>Selectively chosen, fully trained, enthusiastic, and approachable Residential Advisors</li>
<li>Academic mentoring WITHIN the residential halls, in the form of selectively chosen, fully
trained, and caring Residential Peer Mentors (for Writing, Chemistry, Biology, Physics,
and Calculus)</li>
<li>New Dorms on the 40 have memory foam </li>
<li>Free pizza events all the time</li>
<li>For the premeds: A panel of premedical advisors who are always available, supportive,
and effective. While they are available anytime, starting junior year the Pre-Health
advisors begin keeping a very close eye on your medical school application process.
Premed advising and workshops include mentorship on your personal statements,
reviewing your medical school resume, and interview practice.</li>
<li>Bear Patrol, which escorts those late-night study-ers back to their dorms</li>
<li>Closed campus, probably one of the safest around</li>
<li>The newly opened Danforth University Center, with an array of eateries, its own formal
restaurant, and the upstairs Game Room (includes Wii, I think)</li>
<li>Wireless Internet access virtually anywhere on campus</li>
<li>Friendly bus drivers who care about the students</li>
<li>Bon Appetit, which listens to the students’ needs and concerns and hosts fun events
(like that Willy Wonka golden ticket game last year)</li>
<li>Students who are tolerant and supportive of each other</li>
<li>We just won the 2010 Annual Jeopardy! College Championships. BOOYA.</li>
<li>The Lunar New Year Festival - Student dancers and musicians combine artistry and
aesthetics to create a story about the Lunar New Year. </li>
<li>Many city events are subsidized for students by campus organizations like ArtSci
Council. Examples of events include city symphony performances (freshman year I
remember Itzhak Perlman was in town), plays, musicals, Shakespeare in the Park
(summer), and more. </li>
<li>The BALLER Brookings Hall. Seriously, have you every stood in the parking lot, beneath
that flight of stairs leading to the two towers of Brookings Hall, and know that you will
soon ascend the path to greater knowledge?</li>
<li>WashU is one of the prominent hosts of the Vice Presidential Debates, including Palin vs.
Biden, 2008.</li>
<li>At least 22 Nobel Prize recipients did the majority of their winning research at
Washington University in St. Louis. </li>
<li>The administration is incredibly friendly and helpful. They are like the staff at an upscale
restaurant- understanding of your questions and concerns, at the same time
professional and efficient. </li>
<li>Now and then-- surprises on campus like free donuts and coffee in the morning, petting
zoos, horse and carriage rides, Fair Trade shopping booths, and the spontaneous pieces
of artwork designed by the Art School students</li>
<li>Every year we have the Thurtene Carnival, the oldest and largest student-run carnival
(complete with rides, cotton candy, games, and shows!) in the nation.</li>
<li>WashU is close to the City Museum, an artsy place for every one of your creative
whims. Go down the giant slide, model something out of clay, watch a magic show, or
go on the outdoors jungle gym and ball pool area. A good place to reconnect with your
inner (big) child </li>
<li>Major St. Louis attractions are free: Free Zoo, Free History museum, and Free Art
museum all within walking distance of campus. (in Forest Park mentioned in #15)</li>
<li>One of the most beautiful botanical gardens in the nation not to far from campus.
Admission is not free, but it is fairly cheap. Also they have cultural festivals there a
couple of times a year. </li>
<li>The South40. 'Nuff said.</li>
<li>Nerds who put the ‘cool’ in ‘school’</li>
<li>Tons of research scholarships throughout your undergraduate, for every field possible
(engineering, biology, anthropology, English, economics, etc)</li>
<li>The fact that it’s WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS.</li>
<li>Awesome club sports, even if there’s not a varsity team (like men’s club volleyball-
<a href=“https://sites.google.com/site/washuvolleyball/[/url]”>https://sites.google.com/site/washuvolleyball/</a> )</li>
<li>Bear Path</li>
<li>An outstanding hotel (including conference rooms and delicious buffet breakfast) right
ON campus!</li>
<li>Sex on the beach.</li>
<li>Halal food</li>
<li>1st on Huffington Post’s “Friendliest Colleges” list<br>
The FRIENDLIEST Colleges</li>
<li>Bringing back SEAS BS/MS automatic scholarships. Because finding out you get
$16,000+ off a Masters program when you didn’t apply for any money is awesome ;-p.</li>
<li>Amazing study abroad programs including a premed one on the French Riviera</li>
<li>70.2 % classes have <20 students</li>
<li>Your recommendation letter comes by UPS!</li>
<li>Private bathrooms are cleaned for you by Wash U.</li>
<li>A LOT of school pride (not necessarily in the athletic sense)</li>
<li>It’s warmer than Minnesota!</li>
<li>Wash U Basketball games</li>
<li>Ranked 14 out of all National Universities</li>
<li>97% of students would go back!</li>
</ol>
<p>WE DID IT!! :)</p>
<p>I don’t see how there’s more school pride than any other random university – I wouldn’t say there’s a lot, let alone capitalize it.</p>
<p>I actually would - none of my friends (outside of D1/big sports schools) have pride in their school at all.</p>
<p>WashU students may not give a hoot about sports, but we certainly have school pride.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to have to agree with Johnson. We may not have sports-induced school pride, but rather pride from knowing it’s a great school and the campus life is so good.</p>
<p>I am stuck between Tulane and WashU! Help
Tulane gave me a scholarship and I love NOLA but WashU’s academics are great and there are so many more options plus it’s a lot closer to home</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me how easy it is to switch majors at WashU? I indicated Biochemistry as my major on my application but now want to switch to PNP. Thanks!</p>
<p>It’s very easy to do.</p>
<p>People think whatever college they go to is the best one…get used to it. And there are also some pretty non-“superficial” reasons (undergrad research? extracurriculars?).</p>
<p>I’m glad you took the time to write that.</p>
<p>Reason #102 - We don’t have many haters (slash that guy^)</p>
<h1>103. for all the parents reading this: WashU is a wonderful place to send your child. My youngest attends WashU and there’s just a huge difference. (Other two have gone to equally selective schools). WashU doesn’t forget to keep parents involved throughout each year. We have appreciated their letters and post cards and invitations and as a result, I have participated in events here at home unlike the other schools my children have attended.</h1>