<p>Where will WashU be in 10 years (in terms of academics, prestige, research)
What do you think WashU needs to improve on?
What are some up and coming departments?</p>
<p>(also, i’m not too familiar with WashU’s past but i’ve heard that maybe ten years ago it was ranked around Carnegie Mellon in the low 20’s or so, but now it’s moved up near the top 10. I was wondering what WashU started doing to improve it’s ranking (i know rankings can be subjective but still…) and whether or not it will continue it’s dramatic improvement.)</p>
<p>I think the engineering department in general is going to get an overhaul for a few reasons:
They are putting up a really nice building right now for BME and I think ChemE labs.
They fired the previous dean of engineering who screwed some things up, apparently.
They are obviously interested in having as many top programs as possible, and engineering is not one of their super strong departments at the moment (besides BME). </p>
<p>The business school might get boosted as well, I hear. That would be nice, seeing as I’m probably double majoring in engineering and business. I think that while Wash U sends plenty of advertising (haha), they need to boost their name recognition on the coasts somehow. I would hope that in ten years, Wash U is in the top ten schools in the country and that it retains it’s generally non-snobby student population I hear so much about. Unfortunately, prestige and snobby kids tend to be directly related :(</p>
<p>Snobby does not and will not fit the WashU culture ever. The business school is now up to #22 and will break into the top 15 or so shortly. The overhaul in engineering has begun. With the completion of the new engineering building you will see some dramatic changes.</p>
<p>^ Would you say that includes the engineering departments that don’t directly benefit from the new building, like electrical, computer engineering, etc…?</p>
<p>^^^ Yeah, i think it’s like No.9 in 2006?
But I think being a TOP TEN in the US news ranking is not like being a TOP TEN prestigious-ly in most people’s mind. So while we are heading to higher position on US NEWS, we should take every effort to boost our household name as well. Then it comes to a question: what to do can we achieve that?</p>
<p>Yeah, being in the top 10 would be a real achievement. There’s just so much competition for the #8-10 spots. Usually top 6 will always go to HYPSM, maybe Columbia or Penn for 6 and 8. Other non-ivies that seem to be competing for the remaining spots in the top 10 are University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Washington University, etc.</p>
<p>I have to say as much as I admire and respect Wash U, this focus on ratings, and more accurately a single rating system that is just a judgement of what factors to consider and how much to weigh them, is really kind of silly. Come on guys. Wash U is a wonderful place. and getting better. That is all that counts. Believe me, I understand the all-too-human desire to get the reinforcement that comes from that kind of recognition, even if you intellectually know it is somewhat artificial. But #8? #12? #20? Does it really matter? Wash U is the same place regardless. Change the criteria, change the rankings. Doesn’t change Wash U.</p>
<p>yeah, sorry, this thread wasn’t meant to be about predicting WashU’s rankings.
I meant for it to predict WashU’s departments and whether or not they will continue improving, or slowing down/speeding up. Of course, when an institution’s departments are improved, there will almost always be a direct relationship with its ranking, assuming other universities don’t improve as much.</p>
<p>Hi my friend nooob - I suspect you are right that it would have some impact indirectly on the rankings, although that is exactly one of my beefs with the rankings is that it measures things that there could be a dozen reasons for why they changed that have nothing to do with the quality of the school. Ah well, you are also right that the important thing is that Wash U is taking many excellent steps to keep getting better for the sake of the students, and that can only be a good thing. I think in 10 years Wash U will be pretty much like it is now in the sense of being a “hidden gem” with great, well grounded students and even more strong departments. The only thing I think that will cause a sudden awareness beyond what it already enjoys is if there are a couple of Nobel Prize winners within a few years of each other. That or a similar event would bring a lot of attention to the school for sure.</p>
<p>But I see people on here worried all the time about whether the Wash U name is known to employers, grad schools, etc. Seems to me like all the proof one needs to know that is a false worry is the record of Wash U grads in getting into top post-grad programs and getting good jobs, which is excellent. So somehow they are overcoming the confusion some people have about the name. It would be nice if that would go away, for sure.</p>
<p>Chancellor wants to upgrade graduate programs, as the University already has done for undergrad programs. Many are already strong, but some are not.</p>
<p>I spoke with the dean of the sam fox school about upcoming changes recently… within the next few years, the art and architecture schools will become much more integrated and multi-disciplinary. The freshmen and sophomore classes for the two schools will be taking more classes together which draw from both fields.</p>
<p>WashU has been somewhat of a national benchmark for art and architecture interaction, as many, many visiting deans or representatives of universities nation-wide are watching to see what WashU does next. WashU is unique in that it has a museum, art school, and architecture school all situated right next to one another, so it is looking to take advantage of this. With that, many universities are picking up on this and looking to follow suit with WashU’s upcoming changes to the curriculum and the structure of the schools.</p>