<p>Hey everyone! I’m trying to decide between Wash U, Northwestern, and Rice. I really like everything I hear and read about Wash U. It has a beautiful campus and amazing academics. But when I visited, I was somewhat turned off by the social atmosphere. Here is what I noticed: I never saw anyone using the huge field at the center of campusthere were no games of ultimate frisbee or soccer, despite the wonderful weather! Instead of enjoying the outdoors, it seemed that most people were inside studying, more specifically, by themselves! Don’t kids normally have study groups or work in groups on HW? I mean, there were a few groups here and there, but I saw a majority of students sitting at their own table in the DUC. Furthermore, there was nothing to do the night I visited, granted it was a Wednesday night. All I ended up doing was staying in the commons room watching TV. It got boring after awhile. I was hoping to attend a comedy show, or an a capella performance, or even a party. But my host just said nothing was going on. So what I’m wondering this is what Wash U social life is really like? At college, I’m looking for a social atmosphere where people are always interacting, collaborating with each other on HW, going to parties twice a week, and playing a lot of IM sports. I know I can get that at Northwestern, but can I get that at Wash U too?</p>
<p>That’s kind of strange that you say that about its social life. It was probably, like you said, because it was a Wednesday night…the last time I visited, at one point, it was pouring down and raining pretty hard…yet there were still people throwing around a frisbee in the swamp, sliding around on the mud…it looked really fun. Every time I’ve been there, I’ve seen more than one party per night (during the weekend) and everybody seemed to be out and about. Your description of “social atmosphere where people are always interacting, collaborating with each other on HW, going to parties twice a week” is definitely present at WashU. It’s one of the main things that sold me on it, to be honest.
It’s not a cut throat place and people aren’t locked inside their dorm studying 24-7. It IS a great school, and yes, you will have to study plenty, but this won’t stop you from having a pretty fulfilling social life, as long as you’re good with time management.
I believe you got the wrong impression about what is an amazing social life at WashU</p>
<p>Thanks, acolombianp28, that is so reassuring! I was staying in the Village (junior dorms), so I didn’t even get to see much of the South 40 and the swamp. Luckily, I met another pre-frosh who was staying in the South 40, so she showed me around. “Sliding around on the mud” … sounds fun to me! (That’s not sarcastic, it actually sounds like something I would do). But I’m still concerned by the fact that I saw so many solitary students there, and overall, the students just seemed less enthusiastic. When I visited Northwestern, the students were urging me to choose NU, and they had tons of school spirit. At Wash U, I don’t know if one student told me that I should for sure come to Wash U, even after I said I was deciding between NU, Rice, and Wash U. One student even said to go to Rice instead! What is that supposed to mean? Does anyone else have personal experiences about the social life at Wash U, perhaps in comparison to NU or Rice? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>If a student from that school has to beg you to come to their school, you know something is fishy…just joking!</p>
<p>but seriously, don’t judge a school based on one day of visiting. You probably caught students in the middle of exam week and they were all studying or sleeping. Think about it, if you went to WashU, YOU could be the student on the lawn throwing a frisbee around. You really have to stay for more than a few days to get a true sense of how social the school is. Northwestern is a great school as well, with a huge city in its backyard, but that doesn’t mean overall its social life isn’t as fun as WashU’s. </p>
<p>will you be attending multicultural weekend?</p>
<p>Also- the village tends to be MUCH quieter than the south 40, especially during a wednesday evening.</p>
<p>When did you visit NU - have you been in the winter? I have heard (and this is total hearsay) that in the winter the students rarely venture out of their dorms at NU. It rarely gets that bad at WUSTL.</p>
<p>My D is a soph at WashU, my nephew a soph at Northwestern, and the D of a good friend is a freshman at Rice. You don’t have a bad choice here Waesei! I’d look more at which school has what you are looking for academically, ECs you are interested in, strength of the department of your intended major, etc. You are never going to get a full picture of a campus in just a one or two day visit - it gives you a taste, not the whole story. I believe at any of these schools you can be as social or as introverted as you choose to be. </p>
<p>Case in point - We visited another school D was interested in twice, once before her acceptance and once after. The first visit was amazing. Students came up on their own and talked to us, volunteered to show us how to get to a certain building, said they LOVED the place and she should apply. Everyone was warm and friendly. Second visit - not so much. Not one person even spoke to us during the two day visit as we walked around campus. Often found the different people D has appointments with to be “snippy” - and this was AFTER she has been accepted!!</p>
<p>D as WashU - there is more going on than she would ever have time to take part in. Her social group really is the students of her various study groups and she is with them all the time. Different subjects lend themselves to studying in a group vs studying alone. You may not have been around areas where the study groups meet. Sometimes they are very creative in finding a spot to work. There are lectures, musical performances, plays, sporting events daily. Maybe your host didn’t take the time to really look up what was going on. D LOVES WashU!</p>
<p>Nephew at NW - he doesn’t really study in groups, more solo. He has lots of friends and they “hang out” together. My sister says he really doesn’t attend much offered on campus (although like WashU, there is a lot offered), but does go into Chicago (which is not a quick trip) for an occassional concert. He was pretty good about attending some NW football games, but no other sporting events. The weather is brutal - he said the icicles freeze “sideways” due to the wind. Nephew LOVES NW!</p>
<p>Don’t know much about the friend’s child at Rice, other than she “needs” a car at school in order to be able to get to anything. D and nephew are both carless and do just fine getting to everything they need to attend.</p>
<p>midwestparent – you might want to tell your friend that their child doesn’t “need” a car at Rice. The light rail line stops right at campus and takes riders directly to all the museums and downtown. Rice offers a shuttle bus to Rice Village (a close by 16-block area of restaurants and shops and to Target). Also, Rice Village is walkable from campus. And there are plenty of students who you can always bum a ride from. I think your friend’s child may “want” a car there, but that’s different than saying that you can’t get to things without one.</p>
<p>@ nooob: Unfortunately, I will not be attending Multicultural weekend. It sounded like a ton of fun, but I have a conflict, so I rescheduled my visit.</p>
<p>@palmalk: Objection! Hearsay. That is an out of court statement being offerred to prove the truth of the matter asserted! (sorry, I’m a mock trial junkie). Anyways, I know that NU is pretty brutal in the winter, so I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if that is true. The weather will definitely come into play when I make my decision. But I am from MN, so I’m sure I’d have no problem making it through the winter at NU. It just whether I would want to go through any more brutal winter like that when I could be enjoying the mild winter weather of Houston!</p>
<p>@ MidwestParent: Thanks!. I guess your experience goes to show that school visits are really hit or miss. I wish I could have stayed during the weekend, or for a few more days. It just makes my decision so much harder. I was hoping that I could base my decision off of the ‘feel’ I get when visiting. But that wouldn’t be the best method given my circumstances. Anyways, do you know which subjects tend to have study groups. I would assume math and sciences have more study groups, but I have no first hand experience.</p>
<p>My D’s study groups have all been in the sciences - gen chem, bio, and orgo. They tend to lend themselves to that sort of studying. She meets with these kids several times a week, if not near daily. Her language classes have out of class get togethers for lunch on campus, once at a professor’s home, and once they headed off campus for a show - a way to use the language in a social setting. You can’t really write a paper with other students and she seems to have a lot of papers due in classes.</p>
<p>ALL of these campuses will have many activities going on daily. I think you could probably do a quick search of their sites and come up with a jillion interesting and entertaining things to attend. We get e-mails form the music dept at WashU (D also plays an instrument) and the Student Life newspaper on-line. There are more things I read about in just those two sources than you would ever have the time to attend - famous lecturers on campus (WashU just had the founders of The Onion, for example); multiple sporting events; musical events on campus and at the 560 building; plays, musicals, etc. at the Edison Theater on campus. Then you get into things happening over in Forest Park and all over St. Louis. </p>
<p>BES - Thanks for the heads up! Friend just put it that her D “needs” a car at school, and you are right, that is probably a “want”.</p>
<p>Re the winter at WUSTL - generally milder than Chicago.</p>
<p>In addition to individual study groups cited by MidwestParent, my D has also had one in calculus III. There are so many different ways to get extra help in all these subjects, too - each freshman dorm (I think) [see there I go again… this one may lack some foundation!] has several sophomore students “linked” with it who act as a peer mentor in calc, or chem, or bio, etc. That person has regular “office hours.” Chem and calc also have groups called PLTL - peer led, team learning - those also meet regularly and you sign up for the time slot you are interested in. </p>
<p>Atmosphere seems to be pretty cooperative/collaborative generally. Haven’t heard about any cut-throat type tactics.</p>