<p>Visitor1 is just a flamethrower. Rarely posts anything helpful or productive. And he loves to bash Wash U. Probably didn’t get in.</p>
<p>There is a valid point to consider in what he says, but of course he says it very poorly. In many areas, Wash U is highly ranked in grad schools as jazzymom points out (summary list below). But in more traditional liberal arts areas like history, English, math, etc, their ranks are in the 30s. So in terms of being a powerful graduate school, I think the criticism is somewhat valid in comparison to Ivies and U of C. </p>
<p>But the larger question is whether these statistics even matter when considering an undergraduate school. Think about the top LACs, Amherst, Williams, Pomona, etc. They don’t have high grad school rankings either because they generally don’t even have them (exceptions of course). Yet they are still extraordinary teaching colleges for undergraduates.</p>
<p>When people ask me what I like most about Wash U, I tell them that it is a perfect blend of an undergraduate teaching college and a university. It has the best of both worlds, and I believe that is why it is so popular right now. It offers superb preparation for graduate school in any area, and still has many world renowned research programs on campus. </p>
<p>Having big time graduate programs has a limited effect on undergraduate teaching. The hotshot researchers who generate the grad school reputations are rarely, if ever, teaching undergrads anything. There is certainly some trickle down effect, but for the most part I don’t see a correlation. </p>
<p>So if you are looking for a graduate program, then the rankings are helpful. But for undergraduate, I think the point Visitor1 keeps making (he has done it several times) is not relevant.</p>
<p>Rank Area
1 Occupational Therapy
1 Social Work
2 Physical Therapy
3 Medicine
5 Audiology
7 Biology
15 Fine Arts
16 Clinical Psychology
16 Political Science
19 Law
25 Business
25 Earth Sciences</p>