WashU: Work Hard, Play Hard

Introduction
If you're coming to WashU, you'd better be ready to work hard and play hard. During the week (and the weekends when finals roll around) you'll be working from when you get up to when you go to sleep. On the weekends, you'll be partying (or recovering from partying) from well, when you get up 'til when you go to sleep. Being smart isn't enough to cut it here. If you got all As in high school, be prepared to see your GPA drop. Especially if you're pre-med. WashU is an amazing place if you've got the work ethic and tenacity to understand that not everyone aces organic chemistry and that every single person in your class is just as smart (if not smarter) than you. Don't come here if you're cut-throat and competitive. If nothing else, WashU students have the mentality of being the best students they can possibly be -- this involves not bringing their friends down so they can climb one spot in rank. If going to class is an extra-curricular activity, WashU is also the wrong place -- professors in the small seminar classes take attendance very seriously and you've got department heads, nobel prize winners and academic "superstars" teaching intro/freshmen level classes. Going to class is an essential part of going to WashU, and you'll flunk more than a few classes if you don't show up ever.

Campus Life and Social Life
Social life on campus improves A LOT when your turn 21 or "turn 21." Most St. Louis clubs are 21+ and the frat scene gets a little tired after the first semester. Once second semester rolls around, most of your friends will probably rush (25% of the population is Greek), so if you're social, you'll be able to hang out at their houses without it being an awkward dead-weight of freshman. Sororities are more like social clubs; again, 25% of the population is greek so most of your friends will be doing it. But there are those who see it as a waste of time/energy. Sports are almost non-existent. I think we have a football team (?). In honesty, the womens sports program is consistently good (volleyball and basketball come to mind) while mens sports are hit-or-miss. Every few years the teams win, but don't look for packed gymnasiums during homecoming (although there is free beer, pizza and wings at almost every football game). Clubs are pretty active; the student activities budget is well over a million dollars so everything is well-funded. Weekends start Thursday night with busses running from the residential areas to local clubs that are 18/21+. Usually carding and alcohol control at these establisments is fairly relaxed to non-existent. However, be careful of the bars that are off-campus and not on the loop -- they tend to confiscate your fake ID and/or call the police. The bars in Clayton tend to be good bets for more relaxed carding (if it says you're 21 no one's going to contest it) and have more of a college bar atmosphere. Wednesday nights aren't as big as state schools, but there are some frats that host Wednesday night parties. Also, a huge phenomenon on campus is pre-gaming. During university-sponsered events, alcohol is usually served (and free) to students 21+, but they hard-card (police officers card you) so using a fake isn't advisable. To get around this "problem," students get drunk in their rooms beforehand, then head out to the event. Sometimes pre-gaming spills over into "normal" events, like Thursday night club crawl or even before going to the frats on the weekend. Most of the drinking ends up going on in peoples' rooms, not the frats and hard liquor is very present. Additionally, most residential assistants have a "safety first" policy -- as long as alcohol is not in the halls or common spaces in the residence, RAs cannot confiscate alcohol or discipline anyone who is drinking. Academics
As an engineer, I'm biased towards the sciences. We have one of the hardest (and best) pre-med programs in the country. Engineers produced by WashU make at least 10% more than the national average starting salary in their fields. The really popular majors tend to be the ones with the highest quality academics, which means you'll be sitting in 500-person, "weeder" classes for the first year or two. If you're driven, this won't be a problem. If you're not, well, you shouldn't be in the major. Most professors are pretty absorbed in their research and would rather do that full-time than teach, but in general professors are easy to get along with. Most give out their cell phone numbers or even home numbers. In the engineering school, professors are required to hold office hours and I am yet to take a class where office hours aren't offered. Professors also listen to what students have to say and are more than willing to dialogue with their students. You will have a lot of work all the time here. Even if you're on minimum courseload (which there's no shame in taking, 12 credits is very relaxing and invigorating), you will be working almost all of the time. The library is open until 2am every night for this reason, and there are 24-hour study rooms in every dorm. Be prepared to pull at least one all-nighter each semester.

Student Body
The typical student is from Missouri or Chicago, pre-med (but not a bio major), and involved in a million activities. Everyone here does at least one extra-curricular activity, whether it's mock trial, TAing, sports, Greek life, volunteerism, theatre...whatnot. If you want to do it, WashU probably has it. The student body as a whole is pretty wealthy and pretty white, but the school is getting better about diversity.

In Closing...
The food and housing here is amazing. My dorm room is larger than my room back at home; sophomores live in suites with huge common rooms and individual balconies. The food is monotonous after the first month, but consistently tastes the same. If you visit, get the Holmes Lounge wrap, easily the best food on campus.