WashU (wustl) Class of 2012! Forum

[bebe09]

Got into the Sonnenschein Program as well about 3 weeks ago and will be attending. Looks like I will have to start a lease in July since we'll need a place to stay the last week of July and first week of August.

Also, I know a 1L that stayed in the West End City Apartments and she personally called me to warn be about staying there. She moved out early and into a new apartment because its so bad. She mentioned maintenance and management being ridiculous and the apartments being very overpriced for what you're getting. She also warned me that West End City and other apartments that "claim" to be in Central West End are actually west or north of the area and are really located in DeBaliviere. However, because they claim to be in Central West End, they are charging Central West End rent prices. This is the case with the West End City Apartments. They claim to be in that area and charge high rent, but in actuality, you are far from the true area. I would advise everyone to look at maps before deciding on a place if the Central West End area is where you are trying to live. Honestly, you will def be paying more to live in that area, but make sure you aren't paying the extra rent for nothing!

[dpburm]

i also got into the sonnenschein program a few weeks ago. can't wait!

[h1yaaaguy]

Hi all. Just got in off the hold list this morning. I've already paid my $500 deposit for UIUC this Fall, and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to accept Wash U and pull out of UIUC. After tuition and scholly's I'll be paying about 8k more per year at WashU than UIUC. My goal would be to work in Chicago, my home town, after graduation. I'm sure opinions here are a bit skewed but I'm still interested in your feedback.

Thanks.

[Justice4All]

Hi all. Just got in off the hold list this morning. I've already paid my $500 deposit for UIUC this Fall, and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to accept Wash U and pull out of UIUC. After tuition and scholly's I'll be paying about 8k more per year at WashU than UIUC. My goal would be to work in Chicago, my home town, after graduation. I'm sure opinions here are a bit skewed but I'm still interested in your feedback.

Thanks.

Numbers? (just curious) Thanks!

[chadwick218]

Hi all. Just got in off the hold list this morning. I've already paid my $500 deposit for UIUC this Fall, and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to accept Wash U and pull out of UIUC. After tuition and scholly's I'll be paying about 8k more per year at WashU than UIUC. My goal would be to work in Chicago, my home town, after graduation. I'm sure opinions here are a bit skewed but I'm still interested in your feedback.

Thanks.

I vote UIUC for Chicago. Did WUSTL offer much in the way of scholarship?

[saminex]

UIUC places much better in Chicago than WUSTL, take that for what it is worth.

Disclaimer: I picked UIUC over WUSTL. 20k from UIUC, 12k from WUSTL.

[steindle]

UIUC places much better in Chicago than WUSTL, take that for what it is worth.

Disclaimer: I picked UIUC over WUSTL. 20k from UIUC, 12k from WUSTL.

Not to get prematurely defensive here, but 1) define "much" better and 2) that is probably partly because the Urbana-Champaign metro area is less than 1/10 the size of St. Louis? I think there's a little self-selection going on.

That said, both are great options and I wish you luck at UIUC.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

,

[chadwick218]

This is what leads people to that conclusion, though if everyone at WashU had the goal of working in Chicago there would probably be a very different story.

This is an especially valid point! It is somewhat difficult to compare the two schools is this respect. Although UIUC has for more grads in Chicago than WUSTL, it is much more difficult to say that UIUC would place that one student wanting to work in Chicago any better than WUSTL would place that student.

I believe that the two schools are relatively comparable and vote for UIUC strictly from a financial point of view.

[h1yaaaguy]

Thanks to everyone on the input. For those who asked, I have a really low GPA at a 2.7 and a 168. Have some pretty good softs though, and I think that it helped me to get into UIUC and WashU. Oh, and they offered just around 10k per year.

It's still a really tough decision. I personally believe that Chi town firms are looking at UIUC before WashU, however, WashU has been my number one choice since I began this process.

Don't know what to do..

[Rambiggler]

so looks like i'm joining you guys..... i'm looking forward to it

what has everyone found as far as housing? any use in going to the housing day?

also who can tell me about the weather in STL? How does it compare to Chicago?

[Rambiggler]

Thanks to everyone on the input. For those who asked, I have a really low GPA at a 2.7 and a 168. Have some pretty good softs though, and I think that it helped me to get into UIUC and WashU. Oh, and they offered just around 10k per year.

It's still a really tough decision. I personally believe that Chi town firms are looking at UIUC before WashU, however, WashU has been my number one choice since I began this process.

Don't know what to do..

that's funny because i am going with washU$$, but got waitlisted at UIUC... and originally thought UIUC was my top choice

[bigdtrain]

What luck have people had, either through research or previous experience, with moving companies?

It seems like the pods/upack model is really popular, and sometimes cheaper then the good ol' rent a uhaul truck sort of way. I have contacted a few companies and received similar estimates but any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

.... but also my gf is moving back home to Maine from L.A. Does anyone have an experience moving completely across the county? For me, it is much simpler in that im just coming from los angeles to stl obviously..... but hey, thanks for any tips.

[hwmyones]

UIUC places much better in Chicago than WUSTL, take that for what it is worth.

Disclaimer: I picked UIUC over WUSTL. 20k from UIUC, 12k from WUSTL.

Not to get prematurely defensive here, but 1) define "much" better and 2) that is probably partly because the Urbana-Champaign metro area is less than 1/10 the size of St. Louis? I think there's a little self-selection going on.

That said, both are great options and I wish you luck at UIUC.

Well for one, UIUC has more firms at OCI than WashU (obv b/c UIUC feeds directly into Chicago, more or less, and probably nowhere else), and someone looked up alumni on Martindale and reported there are more uiuc alums in Chicago than WashU. This is what leads people to that conclusion, though if everyone at WashU had the goal of working in Chicago there would probably be a very different story.

This is essentially the main point. If you got to UIUC and want to work in a big city, Chicago is probably you're only option. There are a lot of us who have goals to go to a lot of different places, and while the T14 trolls would try to say we can't, the CSO works really hard to get our resumes and names out there. While there are plenty of people from Chicago who go to Wash U and want to go back there, there are many others who probably have no interest in going to Chicago, myself included.

[seatown12]

Does anyone have thoughts about living Downtown? Assuming I keep close to the Metro the commute apparently isn't much worse than a lot of places in the CWE and comparably priced apartments in general seem nicer. It sounds to me like that area is really making a turnaround and might be a cool place to live but someone already in StL might know better...

[joehad7]

Does anyone have thoughts about living in the Washington Loft District? Assuming I keep close to the Metro the commute isn't much worse than a lot of places in the CWE and comparably priced apartments in general seem nicer. It sounds to me like that area is really making a turnaround and might be a cool place to live but someone already in StL might know better...

Most of the loft district is 4-5 blocks from the nearest metro stop, save Paul Brown Lofts and Cupples Station Lofts. Cupples, just west of Busch Stadium, is about 10 blocks south of Wash Ave., whereas Paul Brown is only 2. To me, Paul Brown was the obvious choice if I were to move Downtown.

Keep in mind that full time students don't qualify for the Affordable Alternative rates (i.e. $600ish) that most lofts advertise. Both places are in the $800 range for a 1 bedroom, and garage parking will run about $75/mo. on top of that.

Downtown is a fun place to hang out on the weekends, but the fact that the coffeeshops close after 5 is kind of a downer. Coffee Cartel in the CWE is open 24 hours. I see a clear winner here.

[hwmyones]

Does anyone have thoughts about living in the Washington Loft District? Assuming I keep close to the Metro the commute isn't much worse than a lot of places in the CWE and comparably priced apartments in general seem nicer. It sounds to me like that area is really making a turnaround and might be a cool place to live but someone already in StL might know better...

I don't think anyone lived downtown, not that I know of at least. I thought about it for this upcoming year but decided to stay in the Central West End. It's too difficult to get from downtown to school everyday and the majority of your peers will be in the loop or CWE.

[dpburm]

does anyone know when we're going to get any information about student ids, e-mail, orientation, etc?? i havent heard a peep from washu in a while and was just wondering if anyone had heard anything...

[Ali]

does anyone know when we're going to get any information about student ids, e-mail, orientation, etc?? i havent heard a peep from washu in a while and was just wondering if anyone had heard anything...

If I recall correctly it says around July 17th on last year's thread.

I'll be flying down to St. Louis on 6/21 to check out apartments/houses to rent/buy. It will be my first time there, so I'll take a tour of the school and be then fly back to NY on 6/23.

[seatown12]

First of all, thanks to all the current students who answer questions on here. It's appreciated.

I don't think anyone lived downtown, not that I know of at least. I thought about it for this upcoming year but decided to stay in the Central West End. It's too difficult to get from downtown to school everyday and the majority of your peers will be in the loop or CWE.

Is the commute tough because of traffic? How reliable is the Metro? I'm definitely considering the isolation factor as a drawback.

[steindle]

The Metro seems pretty reliable to me. During rush hour it seems to come every 10-15 minutes. When I visited STL in May, I used the Metro almost exclusively to get around and it was never more than 2-3 minutes late.

On an unrelated note, I really wish that I could make time move faster. I wish we could just get started already.

[matty]

First of all, thanks to all the current students who answer questions on here. It's appreciated.

I don't think anyone lived downtown, not that I know of at least. I thought about it for this upcoming year but decided to stay in the Central West End. It's too difficult to get from downtown to school everyday and the majority of your peers will be in the loop or CWE.

Is the commute tough because of traffic? How reliable is the Metro? I'm definitely considering the isolation factor as a drawback.

work boredom has again got the best of me once again...
I would hesitate to live anywhere in St. Louis without a car, but I would especially hesitate to live downtown without one. The public transportation, though it may have on-time reliability, is not that convenient because of its limited stops and routes. While I think St. Louis as a whole has gotten a bad rap in the national perception, its hard to argue with the criticisms about the downtown area: It is shitty and rundown for the most part, there is crime, there are a lot of homeless who will constantly be harassing you for change, walkability is limited and so on.

The Washington loft District is a nice stretch of a few blocks, but it wouldn't make a lot of sense to live there as a WUSTL student. For one, most of the loft buildings (which are very nice fwiw) are between 15th and around Tucker I'd say, which means you'd still be walking a good distance to get to any Metro stop, and those downtown stops are usually populated by some pretty dubious characters. Furthermore, even though parts of Washington are nice, it is still surrounded by some pretty rundown areas and there are not many attractions within easy walking distance. So, imo, no real reason to live there--its good if you work downtown or for a visit to the bars once in awhile, but thats about it. In fact, if a WUSTL student wanted to live downtown, had a car, and was willing to do the morning commute, I'd easily recommend Soulard over Washington. For all practical purposes, though, I'd recommend Wash U students live in a neighborhood closer to the school: CWE, Loop, Demun, Clayton, Dogtown, etc

[Ali]

Anyone know when we're supposed to get our Financial Aid documents? Loan papers?

I signed the initial award letter and mailed it back a few weeks back.

[VAGATOR]

Anyone know when we're supposed to get our Financial Aid documents? Loan papers?

I signed the initial award letter and mailed it back a few weeks back.

You should of gotten an email from the financial aid office with instructions on filling out the promissory notes and completing the entrance counseling. I received it a couple weeks ago.

[gk101]

Anyone know when we're supposed to get our Financial Aid documents? Loan papers?

I signed the initial award letter and mailed it back a few weeks back.

You should of gotten an email from the financial aid office with instructions on filling out the promissory notes and completing the entrance counseling. I received it a couple weeks ago.

how long ago did you send in your signed award letter? I haven't received any financial aid emails yet and I sent in the signed letter about a month ago.