Washington University in St Louis

Washington University in St. Louis is filled with intelligent students looking to challenge themselves. The campus is gorgeous and the food is phenomenal. There are also endless clubs, teams and organizations encouraging student involvement!

Wash U, as it is called, offers students unique opportunities that, I believe, no other college can. It truly has an international, or a global, community: you get to interact with some of the best minds from across the nation, as well as outside of the U.S. (some international students on my freshman year floor were from Paraguay, China, and Japan). Lastly, Wash U is known to its students as the U.S.'s best-kept secret, for Wash U is certainly on or near the level of Ivy League Colleges and well-known universities--such as Duke, Vanderbilt, and Notre Dame--but is far less well-known, making it a hot-spot for the diverse and creative minds who are more interested in the process of learning itself than on the perks and superficial bonuses that may come with attending a more well-known university.

The quality of education I have received at Washington University has been amazing, which I assume is why most people consider Wash U. The faculty there have done real research and are experts in their fields, which has in turn allowed my understanding of different subjects to flourish. However, while the education is around the same caliber, it doesn't have the same name recognition as ivy league schools, I sometimes question the use of my tuition money (extensive lawn care, while beautiful, comes at a high price and is a bit excessive around campus), and a lack of grade inflation puts you at a disadvantage when competing against students from other schools for medical school and other fields that look at GPA.