WashU Adventures

On our agenda today was a visit to Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). I was very excited for this because I could see the university from our hotel and it looks like a huge castle to me. To get to the admissions office where we were meeting up before out tour, we went through an opening in a huge building that looked like something out of a 15th century movie.

Washington University in St. Louis

I really liked how the buildings on the outside looked old and rustic but when we went inside, it was completely modernized and equipped with state of the art technology. We visited one of the newer buildings and inside of it was a touch screen TV which you could use as a professor directory, a map, and you could also use it to schedule any appointment with a professor. I found this very unique and extremely useful because I'm a person who tends to get lost very quickly.

I really like that WashU gives you the opportunity to study abroad and the opportunity to take whatever class you want even if it doesn't have to do with your major. I feel like the flexibility of the course offerings allows you to try whatever it is that you might be interested in so you can see if you really like it and the freedom of not being restricted to only one field of study really gives students a chance to meet and get to know one another.What really struck me about the WashU community was that everybody seemed really happy to be there and they all seemed to want to help you. Our tour guide, Simona, and our guest at the info session, Ellie, were both students at WashU and both of them only proved my guess. Ellie even shared a story about how a students at WashU was kind enough to walk her to the admissions office when she came there for a tour a few years ago.

St. Louis Art Museum

After a quick lunch on campus, we walked to the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo and we decided to pick up a quick snack afterwards.  My favorite place we visited was the museum because I was blown away by how many artifacts that the museum held and personally, I’d rather look at art than go to the zoo. My favorite part of the museum was seeing all the art from the Renaissance period from different places of Europe like Italy and Britain. The museum also featured a lot of sculptures and statues that just blew my mind away from how they looked so intricate even though most of them are older than my parents. We ended our afternoon by going to Fitz’s to try some of their famous root beer floats and we were not disappointed. I had the s’mores root beer float and it was dripping with chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and marshmallows. Definitely one of the best deserts I've had in a long time.

S'mores Root Beer

Later that evening, we had our alumni dinner at Atlas. I didn't know what to expect from it and I was pretty nervous. We had dinner with admissions interns Courtney, Nicole, and Avery.  Jenny who is an admissions director came along with us also. Courtney and Jenny sat closest to me so I decided to take a chance and I dove straight into talking to both of them. Courtney was extremely nice and didn't mind answering all the questions that I had whether it was about what her experience at WashU was like or what type of activities she liked to do. Courtney is on her school’s crew team and due to a shoulder injury, she had to switch positions and become the coxswain. Avery, Nicole, and I all shared that we play an instrument and for most of us, it is a pretty big part of our lives. Nicole is currently a music minor and she described to me all that WashU’s music department had to offer. I know that music is something I want to continue doing in college and from Nicole’s description, I could see myself enjoying the music program at WashU. Looking back at it, I shouldn't have been so worked up about meeting all these people because in the end, everything was easier than I expected.

After talking to everybody at the dinner, I realized that people at WashU are all actually really nice and are willing to help you with anything you need. The three students who joined us for our dinner are all examples of that and I can say right now that I've never met people that nice and that willing to open up to people they have never met before. I listened to them talk about all of the admissions interns that they worked with and it seemed like they've known each other for a really long time and were best friends. I was shocked to find out they only just met each other a few weeks ago. I can only conclude that WashU is a very close community of students and teachers who are all very generous towards everybody around them and I know for a fact that one day, I want to be a part of a college community that has this type of chemistry. 

Jimmy, Alexa, Victoria, Courtney, Oyin, Avery, Nicole, and Dani