Like any place, there are positive and negative traits when it comes to Wash. U. Having two sons that attended there, we fell in love right in the beginning with the school with it's friendly employees, well maintained grounds and structures from top to bottom as well as their excellent sports programs. After a few years we started to see some of the negative traits surface that brought us back to the reality that Wash U. is just like most universities these days, liberal, narrow minded in that aspect and the fact that if you believe in ANY conservative views, you're wrong and they (leftists) are right which makes you a neanderthal for believing in capitalism and not their warped socialist views (everyone rides for free). The place is NOT friendly to people who have conservative beliefs and I suppose it was good that my wife and I didn't realize this until my eldest son's graduation when the chancellor himself started professing his anti gun stance. (at a graduation...really??) During the last two years of my youngest son's college education, the place became progressively worse with it's left wing slant and the journalism of the student newspaper, Student Life, mirrored this fact with a recent article by a reporter that celebrated the fact that campus is liberally oriented and conservatives basically could go away if they didn't like that fact because there was no room there for them there on that campus. Of course it was denied by upper management in a later edition and the student was chastised for this article by the university leadership and some other readers, but, in all reality, I feel that is the way that the majority of the population at the campus feels. Dealing with the extremist liberals in life has moved my social equilibrium from being moderately conservative with some positive progressive views (my love of nature and animals) to a much harder conservative stance.
Basically it is a good university on the outside looking in and on the overall in general with preparing youth for their chosen professions. But there is a rotten liberal core in the center that goes to the top man when it comes to narrow minded liberal ideals. No place for a person that believes that killing unborn children is wrong, supports the second amendment (right to bear arms), believes that one should stand for the flag during the playing of the national anthem(out of support for those that fought for it) and one that supports our first responders dealing with the difficult social problems there are these days as well as the life risking hazards of their jobs. It's a real shame and I hate that I fell out of love with Wash. U. I just think it's a place for a kid to go to college now, same as a state school and my love for and loyalty to the place has died. The school gave my kids a start in life, and I won't forget that or the people that were good to them during their time there. We met many of those good and kind people from coaches to counselors to plain people that worked at the eateries that took good care of our kids during their stay there. That is why I gave Wash. U. three positive stars. There IS more good than bad there. But, I also won't forget the people that were rotten to them while they were there and take into account the aggravation and distractions my youngest son faced from the liberal snake pit that is student housing leadership. It's WILD WILD WILD how dark hearted, and bullyish that leadership is with kids just trying to get a degree. During the last semester I told my son to keep his head down, his nose clean and for him to get out of there with his sheepskin when those jokers tried to drag him into a mess that he had nothing to do with. Those people won't be forgotten for the ridiculous group of micromanaging bullies they are and for this they garnered the university two negative stars and left a sour taste in my mouth for WUSTL that won't ever go away. Ivy League of the Midwest?..Think about what you want in life as a prospective student before applying. There might be a better place to go.