Neither reaction helps you. What helps you is understanding what this university is, using official data, without embellishment and without warnings that make it seem worse than it deserves. That is what we are going to do here.
What Kind of University It Is, in Terms You Can Use
Washington University in St. Louis is classified by the Carnegie system—the system that organizes this country's universities according to what they actually do—among doctoral institutions with the highest level of research activity. It is a private, nonprofit, four-year school that offers programs through the doctoral level. It is not a community college or a small liberal arts college: it is a large institution, with master's and doctoral programs operating alongside bachelor's degree programs.
It is also classified as highly residential: at least half of its undergraduate students live in housing owned, controlled, or affiliated with the institution, and eight out of ten attend full time. It also appears in the most selective admissions group recognized by Carnegie. That label does not tell you how many out of every hundred applicants get in—we will look at that later—but it does tell you that you are looking at a school designed to be demanding.
It is in Saint Louis, Missouri, within that city's metropolitan area, but the census code places it in a suburb, not in the urban center. If your child were considering living at home, the only honest way to know whether that is practical is to drive the route on a weekday at the actual time of their classes. Maps lie about time; traffic does not.
One clarification is worth making right away: Washington University in St. Louis is not registered as a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. That is not a judgment; it is simply the data. It says nothing about which communities the university serves today or how your child would feel there. Ask directly: what cultural centers exist, what student organizations are available, and, better yet, speak with someone who already studies there.
The Community's Actual Size, and Why the Big Number Is Misleading
When someone tells you, “Washington University has 16,500 students,” pause for a moment. That number combines undergraduate and graduate students in almost equal proportions: 8,267 undergraduates and 8,233 people who have already completed a degree and are studying something further. If your child is beginning a first degree, the number that matters is 8,267, not the total. It is still a large school—one of the largest among its selective private peers, with barely one out of ten schools in that group exceeding it in size—but it is important to know exactly what size we are talking about when thinking specifically about your child.
Within that undergraduate population, Hispanic or Latino students account for 12 out of every 100. It is a small minority, although it ranks above the midpoint of its comparable schools on that measure. That does not remove it from your list if your family is Latino. It is, however, a reason to investigate during a visit: what student group exists, whether there is a cultural center, and whether anyone in the admissions or student-life office speaks Spanish.
Another fact worth keeping in mind: fewer than one-fourth of first-time students—12 out of every 100, to be exact—had reported permanent residency in Missouri. Most come from outside the state or the country. This does not directly measure distance or travel costs, but if your child would have to fly or drive several hours to get there, that is a real expense that you must include in your family's budget, not something the published cost of attendance itemizes separately.
How It Works Internally: Calendar, Majors, and Class Size
The academic year is organized into semesters, two periods of about 15 weeks. The university accepts credit for AP exams, but not for life experience, and it does not enroll high school students in college courses for credit. Accepting AP does not mean that every exam automatically earns credit: ask for the equivalency chart in writing before your child enrolls, and do not count on those savings until you have it in hand.
In terms of academic offerings, the university awarded 1,868 bachelor's degrees between July 2022 and June 2023, distributed across 22 fields of study. None accounts for a majority: even engineering, the largest, represented only 14 out of every 100 degrees awarded that year. The offerings are broad, without a single specialty dominating the landscape. That said, “22 fields with a row in the report” does not equal 22 complete majors in the current catalog: verify the exact program that interests your child, because one CIP family may group several distinct programs.
And here is a number that often impresses families: for every full-time-equivalent instructional employee, there are only 7 students. It is among the lowest ratios reported in this type of comparison. But be careful: that figure does not measure the actual size of a classroom or the availability of a specific professor. It relates aggregate numbers; it does not count seats. Ask directly how many students are in first-year classes.
The university also reports structured pathways worth knowing about if they apply to your child's interests: study abroad, undergraduate research outside the classroom, a complete program offered only during evenings or weekends, and teacher-certification pathways, including state approval for initial teacher certification.
The Entrance Door: What It Requires and What It Really Means for Admission to Be Difficult
This is where many families feel a knot in their stomach. Let us take it one step at a time.
Washington University in St. Louis does not have open admission. Of the nine considerations it reviews during the process, four are required: the high school record, the personal essay, letters of recommendation, and an English-proficiency exam for applicants to whom it applies. Put another way, gathering documents is not enough here. Your child has to write, and that essay counts.
There are other components that are not required but are considered if you submit them: high school GPA, class rank, completion of the university's recommended curriculum, a portfolio or skills exam, work experience, and whether a family member studied there. On that last point: if it does not apply to you, do not spend energy worrying about it. Spend that energy on what is within your child's control. The published application fee is $75.
Now for the figure everyone asks about first: in the 2023 cycle, the university received 32,240 first-time applications and offered admission to 3,855 applicants. That is 12 out of every 100. Compared with nearly a thousand similar selective private schools, it is among those that admit the smallest shares: nine out of ten of those schools admitted a higher percentage of their applicants. On the other side of that calculation are 28,385 applicants who did not receive an offer.
I need to tell you something very clearly, because it is easy for this number to become a silent judgment about your child: this figure says nothing about your child's worth. It says how many places were offered compared with how many were requested. A low percentage does not make a school better; a high one does not make it worse. Your responsibility is to make sure that your child's list is not made up only of schools of this caliber. It should also include schools that admit most applicants.
One interesting fact is worth understanding: of the admitted first-year students, close to half—47 out of every 100—ultimately enrolled here. That is a high percentage compared with similar schools, where a smaller fraction typically enrolls. But this number does not measure quality or satisfaction either. It only counts how many admitted students decided to enroll that fall. When your child's admission letters arrive, this statistic is not what decides the matter: compare net price, major, and distance, letter by letter, before the deposit deadline.
Regarding standardized tests: the SAT and ACT are optional here. If your child submits them, they are considered; if not, the application remains active just the same. Among those who enrolled and submitted SAT scores, the middle half scored between 730 and 770 in reading and writing, and between 770 and 800 in mathematics. Those numbers come from students who were already admitted, not everyone who applied, and they are neither a minimum nor a guarantee.
And regarding transfers: in fall 2023, 196 students enrolled for the first time after having studied at another university. That is a count of people arriving, not a departure rate, and this school did not report that other figure. How many credits the university accepts when they arrive is a question to ask the admissions office directly.
The Sticker Price, and Why It Is Not the Real Price
At Washington University in St Louis, among 70 first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $4,391. Among 108 students in the same population with EFC family income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $1,863; among 292 students with EFC family income above $110,000, it was $42,712. For dependent students, the band combines their parents' income with their own.
There is a difference of $38,321 between the average for the lowest-income band (70 students) and the average for the highest-income band (292 students). These are group averages, not a prediction of your family's price. Among first-year students who received any grant or scholarship aid, the average was $22,440.
Among the 937 schools of the same type and control included in this census that reported this figure with the same time coverage, this one falls within the least expensive quartile for the lowest-income families after grants and scholarships are subtracted. That does not mean it is inexpensive for your family. It is a fact that carries weight when you build the list of schools to which your child will apply.
Because the price changes so much from one income band to another, correctly identifying yours is the first step. The income bands in this profile describe first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid; at public institutions, they use the in-state or in-district rate. The overall average with grant or scholarship aid, when shown, describes first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal, state, local, or institutional grants or scholarships. The financial-aid letter you receive is what matters.
Grants, Pell, and Loans: Who Receives What, and What It Means
Out of every 100 degree-seeking students here, 46 received some form of grant or scholarship aid that does not have to be repaid. That leaves 54 without that type of aid. Among those who received it, the annual average was $53,126—a huge number, but not your offer: when your child's letter arrives, what matters is how much your family would have to pay out of pocket, not the size of the discount.
Only 17 out of every 100 students received a Pell Grant, the federal aid for low-income families with demonstrated need. It is a low figure. Do not assume it will be included: before applying, ask for the complete list of available grants and scholarships, who qualifies, and the deadlines for each application.
Regarding loans: in the 2022-23 school year, only 14 out of every 100 undergraduate students received a federal student loan. Most did not use one. Among those who did borrow, the average amount was $6,044 that year. Compared with similar schools, students here use federal loans less often than at nearly all of them.
But I want to tell you something with complete candor, because it is the uncomfortable truth behind this seemingly good number: the fact that few students borrowed does not mean everyone had enough money. There may have been grant or scholarship aid, employment, family savings, or another kind of debt that this report simply does not record. And that average of $6,044 is for only one year and only for federal loans in the student's name. It does not include what parents sign for through Parent PLUS loans, bank debt, or credit cards. Nor is it the total debt someone has upon graduation, because that would require adding several years together, and that number is not in this report.
The university also offers a prepaid tuition plan and an installment payment plan in case your family needs to spread the cost out differently.
Campus Life: Housing, ROTC, Sports, and Support
Washington University in St. Louis has its own housing, with a reported capacity of 7,088 students on or off campus. It does not require all first-year students to live there, although that does not mean no program requires it: ask about the exact rule for your child's year and program. It also offers meal plans, but the number of meals per week varies according to the plan you choose.
If your child is interested in ROTC, the university reports two active branches: Army and Air Force. Navy is not marked. Being reported does not mean the program is necessarily offered on this specific campus—that must be confirmed by name before building a plan around it.
In sports, the university does compete at the intercollegiate level and is affiliated with national athletic associations, including the NCAA, for football, basketball, baseball, and cross-country or track. The affiliation belongs to the institution; it does not guarantee your child a place. If your child is interested in competing, contact the coach for that sport directly and ask about roster openings and athletic scholarships.
Distance education is available at the undergraduate and graduate levels, although very few students—4 out of every 100—take all their courses that way; the rest take at least one class in person. The library has trained staff, physical and digital collections, and interlibrary lending. It exceeds the expenditure threshold the government uses to identify libraries with substantial resources.
Among the support services the institution reports are combined academic and career counseling, employment services, on-campus childcare, participation in the Yellow Ribbon program for veterans, a dedicated point of contact for military families, a student veterans' organization, and a published services page for people with disabilities.
They Stay and They Finish: What Retention and Graduation Tell Us
Here, Washington University in St. Louis reports numbers that rank among the highest in its comparable group, and it is worth knowing them precisely, not through vague adjectives.
Of the cohort of full-time students who entered in fall 2022, 96 out of every 100 were still enrolled or had already graduated one year later. It is among the highest retention rates of its selective peers.
Of those who entered bachelor's degree programs in 2017, 94 out of every 100 graduated within six years. At four years, the figure had already reached 87 out of every 100—only 7 points below the final six-year result. It is among the schools that graduate the largest shares of students among its comparable institutions.
And looking at a longer window: of the cohort that entered between July 2015 and June 2016, by the August 2023 reporting date—eight years later—92 out of every 100 had earned a degree or certificate from this school. That same figure, 92 out of every 100, is exactly repeated among students who received a Pell Grant. The fact that the two figures match does not mean the path was the same for everyone; it only means that the final outcome, measured this way, was similar.
I need to tell you this with the same clarity with which I gave you the good news: a high percentage is not a promise for your child. It is what happened to a specific cohort, under specific circumstances, several years ago. What is within your control, and your child's, is to make sure that the credits are in order upon entry, that your child knows who the academic adviser is from the first semester, and that your child knows the registration dates for courses in the major. The university does not guarantee that. You build that yourselves.
What You Now Know, and What You Still Need to Find Out
You now know an important part of Washington University in St. Louis: what kind of institution it is, how difficult it is to get in, how high the sticker price is and how different the actual price may be depending on your family's income, how grants, scholarships, and loans work there, and how likely a student who enters is to finish with a degree in hand.
None of these numbers decides for you. Nor does it decide for your child. If your child is just beginning to build a college list, ask what your child wants to study and how far away your child can imagine living while doing so. If your child is already applying, now is the time to write the essay carefully and request the AP credit equivalencies in writing. If the admission letters are about to arrive, prepare to place them side by side and compare net price, not promises.
This university is neither a prize nor a sentence. It is a real possibility, with numbers that you can now read without being intimidated by them. Consider them together with what your child wants to study, what your child has already built during high school, and what your family is able and willing to pay. A plan comes from that combination, not from any single number.
Source note: the information in this article comes from official data reported by Washington University in St Louis to the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS system, primarily corresponding to the 2022-23 and 2023-24 cycles. Best College Aid does not represent Washington University in St Louis or any government agency; this article does not constitute personalized admissions advice.