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David is an occasional blogger, software engineer, Nintendo fanboy, liberal, news magazine addict, voracious TiVo user, and bibliophile. He was born in St. Louis, grew up in southern Indiana, and returned to St. Louis to attend Washington University. He hasn't managed to escape yet. He's a fan of free wine tastings, too many tv shows to name, and eating out. David makes his living developing web applications used internally by his employer. He doesn't blog about work because he's heard too many stories about that causing workplace troubles. There's more on the about page. |
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22 December 2003 - 8:35 am
WashU is on the front-page of the NY Times today. Here's the link. The article focuses on WashU's massive fund-raising drive and the fact that they turn a lot of that money into merit-based financial aid, a fact that has some of the Ivies "growling at them." Then, at the end of the article, they throw in this gem:
Still, in its zeal for academic renown, some students said, Wash U. has gone a little too far. Rules concerning alcohol and parties are tighter, they contended, the campus police more intimidating. Old haunts have been replaced with more sterile spaces, they said.Except for the proper spelling and grammar, you'd almost think Student Life had written that paragraph.
Posted by on 22 December 2003 at 8:36 AM
Comments
My family is in that uneasy territory inbetween qualifying for need-based financial aid and being able to afford a private university. If it wasn't for merit-based aid, I'm not sure where I would have gone. Poo on Heather McDonnell and her curious growling.
Posted by Charlie on 22 December 2003 - 3:09 PM
I totally agree with you, Charlie. I wouldn't have gone to WashU if not for the merit-based aid I got. Has anyone seen the studies that back up the claim the merit-based aid is detrimental to lower-income applicants? It was mentioned in the article, but I don't really understand how merit-based aid could be a detriment to anyone. Its not like WashU doesn't also give need-based aid.
Posted by david on 22 December 2003 - 4:31 PM
Ah, but I recently found out much to my dismay that admission to Wash U is not need-blind. For the very top students (who I'm sure are posting to this blog), there is merit-based aid and Wash U will do what they can to get those students here.
But for the rest of the class, and I think this is perhaps as high as 75% of the class, admission is based in part on how much the student can pay.
A student more worthy of admission based on merit may (read: will) be denied admission in favor of a less capable student who can pay his or her own way, totally or partially. This is why merit-based aid is a disadvantage to lower-income families. The very term "merit-based" is in my opinion misleading and is a spin on not being "need-blind".
There are schools that admit need-blind. The admission process is not allowed to look at the students' financial situation at all. Such schools include Rice and Harvard.
Posted by rkc on 31 December 2003 - 4:46 PM
Alas, I wish StudLife wouldn't put such heavy spin on the whole alcohol issue...I, being merely at the top of the food chain in copy editing, not editing editing, haven't been able to do much to stem the tide of blatant pro-alcohol propaganda, as much as I'd love to.
As for aid, would that I'd have gotten more. I was one of the top students in my school - yea, my district - but according to some Clayton/U. City denizens, that's not saying much when you're from North County, St. Louis, like I am.
Posted by Margaret on 7 February 2004 - 11:33 PM