Anna Dorsey | Illustration Editor

It’s the fall semester of freshman year. The air seems littered with “What are you majoring in?” and “Where are you from?” even though it’s well past orientation and the first week of classes. After the mandatory questions are out of the way, many people like to spring the slightly deeper “Why did you choose WashU?” on you. For some, this question is an easy one. They applied to WashU via Early Decision or QuestBridge, or they just knew that WashU was the right place for them. For others, however, WashU was far from their top choice.

Although personally, WashU was my “reach” school, many people at my high school (usually those destined for MIT, Stanford, and Harvard) referred to it as an “Ivy reject school.” With admissions to those schools becoming progressively more competitive, many high-performing students have nixed the Ivy League for schools like Emory University, Tufts University, and WashU — schools that are a bit more attainable.

So while an ever-increasing number of WashU students apply Early Decision, some students simply believe that they would have preferred attending another school, at least when they start their fall semester.

As a first-year, I expected orientation to be a constant barrage of conversations about all of the acceptances and rejections that everyone received. To my surprise, that wasn’t at all the case. The vast majority of people I talked to during Bear Beginnings didn’t ever mention other schools they considered, and those that did seemed overall happy to be at WashU. Contrastingly, when I mentioned this observation to some of the upperclassmen in my Nemerov seminar, they were slightly surprised.

Sophomore Ellie Fischman shared that if there ever was an “Ivy League reject” culture at WashU, it seems to have declined in recent years. Although Fischman has only been at WashU for two years now, she experienced many discussions about WashU’s “Ivy League reject” culture at her high school, as many of her upperclassmen preceded her in attending WashU. 

Fischman described the “Ivy League reject” culture at WashU not being inherently negative, but rather a point of connection between students with similar admissions stories. 

“It’s kind of a funny joke to make,” Fischman said. 

WashU may not be one of the eight official Ivy League schools, but with the smallest acceptance rate we’ve had in years, and breaking into the U.S. News 2026 Top 20 National Universities ranking, it is still an academically rigorous school. Therefore, WashU’s statistics support Fischman’s explanation of the overall good-hearted nature of our student base’s Ivy League jokes.

Fischman went on to explain that the country’s well-known, lauded universities are no longer the “pinnacle of open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity.” The phenomenon of students broadening their horizons to include schools like WashU, instead of just reaching for the eight Ivies, has been increasingly reported on in recent years by media outlets such as Forbes and the Atlantic. 

While the merits of an education from any of the Ivy League schools are hardly in question, the drawbacks have become topics of discussion within the past few college admissions cycles. Most notably discussed by David Brooks, many critics of the Ivy League base their opprobriums in the inequity that within some circles is synonymous with elite higher education. Brooks wrote at length within a 2024 article in the Atlantic about the meritocratic and legacy-centric system upon which many private universities are based; however, Brooks focused on the eight Ivy League schools. Brooks argued that despite their public and intellectual contributions, the Ivy League “broke America.”

While Brooks’ take is a rather extreme one, Forbes takes a more logical approach in breaking down the reasons why the Ivy League may not be the best fit for all students. Forbes weighs the importance of an Ivy League degree by considering factors such as financial aid, student-to-faculty ratios, alumni network, available resources, and more. Forbes distinctly outlines the high cost of Ivies for some students, despite their offering of financial aid. Supporting Forbes’ financial aid argument, the Princeton Review ranked WashU’s financial aid services third in the country, while no Ivies appeared in the top three spots on this list. Of course, there are also the pros of an Ivy League education — Brown’s student-to-faculty ratio is an impressive 6:1.

Forbes also discussed the aggressively competitive admissions process. As previously mentioned, it is not easy to get into WashU. Ivies are extremely selective, another factor in why students are turning toward non-Ivy well-regarded institutions, like WashU, Emory, and Tufts.

However, Fischman suggested that media outlets such as Forbes fail to consider equally important characteristics of a school, like a steadfast commitment to student satisfaction. As a WashU Student Associate (WUSA), Fischman has specific insight into the gravity with which the WashU administration considers students’ support systems. 

WashU boasts a 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio, neck-and-neck with Ivy League statistics. While research resources seem closely linked to the Ivy League brand within the common psyche, in 2024, WashU was the second largest recipient of NIH funding for medical research.

Senior film major Cole Bernstein somewhat debunked the suspected “Ivy reject culture” of WashU, explaining that some students’ lack of enthusiasm of being at WashU doesn’t necessarily correlate with the need to be at an Ivy. He suggested that it is easy for general anxiety about college to manifest in doubting one’s choice of school.

“It’s natural that people will [wonder,] ‘Am I at the right place?’” Bernstein said.  

WashU has a lot of student pride, specifically surrounding financial aid, according to Bernstein. 

“It’s one of the things that makes me proud to go here,” he said. 

Bernstein’s pride is founded in more than just his perspective — the Princeton Review gave WashU’s financial aid an almost perfect score.

While one could argue that stress will be pervasive in any higher education setting, students at Ivies, according to a student-written Brown Daily Herald article, struggle with an otherworldly type of cutthroat competitiveness every day. Contrastingly, Bernstein said that it’s “not even a thought” for many WashU students, especially humanities majors, to act as though they are in direct opposition to their peers. The Princeton Review agrees with Bernstein’s sentiment, highlighting WashU’s highly collaborative student culture within its analysis of the University.

Yet another student-led Ivy League newspaper, The Daily Princetonian, explores the downfalls of the Ivy League in regards to how students are treated, both in admissions and on campus.

While some may argue that WashU remains within the “Ivy reject” category, over time, WashU has become known for its excellence in a plethora of fields, including those that don’t necessarily come to mind when considering the historic Ivy League schools, like student support and satisfaction. At any school, there will inevitably be a mix of students who treat the university they attend as their dream school, and those who once pictured other institutions as their primary options.

At the end of the day, an individual’s post-graduate opinion of their university is a more accurate reflection of the school than the opinion they held during their first few months, or even years, there. Whether WashU was your first choice or your last, adjusting to college is hard for everyone and takes time. Make the effort to grow your circle and learn something new about WashU and your community. Ivy Leagues are more than acceptance rates and ratios — so is WashU.