“Work hard; play hard” seems to define the experience for student-athletes at Washington University, which offers the seventh-best combination of athletics and academics in the nation, according to the National Collegiate Scouting Association. Wash. U.

Students can tell their friends studying in Division I athletic powerhouses such as Stanford, Duke and Harvard that Washington University is superior athletically and academically. In fact, every school that you cheered for during March Madness and the BCS Bowl Games was ranked below Wash. U.