Washington University in St. Louis (also referred to as WashU, or WUSTL) is a private research university located in the St. Louis metropolitan area and in Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853, and named after George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all 50 U.S. states and more than 120 countries. Twenty-five Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Washington University, nine having done the major part of their pioneering research at the university. Washington University's undergraduate program is ranked 18th by U.S. News & World Report in 2018 and 11th by the Wall Street Journal in 2016. The university is ranked 20th in the world in 2017 by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.Washington University is made up of seven graduate and undergraduate schools that encompass a broad range of academic fields. To prevent confusion over its location, the Board of Trustees added the phrase "in St. Louis" in 1976.HistoryEarly history (1853–1900)Washington University was conceived by 17 St. Louis business, political, and religious leaders concerned by the lack of institutions of higher learning in the Midwest. Missouri State Senator Wayman Crow and Unitarian minister William Greenleaf Eliot, grandfather of the poet T.S. Eliot, led the effort.
