2010-2011 Saint Louis University Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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bigballer27 said:
hey so my situation is kinda weird

im going to be finishing school at the end of my winter quarter...so i don't think that makes me a full time student for the entire 2010-2011 year...do i need to explain what i will be doing during spring quarter (i have no clue right now lol)...???
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I would say that you will be graduating in December and then tell them what your plans or intended plans are for the spring.
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bigballer27 said:
hey so my situation is kinda weird

im going to be finishing school at the end of my winter quarter...so i don't think that makes me a full time student for the entire 2010-2011 year...do i need to explain what i will be doing during spring quarter (i have no clue right now lol)...???
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write what you plan on doing, or what you want to do during that semester.

also, here is some of the stuff some of us wrote in our "extra comments" box that we were unable to explain on our AMCAS application.

-Why we are interested in SLU.
-What ECs we want to get involved in when we get to SLU.
-Going into more detail regarding bad grades or dips in grades
-Stuff we did between our AMCAS and our secondary.
-Expanding on a specific activity or two, especially if you really wanted to add that to your PS but ran out of characters.

Hope this helps.
 
drmertaban said:
yeah i was going to ask the same thing re: whether we should include comments or not. i have connections w/a friend on the admission committee @ SLU so i am waiting to hear back from him but once i do, i will post a reply here for everyone to benefit from.

i am thinking one of two things:

1. admissions committee members already have so much to read: AMCAS application + personal statement, are they really going to sit and read more in your "comments" section?

2. maybe they really do read this section and it could sincerely enhance your chances at being admitted.

we shall see. more to come!
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i definetely think your should write something in this section. not doing so makes you, IMO, seem lazy and uncommitted. if you don't write anything else, at least write about why you like SLU.
 
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Forven said:
write what you plan on doing, or what you want to do during that semester.

also, here is some of the stuff some of us wrote in our "extra comments" box that we were unable to explain on our AMCAS application.

-Why we are interested in SLU.
-What ECs we want to get involved in when we get to SLU.
-Going into more detail regarding bad grades or dips in grades
-Stuff we did between our AMCAS and our secondary.
-Expanding on a specific activity or two, especially if you really wanted to add that to your PS but ran out of characters.

Hope this helps.
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Thanks a lot, Forven! I'm still waiting to be verified, but I figure it can't hurt to look at secondaries.

Quick question, if you don't mind, on the additional comments section. There are probably a couple areas from what you already mentioned (explaining low ochem/physics grade sophomore year, possibly expanding on activities) that I might want to touch on .. Is it okay if that section is kind of disjunct in terms of these various topics or do we have to find some cohesive way of tying the additional info together

(Sorry if that's a noob question! haha .. I have yet to figure out how secondaries work)

Thanks!
 
2050vlsb said:
Thanks a lot, Forven! I'm still waiting to be verified, but I figure it can't hurt to look at secondaries.

Quick question, if you don't mind, on the additional comments section. There are probably a couple areas from what you already mentioned (explaining low ochem/physics grade sophomore year, possibly expanding on activities) that I might want to touch on .. Is it okay if that section is kind of disjunct in terms of these various topics or do we have to find some cohesive way of tying the additional info together

(Sorry if that's a noob question! haha .. I have yet to figure out how secondaries work)

Thanks!
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They will be disjointed if you write them that way. But you can easily compose the essay in such a way that everything ties together.

Introduce it with something like this: "I am excited to attend SLU...(blah blah)....I would like to expand on a few activities in my AMCAS application, as well as explain some discrepancies regarding my grades."

Then you can use "In addition" "furthermore" "secondly" etc. etc. to create a transition between your topics.

hope this helps. if you, or anyone else, needs specific help please PM me. I am willing to read over essays and provide comments.

good luck!
 
bigballer27 said:
hey so my situation is kinda weird

im going to be finishing school at the end of my winter quarter...so i don't think that makes me a full time student for the entire 2010-2011 year...do i need to explain what i will be doing during spring quarter (i have no clue right now lol)...???
Click to expand...

I am in the same position and said no and explained I was graduating. For my essay I just explained that my plans are still very much up in the air because I don't have a job lined up but then put the few things I do have planned. It felt a bit tricky because it is not like I really wanted to take time off but I don't want them to think I am planning on sitting around all semester... Oh well :)
 
so i got a little overzealous with this app. I certified my application but did not answer a few questions. They were whether I have family at SLU, any previous applications and whether I want MD/PHD. The answer to all 3 is "no", but it just says no items indicated since I forgot to answer. Should I shoot an e-mail to the admissions committee explaining this or not worry about it?
 
ronaldo23 said:
so i got a little overzealous with this app. I certified my application but did not answer a few questions. They were whether I have family at SLU, any previous applications and whether I want MD/PHD. The answer to all 3 is "no", but it just says no items indicated since I forgot to answer. Should I shoot an e-mail to the admissions committee explaining this or not worry about it?
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check back when its certified. if its still there, then send them the e-mail. it won't hurt you to send it anyways, though.


edit: you're already certified. then send it if you want. if you did the MD app, then you obviously didn't do the MD/Phd one (you just do one of them), so thats maybe why it says that u didn't indicate. did anyone else see this when they were certified?
 
bigballer27 said:
check back when its certified. if its still there, then send them the e-mail. it won't hurt you to send it anyways, though.


edit: you're already certified. then send it if you want. if you did the MD app, then you obviously didn't do the MD/Phd one (you just do one of them), so thats maybe why it says that u didn't indicate. did anyone else see this when they were certified?
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Mine says no items indicated for question 2 (if a member of family is a student or graduate of SLU) but for the MD/PhD one it says no. I could have sworn I put no for question 2 though, so I don't know...
 
So I'm trying to start writing my secondary...does anyone know what an awesome feature slu has that i can use to say im interested in??

ALL HELP MUCH APPRECIATED!!
 
Kip said:
Should I use bullets for the "Please describe your current activities... (max 10,000 characters)" section? (Box shows up if you select no for being a student during 2010-2011)
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i have heard others have done that and were fine. personally i would show off your writing skills by writing it in an essay format.

good luck!
 
IrishCalini said:
Okay, so as far as the additional comments, I feel like I can go two different routes (or maybe do both).

I'm a premed/music (concentration in vocal performance) double major. Unfortunately, I really didn't have any place (except one sentence in my personal statement) to address this... I'd love to use the additional comments section to delve into this more, however...

I'd also like to talk about why I want to go to SLU, because its one of my top choices.

SO my question is, for the additional comments section, should I address the music major, why I want to go to SLU, or both?? What do you guys think?
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Address both! I was a Graphic Design/Photography major. I talked about how this helped me experience a wide variety of cultures and tastes, and will help me understand and communicate efficiently with my future patients. Also talk about how your music will help you relax and allow you to "recharge your batteries" thus giving you the energy to focus on your studies.

Is there anything "musical" about the STL area that you could use to tie your essay together?
 
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Has anyone who received the app on Friday NOT submitted their app yet?
 
The biggest mistake I made was telling them that they weren't "due" until the end of June. I was not expecting secondaries to drop this fast. LECOM's came out June 10th.
 
taylormade2006 said:
The biggest mistake I made was telling them that they weren't "due" until the end of June. I was not expecting secondaries to drop this fast. LECOM's came out June 10th.
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I am waiting on my school's committee letter. The thing is I know for a fact I was the second student they discussed this year (in early May right after school let out). There is absolutely no reason they shouldn't have uploaded it especially since I requested it by the middle of May. The chair is ignoring my emails and he hasn't been in his office either. Since we have the committee our Prof's get cranky if we ask for separate letters so I am kind of stuck. I am about to break all sorts of boundaries and call the Chair at home if he hasn't responded by Monday lol.
 
what is your hurry with the LORs? Most committees BEGIN to send letters from mid july on...

Be careful, you don't want them to go into Passive-Aggressive Mode...
 
DocBell said:
I am waiting on my school's committee letter. The thing is I know for a fact I was the second student they discussed this year (in early May right after school let out). There is absolutely no reason they shouldn't have uploaded it especially since I requested it by the middle of May. The chair is ignoring my emails and he hasn't been in his office either. Since we have the committee our Prof's get cranky if we ask for separate letters so I am kind of stuck. I am about to break all sorts of boundaries and call the Chair at home if he hasn't responded by Monday lol.
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Haha if you call him at home..that may show either "DocBell is very motivated and always tries to make sure he gets what he wants. For example, during LOR request season, he called me at home after I told him..."
 
BrainBuff said:
what is your hurry with the LORs? Most committees BEGIN to send letters from mid july on...

Be careful, you don't want them to go into Passive-Aggressive Mode...
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I am in a hurry because when the chair told me to get my secondaries in early I listened :) So technically my anxiety is his fault. But no worries my school is pretty small so we actually communicate with our Professors via phone frequently (which is how I have his home number to begin with) but I really hate to use it for something like this... Who knows I may hold off a couple weeks more lol.
 
my school has a "no-nagging" policy. if we submitted any information a day late, or asked about the status of our committee letters, our packets were intentionally delayed 10 business days.

:thumbdown:
 
Forven said:
my school has a "no-nagging" policy. if we submitted any information a day late, or asked about the status of our committee letters, our packets were intentionally delayed 10 business days.

:thumbdown:
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Wow thats really rough! How do you even know your school has all your info? Doesn't work that way at my school at all. They get really busy with their research so they tell us to stay on top of it by reminding them. A lot of kids apply later so it is basically first come first serve with letter requests and reminder emails and the like. Lots of people in my class are still waiting on MCAT scores and the like so they don't really need their letter yet. They do their best to accommodate us early folks but we have to make it happen by being on top of our letter status.

Haha talking to you all is making me feel neurotic (which I am) but this is pretty typical for my school (honest). One of this girls who called him at home last year ended up getting accepted to Mayo so it obviously didn't hurt her chances :)
 
My school is relatively small, so they don't have much of a problem. they stagger our deadlines to make sure they get everything. so for example by march our letters must be recieved by the office, and by april we must have taken the mcat etc.

for every day we are late it's a 10 day delay for our packets.

sucks, but it keeps us on our toes, and helped us get our apps out very quickly.
 
Forven said:
My school is relatively small, so they don't have much of a problem. they stagger our deadlines to make sure they get everything. so for example by march our letters must be recieved by the office, and by april we must have taken the mcat etc.

for every day we are late it's a 10 day delay for our packets.

sucks, but it keeps us on our toes, and helped us get our apps out very quickly.
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Wow. I almost wish our school did it like that. They only write the one letter for us but everyone gets their input and the people you ask to be involved get more say in your ranking than the other committee members. We have to fill out a really long detailed application though. It is a weird system but it works. They say it will affect our letters if we are late with our application but it definitely doesn't lol. They have it due the last day of finals so kids are late all the time! They then meet about each of us in May and usually have the letters out by now... I guess patience is a virtue.

I really like the April MCAT thing. Sounds like a good system. Most of the kids from my school don't take it till May or June of their application cycle. I was unusually early for my class.
 
damn, i still haven't submitted the secondary. i've been so busy with summerschool, still no time to even get the photo or do the optional essay. hopefully these weekend...
 
Good to know there's handful of us still "sitting" on this secondary for one reason or another..I'm just trying to perfect the essay I'm writing for SLU.
 
is their site down for anyone else?
 
shoebusiness85 said:
I'm a little nervous about this question:

5. Were you ever the recipient of any action (e.g. dismissal, disqualification, suspension, etc.) by any college for unacceptable academic performance or conduct violations?

I had a minor disciplinary action against me in college, and explained very well and contritely it on my AMCAS. What worries me is that this is basically the exact same question that was on the AMCAS. Would it be bad to basically just copy and paste my AMCAS response, or does that show lack of contrition because I didn't take the time to use other words to explain what happened and how I grew from it?
The problem is that I used very carefully crafted language on my AMCAS response, and it will be hard to change it.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Why on Earth are they asking an almost identical AMCAS question?!!
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Secondaries often recycle questions...I would answer it with the AMCAS version, IFF (if and only if) this is identical to the AMCAS question. I think some schools *may* look ONLY or "VERY HEAVILY" at their secondary...like it gives them a quick and easy way to hone in on what they're looking for.
 
Anyone know the character/word limits on these questions?

Thanks!
 
For those that submitted, did anyone get a confirmation email? The only thing hints at "completion" is my status says "application complete"..I'm new to this process and most schools have sent me some sort of "complete" email
 
Asyouwereatrio said:
For those that submitted, did anyone get a confirmation email? The only thing hints at "completion" is my status says "application complete"..I'm new to this process and most schools have sent me some sort of "complete" email
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i don't remember if i got it...and i have gmail so i never delete my mail...did a few searches and could not find one.
 
Everytime I type into the boxes for "additional information" it doesn't count the words or characters. Does this happen to anyone?

Also is there a character limit for the "additional information" box? Seems like there isn't.
 
There is technically a limit, but its 10,000 characters, which is a lot.
 
DoctaFuture said:
Everytime I type into the boxes for "additional information" it doesn't count the words or characters. Does this happen to anyone?

Also is there a character limit for the "additional information" box? Seems like there isn't.
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I could be mixing up schools' applications, but I believe that last year it didn't count the characters until after you saved the page.

I wouldn't worry about using the whole character limit. I believe mine was three short paragraphs about why I thought I was a good fit for SLU and why the school appealed to me.
 
I sent my AMCAS application in June 10, and hvent received a secondary yet. I wonder if that is because I am currently on the wait list?
 
bige11 said:
I sent my AMCAS application in June 10, and hvent received a secondary yet. I wonder if that is because I am currently on the wait list?
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When were you verified? June 10th? is that when you hit submit?
 
DocBell said:
When were you verified? June 10th? is that when you hit submit?
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June 10 was when I hit submit, but all of my documents (transcripts,lor, etc.) had already been sent. My application has been verified for weeks now and I have already received many other secondaries.
 
bige11 said:
June 10 was when I hit submit, but all of my documents (transcripts,lor, etc.) had already been sent. My application has been verified for weeks now and I have already received many other secondaries.
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It sounds like you said in your earlier post that you're on the waiting list at SLU...I would call the Office of Admissions to reconfirm that and for that reason alone, you have not yet received a secondary...
 
I havent submitted yet either. I took the July 8th MCAT, and I told myself to let the secondaries go until after (since most schools wont make their decision on me until they get that score anyway...)

Also, a lot of schools have the "any additional comments essay", so I'm writing that one now and perfecting it
 
IrishCalini said:
I havent submitted yet either. I took the July 8th MCAT, and I told myself to let the secondaries go until after (since most schools wont make their decision on me until they get that score anyway...)

Also, a lot of schools have the "any additional comments essay", so I'm writing that one now and perfecting it
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most schools have what are you doing doing your year off, explain descrepancies in your app, and is there anything you would like to add.
 
Asyouwereatrio said:
For those that submitted, did anyone get a confirmation email? The only thing hints at "completion" is my status says "application complete"..I'm new to this process and most schools have sent me some sort of "complete" email
Click to expand...

I checked my email from last year, and the only confirmation email I got was that they received my secondary app payment. Hope that helps.
 
mommy2three said:
do any of you know how oos friendly they are in admissions?
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Pretty friendly, I think a fair number of OOS students are accepted. I was OOS and accepted. Good luck.
 
Last edited:
w00t w00t just submitted my secondary, i didnt write anything in the extra comment box out of laziness but i dont think it's a big deal.

hey elmo when do they start sending interview invites????
 
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