theory about wash u

Originally posted by WuzUpDoc
i hate to throw a wrench in all this great analytical reasoning.... but, i know someone who got into WashU with an mcat <33, bcmp <3.4, overall gpa ~3.6.... o ya, and this person is an URM

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just because wash u accepts a URM with a 32 mcat and 3.6 gpa doesn't mean that they've never accepted a caucasian with similar statistics, a 32 and a 3.6 isn't bad by any means. i think it's silly how many threads there are every day questioning whether or not Wash U is a good school or whether or not it only accepts people with 40 on their mcat. if you don't like it there, don't apply, but it's not up to you to change the minds of everyone else who's considering applying there. if they like it there, then what's wrong with that? they're making a good decision for their own medical education... it's a great school, anyone who's looking for justification on SDN on whether or not they should go there should post in the allopathic area, not here where people just bash on stuff that they don't know much about... wash u is ranked as a good school even if you filter it by Residency Score, NIH score, and Peer Evaluation score, so that should tell you something... it's not just about the mcat...

Originally posted by adesua
I just wanted to add that in terms of drives towards improving diversity by exanding URMs at WashU, I heard that Wash U is instituting about 10 merit scholarships for URMs. So it seems the school is not ignoring the problem of diversity of the student body but rather are actually working to solve this.

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I think WashU would go a long way in improving their reputation if they did this.

They have already built up a top caliber reputation for doing research and getting residency positions, I think they could deflect a lot of the criticism directed at them if they had a more diverse class.

Thanks to ManchotPi, Adesua and others for a very interesting and informative discussion.

As of right now, Wash U offers 5 Distinguished Minority Student Scholarships. So out of the 16-20 merit scholarships they give out, ~25% are reserved for URMs. That's something. I'm not sure how long those scholarships have been around, though. They may be something new or something pretty old.

Wash U is a great school, good numbers, meticulous students. And yes, I'm sure that perhaps they may have slighltly more gunners than most schools that slipped thru the cracks but alot of the ones I met are great. Most if not all people would agree that Wash U is a "research oriented" school, versus other schools that are more "clinically oriented." That doesn't mean they aren't great for clinical skills, it just means that their strength is research and they have the history, the money, and prowess to prove it. 20% of the class is in the MSTP. Step onto their campus in the Central West End in St. Louis or their hospitals and you will feel like you are stepping into the Taj Mahal or some other extravagant place, its amazing.

Sometimes I wonder if they do miss out on some of the clinical aspects. I'm at the other school in St. Louis. During my rotations, we would get alot of the patients rejected from Wash U hospitals because they didnt' have money and wouldn't accept medicare/medicaid. This was especially true especially true from what I heard during the pediatrics rotation. I don't doubt that their doctors are as compassionate as any other. I just question their hospitals' policies on the uninsured and if its a cross over from keeping the status quo high in hospital monetary dollars as it is in keeping NIH dollars up too. Are rejecting patients without money going to far? What's the cutt off? We don't reject patients from our hospital but no doubtly we don't have the returns in medicine monetarily than if we did. There is alot to be learned from the clinical aspect of the uninsured and the underserved.

Originally posted by bewitched1081
ive been thinking about this for awhile. i heard the debate about wash u and numbers. some say that it is sacrificing something by only accepting high stat students. well, it may not be sacrificing too much.

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is slu affiliated with more county or public hospitals than wash u?

minter said:

is slu affiliated with more county or public hospitals than wash u?

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Yay for SLUCare!

Jason