2009-2010 Washington University in St. Louis Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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VOP said:
Tengo dos interviews,
Will Ross M.D.
Koong-Nah Chung, Ph.D

anyone run into these two before?


and yes, the attempted spanish is horrible,
Click to expand...

I had Dr. Chung for an interviewer. She was very nice.
 
Auriga said:
....rejected! Oh well, it was quiiiiiiiiiite a slim chance (3.0 gpa but 38S MCAT and very non-trad), but hope is the fountain that springs eternal in my fervent heart.
Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...

How were you notified?
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Auriga
....rejected! Oh well, it was quiiiiiiiiiite a slim chance (3.0 gpa but 38S MCAT and very non-trad), but hope is the fountain that springs eternal in my fervent heart.
Good luck everyone!
How were you notified?

--Also, when did you interview
 
VOP said:
Tengo dos interviews,
Will Ross M.D.
Koong-Nah Chung, Ph.D

anyone run into these two before?


and yes, the attempted spanish is horrible,
Click to expand...

DR. ROSS IS THE MANNN! I interviewed with him and it was literally the best interview Ive had so far this season, he is suuuper nice and all his conversation themes were very interesting and not stressful at all. I think he is a big part of why I came out with such a good impression of washu. Google him, he's kind of the ****.
 
VOP said:
Tengo dos interviews,
Will Ross M.D.
Koong-Nah Chung, Ph.D

anyone run into these two before?


and yes, the attempted spanish is horrible,
Click to expand...

I had Dr. Koong-Nah Chung as my only interviewer. She's very nice, so don't be nervous about the interview. She read my application very carefully and asked me questions from a series of notes that she had made. Mostly, they were pretty normal questions such as "why Wash U?" or "tell me about this research." She asked me what I thought about the health bill, so don't be surprised if that one comes up, especially given a certain recent election that happened.
 
thanks eeerybody for the heads up with Dr. Ross and Dr. Chung
 
so if my status page hasn't been updated at this point (I interviewed in early Nov) should I assume waitlist or rejection?

this is tortuous.
 
Accepted..I fell in love with this school during the interview day..Good luck to the rest of you who are still waiting to hear back or have your interview coming up.. I had Dr. Marks for my interview and he was the nicest interviewers I had during this whole process. Once again good luck everyone..
 
petefuse said:
Accepted..I fell in love with this school during the interview day..Good luck to the rest of you who are still waiting to hear back or have your interview coming up.. I had Dr. Marks for my interview and he was the nicest interviewers I had during this whole process. Once again good luck everyone..
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Congrats! That's awesome. Do you mind me asking when you interviewed? Did you get the news today? thx for the 411.
 
petefuse said:
Accepted..I fell in love with this school during the interview day..Good luck to the rest of you who are still waiting to hear back or have your interview coming up.. I had Dr. Marks for my interview and he was the nicest interviewers I had during this whole process. Once again good luck everyone..
Click to expand...

Congratulations! 🙂

I'll be having Dr. James Marks as my interviewer as well! So glad to hear that he's nice. :luck: Anyone else interviewed with him?
 
My interview was on 1/4/2010. I think I relatively heard back quickly from them. I heard last Friday (3 days ago). Good luck to you fluffy. And as for Dr. Marks he asked very few questions and talked a lot about medicine and their philosophy at Wash-U. It should be a very chill interview.
 
Hey all. I have a question for current students.

I am a non-traditional student (late 20s) and one of the things I noticed when I interviewed is that there seemed to be a distinct absence of non-trads at the school. I can't decide how much of this is due to the way the student/interviewee interaction was set up (Pizza party at the dorm, dorms tend to have the younger students, breakfast right next to the dorm, same as above) and how much of it is simply due to their rarity.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me how non-traditional students are received here, particularly by their fellow students. Thanks!
 
Rejected pre-interview via snail mail. Didn't even know they were doing those yet, lol Ah well. I already knew my stats were outta their range. It was fun while it lasted Wash U.


Rejection from Wash U for undergrad, check.
Rejection from Wash U for medical school, check.

No love. 🙁
 
petefuse said:
My interview was on 1/4/2010. I think I relatively heard back quickly from them. I heard last Friday (3 days ago). Good luck to you fluffy. And as for Dr. Marks he asked very few questions and talked a lot about medicine and their philosophy at Wash-U. It should be a very chill interview.
Click to expand...

18 day turnaround? That's quick. You must have been a no brainer acceptance. Congrats! I interviewed a day after you, so maybe I'll be discussed at the next meeting. Anyone know when that is?
 
petefuse said:
My interview was on 1/4/2010. I think I relatively heard back quickly from them. I heard last Friday (3 days ago). Good luck to you fluffy. And as for Dr. Marks he asked very few questions and talked a lot about medicine and their philosophy at Wash-U. It should be a very chill interview.
Click to expand...
I had him as well. It really threw me off since he didn't ask any questions really. I felt like I was interviewing him! I interviewed before you and haven't heard back yet... But if you had the same experience as I did, maybe there is still hope!
 
Latetotheparty said:
Hey all. I have a question for current students.

I am a non-traditional student (late 20s) and one of the things I noticed when I interviewed is that there seemed to be a distinct absence of non-trads at the school. I can't decide how much of this is due to the way the student/interviewee interaction was set up (Pizza party at the dorm, dorms tend to have the younger students, breakfast right next to the dorm, same as above) and how much of it is simply due to their rarity.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me how non-traditional students are received here, particularly by their fellow students. Thanks!
Click to expand...

There are a few students in their late 20s and one in his 30s in my class, and that seems to be the norm. They're accepted just fine in class, and as long as they want to hang out with us, they're accepted outside of class, too.
 
BBender716 said:
Rejected pre-interview via snail mail. Didn't even know they were doing those yet, lol Ah well. I already knew my stats were outta their range. It was fun while it lasted Wash U.


Rejection from Wash U for undergrad, check.
Rejection from Wash U for medical school, check.

No love. 🙁
Click to expand...

Same. Its funny that a 35 MCAT is too low for some places. Oh well, I'm just bitter. Good luck everyone.
 
TheBigBang said:
DR. ROSS IS THE MANNN! I interviewed with him and it was literally the best interview Ive had so far this season, he is suuuper nice and all his conversation themes were very interesting and not stressful at all. I think he is a big part of why I came out with such a good impression of washu. Google him, he's kind of the ****.
Click to expand...

+1 Dr. Ross is awesome! He was really into community outreach, particularly for education. We were brainstorming how to improve science education in public schools for a good bit of the interview, it was a lot of fun and very interesting.
 
Does everyone get the invite to be selected for merit-based full tuition scholarships? I can't imagine that I am top priority for that, but I got this email this morning. Interesting way to phrase the question-what the scholarship would mean to you...

"We are commencing the process of selecting recipients of our merit-based full tuition scholarships. If you would like to be considered for one of these awards, please reply to this e-mail with a brief statement (300 words or less) indicating what the receipt of this scholarship would mean to you. "
 
Yeah I got the same email this morning 🙂
 
jla314 said:
Yeah I got the same email this morning 🙂
Click to expand...


lol thats not surprising-you will definitely be higher priority than me judging from your profile-do you know what factors are looked at?

edit-nevermind i found some info on it
 
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ElegantWeapon said:
lol thats not surprising-you will definitely be higher priority than me judging from your profile-do you know what factors are looked at?

edit-nevermind i found some info on it
Click to expand...

could you please link to it
 
ElegantWeapon said:
Does everyone get the invite to be selected for merit-based full tuition scholarships? I can't imagine that I am top priority for that, but I got this email this morning. Interesting way to phrase the question-what the scholarship would mean to you...

"We are commencing the process of selecting recipients of our merit-based full tuition scholarships. If you would like to be considered for one of these awards, please reply to this e-mail with a brief statement (300 words or less) indicating what the receipt of this scholarship would mean to you. "
Click to expand...

It would mean I could go to school at an awesome place for free. Pretty please!

How does that sound? 🙂
 
ksmi117 said:
It would mean I could go to school at an awesome place for free. Pretty please!

How does that sound? 🙂
Click to expand...

darn, that sounds really similar to my answer!

I think there's about 175,000 reasons that I'd like a full tuition scholarship
 
ksmi117 said:
You can just assume that you didn't get in this round of acceptances. They'll keep reviewing you each time.
Click to expand...

Now I'm confused. I was previously under the following impression:

1. They only review you at the meeting if your interviewer(s) - my only interviewer was Dr. Gurnett BTW - show up and if they get to you.
2. If they don't choose to outright accept you, they defer to a later meeting in say March

But based on the above comment, it sounds like at each meeting they review all new interviews and re-review each previous interview?
 
bobsmith said:
darn, that sounds really similar to my answer!

I think there's about 175,000 reasons that I'd like a full tuition scholarship
Click to expand...
I wonder if this means people will hear back sooner than April this year about scholarships.. because they didn't send it out until late Feb last year. End obnoxious speculation. Title of the e-mail got my heart racing a little 😆
 
petefuse said:
My interview was on 1/4/2010. I think I relatively heard back quickly from them. I heard last Friday (3 days ago). Good luck to you fluffy. And as for Dr. Marks he asked very few questions and talked a lot about medicine and their philosophy at Wash-U. It should be a very chill interview.
Click to expand...

Comoroa said:
I had him as well. It really threw me off since he didn't ask any questions really. I felt like I was interviewing him! I interviewed before you and haven't heard back yet... But if you had the same experience as I did, maybe there is still hope!
Click to expand...

I really wonder though - with an interview like that, what information are they getting about us? Does that really mean that they're just weighing the paper application even more heavily?
 
bigman225 said:
I wonder if this means people will hear back sooner than April this year about scholarships.. because they didn't send it out until late Feb last year. End obnoxious speculation. Title of the e-mail got my heart racing a little 😆
Click to expand...

They're also holding second look weekend earlier this year than last year by 2 weeks (I think), so maybe they want to be able to notify people about scholarships before that so they can make it out
 
WildcatS11 said:
Yeah I doubt everyone gets reviewed every time.
Click to expand...

Looking at last years post, they try to review females before Feb b/c of the Olin deadline so I was almost definitely reviewed then.

Also based on last year, it seems some small number of people who have been waiting months for decisions will get a late Feb/March acceptance, but this wait is almost definitely a sign of being added to Wash U's huge WL.
 
smmypnts said:
Looking at last years post, they try to review females before Feb b/c of the Olin deadline so I was almost definitely reviewed then.

Also based on last year, it seems some small number of people who have been waiting months for decisions will get a late Feb/March acceptance, but this wait is almost definitely a sign of being added to Wash U's huge WL.
Click to expand...

I also found this other post of interest from last years thread June-ish...So I am keeping my hopes high that even if I am eventually WL-ed all will work out ok:

I don't know about campus housing, but I actually got a call from the financial aid office a few hours after Dr. Dodson's call telling me that I was awarded a merit scholarship. Since I had all my financial aid stuff in already, they were also able to direct me to a website, where I could look at my package. I haven't gotten anything in the mail yet, though (I just got in off the waitlist last Tuesday).
user_offline.gif
 
smmypnts said:
I also found this other post of interest from last years thread June-ish...So I am keeping my hopes high that even if I am eventually WL-ed all will work out ok:

I don't know about campus housing, but I actually got a call from the financial aid office a few hours after Dr. Dodson's call telling me that I was awarded a merit scholarship. Since I had all my financial aid stuff in already, they were also able to direct me to a website, where I could look at my package. I haven't gotten anything in the mail yet, though (I just got in off the waitlist last Tuesday).
user_offline.gif
Click to expand...

suggesting that even off the waitlist you can get a merit scholarship? thats pretty awesome-i guess they give everyone a shot!
 
FluffyRabbit said:
I really wonder though - with an interview like that, what information are they getting about us? Does that really mean that they're just weighing the paper application even more heavily?
Click to expand...


So do you think that I am just deferred since someone who interviewed with my interviewer after me got in and I haven't heard? I also haven't gotten a letter saying rejection in the mail yet....
 
Crash88 said:
i think it's based on where your school is located
not where you are from--- at least that's what was said in last year's thread
Click to expand...


Just to add to the "obnoxious speculation," I wanted to bump this. Is it possible that people accepted this round were from schools in a particular area? Maybe (please:xf:) this would explain why petefuse was accepted just three weeks after interviewing.

I didn't think much of this when I first read it, but at my interview, a first year mentioned there was a high number of students from the south interviewing in our round.
 
cdubbz said:
Same. Its funny that a 35 MCAT is too low for some places. Oh well, I'm just bitter. Good luck everyone.
Click to expand...

I have a 35 as well, and I interviewed on Nov 30. The student living next to me had a 41 😛. I have a ton of research and a first author paper so I'm hoping that helps me a bit, but Wash U is definitely a reach considering my GPA and MCATs. If I get waitlisted, I'll be sending out a letter of intent STAT!
 
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bomgd3 said:
I have a 35 as well, and I interviewed on Nov 30. The student living next to me had a 41 😛. I have a ton of research and a first author paper so I'm hoping that helps me a bit, but Wash U is definitely a reach considering my GPA and MCATs. If I get waitlisted, I'll be sending out a letter of intent STAT!
Click to expand...

I think it's pretty sad that people on this thread are getting down on themselves for a 35 MCAT. Getting even a 35 would put you in about the 90th percentile if I remember correctly.

I am sure that a lot of the people accepted to Wash U aren't in the 40+ category.
 
Hey all,
I am headed to WashU next week for an interview and it is by far the best school I applied to. Needless to say I am pretty anxious, nervous, excited, etc. I was wondering if anyone knew how significant the interview is at this particular school? Are all interviewees on a relatively level playing field? Also, I was wondering if anyone knew the number of students who are invited to interview and accepted, I know they usually mention those stats on interview day.

Thanks so much.
 
smmypnts said:
I think it's pretty sad that people on this thread are getting down on themselves for a 35 MCAT. Getting even a 35 would put you in about the 90th percentile if I remember correctly.

I am sure that a lot of the people accepted to Wash U aren't in the 40+ category.
Click to expand...

From what I hear, they have a pretty good range of MCAT scores and GPAs. They weren't the gunner, stat-monger school that I had heard when I went to visit them. Quite the opposite. If you have lots of good extracurriculars and definitely research (I sure wish I were first author on something...) you probably are just as competitive as a one-sided candidate with a 41 MCAT.

Okay maybe I'm just saying that because I, too, have a 35, lots of extracurriculars, and research and just really really want to get into this school. I get kinda nervous when I get on here and read that people with higher scores than me got rejected!
 
yeah. definitely not complaining about getting a 35. i'm pretty sure it was the 95th percentile when I took it, but I definitely know that Wash U takes MCAT score into account much more than other medical schools. I know that they even try and recruit top MCAT scorers to apply. My point is this, it's a total crapshoot where you get interviews (I also had a first author publication btw), but I felt like this was the one place I applied that I did not receive one because of my score. Certainly not hating on the school because I would have really liked to go there, but maybe the admissions committee a little bit. In all, just expressing my frustration with the whole application process.
 
Comoroa said:
From what I hear, they have a pretty good range of MCAT scores and GPAs. They weren't the gunner, stat-monger school that I had heard when I went to visit them. Quite the opposite. If you have lots of good extracurriculars and definitely research (I sure wish I were first author on something...) you probably are just as competitive as a one-sided candidate with a 41 MCAT.

Okay maybe I'm just saying that because I, too, have a 35, lots of extracurriculars, and research and just really really want to get into this school. I get kinda nervous when I get on here and read that people with higher scores than me got rejected!
Click to expand...

There's some truth to all this, but there's no denying that WashU has some of the highest average stats of any med school. Numbers don't lie.
 
Re: Preclinical curriculum
I'm a fan of P/F first year and then H/HP/P/F for second year. This gets revisited every 5-10 years, and most recently (~7 years ago, IIRC) the students voted to keep it this way. It helps those students going into ultra-competitive specialties differentiate themselves, and also the MSTPs that often have fewer rotation grades on their transcript when residency apps are submitted. As you can imagine, qualitative comments are often generic-sounding, so grades 2nd and 3rd year can give programs a sense of your relative strength. That said, the "middle 3rd" still does quite well matching. Also, I tend to be more studious when a grade is on the line, so having grades helped me get more out of the two years that form the core of your education. (That's why Yale's P/F all 4 years just wasn't going to do it for me.)

The P/F system first year is a nice way for students of varying backgrounds to find their footing and help each other out, killing off any latent gunnerism (i.e., maliciousness) that might have otherwise existed. P/F also allows for a very robust selectives system, where you take at least 4 short courses that fall outside of the core curriculum. Some of my favorites include Laughter and Medicine (in the process we learned some clowning and rounded with the Clown Docs in the hospital), Art and Medicine (held at various museums in St. Louis including a personal tour of a museum's print collection), Medical Economics, Health Policy, Public Health (I think through this one we did rotations during first year at the student-led neighborhood clinic), WUMP (week-long program just prior to orientation -- highly recommended), and History of Medicine (was a little dry, but we did get to walk away with a couple of old books at the end).

And outside of electives, people stay active through a myriad of clubs and groups representing any interest you may have, from writing and drawing to juggling and musical theater (did I mention we have student-run musical every year?) to lively community engagement. Coffee house hours are always amazing, too, when fellow students offer up live performances (rock, R&B, classical, spoken word, etc.).

From my experiences chatting with other students, both the selectives and the extracurriculars are more vibrant than anything analogous at other schools. Part of that is the nature of the students attracted to coming to WashU, and part of that is how the system facilitates and strongly supports students' interests.

There are also schools that trend towards having a test every week or every other week -- that would've been tough on me and any outside interests I have, since my friends seemed to always be studying for the next test, and falling behind on everything else.

Downsides to 1st two years: a few blocks tended to have more class time than felt necessary, technology is being utilized in some helpful ways (lectures are now videotaped, online self-assessments and study tools, there's an iTouch pilot program going on for clinical use rather than PDAs, etc) but we're not at the bleeding edge of technology adoption. Less time than most places to study for Step 1 (~4 weeks most years), but overall we still do quite well. I'm sure there were more grievances, but it's starting to feel like a long ways back into the past.

Of note, the FLTC is very nice and very functional, something that's hard to appreciate until you actually find yourself studying or working there.

One last thought: a common complaint is that we don't get free printing from the computers in the carrels. If your biggest complaint centers on 5-cents-per-page printing, then a lot of things are being done right. (Remember, you can always print double-sided, and often multiple pages per side. And if many students want a lot printed [like slides], the administration will take care of it... for free.)

Dr. Koong-Nah Chung and Dr. Will Ross
She interviewed me, and she's as nice as can be. We ended up spending most of the time talking about our families. And Dr. Ross is an inspiration and has done a lot for the city, though he's very humble about his contributions. Just relax and have an easy chat with both of them.

Inter-class cohesion
This by-and-large depends on how involved individuals are. Some people definitely mix more than others; it's really hard to say anything in comparison with how it is at other schools.
 
Dr. Chung and Dr. Ross were definitely laid back. Absolutely ZERO stress, the pizza party was great, and i go to meet lots of cool applicants.
 
Have their been any post-interview rejections yet?
I've been waiting since the end of October 🙁
 
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