2010-2011 Saint Louis University Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Interview invite! Complete last Friday. Interviewing on the 27th.

I'm wondering if there are any other WashU students applying to SLU. I was told that they might ask us if we are also applying to WashU and whether we prefer WashU or SLU. I'm not sure how to answer that question since I would be genuinely happy going to either. Anyone in the same situation?
 
sml128 said:
Interview invite! Complete last Friday. Interviewing on the 27th.

I'm wondering if there are any other WashU students applying to SLU. I was told that they might ask us if we are also applying to WashU and whether we prefer WashU or SLU. I'm not sure how to answer that question since I would be genuinely happy going to either. Anyone in the same situation?
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I'm not a WashU student, but are you genuinely happy going to either?? WashU is the best while SLU is not even in the top 50. Since you're a WashU student, can you tell me what makes SLU on par with WashU?

Back to your question, I guess the best answer is to tell them you love both. IMHO I'd sense insincerity if you say you prefer SLU over WashU.
 
I may be wrong, but wouldn't the key to answering that question be based on research? If you were less interested in research, wouldn't it be reasonable to think that SLU might be a better fit for the applicant?

Either way, I don't envy anyone that is presented with that question!
 
schlieren said:
I'm not a WashU student, but are you genuinely happy going to either?? WashU is the best while SLU is not even in the top 50. Since you're a WashU student, can you tell me what makes SLU on par with WashU?

Back to your question, I guess the best answer is to tell them you love both. IMHO I'd sense insincerity if you say you prefer SLU over WashU.
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I'm applying to medical school with my fiancé, and in our opinion, any school that accepts both of us is a great school 🙂 Family matter a lot more to me than ranking. Besides, the unanimous opinion I've gotten while talking to physicians is that it matters A LOT more where you go for residency than where you go for medical school. In fact, one doctor told me that while she knows where all of her colleagues did their residency, she does not know or care about where they went for medical school.
 
I got some snail mail from them. A brochure telling me how awesome they are being the first medical school west of the Mississippi. Oh boy.
 
DancinSarah said:
I got some snail mail from them. A brochure telling me how awesome they are being the first medical school west of the Mississippi. Oh boy.
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I got the same thing. I wonder if this means they have some intention to invite me for an interview, but then, why not just send me an email inviting me to interview...?
 
Is the Water Tower Inn close to any good places to eat? How close is campus to the main downtown area? I'm going to be there for a couple of days and I wanted to do some site seeing/good eating.
 
Kip said:
Is the Water Tower Inn close to any good places to eat? How close is campus to the main downtown area? I'm going to be there for a couple of days and I wanted to do some site seeing/good eating.
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There's a Qdoba, St. Louis Bread Company (Panera Bread for those of you on the West coast), and Rally's on Grand within a couple miles. For real restaurants, you'll have to probably drive a little further down. There's supposedly some decent ethnic restaurants near Tower Grove park (and a good farmer's market) and down Chateau. Here's a list of resturants (and comments about them) the med students put together: http://medschool.slu.edu/studentaffairs/index.php?page=dining-2
They also have information about the school and St. Louis on the page.

Downtown is maybe a 10 min. drive down the freeway? That's my best guess though.

If you go see the arch, it might be worth it to take the riverboat tour ride. It's reasonably priced. The zoo is supposedly the third best in the country, and it's free, but it would take you seriously all day to see much of (there's also the science, art, & history museum in Forest Park as well, and they're all free supposedly). The City Museum (not a museum... it's like an 11-story adult jungle gym) is fun but is a lot more fun with a group... anyone who ends up at SLU should definitely get a group of people to go there at some point (but be prepared to be sore and bruised... if you do it right). The Anheuser-Busch tour is also a favorite among the med students as well as any sporting events. Make sure that, if you're staying for a weekend, you check listings for cultural or jazz/blues festivals. They have stuff every weekend that a lot of med students hit up. In the course of just over a week, I went to a "festival of nations," a Japanese festival at the Botanical Gardens (another popular tourist site), and a Greek festival... and it seems like this time of year, there's stuff like that every weekend.
 
DandomRan said:
I got the same thing. I wonder if this means they have some intention to invite me for an interview, but then, why not just send me an email inviting me to interview...?
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lol why would they give us a brochure, when we've already applied.... ha
 
Kip said:
Is the Water Tower Inn close to any good places to eat? How close is campus to the main downtown area? I'm going to be there for a couple of days and I wanted to do some site seeing/good eating.
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Native STL'er here...granted I left 11 yrs ago...but here's my two pennies in addition to what was said above.

-The Landing is good for some shopping and night scene. Neat cobble stone streets.
-Check out Union Station. Fun paddle boats. Go to the hotel - in the hotel there is a set of stairs that has an arch, everyone knows to go play and whisper to each other on opposite sides of the arch...oh the fun of physics! Plus, there are these fudge guys that holler and sing while making yummy fudge.
-Ditto on Forest Park (Zoo, Jewel Box/Botanical Garden, Science Center - that I LOVED as a kid, has some neat displays...hmm maybe that's why I'm the way I am...).
-Hit up Schlafly - AB is cool, but to us who are from STL, we're peeved about the InBev deal. Schlafly is small, microbrew. However, if you do hit up AB, go down the road to Gus' Pretzels, they're the best fresh preztels in the Lou. My mom knows the owner - super nice guy.
-University City, aka the Loop. My absolute fav restaurant is Blueberry Hill. Lots of shops, cool old school movie theater (Tivoli) that plays indie films and stuff, bands play at a bunch of different places.
-Central West End (it's/was the exit for Kingshighway - just before the Science Center). Awesome coffee shops, art.
-Lastly, if you try STL pizza, don't expect it to be anything like you've had before. Man I miss my Imo's and Cecil Whittaker's! It's really different because of the cheese and a sweeter sauce, foreigners can be put off by it. But my bf (a Tennessean) loves it.

Also, if anyone wants any other info from me, feel free to PM me. I moved away, but I still go back every couple of months to visit my family and friends. So, I have a little bit of a different perspective on things around the area and may know of some "off the beaten path" things to do.

Enjoy! And good luck!
 
Kip said:
Is the Water Tower Inn close to any good places to eat? How close is campus to the main downtown area? I'm going to be there for a couple of days and I wanted to do some site seeing/good eating.
Click to expand...


Vitos! North on grand, under the free way, past the gym and church, right on Lindell. Great pizza. Just a wee bit farther (like half block and then block) is Triumph. A little pricey (I have only been with my parents) but great!

By Lafayette Square, there is Arcelia's which has decent texmex. On Mississippi, there is Eleven Eleven (its at 1111 Mississippi, take Chouteau about two blocks east of grand, and turn right on Mississippi). Right by Arcelia's is the Chocolate bar, with lots of drinks etc with chocolate. Oh and delicious desserts. Most people go there looking nice. My dad, friend and I went there completely sweaty, in nasty clothes after the city museum (Is it dorky that we used my dad as DD?) and everybody was looking at us.

Definitely check out Schlafly. Best beer in St Louis. If you are into cool churches, the church (St. Xavier? maybe) on SLU's campus is beautiful as is the Basilica. Central West End is fun with nice restaurants. There are TONS of great restaurants on Washington (that area went from completely abandonned to being amazing in the last 6 years). That is also where the city museum is, which is definitely really fun, but go with at least one friend. The city museum is a giant playground made out of recycled materials meant for both grown ups and kids. It is open really late on Fridays and Saturdays.

If weather is nice, I would check out the Botanical Gardens. They are gorgeous and fun to walk around. Also, I will third what people above said. The zoo is amazing and FREE! Seriously, San Diego, Omaha and St Louis are generally tied for "best zoo in the country." I think STL deserves bonus points for being free. The art museum has really cool mummies and is also free. The Science Center is AWESOME and is free. The history museum is really boring and free. All of those (except the botanical garden) are in Forest Park which has a great 6ish mile path for running, and when its colder out has a skating rink. Also has a fishing pond.

If you are into music and theater, you can check out what is playing at the Fox Theater or get relatively cheap tickets to the symphony. (The St Louis Symphony Orchestra is actually an amazing orchestra that doesn't get the credit they deserve. A lot of famous recordings come from them from about the early to mid 90s when they were under the direction of Leonard Slatkin).

South Grand has some fun used bookstores and funky shops.

The arch is seriously overrated, but if you do want to go, and you want to go up in it (it shocks all my college friends who have visited that you can go up it in. Oh and its made of metal, that also shocks people for some weird reason) you can book tickets online ahead of time. Otherwise (at least in the summer) there is a 2 hour wait. Probably not true other times of the year.

Then if you want a to be a real St Louisan, you can get the nasty Imo's Pizza (the square beyond compare) and go to Ted Drewes (I am not sure its open this time of year, it might be summer only, you'd have to check) for mediocre frozen custard.

Ok, I think I will stop writing a St Louis Tour Guide...
 
Oh goodness, I forgot Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. It's not my favorite frozen treat (I'm more into ice cream), but it's far better than "mediocre." Going there is honestly more for just the experience, and it's a big deal. Saint Louis pizza is definitely different... tried Imo's and I wasn't too impressed. The Hill neighborhood isn't too far a drive from school (10 min. or so), and they supposedly have tons of amazing (and authentic) Italian restaurants there.
 
I just got that random brochure in the mail today too ... what the heck?
 
i got the brochure last week and just got an invite today 👍
 
Does/did everyone receive a brochure?? Or only those special few?
 
Last edited:
I am fairly certain that everyone gets a brochure.
 
I got the brochure as well. All the money squandered on printing and mailing this non-sense could certainly have found a better use. Who's here that's applying to SLU and doesn't have access to the internet to be able to see the same info?
 
byurazorhog said:
I got the brochure as well. All the money squandered on printing and mailing this non-sense could certainly have found a better use. Who's here that's applying to SLU and doesn't have access to the internet to be able to see the same info?
Click to expand...

Said the person on the internet forum. In all seriousness, I seriously wish schools would take the money from sending brochures and use it for financial aid or to establish a new scholarship.
 
Maybe they had a ton leftover from a huge printing order and started just sending them out to applicants to get rid of them.



KickedOut said:
Said the person on the internet forum. In all seriousness, I seriously wish schools would take the money from sending brochures and use it for financial aid or to establish a new scholarship.
Click to expand...
 
So, they do use website...I haven't check it since they said everything is done by email...

Everyone with interviews, mind sharing stats and IS/OOS status?
 
ericflem4286 said:
So, they do use website...I haven't check it since they said everything is done by email...

Everyone with interviews, mind sharing stats and IS/OOS status?
Click to expand...

OOS (I'm from KY too:laugh:), 3.88, 36M

my fiance (who's interviewing on the same day) is also OOS, 3.87, 38S
 
interview invite! complete early/mid july. i thought i had been passed over after waiting so long, but it looks like it's not really chronological, so there is still plenty of hope! :luck:
 
BuzzB said:
Got my first interview invite today!
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Congrats and good luck!

TFS said:
interview invite! complete early/mid july. i thought i had been passed over after waiting so long, but it looks like it's not really chronological, so there is still plenty of hope! :luck:
Click to expand...

Ooo that is amazing news. I assumed I had been passed over too. Hopefully I haven't been.
 
sml128 said:
Interviewing tomorrow :xf:
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Good luck! The interviews there are pretty laid-back. I didn't hear of anyone getting grilled in the interview. The interview was definitely enjoyable at SLU.
 
Just interviewed at SLU today! You convene as a group of ~20 interviewees, get an hour-long tour of the medical school and facilities, and meet with several current students for lunch. The students and staff involved with admissions are REALLY friendly and enthusiastic. The interviewers themselves *mostly* seem to be quite chill and conversational, although they do have some general questions that pop up consistently ("tell me about yourself," "why St. Louis / SLU?", "what is the greatest challenge you faced?", etc.). Definitely don't stress about the interview, but make sure you have well-thought-out answers for the most basic topics.

Best of luck!!
 
oh yes, and California students do seem to be really popular candidates at SLU for some reason 😛
 
Did my first interview today. Despite everything I heard, my SLU interview was not very conversational. My interviewer basically asked one question after another, and did not comment on any of my answers. He frowned most of the time and said an occasional "huh." This was a bit intimidating, but overall the questions he asked were very reasonable. Most of the other interviewers I talked to had relaxed interviews where they actually conversed with their interviewers. Just letting you guys know my experience so that you won't be surprised if you encounter something similar.
 
sml128 said:
Did my first interview today. Despite everything I heard, my SLU interview was not very conversational. My interviewer basically asked one question after another, and did not comment on any of my answers. He frowned most of the time and said an occasional "huh." This was a bit intimidating, but overall the questions he asked were very reasonable. Most of the other interviewers I talked to had relaxed interviews where they actually conversed with their interviewers. Just letting you guys know my experience so that you won't be surprised if you encounter something similar.
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Sorry to hear that; I know how it goes. At an interview at another school that was "supposed" to be very laid-back and conversational, I was hammered with ethics questions for the good part of an hour. I think I remember LizzyM or another reputable source on here saying that adcom members get to know each other fairly well, so if your interviewer had a "tougher" personality, the other adcom members will probably already be aware of that and take his/her opinions with the metaphorical grain of salt. (Same goes for the interviewers who love every student and gush about them.) But... I'm starting to get off topic. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed the rest of your interview day and that you hear something great after October 15!
 
enclectm said:
oh yes, and California students do seem to be really popular candidates at SLU for some reason 😛
Click to expand...

Yeah, SLU used to make sweatshirts that said "UC School of Medicine St. Louis Campus" or something along those lines. I'd guess about 1/4-1/3 of the M1s are from Cali.

Oh, and some interviewers are definitely tougher. One in particular (who I had for my interview) is known for just asking question after question, not smiling, and critiquing students' answers during the interview. It's no indication of whether she does or does not like you. Supposedly though, she has been interviewing long enough and holds an office that gives her a lot of credibility; so, when she insists that a student needs to be admitted, the admissions officers give her word a lot of weight.

By the way, I would suggest to any of the interviewees sitting in on the anatomy class in the next few weeks to be on time and to MAKE SURE your cell phone is off. It doesn't look good (especially to the anatomy professors who often interview) when you stroll in halfway through the class and then disrupt their lecture.
 
any news on the SLU front? Were there any interview invites last week?
 
Hey guys, im a new member here. I am interviewing at SLU in 2 weeks and I've been reading some of the comments you guys posted. I'm a Canadian and I've interviewed at a Canadian medical school last year. i know that the canadian interview system is completely different from the US. Can someone shed some light on the format of SLU interview? are there mostly ethical questions? and if so, would would be a good way to prep from them i.e. books to read etc.? i heard at some US schools, the interviews are very relaxed and the interviewer just ask standard interview questions such as "tell me about this activity or what is your greatest weakness etc." I'm interviewing with Michael Graham.
finally, what makes SLU stand out compared to other schools and what's really interesting at st. louis? Thanks a lot for your input!
 
One thing that is really stressed at SLU is how well the faculty supports their students. Compared to larger public medical schools, the faculty is known for putting a lot of focus into teaching as opposed to just research. Also, SLU's curriculum is system-based.. so they learn everything involving one part of the human body one part at a time.

As far as the interviews go, don't sweat it too much..
 
Mizoodles said:
One thing that is really stressed at SLU is how well the faculty supports their students. Compared to larger public medical schools, the faculty is known for putting a lot of focus into teaching as opposed to just research. Also, SLU's curriculum is system-based.. so they learn everything involving one part of the human body one part at a time.

As far as the interviews go, don't sweat it too much..
Click to expand...

Only our second year is systems-based. First year is an odd block-system (it seems to be working well though) where you have 2 or 3 classes for 4-10 weeks a piece. So, we are just wrapping up anatomy/embryo, and Monday, we'll be starting cell bio, metabolism, biostats/epidemiology, and an elective. There's a clinical skills/wellness class that runs throughout the first two years as well.

The faculty at SLU (as a whole) are really supportive of students. SLU REALLY emphasizes wellness and being a whole person first and a physician second. They really take student input into account when designing/changing curriculum. The class two years above mine were the ones who initiated the change to pass/fail curriculum, and last year's class convinced the faculty to move to a set pass/fail system (X % = pass.... rather than based on a standard dev.). We're the first class who is on a straight pass-fail system. Compared to what students from other schools say about the "feel" of their class, our class is very laidback and non-competitive. We all help each other out, and I get 2-10 e-mails a day from students sharing their study tools (web-sites, charts they made, diagrams, etc.) with the class.

Oh, and don't stress over the interview too much. How stressful the interview is will depend on the faculty member who interviews you, but generally, they tend to stick to a script of things like "Tell me about your clinical experience," etc.
 
Completed this morning. Interview invite within 2 hours. First interview! Crazy quick turnaround. Definitely did not look at my letters.

OOS 4.0 32M

Who's going to be there next Tues?

Crazy coincidence, but my fiance is also going to be interviewing at the his company's headquarters the same day, so we're going to trekking up there together. Maybe that's a sign?
 
cinde27 said:
Crazy coincidence, but my fiance is also going to be interviewing at the his company's headquarters the same day, so we're going to trekking up there together. Maybe that's a sign?
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You guys are so lucky! Good luck! 🙂
 
cinde27 said:
Completed this morning. Interview invite within 2 hours. First interview! Crazy quick turnaround. Definitely did not look at my letters.

OOS 4.0 32M

Who's going to be there next Tues?

Crazy coincidence, but my fiance is also going to be interviewing at the his company's headquarters the same day, so we're going to trekking up there together. Maybe that's a sign?
Click to expand...

Pssh. Exactly 23 minutes and 42 seconds after completing my secondary I received a personal phone call from the Dean begging me to come for an interview.
 
Weak. The exact moment I clicked 'Submit' on my primary, my doorbell rang. It was the dean, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, and the animated version of Batman (from Batman: the Animated Series). The dean handed me a packet which contained an acceptance letter, a diploma of pure gold, and a pass to the residency of my choice. Needless to say, drinks were had by all. If only Arnold wouldn't have crushed my camera at the end of the night...
 
Sid Farkus said:
Weak. The exact moment I clicked 'Submit' on my primary, my doorbell rang. It was the dean, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, and the animated version of Batman (from Batman: the Animated Series). The dean handed me a packet which contained an acceptance letter, a diploma of pure gold, and a pass to the residency of my choice. Needless to say, drinks were had by all. If only Arnold wouldn't have crushed my camera at the end of the night...
Click to expand...

after I hit submit, I instantly became a doctor, already had a practice set up, and a jet waiting to take me wherever I wanted to go.
 
girlofgrace7 said:
Only our second year is systems-based. First year is an odd block-system (it seems to be working well though) where you have 2 or 3 classes for 4-10 weeks a piece. So, we are just wrapping up anatomy/embryo, and Monday, we'll be starting cell bio, metabolism, biostats/epidemiology, and an elective. There's a clinical skills/wellness class that runs throughout the first two years as well.

The faculty at SLU (as a whole) are really supportive of students. SLU REALLY emphasizes wellness and being a whole person first and a physician second. They really take student input into account when designing/changing curriculum. The class two years above mine were the ones who initiated the change to pass/fail curriculum, and last year's class convinced the faculty to move to a set pass/fail system (X % = pass.... rather than based on a standard dev.). We're the first class who is on a straight pass-fail system. Compared to what students from other schools say about the "feel" of their class, our class is very laidback and non-competitive. We all help each other out, and I get 2-10 e-mails a day from students sharing their study tools (web-sites, charts they made, diagrams, etc.) with the class.

Oh, and don't stress over the interview too much. How stressful the interview is will depend on the faculty member who interviews you, but generally, they tend to stick to a script of things like "Tell me about your clinical experience," etc.
Click to expand...

thanks for your inputs! do you mind if i PM you some questions? 🙂
 
crystelle said:
thanks for your inputs! do you mind if i PM you some questions? 🙂
Click to expand...

Feel free! Anyone else is welcome to as well; it's actually a lot of fun to talk to the interviewees. I may take a day or two to answer though. I have my last anatomy test Friday; so, I likely won't be on SDN much unless I'm procrastinating (as I am now).
 
For the people who interviewed already, do you guys know if SLU will be sending out acceptances on Oct. 15?
 
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