2013-2014 Washington University in St. Louis Application Thread

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Well then just Stanford. Apart from getting into Stanford, isn't WashU a better option for me, if I'm worried about clinical year grades being a crapshoot?

It depends what your other med school options are.

The clinical years are not necessarily a "crapshoot". You can usually tell a big difference between the person who got "Honors" and the one who just got a "Pass" (i.e. better attention to detail, has his/her t's crossed and i's dotted, better presenter of patients on rounds, doesn't hold up the team, etc.) By your definition, residency is a crapshoot. In the clinical years and beyond, you will no longer be judged solely based on your gold-medal level ability to fill in circles on a Scantron. You will be largely judged based on your clinical judgment as evaluated by your attending, your interactions with residents (many of whom may be can be major league ______ - i.e. OB-Gyn or Surgery), etc. This is also known as what every other person who has a real job, has to deal with.

I think this comes as a shock to many traditional students, bc up until now, the only ways you've been judged are by more objective measures: MCAT score, grades, and ability to resume pad. That game changes dramatically in the clinical years, when you don't automatically get an "A" for effort.
 
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DermViser, you're making a lot of good points. However, you're not nearly the first to raise these issues: things like preclinical grading, school prestige etc. have been discussed ad nauseum on SDN. People who are open to considering these issues have most likely considered them already. If you're hoping to open the eyes of the still blind premeds, you should try being, I don't know, less rude and dismissive, and avoid making unfounded assumptions.
(Eg., contrary to your assumption, WashU is not the only school I am accepted to, and I'm still waiting to hear from those - wink-wink, say no more - non-rolling schools that release their decisions in March. So no, I'm not justifying WashU because it's the only weak school that ever accepted an idiot like me 😀
I actually interviewed at the same P/F school that pyrrion89 is accepted to and that you're referring to as more preferable, and I found that I would be under a lot more pressure there than at a graded preclinical school because of being constantly evaluated by faculty and peers - especially peers! That school was my first choice in the beginning of the cycle, but it was the only school that left a bad taste in my mouth after interview. I got waitlisted - apparently, the ambivalence was mutual - and withdrew, but I wouldn't go there even if I was accepted.)


More importantly, people have different priorities in selecting a school: for some, prestige will trump everything, for some, location or cost, for some, quality of the facilities or whatever (by "quality of the facilities" I don't mean an awesome hospital vs. a weak hospital, but rather shiny new lecture halls vs. drab old lecture halls; I personally couldn't care less about the quality of lecture halls, as long as their ceiling is not falling or something, but some people do care).
Not everyone is planning to go into Derm. And no, I never ever said that IM and Peds were competitive specialties by themselves; quite the contrary, I referred to them as less competitive, which was part of my point: not everyone is gunning for a highly competitive specialty and, therefore, not everyone is or should be concerned with class rankings as much as you are. I agree with you that WashU students, by their nature, are more likely to specialize than go into primary care, but it doesn't mean that all of them go into Derm, Plastics, Rad and Ortho - plenty go into IM subspecialties, and for that, you need to go into the less competitive IM residency first (I'm not saying *non*competitive because there are people who don't match into IM - check out Charting Outcomes - so there is some competition, if only very little). The second part of my point was, even in the less competitive specialties like IM, top residencies (MGH, BWH, BJH, JH, UCSF etc ) are competitive, and WashU students get into them just fine. So, as much as you want to present WashU as antiquated and lacking, there is no evidence that its graduates are at any disadvantage. Regardless of what you think of WashU curriculum or student competitiveness, WashU graduates get into highly competitive specialties and into top residencies in less competitive specialties (no, not only BJH for IM, plenty of people who want to leave St. Louis get into MGH, BWH etc.).
As someone who has actually seen academic medicine on the inside, I agree with you that connections matter more than pedigree. But you're still a lot more likely to get the right connections at a more prestigious than a less prestigious school. WashU has plenty of big names in many fields for an academic medicine-minded student.
Getting back to individual priorities, if cost is the most important factor for me, I will most likely choose WashU over Case, as much as I like Case's curriculum and atmosphere, simply because, while they cost *nominally* about the same, WashU is a lot more generous with all kinds of scholarships, thus bringing the *actual* cost down. I won't be too surprised if WashU ends up being cheaper than my well regarded state school (top 25). Is it possible to get a solid medical education cheaper than WashU? Absolutely! But, depending on one's personal situation, WashU may turn out to be the cheapest option.

Tl; dr: yes, you're making good points, but they're not new and people have different priorities.
 
Dermviser,

This is my first post. And while I admire and applaud the politeness of the other SDNers like Amygdarya, evidently it's not making any impact on you.
Clearly you dislike WashU, fine. But don't rationalize your combative and extremely pretentious posts by suggesting that they are solely for the 'good' of the pre-med students interested in potentially attending WashU. Rather than inflating your ego, I suggest you spend your time on more important things. Perhaps focus on instigating change at your own medical institution or instead, maybe get laid. Regardless, please either leave this thread or help foster a sense of community and excitement about medical school (I would say answer questions too but you don't seem to be able to do so without a despicable sense of disdain and self-righteousness).
 
so can anyone confirm whether the next decision date is definitely WL/rejections?

Interviews have been extended through March by the new Dean of Admissions who started in January, and schools don't waste interview spots, time, or money and other resources on interview days to only build a wait list or seek more rejections. After March interviews are over, rejections and wait list will be known. This hasn't been the case at WUMS before, since interviews have ended mid-February in previous years, but the new Dean of Admissions wants to do things a bit differently in her first cycle.
 
thanks. kind of unusual to switch admissions deans half-way through the cycle, no?
 
kind of unusual to switch admissions deans half-way through the cycle, no?
I don't know how unusual it is, but it seems to be affecting this application cycle. Expect the unexpected 🙂
 
I don't know how unusual it is, but it seems to be affecting this application cycle. Expect the unexpected 🙂

It could also give the new dean a chance to experience a cycle that's already rolling along before starting a brand new one without experience. Who knows! It is changing the current cycle though - interviews in March are just as much for acceptances as interviews in October.
 
Dermviser,

This is my first post. And while I admire and applaud the politeness of the other SDNers like Amygdarya, evidently it's not making any impact on you.
Clearly you dislike WashU, fine. But don't rationalize your combative and extremely pretentious posts by suggesting that they are solely for the 'good' of the pre-med students interested in potentially attending WashU. Rather than inflating your ego, I suggest you spend your time on more important things. Perhaps focus on instigating change at your own medical institution or instead, maybe get laid. Regardless, please either leave this thread or help foster a sense of community and excitement about medical school (I would say answer questions too but you don't seem to be able to do so without a despicable sense of disdain and self-righteousness).

Yes, and your ad hominems clearly aren't "combative" or "pretentious" at all and in your first and only SDN post to date, no less. Congrats!
 
Yes, and your ad hominems clearly aren't "combative" or "pretentious" at all and in your first and only SDN post to date, no less. Congrats!

Hypothetically speaking, if we were to criticize the residency program you are currently training in (which I am not, I'm genuinely sure it is a good program), the message and intent of your previous posts indicate that you would respond with great support and enthusiasm to defend it, just like many are doing right now for WashU.

Everyone on this thread: please be respectful of each other and different programs. These are not just schools but also institutions where people work, train, and learn with great pride.
 
Hypothetically speaking, if we were to criticize the residency program you are currently training in (which I am not, I'm genuinely sure it is a good program), the message and intent of your previous posts indicate that you would respond with great support and enthusiasm to defend it, just like many are doing right now for WashU.

Everyone on this thread: please be respectful of each other and different programs. These are not just schools but also institutions where people work, train, and learn with great pride.

The major huge difference is that you are PAYING money (whether it be yours or your parents) to the medical school for your education, unlike residency, where they pay me. When you match into residency, the game is then finally over. When you enter medical school, you're essentially trying to rack up a certain number of points to be able to match into the specialty of your choice.

I would not at all take a personal affront (unlike Jack Mehoff who went into ad hominem attacks) if someone were to criticize my residency program, bc when it comes to residency programs the characteristics that people choose at that this point in their careers is so much more variable - it's pretty much quibbling at that point, bc regardless you will be a board-certified dermatologist. Also, where the program where one matches is based on a computer algorithm, is binding, and is not under your control.
 
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The major huge difference is that you are PAYING money (whether it be yours or your parents) to the medical school for your education, unlike residency, where they pay me. When you match into residency, the game is then over. When you enter medical school, you're essentially trying to rack up a certain number of points to be able to match into the specialty of your choice.

I would not at all take a personal affront if someone were to criticize my residency program, bc when it comes to residency programs the characteristics that people choose at that this point in their careers is so much more variable - it's pretty much quibbling at that point, bc regardless you will be a board-certified dermatologist. Also, where one matches is based on a computer algorithm and is not under your control.

You've made a lot of insightful posts in this thread, but your tone is coming across as a little vitriolic, and detracts a little from the wisdom you're trying to impart. This is not meant to be a personal attack, mind you. But while most of the kids in this thread are junior compared to you, there is no need to treat them with seeming disdain. 🙂
 
You've made a lot of insightful posts in this thread, but your tone is coming across as a little vitriolic, and detracts a little from the wisdom you're trying to impart. This is not meant to be a personal attack, mind you. But while most of the kids in this thread are junior compared to you, there is no need to treat them with seeming disdain. 🙂

I think things devolved when Amygdarya took personally my comment to someone else who was told by a faculty member that he had good stats but might possibly be waitlisted:
"That's funny bc on your MDApps you got into schools that some might argue are better than WashU. I had to laugh though: "aggressive---but in the best kind of way. Aggressive toward helping others." 😆

Both of those statements were true: He/she got accepted into top-notch medical schools which one could easily make the argument that they were better and the quote that was made was hilarious, even if it would have been said at another school.
 
@DermViser I guess I'm just curious why you are spending so much time on this thread, especially seeing as you are now a resident. I know you seem to want pre-meds to know about the drawbacks of non-P/F preclinical years, but many schools have this system still in place, so why not make a general thread in pre-allo or pre-osteo warning about this? I guess I don't understand why the specific hate for WashU.
 
@DermViser I guess I'm just curious why you are spending so much time on this thread, especially seeing as you are now a resident. I know you seem to want pre-meds to know about the drawbacks of non-P/F preclinical years, but many schools have this system still in place, so why not make a general thread in pre-allo or pre-osteo warning about this? I guess I don't understand why the specific hate for WashU.
my theory (that I just pulled out of my a**) is that s/he is a resident at WashU and probably dislikes the students for some reason.
 
Anyway, decided to throw my hat in the ring here. I'm MS4 (MSTP 8) now and if I were to go back knowing what I know now, I will doubtless choose WashU again. Everybody else had covered most of the preclinical issues so I'll share the stuff relevant to people thinking ahead to residency.

1.) Mentoring: I think this was the one aspect of my clinical experience that totally floored me. I changed my mind about what specialty to go into several times, and in each department (ranging from IM, neurology, radiology, Peds and gen surg) I found faculty who supported and advised me. Had no trouble getting glowing letters of recommendation (and I wasn't exactly the most spectacular clinical student bc I'm terribly shy), had guidance when it came to residency applications, got an interviewing coach and even had an attending edit my personal statement. Plus, we have clinical advisors who are well-known to PDs all over the country (mine even called my #1 residency choice for me, to pump up my application). If any other school can offer that much support to get you into the residency you want, then by all means, go there.

2.) Culture: I never felt like I was in competition with anyone in my class even though we are ranked and we're not P/F past MS1. My classmates readily shared their notes and we've had courses where nearly everyone got honors (dermatology comes to mind-- one of my classmates made a ppt review with pictures that we all studied from, and we all collectively rocked that course).

3.) Curriculum: I've been around 8 years and I can assure you that it is evolving. There is resistance to scrapping the current structure entirely, yes, but the changes that took hold are fantastic additions. For example, our practice of medicine course used to be really inane (well, kinda irrelevant to the job of learning to take care of your patient) but Polites revamped it, and it made the transition from preclinical to clinical smoother.

Part of me thinks that it kinda sucks that I could not spend copious amounts of time just memorizing FA for Step 1 during MS2, but the way we were taught gave me the tools to think mechanistically about diseases and drugs. So if I get pimped, I can easily reason my way to the answer without relying heavily on my flawed memory. Even the PD for Peds at SLCH emphasized that this was a wonderful aspect of our education, and he preferred getting residents from other schools who were trained to think this way.

In conclusion, there are positives and negatives to choosing WashU Med. It probably doesn't matter where you go to among the Top 10 or 20 med schools in the country because what matters most would be your Step1 (and/or 2) scores and how you do on your clerkships. But I can assure you that WashU admin and faculty work hard to prepare you for and if possible, get you the best residency spot for you.
 
my theory (that I just pulled out of my a**) is that s/he is a resident at WashU and probably dislikes the students for some reason.

You would be absolutely incorrect. I don't know how saying, "I mean these are students with the HIGHEST average MCAT score in the nation. You don't NEED to convince these type of students to study and master the information [by grading them]" - equates to me disliking their students.
 
Anyway, decided to throw my hat in the ring here. I'm MS4 (MSTP 8) now and if I were to go back knowing what I know now, I will doubtless choose WashU again. Everybody else had covered most of the preclinical issues so I'll share the stuff relevant to people thinking ahead to residency.

1.) Mentoring: I think this was the one aspect of my clinical experience that totally floored me. I changed my mind about what specialty to go into several times, and in each department (ranging from IM, neurology, radiology, Peds and gen surg) I found faculty who supported and advised me. Had no trouble getting glowing letters of recommendation (and I wasn't exactly the most spectacular clinical student bc I'm terribly shy), had guidance when it came to residency applications, got an interviewing coach and even had an attending edit my personal statement. Plus, we have clinical advisors who are well-known to PDs all over the country (mine even called my #1 residency choice for me, to pump up my application). If any other school can offer that much support to get you into the residency you want, then by all means, go there.

2.) Culture: I never felt like I was in competition with anyone in my class even though we are ranked and we're not P/F past MS1. My classmates readily shared their notes and we've had courses where nearly everyone got honors (dermatology comes to mind-- one of my classmates made a ppt review with pictures that we all studied from, and we all collectively rocked that course).

3.) Curriculum: I've been around 8 years and I can assure you that it is evolving. There is resistance to scrapping the current structure entirely, yes, but the changes that took hold are fantastic additions. For example, our practice of medicine course used to be really inane (well, kinda irrelevant to the job of learning to take care of your patient) but Polites revamped it, and it made the transition from preclinical to clinical smoother.

Part of me thinks that it kinda sucks that I could not spend copious amounts of time just memorizing FA for Step 1 during MS2, but the way we were taught gave me the tools to think mechanistically about diseases and drugs. So if I get pimped, I can easily reason my way to the answer without relying heavily on my flawed memory. Even the PD for Peds at SLCH emphasized that this was a wonderful aspect of our education, and he preferred getting residents from other schools who were trained to think this way.

In conclusion, there are positives and negatives to choosing WashU Med. It probably doesn't matter where you go to among the Top 10 or 20 med schools in the country because what matters most would be your Step1 (and/or 2) scores and how you do on your clerkships. But I can assure you that WashU admin and faculty work hard to prepare you for and if possible, get you the best residency spot for you.

To be fair, you're an MSTP (MD/PhD) student, so hence you're evaluated on a very different plane than most MD-only applicants. The number of publications an MD/PhD student has, far outstrips, that of the typical MD applicant in quantity and quality.

For example, in Dermatology, there are many MD/PhD applicants who may not have the board scores or be high in class rank/AOA, and match into Derm all the time, because faculty recognize their ability to contribute and intellectually push our specialty forward in a meaningful way, that the typical MD-only candidate wouldn't be able to. There are certain Dermatology programs that aggressively court MD/PhDs if you look at their residents. You have a clear advantage by being an MSTP student, that your typical MD-only student does not.
 
To be fair, you're an MSTP (MD/PhD) student, so hence you're evaluated on a very different plane than most MD-only applicants. The number of publications an MD/PhD student has, far outstrips, that of the typical MD applicant in quantity and quality.

For example, in Dermatology, there are many MD/PhD applicants who may not have the board scores or be high in class rank/AOA, and match into Derm all the time, because faculty recognize their ability to contribute and intellectually push our specialty forward in a meaningful way, that the typical MD-only candidate wouldn't be able to. There are certain Dermatology programs that aggressively court MD/PhDs if you look at their residents. You have a clear advantage by being an MSTP student, that your typical MD-only student does not.

I agree, that tends to be true for dermatology. But you might be surprised to hear that there are some fields where the PhD doesn't count for much.

There's another thread elsewhere discussing the woes of the MuD-PhuD trap. I might be in error when I generalize this phenomenon to surgical fields (maybe except neurosurg), but if we don't have good enough numbers, we don't get interviews at the top residencies, and the back-up community programs tend to ignore us bc they assume we all want to do research and therefore will not deign to go there. The end result? Not matching at all!
 
Attention everyone:

If we want DermViser to stop replying to this thread, the best strategy may just be to just ignore him/her. My advice is that if anyone wants his/her advice, directly message him/her. Even if we do ignore DermViser, this individual may continue to post and attempt to rattle us and get reactions. The ball is in our court.

Let's get this thread back on track.
 
I agree, that tends to be true for dermatology. But you might be surprised to hear that there are some fields where the PhD doesn't count for much.

There's another thread elsewhere discussing the woes of the MuD-PhuD trap. I might be in error when I generalize this phenomenon to surgical fields (maybe except neurosurg), but if we don't have good enough numbers, we don't get interviews at the top residencies, and the back-up community programs tend to ignore us bc they assume we all want to do research and therefore will not deign to go there. The end result? Not matching at all!

Yes, but those tend to be in more non-competitive fields where an MD/PhD is quite superfluous (IM, Pediatrics, General Surgery, etc.)

Derm isn't the only one. Plastics, Radiology, Radiation Oncology (big one here), Neurosurgery, Ortho, Neurology, list goes on and on. having an MD/PhD especially if it's done in a subject that is applicable to the specialty you're applying to (i.e. PhD research thesis in osteoblast bone formation and you're applying to Ortho), is a definite plus in which other objective metrics can be overlooked.
 
Attention everyone:

If we want DermViser to stop replying to this thread, the best strategy may just be to just ignore him/her. My advice is that if anyone wants his/her advice, directly message him/her. Even if we do ignore DermViser, this individual may continue to post and attempt to rattle us and get reactions. The ball is in our court.

Let's get this thread back on track.

I had already said previously:
I second that motion. I'll drop it. 😉
 
Part of me thinks that it kinda sucks that I could not spend copious amounts of time just memorizing FA for Step 1 during MS2, but the way we were taught gave me the tools to think mechanistically about diseases and drugs. So if I get pimped, I can easily reason my way to the answer without relying heavily on my flawed memory. Even the PD for Peds at SLCH emphasized that this was a wonderful aspect of our education, and he preferred getting residents from other schools who were trained to think this way.

Can you elaborate on this point? What aspects of the WashU preclinical curriculum would you say taught you to "think mechanistically," compared to curricula at other schools? (And did you feel that this helped you on Step 1?)
 
In other news, I missed 2 calls from my interviewer congratulating me. That's what happens when you get distracted by work 😛
Today or last week? I assumed they were done with acceptances with WL/rejection Friday in March.
 
Today or last week? I assumed they were done with acceptances with WL/rejection Friday in March.
I missed the phone calls today. But I got status change and received my acceptance letter by mail on Saturday, so the decision was made/finalized last week.
As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, this was the order for him/her as well: status change>letter in the mail>phone call.

And as was mentioned by DChef today, WashU will be interviewing into the beginning of March this year, so the assumption is that they're far from being done offering acceptances.
 
Just a quick question.. what time did people with morning interviews complete their day? I need to check out of my hotel by 2 pm and the last thing on my itinerary is lunch at 12. I'm trying to decide if i just need to check out before the interview.... Thanks!
 
Just a quick question.. what time did people with morning interviews complete their day? I need to check out of my hotel by 2 pm and the last thing on my itinerary is lunch at 12. I'm trying to decide if i just need to check out before the interview.... Thanks!

I left right after lunch (there's a brief check-out procedure in the admissions office); I think I was out by 1pm.
 
Does anyone know when interviews end? Are they still sending invites?
 
Just a quick question.. what time did people with morning interviews complete their day? I need to check out of my hotel by 2 pm and the last thing on my itinerary is lunch at 12. I'm trying to decide if i just need to check out before the interview.... Thanks!

If you're concerned about cutting it close you could check out and ask the front desk to hold your bags too
 
Random question: hows parking like? Heard from several ms3/4's that a car is pretty much required for rotations.
 
Random question: hows parking like? Heard from several ms3/4's that a car is pretty much required for rotations.

Why would that be? 😵 I thought everything is on the same campus (unlike Boston, for example).
 
Random question: hows parking like? Heard from several ms3/4's that a car is pretty much required for rotations.
Why would that be? 😵 I thought everything is on the same campus (unlike Boston, for example).

A car is pretty necessary for Saint Louis in general. It's all one city, but the metro doesn't connect all of it and you wouldn't have access to groceries or Target or the mall. Rotations are not all at the central Barnes Jewish or Children's - there could be a few in county hospitals, like Barnes Jewish West County. You'll want a car regardless.
 
A car is pretty necessary for Saint Louis in general. It's all one city, but the metro doesn't connect all of it and you wouldn't have access to groceries or Target or the mall. Rotations are not all at the central Barnes Jewish or Children's - there could be a few in county hospitals, like Barnes Jewish West County. You'll want a car regardless.

Well the metro does connect directly to Galleria (the mall) and Target (though I do agree a 7 min walkish from the metro can be a pain). I didn't know about the county hospitals, so that's good to know 😀.
 
I didn't know about the county hospitals, so that's good to know 😀.
+1
I was under impression that pretty much all rotations (except for possibly FM) are on BJH-SL Children's campus.
I understand that there is an advantage to rotating at different kinds of hospitals, including county hospitals, but this sure makes me think twice about my transportation options.
On the other hand, I've heard that BJH serves as a county hospital as well.

Could someone of the current or past WashU students comment on rotation sites/transportation issue? (I do trust DChef's and YamNMangos' opinions, but I would appreciate a WashU student's take as well.)

Basically, how hard/impossible it is to live without a car while studying at WashU?
 
Can you elaborate on this point? What aspects of the WashU preclinical curriculum would you say taught you to "think mechanistically," compared to curricula at other schools? (And did you feel that this helped you on Step 1?)

That's a great question. But before I answer, I have a few disclaimers.
1.) I can't compare WashU's curriculum to the ones used by other schools. I don't think it's necessarily better or worse.
2.) What I can share with you is JUST my perspective.
-----
Short answer: I DON'T FEEL that the WashU curriculum is the key to killing Step 1. In fact, I might have done better with this particular test if all I did was memorize Goljan, FA etc all day.

What the curriculum did though is prevent the massive information dumping that happens after taking Step 1. What I knew, I learned really well and retained. I felt this helped me with my clerkships and built a solid foundation for Step 2 CK, where I did even better.

-----
Specific example of the training to "think mechanistically":
A simple one is thinking through the question, "how does hypophosphatemia present clinically?" I was taught to realize that phosphate is largely utilized to make ATP (and nucleic acids etc to a lesser extent). So instead of memorizing the answer to this question, I was taught to track the mechanisms, ie. brain requires a lot of energy so I'd expect altered mental status. At a more cellular level, lots of ATP is needed to maintain the integrity of cell membranes, so I'd predict that they'd lyse and you'll have electrolyte abnormalities, notably hyperkalemia (because cells are a reservoir of K, which gets released in the serum when they lyse). What are the some of the most ubiquitous cells in the body? Well, RBCs and muscles-- so I'd anticipate rhabdomyolysis and hemolytic anemia. And so on. For this particular example, I had to put together concepts I learned from various preclinical classes, notably cell bio and physiology from MS1 and renal, bone/mineral pathophys, tissue injury pathology from MS2. I doubt this kind of teaching is unique to WashU. In fact, ANYONE can learn to think this way but at least at WashU you can't help but learn everything this way because otherwise, you won't do well in the preclinical exams. The downside is that you are inundated with data, of which probably only 25% or so (well, okay I'm pulling this number out of thin air) are tested in Step 1.

-----
By choosing WashU, I had to trust the coursemasters and their vision for what a physician should know and be competent at upon graduation from med school. In all honesty, I hated some aspects of my education because I'm inclined to study only the stuff related to the narrow field of research I've been engaged in for years prior to MS1. But I sucked it up, and I was humbled when I realized that they were right. I'm a better physician to be (compared to how I would be if left to my own devices) because of how they molded me. For example, I hate EBM and biostatistics. But I endured numerous problem sets, conferences, small group sessions etc on this topic because it was required. My eyes still kinda glaze over when people start talking about clinical/outcomes research, but now I have a healthy respect for it and I use it to inform my clinical practice.

In the past 8 years, the WashU curriculum underwent changes as a result of the dialogue between students and the coursemasters. We have liaisons for every single course, we fill out surveys for every instructor and every exam and that data is used to tweak everything gradually. In the end, I don't think it's the diploma you get from the #1 med school in the world that makes you an exemplary physician. It's the inherent qualities that you have (empathy, intellectual curiosity, compassion, team player, ability to integrate vast amounts of information etc) that will determine whether you're a good doctor or not. So, if you have all these qualities then you'll be a fantastic physician whatever the med school you graduate from.
 
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+1
I was under impression that pretty much all rotations (except for possibly FM) are on BJH-SL Children's campus.
I understand that there is an advantage to rotating at different kinds of hospitals, including county hospitals, but this sure makes me think twice about my transportation options.
On the other hand, I've heard that BJH serves as a county hospital as well.

Could someone of the current or past WashU students comment on rotation sites/transportation issue? (I do trust DChef's and YamNMangos' opinions, but I would appreciate a WashU student's take as well.)

Basically, how hard/impossible it is to live without a car while studying at WashU?

Yes, the majority of the core clerkships are all in the main campus. And yes, for the IM clerkship (with associated FM or ACES rotation), you have to rotate with a private practioner in the area and it is more convenient to have a car because these guys have to go all over the place to round in the smaller community hospitals (St. Mary's, CNE, etc). The others you have the OPTION of leaving the "mothership" (CAM/BJH/SLCH/COH complex at the CWE campus). Here are some examples--for OB/Gyn, you have the option of rotating through Grace Hill, for Peds you can go to MoBap for part of your rotation, for surgery you can go to BJ-West. The coursemasters are very cognizant of the needs of students. If you don't have a car, they can always arrange for you to do ALL your clinical work in the main campus, within walking distance or close to the Metro.

It's not impossible to live without a car at WashU. The majority of students (and even some residents) live in CWE, within walking or biking distance to the school. I did not have a car during my first 4 years and it's only mildly inconvenient (eg 10 min walk to Straub's for groceries, having to take the Metro to the mall etc). However, having a car allowed me to live in a nicer and cheaper apartment further away, plus saved time when running errands.
 
Well the metro does connect directly to Galleria (the mall) and Target (though I do agree a 7 min walkish from the metro can be a pain). I didn't know about the county hospitals, so that's good to know 😀.
Yeah...I would highly suggest a car. Central West End (the neighborhood where the medschool is located in) is a really cool place with a lot of great restaurants and bars, but not a ton of grocery stores. The closest grocery stores are near slu or the undergrad campus, and target is a good 15 min drive. Also, the metro is not really super expansive, so it may be hard to get to certain places, and St. Louis is a city where one block may be super nice, but the next block is really rough (near the med school, this is not the case at all...Central West End is one of the nicest areas in St. Louis). Also for anyone choosing to go here, an Ikea is being built so rejoice :highfive:

Also Edit: Straubs is about the cost of whole foods, so if you have the money go for it. But you actually might save more if you got a car. (I give this advice because I went to wustl undergrad)
 
So I'm assuming that the fact that I haven't gotten a status change yet even though I interviewed in late October means I'm either waitlisted or rejected, right?
 
For anyone accepted already, did they already send out information regarding Second-look? I'm wondering if I may have misplaced a paper about it that came in the acceptance packet.
 
So I'm assuming that the fact that I haven't gotten a status change yet even though I interviewed in late October means I'm either waitlisted or rejected, right?
There is no clear pattern with WashU decision releases, so I don't think you should assume anything until you receive your decision. Even based on reports in this thread, some acceptances took longer after their corresponding interviews than others. (For what it's worth, I interviewed around mid-November and was accepted a week ago.)
 
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For anyone accepted already, did they already send out information regarding Second-look? I'm wondering if I may have misplaced a paper about it that came in the acceptance packet.
I haven't received anything regarding Second look; there was nothing Second look-related in the acceptance packet I received by mail (so it's likely that you haven't misplaced anything). They may be sending that information separately.
 
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