2014-2015 Saint Louis University Application Thread

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State residency doesn't matter to private institutions

I wouldn't say that it doesn't matter, but you are correct. Not to nerd out too much, but according to data in this year's MSAR on first year class demographics:

92/427 (21.5%) of IS applicants were interviewed and 36/92 (39%) were accepted post-interview.
830/5,844 (14.2%) of OOS applicants were interviewed and 134/830 (16.1%) were accepted.

Residency may matter a little bit . . . but not much since it is a private institution.
 
@Paradism @Buttermellow
Thanks for sharing your experience at SLU!

As a follow up question, could you tell us more about the study spaces on campus (library, students lounges, cafes,etc). My tour felt really quick and we didn't have time to check out the MS1 building.

Also, will there be some sort of event that will present all the student groups and research opportunities for new students? I have poked around the website for info on research happening on campus and haven't found a lot of info about it.

Thanks!

I study almost solely at home, because i'm lazy and I live by myself in a quiet building. Most people who study on campus study in the med school library, or some of the smaller group rooms in the same building. I know some who also go to the undergrad campus, because their library looks nicer. However, I like the med school library because it's less busy and there are classmates around.

I don't currently participate in research either, so I can't give you too much help there. Sometimes people will send out emails looking for students to help with research, but the best bet is just to search the website for doctors or PhDs in an area of interest and email them. Worst they can do is say no.
 
I didn't hear anything either way today. I'm somewhat shocked I haven't got a rejection email yet. Maybe there is still hope for me.
+1. I'm a major underdog compared to a lot of people here. I'm not holding my breath, though.
 
I wouldn't say that it doesn't matter, but you are correct. Not to nerd out too much, but according to data in this year's MSAR on first year class demographics:

92/427 (21.5%) of IS applicants were interviewed and 36/92 (39%) were accepted post-interview.
830/5,844 (14.2%) of OOS applicants were interviewed and 134/830 (16.1%) were accepted.

Residency may matter a little bit . . . but not much since it is a private institution.

SLU has a med scholars program at SLU as well as Rockhurst Univ that virtually guarantees you a position. A very large portion of those students are Missouri residents. I'm a current M1 and we have many students from these 2 programs. If you remove those students from the statistics, I would bet the percentages are much closer.
 
Okay. I apologize. Wasn't trying to ruin your day, and I am not going to pretend that I know everything.

It's a distinction worth noting. Most private institutions end up accepting twice their class size.
 
I was waitlisted last week. Is there a possibility that the school will accept waitlist people before April/May?
 
I was waitlisted last week. Is there a possibility that the school will accept waitlist people before April/May?

How was your interview experience? Can you share how you felt after the interview, what questions were asked...
I think they only start accepting from WL on May 15 (last year) so it probably will be April 30th for this year.
 
Has anyone who interviewed on 12/16 or later heard back about decisions?
 
Well it is worth noting that IS applicants that get interviews are accepted 88% of the time whereas OOS are accepted 54% (according to USNews). I don't think this is due to IS preference but rather to protect the yield. If you're not from STL, then you'd be less likely to want to live there for 4 years.
 
Rejected a few days ago. I know it's a general letter sent to everyone, but the rejection letter from the dean was so kind :blackeye:
 
Has anyone who interviewed on 12/16 or later heard back about decisions?

12/16 or 15 can't remember. But I haven't heard back.

i interviewed december 1st and haven't heard back. i think there are still some late november people who haven't either. i think when they gave us the time estimate on interview day they weren't including the holidays--all the adcom stuff probably just stopped for a few weeks.
 
SLU has a med scholars program at SLU as well as Rockhurst Univ that virtually guarantees you a position. A very large portion of those students are Missouri residents. I'm a current M1 and we have many students from these 2 programs. If you remove those students from the statistics, I would bet the percentages are much closer.

I wouldn't say that it doesn't matter, but you are correct. Not to nerd out too much, but according to data in this year's MSAR on first year class demographics:

92/427 (21.5%) of IS applicants were interviewed and 36/92 (39%) were accepted post-interview.
830/5,844 (14.2%) of OOS applicants were interviewed and 134/830 (16.1%) were accepted.

Residency may matter a little bit . . . but not much since it is a private institution.
This has been nagging at me, mostly because I'm in state and want to think that my local involvement will give me a tiny leg up. Online I found that about 100 medical scholars are accepted annually but only about half of them wind up matriculating. I think that in the MSAR they are listed under the "Early Assurance Program". So it does affect the stats a little, but actually the majority of med scholars are out of state.

For reference:
Interviewed: IS- 92 OOS- 830
Early Assurance: IS- 14 OOS- 33
Matriculated: IS- 36 OOS- 134

So, IS matriculated/interviewed (non early assurance) = 22/78 (28%). OOS = 101/797 (13%).

Also in general I would think accepted in staters are more likely to matriculate than accepted out of staters.

We're all just playing the same waiting game...
 
Does SLU have a second look? I thought I heard that it doesn't, which is frustrating. The interview day, while very helpful, was kind of short, and there is almost no info online. I don't want to end up at another school when SLU could be the place for me because I didn't have enough information/feel comfortable. I was accepted back in October, and I definitely need to revisit.
 
Does SLU have a second look? I thought I heard that it doesn't, which is frustrating. The interview day, while very helpful, was kind of short, and there is almost no info online. I don't want to end up at another school when SLU could be the place for me because I didn't have enough information/feel comfortable. I was accepted back in October, and I definitely need to revisit.

I don't believe there is a second look. I felt similarly after my interview, but looking back now I'm not really sure what more could have been shown. In my opinion, SLU's greatest strengths are its community, staff, and curriculum, which you can only really get a taste of during interview day. If you have specific questions or just want general impressions about anything, you should definitely ask in this thread. If I can't answer, I'm sure one of my fellow classmates can pipe in!
 
anyone booked the airport shuttle through SLU? did you get a confirmation?
 
I don't believe there is a second look. I felt similarly after my interview, but looking back now I'm not really sure what more could have been shown. In my opinion, SLU's greatest strengths are its community, staff, and curriculum, which you can only really get a taste of during interview day. If you have specific questions or just want general impressions about anything, you should definitely ask in this thread. If I can't answer, I'm sure one of my fellow classmates can pipe in!

thanks for your help on this thread Paradism!

Could you address what made you ultimately choose SLU? And perhaps the differences you've noticed btw SLU and other programs that your friends attend? Basically... cud u sell SLU to us a little more 🙂
 
thanks for your help on this thread Paradism!

Could you address what made you ultimately choose SLU? And perhaps the differences you've noticed btw SLU and other programs that your friends attend? Basically... cud u sell SLU to us a little more 🙂

I personally chose SLU because I really felt like my personal goals in medicine matched up well with the ideas that SLU promotes. I'm interested in Family Medicine and working with the community, and SLU encourages community involvement and cultural awareness. There are an abundance of ways to interact and assist the community at clinical and non-clinical levels. None of this is mandatory for students, but provides great opportunities to get involved. I think I may have touched on these types of opportunities in a previous post in this thread. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll repost it.

Curriculum wise, SLU is a true pass/fail school, which eliminates a lot of "gunner" behavior that might pop up in a more traditional setting. Our class regularly posts study guides, flash cards, and other helpful material to the entire class, and several groups of students often study together. In contrast, I have a close friend who attends a DO school and she is dismayed by how infrequently other students will reach out to help their classmates. She struggled in group settings that required cooperative learning (anatomy, etc) due to the lack of involvement of fellow group members who had already secured their grades. I can't tell you whether or not that behavior is common in other schools, but I can assure you that I've never heard of or had to deal with that kind of behavior at SLU.

One of the primary drives for converting our curriculum to a P/F was to lower student burnout and increase mental health of students. The SLU curriculum was renovated to address this and it is quite different from many schools. We have shorter, more condensed classes. Ultimately, this means we only have 1 or 2 classes running concurrently. I personally find this to be a much more focused way to learn, though admittedly it can be fast paced. They are still tweaking the system and adjusting class lengths, but overall it is has been a very positive experience. Additionally, having clear delineations between one class ending and another beginning typically means that we have a weekend completely free after every class. All of these changes go a long way towards making the class load feel manageable. Here's an article written about our curriculum that is worth taking a look at: http://www.slu.edu/rel-news-slavin-med-ed-325

I think, ultimately, I love SLU because it feels like an organic experience. The class does fun stuff together (we just had a dodgeball tournament!), and I feel connected to my classmates. Our deans are approachable and connected to the students. The school provides you with multiple ways to learn material and provides a lot of flexibility to meet these ends, which makes learning as self-directed or classroom focused as you want. I go out and do things on most weekends and find time for hobbies. It feels like I’m actually living life and improving myself along with my medical expertise. To me, that is a very valuable thing to have.

If that was too general, I can elaborate on anything you want. I will also see if I can convince one of my classmates to post his thoughts, as he’s a bit more articulate and insightful than myself!
 
If my interview is at 1, and the earliest activity I have is the lunch, does that mean that I just have to be there before 10:40am?
 
I just interviewed at SLU and am struggling with whether or not I could spend the next 4 years there. I have NOT been accepted so my struggle could be completely irrelevant... But I'm hoping some of you can give me some advice, current students and fellow applicants alike:

I applied late in the cycle and only to 4 schools, have interviewed at 2 of them now. All of the medical campuses I have spent time on have been new and fancy. I'm used to big new hospitals and facilities, so I was really turned off by SLU's facilities. Am I being unrealistic in expecting more updated facility? The quality of the education is really the important part and not necessarily related to the facilities, so maybe I'm being a crybaby about this.

I also didn't love St. Louis. I've run around unaccompanied in NYC, Chicago, Bangkok, Paris, London, Berlin, Tokyo, Denver, San Diego.... I have literally never been somewhere that students and residents were afraid to go out after dark, but the students I met at SLU seemed afraid to go out after dark. I really don't know if I can live in a place where I can't leave my home after dark for fear of being attacked. Can ya'll speak to that- is it just hyper-vigilance or is St Louis really that dangerous?

Finally, I didn't feel like I really connected with anyone during my interview. At the other school I interviewed at, I really liked the interviewees and the current students. They were really funny and joked around and were also obviously smart and hard working- I felt like I really clicked with them. I only met a couple SLU students, but didn't feel like I really hit it off with anyone like I did at my other interview. They were all nice but I just didn't feel like I clicked with other candidates or current students.

I am trying to decide if I should withdraw my application to SLU, or suck it up and just go there for 4 years if I get in and I don't get in at the other program. I did like how busy the hospital was, and I like that the cost of living is so affordable in StL. I also do think the University mission and values align well with my own, and the curriculum seems pretty standard. I am trying to avoid getting accepted and declining to reapply since I heard that's really looked down upon. I just want to go somewhere that feels like a good fit, where I will be as happy as possible through the med education process.

And maybe I won't get in and all my anxiety will be for nothing :shrug:
 
St. Louisian here, I can tell you that while Stl is not as dangerous as others may purport or the media may show, crime is not insignificant here. That said, as long as you aren't walking by yourself in a sketch neighborhood or alley (something you wouldn't do in any other city anyway) you will be fine, in my opinion. I agree with you on the facilities, they're not very eye-catching in my opinion. Of course I'm speaking with bias here, as I went to WashU for undergrad (whose med campus has all these big shiny new buildings).

As for the student connection, I don't really know that you can make a judgement on how well you will click with future classmates based on your short time interviewing at SLU. Ultimately, that's on you, I guess (not to be mean).

I'm in the same boat as you, deciding whether or not to withdraw my app but in the end it is only 4 years and looking at the match list, SLU's students appear to match in great programs all over the US.

You really can't compare STL to big cities like NYC or Paris. While it's not a "city" city, its not "country" country it's sortof a mix of both. It's what you make of it, there's plenty to do in stl but you gotta get out there and find the stuff to do. I always tell people "it's a great city to study/be a student" because there's not many distractions (you can take that how you will, if you're a nightlife party guy/gal you may be disappointed. if you're the quieter study type, it's a great place to be) If anyone decides/has decided to matriculate at SLU and would like advice on where to hang out in stl or wants a buddy to hang with let me know!
 
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Those who interviewed dec 12 and after, have you heard back from SLU yet?
 
St. Louisian here, I can tell you that while Stl is not as dangerous as others may purport or the media may show, crime is not insignificant here. That said, as long as you aren't walking by yourself in a sketch neighborhood or alley (something you wouldn't do in any other city anyway) you will be fine, in my opinion. I agree with you on the facilities, they're not very eye-catching in my opinion. Of course I'm speaking with bias here, as I went to WashU for undergrad (whose med campus has all these big shiny new buildings).

As for the student connection, I don't really know that you can make a judgement on how well you will click with future classmates based on your short time interviewing at SLU. Ultimately, that's on you, I guess (not to be mean).

I'm in the same boat as you, deciding whether or not to withdraw my app but in the end it is only 4 years and looking at the match list, SLU's students appear to match in great programs all over the US.

You really can't compare STL to big cities like NYC or Paris. While it's not a "city" city, its not "country" country it's sortof a mix of both. It's what you make of it, there's plenty to do in stl but you gotta get out there and find the stuff to do. I always tell people "it's a great city to study/be a student" because there's not many distractions (you can take that how you will, if you're a nightlife party guy/gal you may be disappointed. if you're the quieter study type, it's a great place to be) If anyone decides/has decided to matriculate at SLU and would like advice on where to hang out in stl or wants a buddy to hang with let me know!

Thanks! I am pretty aware of my surroundings and try not to put myself in bad situations e.g. running through parks or unsafe areas at night etc. I just want to be able to go out to dinner etc. without fearing for my life. I understand it's not a big city, and I am not a big partier. I'm not expecting it to be comparable, I just want to feel comfortable and safe.

I hadn't looked at the match list, so that's super helpful advice. I'm pretty impressed with their match list! I had no idea!

I really appreciate the response. Thanks!
 
Thanks! I am pretty aware of my surroundings and try not to put myself in bad situations e.g. running through parks or unsafe areas at night etc. I just want to be able to go out to dinner etc. without fearing for my life. I understand it's not a big city, and I am not a big partier. I'm not expecting it to be comparable, I just want to feel comfortable and safe.

I hadn't looked at the match list, so that's super helpful advice. I'm pretty impressed with their match list! I had no idea!

I really appreciate the response. Thanks!

Oh yeah, things like going out to dinner shouldn't be a problem, it's not like gotham lol. If you don't have a car, chances are you'll find a friend that has one. You don't want to be out alone too late but most places close at 9 or 10 on weekdays anyway and on the weekends there's enough people out that you wouldn't feel in danger alone. Glad I could help!
 
Hey everyone,

I just interviewed last week and fell in love with the school. I feel that the whole laid back and wellness centered culture really resonates with me and my view on education, and had really nice conversations with some current students and faculty there. I think my interview went well, but after reading about the acceptance stats I got kind of freaked out...I'm thinking about sending in an update letter a few things I've accomplished since my primary that weren't mentioned during my interview, and was wondering what advice the current students or other people who have sent an update letter had for me. Is the adcom receptive to update letters? Let me know, thanks!
 
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I just interviewed at SLU and am struggling with whether or not I could spend the next 4 years there. I have NOT been accepted so my struggle could be completely irrelevant... But I'm hoping some of you can give me some advice, current students and fellow applicants alike:

I applied late in the cycle and only to 4 schools, have interviewed at 2 of them now. All of the medical campuses I have spent time on have been new and fancy. I'm used to big new hospitals and facilities, so I was really turned off by SLU's facilities. Am I being unrealistic in expecting more updated facility? The quality of the education is really the important part and not necessarily related to the facilities, so maybe I'm being a crybaby about this.

I also didn't love St. Louis. I've run around unaccompanied in NYC, Chicago, Bangkok, Paris, London, Berlin, Tokyo, Denver, San Diego.... I have literally never been somewhere that students and residents were afraid to go out after dark, but the students I met at SLU seemed afraid to go out after dark. I really don't know if I can live in a place where I can't leave my home after dark for fear of being attacked. Can ya'll speak to that- is it just hyper-vigilance or is St Louis really that dangerous?

Finally, I didn't feel like I really connected with anyone during my interview. At the other school I interviewed at, I really liked the interviewees and the current students. They were really funny and joked around and were also obviously smart and hard working- I felt like I really clicked with them. I only met a couple SLU students, but didn't feel like I really hit it off with anyone like I did at my other interview. They were all nice but I just didn't feel like I clicked with other candidates or current students.

I am trying to decide if I should withdraw my application to SLU, or suck it up and just go there for 4 years if I get in and I don't get in at the other program. I did like how busy the hospital was, and I like that the cost of living is so affordable in StL. I also do think the University mission and values align well with my own, and the curriculum seems pretty standard. I am trying to avoid getting accepted and declining to reapply since I heard that's really looked down upon. I just want to go somewhere that feels like a good fit, where I will be as happy as possible through the med education process.

And maybe I won't get in and all my anxiety will be for nothing :shrug:

Hello! I understand how important chemistry is. I definitely interviewed at a few other schools which I ranked high on my list, but left my interviews not really feeling it. In my opinion, I agree that it is important to pick a school and area you feel a connection to. Of course, you should definitely evaluate other parameters. Like @Yummyinmytummy pointed out, we match pretty well, which is definitely something you should consider in picking schools. Most importantly though, I would really discourage you from withdrawing an acceptance to any school if it is the only school you get accepted to. Like you said, it is definitely going to raise some eyebrows, and it is going to be a big hurdle if you did go through another interview cycle. Even if you don’t feel the greatest connection to SLU, for instance, the students here are generally happy and perform well. I don’t think it’s worth the risk of reapplying if you had a chance to get into a medical program! You have time to think about your options though, so don’t rush anything.

As far as hospital facilities go, keep in mind that your first two years are primarily classroom based. If you want to work in newer or cutting edge facilities, you will always have the option to go to newer facilities during away rotations in your clinical years.

I think @Yummyinmytummy summed up my thoughts on St. Louis pretty well. Most of my friends/classmates go out pretty frequently for dinner, events, bars, etc. It’s never really been an issue. You just have to be aware of your surroundings like in any city with violent crime.
 
I interviewed Dec 16th, and I haven't heard back. I think they are behind because of the holidays. Fingers crossed they catch up soon
I interviewed 12/9....they definitely need to hurry up.
 
Trying to decide at what point it would be appropriate/necessary to send a polite, concerned email to admissions--Monday will be 10 weeks post-interview for me. Has anyone done this? Should I just keep waiting it out?
 
Trying to decide at what point it would be appropriate/necessary to send a polite, concerned email to admissions--Monday will be 10 weeks post-interview for me. Has anyone done this? Should I just keep waiting it out?

I think waiting it out is the safe option, for now. They will make a decision eventually and let us know what it is. Emailing may give you the time they will be getting back to us, but it won't speed up their process. If you just need some peace of mind, I would rather call as to remain anonymous. I also over analyze everything, so there's that too.
 
I was hesitant to schedule an interview at first but finally decided to reserve a date for February! Can anyone comment on the diversity within the student body at slu?
 
I was hesitant to schedule an interview at first but finally decided to reserve a date for February! Can anyone comment on the diversity within the student body at slu?

There is a good amount of diversity race-wise, but still majority white. In my class of ~178 there are <10 black students, a lot of students with Asian and Indian heritage. There is quite a bit of diversity in religion, too. My undergrad was really white and I'm glad to be in a school and a city with much more diversity.
 
thanks for your help on this thread Paradism!

Could you address what made you ultimately choose SLU? And perhaps the differences you've noticed btw SLU and other programs that your friends attend? Basically... cud u sell SLU to us a little more 🙂

I could not be happier with my choice of school! What I love about SLU is that the faculty and staff actually care about the students and want us to have the best experience possible. The recently redone curriculum reflects that, with the switch to true P/F grading and shortened pre-clinical curriculum to allow more time to explore specialties before residency application time. When the student body (or even an individual student) has a concern, the deans actually listen! They implement changes to make us happy and to help our learning. Having friends at many other medical schools across the country, I've heard how little the administration can care about students happiness at other schools. SLU really truly wants us to be mentally healthy and get a good education. Our board scores are above national average and our 4th years match into some great residencies.

As for the city itself, I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. I grew up in a similar sized city in the midwest, but didn't really know what to think about St.Louis. It has a great restaurant scene, lots of breweries and some wineries nearby, lots of cool (and free) events, not to mention the awesome parks (Forest Park, Tower Grove, etc). Cost of living is really affordable and there are some neat historic neighborhoods (or modern apartment complexes if that's what you want!). I know St.Louis has gotten a bad rep with the Ferguson incident and just generally having a lot of crime, but I have never felt unsafe. There are good and bad areas just like any medium to large city, just don't be stupid and go out alone in a bad area at night, and don't keep valuables in your car. I don't run, but many of my classmates run alone at night and I've never heard of anyone having a problem. @Mellipooh, you can absolutely go out to dinner at night (or to the bars) and not have to worry! The worst thing that's ever happened is getting your car broken into, and even that isn't common.

I wouldn't judge how your 4 years of school might be based on your interview day. I interviewed at another med school and thought it was fantastic, the students seemed super happy, etc. Turns out they treat their students like **** and don't really care if they're burnt out and failing. I didn't "click" with anyone on my interview day but made lots of friends quickly. Everyone is very laid back and friendly! Including the faculty and administration.
 
I could not be happier with my choice of school! What I love about SLU is that the faculty and staff actually care about the students and want us to have the best experience possible. The recently redone curriculum reflects that, with the switch to true P/F grading and shortened pre-clinical curriculum to allow more time to explore specialties before residency application time. When the student body (or even an individual student) has a concern, the deans actually listen! They implement changes to make us happy and to help our learning. Having friends at many other medical schools across the country, I've heard how little the administration can care about students happiness at other schools. SLU really truly wants us to be mentally healthy and get a good education. Our board scores are above national average and our 4th years match into some great residencies.

As for the city itself, I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. I grew up in a similar sized city in the midwest, but didn't really know what to think about St.Louis. It has a great restaurant scene, lots of breweries and some wineries nearby, lots of cool (and free) events, not to mention the awesome parks (Forest Park, Tower Grove, etc). Cost of living is really affordable and there are some neat historic neighborhoods (or modern apartment complexes if that's what you want!). I know St.Louis has gotten a bad rep with the Ferguson incident and just generally having a lot of crime, but I have never felt unsafe. There are good and bad areas just like any medium to large city, just don't be stupid and go out alone in a bad area at night, and don't keep valuables in your car. I don't run, but many of my classmates run alone at night and I've never heard of anyone having a problem. @Mellipooh, you can absolutely go out to dinner at night (or to the bars) and not have to worry! The worst thing that's ever happened is getting your car broken into, and even that isn't common.

I wouldn't judge how your 4 years of school might be based on your interview day. I interviewed at another med school and thought it was fantastic, the students seemed super happy, etc. Turns out they treat their students like **** and don't really care if they're burnt out and failing. I didn't "click" with anyone on my interview day but made lots of friends quickly. Everyone is very laid back and friendly! Including the faculty and administration.
That's all great information! What was the other school you interviewed at that "treated their students like ****?" You can PM me if you want, I just wanna know in case I had applied there and was thinking about it seriously.
 
Anyone who interviewed December/January received/not received a decision yet?
 
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