2015-2016 Saint Louis University Application Thread

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Food places too... I plan on expanding my culinary experiences while I'm there!
 
Strigon said:
Food places too... I plan on expanding my culinary experiences while I'm there!
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SLU is super close to Little Italy, so you can easily find a good Italian restaurant if you do some yelp searching. Also you HAVE TO TRY Ted Drewes frozen custard.
Strigon said:
Pulled down a II! Need tips on places to see in St. Louis, planning on flying in on the weekend before my Monday interview.
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Forest Park is super close to SLU so it's a place you'd be spending a lot of time. It has a bunch of museums in it so check those out too.
 
I want to visit the City Museum again. I remember crawling in tunnels for hours.
 
II !! Went to WashU for undergrad; so happy to have a chance to return to STL ^^ Is it advantageous to interview earlier? Not sure if it would reflect poorly if I wait a little and see if other, later dates open up because there's only two open right now and they're during weeks that aren't that convenient for me.

For advice on places to visit to make it a short vacation: STL has a lot of free attractions like the art museum, history museum, the zoo. All of those things are in forest park, which also has paddleboating but it might be closed by October. If you like outdoorsy stuff you could also go to like the botanical gardens and lone elk park, which I hear has elk and bison. Cardinals games are popular as stl is a big baseball town, some ppl also like city museum and I think anheuser Busch does a factory tour which is pretty cool. For bars and restaurants, the delmar loop and central west end are good!
 
Also, for those who haven't submitted secondary, I waited over a month cause I write REAALLY slow. I did write a why SLU essay.
 
aopser said:
II !! Went to WashU for undergrad; so happy to have a chance to return to STL ^^ Is it advantageous to interview earlier? Not sure if it would reflect poorly if I wait a little and see if other, later dates open up because there's only two open right now and they're during weeks that aren't that convenient for me.

when were you complete?
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For current students, did you interview with someone that matched information from your application, or was it random? I scored someone from my desired major and wanted to know if it was coincidence or just dumb luck.
 
Flashfan said:
For current students, did you interview with someone that matched information from your application, or was it random? I scored someone from my desired major and wanted to know if it was coincidence or just dumb luck.
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Not a current student but the interviewer I've been assigned seems pretty random; I don't see any ties to me or my application.
 
Flashfan said:
I scored someone from my desired major
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Back in school mode? I assume specialty.
I do like that they tell you about your interviewer so you can at least put a face to a name. I don't want to seem like a stalker though.
 
raiderette said:
Back in school mode? I assume specialty.
I do like that they tell you about your interviewer so you can at least put a face to a name. I don't want to seem like a stalker though.
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Haha... I was thinking the same thing. But what exactly are you supposed to do with the information?

I'm totally going to cyberstalk my person so I can casually sneak in names and information about his family members into the conversation on interview day. That should score me points, right? 😉
 
It seems like some people have gotten complete emails? I'm complete since 9/2 on the web portal but no email. Should I contact them or anyone have similar experience to share?
 
midwestisbest said:
It seems like some people have gotten complete emails? I'm complete since 9/2 on the web portal but no email. Should I contact them or anyone have similar experience to share?
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I probably wouldn't contact them. If your portal says you're complete, you're complete.
 
What are the stats of those who have received an II?
 
3.85 Cum/Sci GPA, 34 MCAT
Avg-weak ECs

Edit: received II on Friday
 
Hey I have a question about the rec requirements! I have two recs from science teachers sent through AMCAS in my letter packet, but in early august my PI, who gave me a letter grade over the summer sent by email an additional recommendation to the Admissions department at SLU. My application online has said it was complete since July, Do you think I met their "strict" rec requirement of 3 teachers??? Do they even let you know if you don't meet the requirements?
 
kitkat1735 said:
Hey I have a question about the rec requirements! I have two recs from science teachers sent through AMCAS in my letter packet, but in early august my PI, who gave me a letter grade over the summer sent by email an additional recommendation to the Admissions department at SLU. My application online has said it was complete since July, Do you think I met their "strict" rec requirement of 3 teachers??? Do they even let you know if you don't meet the requirements?
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You're probably fine! Wouldn't hurt to call and double check, especially with your PI sending the letter via e-mail.
 
Does SLU screen out primaries? I submitted my app 8/31 and still haven't received a secondary.
 
eartwj said:
Does SLU screen out primaries? I submitted my app 8/31 and still haven't received a secondary.
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I am not sure if they do, maybe they're just swamp with apps? I received secondary a day after submitting. I'm OOS, 28 MCAT
 
Medschoolboy88 said:
I am not sure if they do, maybe they're just swamp with apps? I received secondary a day after submitting. I'm OOS, 28 MCAT
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I just looked on MSAR and it says all applicants receive secondaries. You're right, they're probably just swamped with apps.
 
So for the secondary, if my letters of rec were already received on my primaries, do I still to upload to the secondary portal?
 
cactusinmyhead said:
How'd the interview go today?
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WONDERFUL.

Will add more tomorrow, just got home and dead tired. Suffice it to say SLU is the greatest 😍

Edit:

Okay, so I'm just going to give a general overview of my stay and the interview and my thoughts about it. 🙂

I drove in on Sunday and got to St. Louis around 5 o'clock. My student host was very friendly and accommodating, and answered all my preliminary questions. They aren't required to get you from the airport to wherever they live (which wasn't an issue for me) but she mentioned that the Metrolink is wayyy less expensive than a taxi and super easy to deal with. We went to the Sunday night dinner at a place called Rooster. It had mostly brunch food but it was really great and trendy (and free). The students were really laid back and friendly, and even the other interviewees seemed really chill. Good conversations. After that we went back to my host's place, she made me tea and it was bedtime.

In the morning, the hosts are required to get you at least to the campus and hopefully show you the correct building to go to. My host had class at 9:30. She made me breakfast (delish) and brought me to campus a bit early, showed me the admissions office and took me to a student lounge where I just chilled for a while. Everything is super close by and easy to find. They want you to check in for the tour around 10:40. You are put in a conference room with the other interviewees, which was a bit intimidating at first.

Then, one of the doctors/deans (I can't remember his name, it wasn't Dr. Willmore) gives a little welcome speech and you go off on your tour. Mine was led by a fourth year student. The tour was not all that exciting, it was a lot of walking and stairs for my poor heeled feet, so bring comfy shoes. The simulation labs are cool, they show you the hospital and where the students hang out and have classes, but that's about it.

After the tour is lunch. You get to talk with some second year students while you eat, which was nice. If I hadn't gone to the dinner before and known that everyone was already super chill, I would probably have been more stressed than I was, but this put my already at ease mind even more at ease. The food was good (sandwiches and chips/fruit/cookies).

After lunch, a financial aid person talked to us briefly, and then the day was done. I still had to wait for my interview at 2:15, but a bunch of interviewees hung out in the conference room and talked. Everyone was very encouraging and wished each other luck.

My interview was in the hospital. They provide you with turn-by-turn written directions. I had no trouble finding it. The interview itself was very relaxed. It lasted about 30 minutes. The interviewer had my application and had made notes on it, and he/she asked me questions about it. Basically I just described why I wanted to be a doctor, what experiences led up to this, what I learned from them, etc. No hard ethics questions or anything, he/she just wanted to get to know me. Very friendly overall. I asked specific questions at the end about research opportunities and about specific classes and my interviewer was very knowledgeable.

So, basically, I had a lot of fun, it was not stressful in the slightest once I started getting to know the school, and they really make a good impression.

My recommendations to future interviewers are: Get a student host, go to the pre-interview dinner if you can, don't stress (hard, I know), wear comfy shoes, be ready to talk about your application, be friendly and personable, talk to people and ask questions. 🙂
 
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Can a current student or someone who interviewed elaborate about the "learning communities" at SLU? I'm having trouble finding more information about them other than that they exist, but I love the idea!
 
Hmm, not sure what their algorithm is...but I think it's safer to use percentiles from 2014 for the old exam, and simply convert your overall percentage over. Since you're at 100%, that could be anywhere from 39-45. There is an obvious disparity between this method, and the converter you used. Example: My 514 converts to a 35 using your method, but a 33 using 2014 percentiles. I think it's safer to use the 2014 percentiles as it's 1) directly from AAMC, and 2) results in a lower score.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/430684/data/finalpercentileranksfortheoldmcatexam.pdf
 
studentdocftw said:
Hmm, not sure what their algorithm is...but I think it's safer to use percentiles from 2014 for the old exam, and simply convert your overall percentage over. Since you're at 100%, that could be anywhere from 39-45. There is an obvious disparity between this method, and the converter you used. Example: My 514 converts to a 35 using your method, but a 33 using 2014 percentiles. I think it's safer to use the 2014 percentiles as it's 1) directly from AAMC, and 2) results in a lower score.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/430684/data/finalpercentileranksfortheoldmcatexam.pdf
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Hmm...yeah, it's just hard to discriminate in the 100th percentiles. I see what you're saying, though. I guess I should assume that online converter is overestimating my old MCAT equivalent score, since that's what happened with yours. To be safe, LizzyM >78
 
Ya that prospectivedoctor website tells me things I want to hear - something must be fishy lol
 
HopefulApp23 said:
Hmm...yeah, it's just hard to discriminate in the 100th percentiles. I see what you're saying, though. I guess I should assume that online converter is overestimating my old MCAT equivalent score, since that's what happened with yours. To be safe, LizzyM >78
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Honestly there's no point in discriminating. Anything above 37 is otherworldly. I can see adcoms salivating all over your application from here. Lol.
 
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