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Mittentower said:
I would say it's somewhere between CASPer-style situational questions and the "describe a situation where you ___" type of questions - I believe three video and one written. As another applicant emphasized, the questions that are asked in the practice/tutorial are not at all similar to the real one so keep that in mind.
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Thank you so much! Did you study some medical ethics things before doing the video? Should I?
 
Mittentower said:
I would say it's somewhere between CASPer-style situational questions and the "describe a situation where you ___" type of questions - I believe three video and one written. As another applicant emphasized, the questions that are asked in the practice/tutorial are not at all similar to the real one so keep that in mind.
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Is the actual Kira video interview 30s to prepare and 45s to record like the practice questions? Or is the timing something different?
 
eMpTy said:
Is the actual Kira video interview 30s to prepare and 45s to record like the practice questions? Or is the timing something different?
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I believe it is 90 seconds to prepare and 60(?) seconds to record, whatever timing is in the practice is the same timing in the real one.
 
Just finished the Kira video interview, I didn't think it was bad but like everyone is saying it's nothing like the practice questions. I think the practice questions are there to just get you accustomed to the interface they're using. The prep and answer time was also different than the practice for me. 2 min prep, 1.5 answer iirc for the videos and 10 min for writing. Although I wonder if it's different for everyone depending on what specific questions they get. But again, it wasn't bad at all I would say it was a mix of casper and vita.
 
RIP my chances here. Not a fan at all of one of my answers to the asynchronous (out of only 4 questions so bad news bears)...
 
accioMD! said:
RIP my chances here. Not a fan at all of one of my answers to the asynchronous (out of only 4 questions so bad news bears)...
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I felt the same way. Here’s to hoping they won’t weight it super heavily given that it’s a new thing. I really hate the new asynchronous trend - this is med school, not film school, and I feel like my answers really suffered from not having feedback from an interviewer.
 
Does anyone know how WashU gives out rejections for MSTP candidates? If I put on my app that I want to be considered for both MD and MSTP, will WashU not notify me if I got rejected from MSTP and that my app is forwarded to the MD pile? Asking because I haven't heard back anything from them in a while. Thanks!
 
Does anyone know if they accept application updates? I could not find any info on their website or on the portal.
 
Joining the definitely blew it squad with the asynchronous video responses. Im so bad at just delivering a monologue to a camera. Questions weren't hard at all but I panicked mid way in a sentence and had to take a terribly awkward 10 second pause.
 
Signed up for the events on EventBrite? When would i receive the zoom links?
 
Orims said:
Had my interview this week and I am incredibly excited about the possibility of being at WashU and Saint Louis. The students I spoke with have also been incredibly friendly and encouraging. Patiently waiting for ,hopefully, good news.
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Echoing this sentiment. I just interviewed, and this school is definitely my top choice. I love everything about WashU. Hoping that a poor performance on the asynchronous portion won't automatically disqualify me. Does anyone know when we should expect to hear back?
 
At this point, I'm starting to wonder if they are deliberately trolling.. I just keep imagining a couple people in their admission office giggling as they send these e-mails out...
 
Hey y'all, I'm back. I'm a current M1, and as of earlier tonight, one of the Admissions Liaisons. So feel free to message me if you have any questions. I want to make this process easier for y'all (I was - and still am - neurotic too), so don't be shy. I'd love to hear what y'all think is or isn't working, how WashU can make the admissions experience better, any questions you have about WashU, etc. I can't promise I or any of the other liaisons can actually change things, but I can promise that I'll bring things up to Dean Ratts and the adcoms. Good luck with the application process, and I hope to hear from some of y'all!
 
neurosabre said:
Hey y'all, I'm back. I'm a current M1, and as of earlier tonight, one of the Admissions Liaisons. So feel free to message me if you have any questions. I want to make this process easier for y'all (I was - and still am - neurotic too), so don't be shy. I'd love to hear what y'all think is or isn't working, how WashU can make the admissions experience better, any questions you have about WashU, etc. I can't promise I or any of the other liaisons can actually change things, but I can promise that I'll bring things up to Dean Ratts and the adcoms. Good luck with the application process, and I hope to hear from some of y'all!
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Hey thank you for offering to help fellow neurotics!

1. Could you please see how to stop the informative emails that come from mdadmissions email causing major heart attacks to applicants eagerly waiting for the next steps?
2. Can a July secondary submission OOS applicant still hope to get an II?
Thank you in advance.
 
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ricetomed said:
Hey thank you for offering to help fellow neurotics!

1. Could you please see how to stop the informative emails that come from mdadmissions email causing major heart attacks to applicants eagerly waiting for the next steps?
2. Can a July secondary submission OOS applicant still hope to get an II?
Thank you in advance.
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For 1, absolutely. I don't get those emails, so if you could DM me a screenshot just so I know what it looks like and so I don't sound like an idiot trying to describe it, I can bring it up.

For 2, also absolutely. We're super behind this year. There's a reasonable chance we'll be interviewing into late February or early March. We aren't even done reviewing all the applicants!
 
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neurosabre said:
Hey y'all, I'm back. I'm a current M1, and as of earlier tonight, one of the Admissions Liaisons. So feel free to message me if you have any questions. I want to make this process easier for y'all (I was - and still am - neurotic too), so don't be shy. I'd love to hear what y'all think is or isn't working, how WashU can make the admissions experience better, any questions you have about WashU, etc. I can't promise I or any of the other liaisons can actually change things, but I can promise that I'll bring things up to Dean Ratts and the adcoms. Good luck with the application process, and I hope to hear from some of y'all!
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Do you happen to know if they're still rolling, and what the plan is on timing? I know things started mid/late October last year, but since things were definitely delayed this year a bunch of us on this thread (myself included) were curious if there's a plan for when decisions might start rolling out.
 
neurosabre said:
Hey y'all, I'm back. I'm a current M1, and as of earlier tonight, one of the Admissions Liaisons. So feel free to message me if you have any questions. I want to make this process easier for y'all (I was - and still am - neurotic too), so don't be shy. I'd love to hear what y'all think is or isn't working, how WashU can make the admissions experience better, any questions you have about WashU, etc. I can't promise I or any of the other liaisons can actually change things, but I can promise that I'll bring things up to Dean Ratts and the adcoms. Good luck with the application process, and I hope to hear from some of y'all!
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Thank you for doing this! I was wondering if you knew when we could expect to hear about acceptances? I interviewed last week and just wondering what the timeframe after IIs looks like.
 
Latest word on decisions is likely late November, although admissions doesn't seem to know for certain. I can fish for a more specific date, though!
 
neurosabre said:
For 1, absolutely. I don't get those emails, so if you could DM me a screenshot just so I know what it looks like and so I don't sound like an idiot trying to describe it, I can bring it up.
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1. Subject of today's email: Remembering William H. Danforth, MD, former dean and chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis
2. Last monday's: Nobel awarded to Charles Rice for hepatitis C discoveries at School of Medicine
3. Week prior: A review of WashU Med orientation; upcoming White Coat Ceremony
 
For people who have gone to the financial aid session, tour, etc - are students still dressing professionally? I know a few mentioned earlier that they were the only ones not in professional attire, but wanted to see if that was anybody else's experience. I was just planning on dressing business casual but don't want to stand out too much haha.
 
neurosabre said:
Hey y'all, I'm back. I'm a current M1, and as of earlier tonight, one of the Admissions Liaisons. So feel free to message me if you have any questions. I want to make this process easier for y'all (I was - and still am - neurotic too), so don't be shy. I'd love to hear what y'all think is or isn't working, how WashU can make the admissions experience better, any questions you have about WashU, etc. I can't promise I or any of the other liaisons can actually change things, but I can promise that I'll bring things up to Dean Ratts and the adcoms. Good luck with the application process, and I hope to hear from some of y'all!
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Could you talk about the location in St Louis? I'm trying to find information online but it's hard to find the vibe of the city without hearing from an actual person
 
I'll preface this by saying that I've only been here for 3ish months and that COVID has made it pretty hard to explore consistently. That being said, I've really enjoyed my time here. I live extremely close to Forest Park, so there are tons of trails and beautiful nature sites right near me. The food is great (been eating a lot of BBQ), but there's really good sushi/Chinese/Indian/Mexican and Tex-Mex/etc within walking or pickup distance.

You'll hear a lot about safety in STL. While there are robberies and assaults, violent crime for the med campus and in the Central West End. That's not to say that they don't happen, but WashU does a good job of keeping us safe. One thing that's been emphasized to us is that most of the violence in the city isn't random but is instead targeted retaliation (often gang-based).

I hope that's a good quick summary!
 
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@neurosabre Letters of interest are useful here? Are letters of interest supposed to be before any decisions are made and post-II? There always seems to be such conflicting information on these.
 
Letters of interest are always useful. Send them in post-interview and relatively soon after your interview (1-2 weeks max). You can also disguise it as an update letter if you have anything to add to your app. Pro tip - email them to the admissions office AND upload them to your portal
 
I'll offer some insight. The crime often happens in the evening/night near apartments. Rarely does crime happen on the campuses (though I got two of my bikes stolen on the undergrad campus within 30 days of each other 🙁 dont use a cheap lock twice in a row). On average, we get a crime alert once a month, location varying. Just be careful at night and you're probably fine. The med campus has an evening/night shuttle system: https://facilities.med.wustl.edu/wp...8/Afterhours-Neighborhood-Shuttle-Program.pdf

1603213481747.png
 
mvsrocks said:
I'll offer some insight. The crime often happens in the evening/night near apartments. Rarely does crime happen on the campuses (though I got two of my bikes stolen on the undergrad campus within 30 days of each other 🙁 dont use a cheap lock twice in a row). On average, we get a crime alert once a month, location varying.

View attachment 320944
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Coming from an undergrad campus with crime alerts multiple times a day and bikes stolen if you don't lock your tires/wheels/pedals/literally every part of your bike, I hate that this sounds pretty safe lol my standards are so low now
 
spottedcory said:
Coming from an undergrad campus with crime alerts multiple times a day and bikes stolen if you don't lock your tires/wheels/pedals/literally every part of your bike, I hate that this sounds pretty safe lol my standards are so low now
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Jeez that sounds scary. Yeah imo WashU felt relatively safe, but at the same time, St. Louis is still a city so be careful and don't be stupid.
 
neurosabre said:
Letters of interest are always useful. Send them in post-interview and relatively soon after your interview (1-2 weeks max). You can also disguise it as an update letter if you have anything to add to your app. Pro tip - email them to the admissions office AND upload them to your portal
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Any advice for writing a letter intent? WashU is one of my top choices due to various reasons (cost of living, amazing research, community, partner wants to move there, etc) and I don't know how be succinct about it. I dont have much to update, though.
 
As a born and raised St Louisian who applied here, the area is NOT SAFE. People are randomly shot on the highway in the area. Its a shame that I feel so unsafe at such a good school. Would not walk anywhere alone without my family member who is a police officer. Just my opinion
 
So to contextualize about crime - we've only gotten one alert about violent crime in the last 3 months. There are definitely petty thefts, though, and things that go unreported. But that's what I'm working with. We've been told that the CWE is very safe in daylight but that it's a good idea to have a walking buddy at night. I can't speak for the lived experiences of others, but I personally haven't had any real concerns with safety. Full disclosure, though: I edited my last post about safety to reflect that I was talking more about violent crime against members of the med campus!

For letters of intent and interest (since this is a common question): style it like a formal business letter. Address it to the dean or director of admissions and include your AAMC ID. Talk about all of your reasons for wanting to go, and include concrete examples. Name drop specific programs or labs or what have you that you want to participate in. And keep it to a page or so!
 
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thefitpremed2 said:
As a born and raised St Louisian who applied here, the area is NOT SAFE. People are randomly shot on the highway in the area. Its a shame that I feel so unsafe at such a good school. Would not walk anywhere alone without my family member who is a police officer. Just my opinion
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Thanks so much for sharing! I just compared St. Louis to Oakland, Chicago, Baltimore, and LA, and St. Louis beats all those places in crime rate oof. Which is weird because my family is convinced that St. Louis is a safe city and had dissuaded me from applying to JHU/UMich because of safety lmao. Tho I did hear that the crime statistics are reported somewhat unfairly
 
spottedcory said:
Thanks so much for sharing! I just compared St. Louis to Oakland, Chicago, Baltimore, and LA, and St. Louis beats all those places in crime rate oof. Which is weird because my family is convinced that St. Louis is a safe city and had dissuaded me from applying to JHU/UMich because of safety lmao. Tho I did hear that the crime statistics are reported somewhat unfairly
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They told you Umich was dangerous?? Ann Arbor is a college town not even a large city and is really one of the safest places you could live in imo
 
nightwalker444 said:
They told you Umich was dangerous?? Ann Arbor is a college town not even a large city and is really one of the safest places you could live in imo
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They were uneasy with Detroit being close by which imo isn't even that close, but my school list was too large so I was like okay whatever I'll take it off lol
 
spottedcory said:
Thanks so much for sharing! I just compared St. Louis to Oakland, Chicago, Baltimore, and LA, and St. Louis beats all those places in crime rate oof. Which is weird because my family is convinced that St. Louis is a safe city and had dissuaded me from applying to JHU/UMich because of safety lmao. Tho I did hear that the crime statistics are reported somewhat unfairly
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No problem! I'm really not trying to scare anyone away-I was treated my entire life by WUSTL physicians. They are truly top notch, and if I get in, I would go there. I just don't want anyone to unknowingly sign up for the potential safety risks without at least being aware.
 
To contextualize the comment about crime reporting, most cities report crime from their entire county/metropolitan statistical area. St. Louis City, however, does not, and only reports crime from St. Louis City, not St. Louis County. So there are definitely methodological worries in how we arrive at the numbers. Violence is definitely a problem in the city, but it's unclear if STL deserves the reputation it gets. From talking with my classmates, most to all of the folks I talked to feel pretty confident about our personal security on or closely around the med campus, but we all also tend to take precautions like walking in groups or using the WashU Safe app. I hope all of that helps more thoroughly answer questions about safety!
 
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