2021-2022 Washington University in St. Louis

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MD II 10/11: Complete 08/24
LM ~72 International URM
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to those who have interviewed here with little meaningful research- did they probe you extensively about your project(s)?
 
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babybluee said:
Not really? I had a few questions that allowed me to expand on activities, but generally I didn't feel my interviewer had really seen my activities list, just my PS, so nothing too specific. Definitely check the sdn interview page for Georgetown! All the common questions you see there, you should expect to be asked on your interview day.
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why georgetown lol
 
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parpaz1 said:
to those who have interviewed here with little meaningful research- did they probe you extensively about your project(s)?
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My read (although I have thousands of hours of research) is that all my conversations (students, faculty) ended up being about research. My advice to you would be to be a little aspirational about research even if you don't have much to talk about yourself. For example, you might have done one cell assay, but did you learn about methodology from it.. did you get an idea about how to refine it? That is, you can speak to research methods and conclusions and how that made you interested in finding xx, even if you don't have much in terms of results.

In WashU's new curriculum, they also have a scholarship component where they are interested in developing physician educators or advocates with *hypothesis* driven activities. That makes me think (and again from my read at the interview) that they may go into some specific detail with research, or that they will definitely like it if you talk about research.

Of course, I am just a current applicant, so if there is anyone more knowledgeable about this, please do correct me!
 
nicesecrets said:
My read (although I have thousands of hours of research) is that all my conversations (students, faculty) ended up being about research. My advice to you would be to be a little aspirational about research even if you don't have much to talk about yourself. For example, you might have done one cell assay, but did you learn about methodology from it.. did you get an idea about how to refine it? That is, you can speak to research methods and conclusions and how that made you interested in finding xx, even if you don't have much in terms of results.

In WashU's new curriculum, they also have a scholarship component where they are interested in developing physician educators or advocates with *hypothesis* driven activities. That makes me think (and again from my read at the interview) that they may go into some specific detail with research, or that they will definitely like it if you talk about research.

Of course, I am just a current applicant, so if there is anyone more knowledgeable about this, please do correct me!
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Sorry, I will be annoying now and add to my previous answer! A thing I liked about WashU is that they include all their adcom bios on their website, and you also know in advance who is going to interview you and whether the interview is closed or open. In the closed interview, you don't have to talk about research if you don't want to, but fair warning that it might still come up, especially if seen as a deficit. (Random example: Oh, you have talked a lot about your job and your scribing.. I'm wondering, do you have research experience?)
In the open interview, it can obviously go much more into research depending on the experiences you have listed. Look at your interviewer bio and use that to tailor your response. Does your interviewer also do basic research, or do they do clinical research? Find a common ground there to connect and talk aspirationally, so you can make an impact even if you have minimal research exp. Hope this helps :)
 
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does anyone know when Wash U will start releasing decisions?
 
II received! Canadian applicant, LM 77, complete end of September!
 
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lotterychild said:
II received! Canadian applicant, LM 77, complete end of September!
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That is actually insanely impressive. I've heard it's much harder generally for Canadians applying to US schools.
 
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Anyone else having issues with the Kira Talent page? It's not letting me progress through the steps and I'm stuck on registration after being stuck on the video. Their website says that they are "investigating the issue."
 
Master_Momo said:
Anyone else having issues with the Kira Talent page? It's not letting me progress through the steps and I'm stuck on registration after being stuck on the video. Their website says that they are "investigating the issue."
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I think that pretty much covers why you are stuck. Give it a few days. I'll try it on my end and let u know how it goes.
 
msummer said:
I think that pretty much covers why you are stuck. Give it a few days. I'll try it on my end and let u know how it goes.
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I was just wondering if it was an issue for a lot of people or just a few. I guess I shouldn't have procrastinated on this 🙃
 
msummer said:
That is actually insanely impressive. I've heard it's much harder generally for Canadians applying to US schools.
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Thank you! It is generally harder for Canadians applying to US schools since we typically need higher stats (which makes sense since you need to reserve seats for your own citizens), but what's even more insane is the fact that none of the Canadian medical schools in my province even wanted to interview me for two years in a row now, yet a highly ranked American school is finally giving me a chance!
 
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lotterychild said:
Thank you! It is generally harder for Canadians applying to US schools since we typically need higher stats (which makes sense since you need to reserve seats for your own citizens), but what's even more insane is the fact that none of the Canadian medical schools in my province even wanted to interview me for two years in a row now, yet a highly ranked American school is finally giving me a chance!
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Is this your first II in the US?
Also, did you have an weirdly low CARS or something? With an LM of 77 your MCAT has to be at least 520. I know Canadian schools for some reason care almost solely about CARS.
 
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Unconditionalloves said:
Best places to live? Convenient to class and clinicals? Can you do without a car? budget? how about tornadoes?
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Lots of student have great and affordable housing right around there. Aside from the student housing the school provides, there are many very nice apartments in walking distance. Anywhere around the central west end is the best place to be for a med student. Also tons of restaurants, grocery store, bars are right there.

It’s very convenient to class and clinicals. Although many students do have a car, I wouldn’t say you need it (especially before clinicals). There’s a metro stop right in the center hub of the med school and hospital centers and that will basically take you to most popular areas in St. Louis (from the arch to baseball stadium to the aquarium to the airport etc). I’m pretty sure students get a metro pass for free, but not 100% sure? There also may be a carshare type of thing? It’s not as accessible as some cities though and it may be more convenient to have a car at times (such as if you’re doing a clinical rotation in one of their outpatient facilities).

Budgeting aside from the school, the area is super cheap compared to other cities. Like student rent is around $800 per person a month (guessing based on Zillow). You can get a good drink or groceries without breaking your wallet.

As for tornados, I wouldn’t be too concerned about them. St. Louis only gets a bigger F4 tornado around every 14 years with the last one being north of the city in 2011 and they have really gotten no F5 tornados. So I’d doubt you’d see a tornado if you went here and if you did, it would be an anomaly.
 
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babybluee said:
Lots of student have great and affordable housing right around there. Aside from the student housing the school provides, there are many very nice apartments in walking distance. Anywhere around the central west end is the best place to be for a med student. Also tons of restaurants, grocery store, bars are right there.

It’s very convenient to class and clinicals. Although many students do have a car, I wouldn’t say you need it (especially before clinicals). There’s a metro stop right in the center hub of the med school and hospital centers and that will basically take you to most popular areas in St. Louis (from the arch to baseball stadium to the aquarium to the airport etc). I’m pretty sure students get a metro pass for free, but not 100% sure? There also may be a carshare type of thing? It’s not as accessible as some cities though and it may be more convenient to have a car at times (such as if you’re doing a clinical rotation in one of their outpatient facilities).

Budgeting aside from the school, the area is super cheap compared to other cities. Like student rent is around $800 per person a month (guessing based on Zillow). You can get a good drink or groceries without breaking your wallet.

As for tornados, I wouldn’t be too concerned about them. St. Louis only gets a bigger F4 tornado around every 14 years with the last one being north of the city in 2011 and they have really gotten no F5 tornados. So I’d doubt you’d see a tornado if you went here and if you did, it would be an anomaly.
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Confirmed, with my luck if I go here, we will get an F5 tornado.
 
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msummer said:
Is this your first II in the US?
Also, did you have an weirdly low CARS or something? With an LM of 77 your MCAT has to be at least 520. I know Canadian schools for some reason care almost solely about CARS.
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Yes, this is my first II in the US! My MCAT is actually 520 on the dot (130/127/131/132), so to answer your question my CARS score is indeed considered low (in Canada anyways, 128+ is considered competitive), which is a shame since I did better on CARS during my practice exams, but there's no way I'm retaking a 520 just cuz of CARS. The CARS and Canadian med schools is a running joke at this point but a little misleading, tbh theres mainly two schools in Ontario that really scrutinize it (McMaster aka the founder of MMIs and Western). But my GPA should make up for it.

The issue though isn't really my stats, ik plenty of applicants in the same boat as me. Canada's in a really rough position rn, ironically we have a doctor shortage yet we can't afford to pay for more doctors, so compound that with the fact that we have like 11?? med schools in Canada in total, the end result is a highly competitive and dejecting application cycles here. We also don't have many essays to write here, which i used to think was a good thing since writing essays for the American schools was so damn tiring, but now I'm realizing it gives the interviewers a better look at me which I appreciate more.

Anyways, I held off applying to American schools due to monetary reasons, but now I've saved up quite a bit of money and ik not many schools give out scholarships/financial aid to internationals but with my parents generous assistance I think I should be fine. Wishing you the best of luck!
 
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lotterychild said:
Yes, this is my first II in the US! My MCAT is actually 520 on the dot (130/127/131/132), so to answer your question my CARS score is indeed considered low (in Canada anyways, 128+ is considered competitive), which is a shame since I did better on CARS during my practice exams, but there's no way I'm retaking a 520 just cuz of CARS. The CARS and Canadian med schools is a running joke at this point but a little misleading, tbh theres mainly two schools in Ontario that really scrutinize it (McMaster aka the founder of MMIs and Western). But my GPA should make up for it.

The issue though isn't really my stats, ik plenty of applicants in the same boat as me. Canada's in a really rough position rn, ironically we have a doctor shortage yet we can't afford to pay for more doctors, so compound that with the fact that we have like 11?? med schools in Canada in total, the end result is a highly competitive and dejecting application cycles here. We also don't have many essays to write here, which i used to think was a good thing since writing essays for the American schools was so damn tiring, but now I'm realizing it gives the interviewers a better look at me which I appreciate more.

Anyways, I held off applying to American schools due to monetary reasons, but now I've saved up quite a bit of money and ik not many schools give out scholarships/financial aid to internationals but with my parents generous assistance I think I should be fine. Wishing you the best of luck!
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You as well man. Everytime I think of how terrible MD admissions here are, it's a little disheartening to see it may be even worse over there. It's insane that so many even want to go to med school in Canada since it's more difficult to enter and the payoff is even smaller (in terms of salary).
 
msummer said:
You as well man. Everytime I think of how terrible MD admissions here are, it's a little disheartening to see it may be even worse over there. It's insane that so many even want to go to med school in Canada since it's more difficult to enter and the payoff is even smaller (in terms of salary).
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That said Canada knows they don't have enough places so they don't see FMG as a second class!
 
Master_Momo said:
I was just wondering if it was an issue for a lot of people or just a few. I guess I shouldn't have procrastinated on this 🙃
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I used Kira Talent for another school and opening it in an incognito window solved the problem!
 
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Master_Momo said:
I was just wondering if it was an issue for a lot of people or just a few. I guess I shouldn't have procrastinated on this 🙃
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FYI I was having issues with it too and switched from Chrome to Microsoft Edge (ew) and it worked perfectly
 
Master_Momo said:
I was just wondering if it was an issue for a lot of people or just a few. I guess I shouldn't have procrastinated on this 🙃
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Ah, gotcha. Apologies as I realized my tone was kinda sparky lol. That makes complete sense, I just interpreted it as "I know the problem, but like what's the problem?" which I shouldn't have.
 
iHawk_MD said:
FYI I was having issues with it too and switched from Chrome to Microsoft Edge (ew) and it worked perfectly
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Thanks. It was letting me progress farther in Chrome than in Firefox but it would still get stuck. It appears that it was broken on their end since I submitted a ticket and support team got back to me and said it's fixed.
 
msummer said:
Ah, gotcha. Apologies as I realized my tone was kinda sparky lol. That makes complete sense, I just interpreted it as "I know the problem, but like what's the problem?" which I shouldn't have.
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No problem. I was being a bit impatient/neurotic in reaching out here despite seeing the status on the Kira site so the snark was not completely unwarranted. I had spent all half the day putting it off only for the website to go down right when I had worked up the courage to sit down and do it.
 
babybluee said:
Lots of student have great and affordable housing right around there. Aside from the student housing the school provides, there are many very nice apartments in walking distance. Anywhere around the central west end is the best place to be for a med student. Also tons of restaurants, grocery store, bars are right there.

It’s very convenient to class and clinicals. Although many students do have a car, I wouldn’t say you need it (especially before clinicals). There’s a metro stop right in the center hub of the med school and hospital centers and that will basically take you to most popular areas in St. Louis (from the arch to baseball stadium to the aquarium to the airport etc). I’m pretty sure students get a metro pass for free, but not 100% sure? There also may be a carshare type of thing? It’s not as accessible as some cities though and it may be more convenient to have a car at times (such as if you’re doing a clinical rotation in one of their outpatient facilities).

Budgeting aside from the school, the area is super cheap compared to other cities. Like student rent is around $800 per person a month (guessing based on Zillow). You can get a good drink or groceries without breaking your wallet.

As for tornados, I wouldn’t be too concerned about them. St. Louis only gets a bigger F4 tornado around every 14 years with the last one being north of the city in 2011 and they have really gotten no F5 tornados. So I’d doubt you’d see a tornado if you went here and if you did, it would be an anomaly.
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Agreed with the above. also look into apartments in the grove. still walking distance and could potentially be cheaper. a lot of fun bars there as well. however no grocery store in walking distance. all in all, central west end is the best. I knew a lot of folks with a car even during clinicals (which is a small headache and you'll end up doing slightly more time in the hospital vs cush outpatient stuff). We do get a free metro pass which is so clutch to get straight from the airport to campus. i don't recall any tornado warnings during my time there.
If you're MD/PhD, I know some folks who bought places in the area just north of forest park (before delmar). That's a quiet spot and still along the metro to campus.
 
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yokiguz said:
Congrats on the II! I was complete early Aug and have heard nothing. Probably an R?
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I was complete on July 20th and heard back yesterday so...
 
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yokiguz said:
Huh, I wonder how they are sorting applications... Congrats!
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LM 77 OOS ORM. I probably fall under the high stat category so I would imagine I have tier 2 priority (behind URM high stat and the absolutely exceptional people)
 
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How much weight do we think is given to the one-way video assessment? I don't feel like I did very well, I kept stumbling on my words :(
 
In the 2020-21 thread, an M1 came in and said that it was weighted much less than the live 1:1 interviews.. I would hope it would be the same way this year as well!

Signed - system cut off my SVI responses all three times!
 
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For those who interviewed, did you go to any of the auxiliary events? Are they truly optional?
 
parpaz1 said:
For those who interviewed, did you go to any of the auxiliary events? Are they truly optional?
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Yes, truly optional - many interviewees had their cameras turned off and yesterday's session was almost like a conversation between the dean and MS2s, with some questions from applicants only in the chat.
 
II this afternoon! LM ~80, complete 8/4. A much needed confidence boost after a tough week lol
 
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Hey all, so I interviewed mid October (last week), any idea when I should expect to hear a decision by? Does anyone else who interviewed last week remember if a timeline was given? Thanks!
 
kitkat08 said:
Hey all, so I interviewed mid October (last week), any idea when I should expect to hear a decision by? Does anyone else who interviewed last week remember if a timeline was given? Thanks!
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This was not mentioned during the interview, but their website says acceptance notifications go out from Nov 12 - April 15, so.. I'd say we have a bit of a wait ahead of us :)
 
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nicesecrets said:
This was not mentioned during the interview, but their website says acceptance notifications go out from Nov 12 - April 15, so.. I'd say we have a bit of a wait ahead of us :)
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To add to this, I believe they said that most people hear back closer to March.
 
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How does WashU feel about pre-II updates/interest letters?
 
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Does anyone know how much time we get per answer on the Kira Talent questions?
 
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