importance of washu interview in admissions

[futuremsfdoc]

---

Members do not see this ad.

how imporant is the interview at washu relative to other aspects of the application (ie mcat/gpa, awards, research, community service)?

to me it seems less important since they only have one interview.

 

[leechy]

how imporant is the interview at washu relative to other aspects of the application (ie mcat/gpa, awards, research, community service)?

to me it seems less important since they only have one interview.

That would be my guess as well. Plus, if you look at mdapplicants and compare the stats of people accepted post-interview versus rejected post-interview, there's a palpable difference. this to me suggests that numbers play a real role post-interview.

 

[velo]

how imporant is the interview at washu relative to other aspects of the application (ie mcat/gpa, awards, research, community service)?

to me it seems less important since they only have one interview.

ah, a question I can answer!

Here's how it works here. Your interviewer is a member of the adcom, which has a big meeting every month or so to decide who is getting offered an acceptance. Before going to the big adcom meeting, your interviewer sits on a small sub-committee that decides which applicants are going to be presented to the adcom at the "big" meeting. Each subcommittee presents x number of applicants at each "big" meeting...don't remember how many. So basically, your interviewer is your advocate in the whole process. He tries to convince the subcommittee what a great person you are so that they decide to put you up for consideration at the next "big" meeting, and at the "big" meeting he defends you against any criticism or concerns that the other members of the adcom might have.

So basically I don't know how to quantify the importance...its not like you get a score that's weighted in...but I'd say its important. If your interview goes well your interviewer is going to do his best to push you through, if it doesn't he might not advocate quite as strongly for you...or your file might just not see the light of consideration at the "big" meeting.

hope this helps, good luck 👍

 

[Pinkertinkle]

So the rumors of Wash U being a numbers ***** school, how true are they?

 

[velo]

So the rumors of Wash U being a numbers ***** school, how true are they?

well, if the rumor is that the entering class has a pretty high ave. GPA/MCAT, its true.

If the rumor is that the school is somehow "sacrificing" something by accepting people with good stats, I'll just remind you that good stats and a personality aren't mutually exclusive. I couldn't imagine a more diverse, interesting, cooperative, and social student body...

 

[Pinkertinkle]

well, if the rumor is that the entering class has a pretty high ave. GPA/MCAT, its true.

If the rumor is that the school is somehow "sacrificing" something by accepting people with good stats, I'll just remind you that good stats and a personality aren't mutually exclusive. I couldn't imagine a more diverse, interesting, cooperative, and social student body...

And everything at Wash U seems to involve kegs 👍.

 

[velo]

And everything at Wash U seems to involve kegs 👍.

ha, that it does. Don't come here if you have any liver problems...geez, I don't think I ever drank this much in ugrad...i can barely keep up 😀

we have an anatomy exam tomorrow, the only thing keeping me going is the thought of the post-exam keg...speaking of which I should get off of SDN and back to the books...

 

[constructor]

well, if the rumor is that the entering class has a pretty high ave. GPA/MCAT, its true.

If the rumor is that the school is somehow "sacrificing" something by accepting people with good stats, I'll just remind you that good stats and a personality aren't mutually exclusive. I couldn't imagine a more diverse, interesting, cooperative, and social student body...

of course you couldn't imagine a more social student body. that's because you go there. i know at least 5 people from my school who're starting there this year and they all said their interviews were short and did not give them a chance to say much about themselves. and yeah, they, too, believe numbers are the most important and EC's are valued to a lesser extent. well, except for this one guy (hispanic URM) who got in with an mcat of 34... he's not sure what happened and i must say neither do i. 🙄

 

[Fermata]

of course you couldn't imagine a more social student body. that's because you go there. i know at least 5 people from my school who're starting there this year and they all said their interviews were short and did not give them a chance to say much about themselves. and yeah, they, too, believe numbers are the most important and EC's are valued to a lesser extent. well, except for this one guy (hispanic URM) who got in with an mcat of 34... he's not sure what happened and i must say neither do i. 🙄

Honestly though.

I remember reading Princeton's ugrad website a long time back about how they "value diversity".

Avg incoming SAT: 1450.

 

[leiface]

Hey Velocity, what is the lowest GPA you know of that went to WashU?

 

[futuremsfdoc]

what's the math requirement at washu? is it 4 semesters of calc (calc 1-3 and difeq) or is is 2 semesters (calc 1 and 2)? the website is unclear.

 

[leechy]

And everything at Wash U seems to involve kegs 👍.

Wow, really? That is great 👍

I haven't yet scheduled my interview there but it's been over the three week limit they described in the letter... like way over. I don't know if that means I've lost the chance to interview.... The kegs have made me reconsider my desire to go there. I'm serious.

 

[leechy]

what's the math requirement at washu? is it 4 semesters of calc (calc 1-3 and difeq) or is is 2 semesters (calc 1 and 2)? the website is unclear.

I had the impression they wanted diff eq but am not certain about it.

 

[Firelizard]

Oops, meant to post here instead of the Uwash thread...any word on how many people they're taking at their adcom meeting later this month?

 

[Childe]

I interviewed there not long ago and had lunch with the assistant dean for student affairs. So i was asking him these hard questions, in retrospect i hope I didnt piss him off lol. Hes on the adcom..

Anyway, I asked him about the 'once interview all applicants are equal', and he didnt refute that theory. He didnt support it totally, but he said its somewhat true. So that would lead me to think interviews are pretty important.

I also asked him if he thought washu's focus on mcat scores affects the student body. Which he of course said no. Even though they focus on scores more than some schools, they have so many applicants (being ranked so highly) they can choose outstanding applicants even out of outstanding mcat scorers. Anyway he convinced me on this one at least.

As for teh process, the student above described it pretty much how he did. Subcommittees are also determined geographically so the members can know school weights. Also the entire committee will see your app and review it (assuming it goes to them) and then all vote. I think your interviewer may or may not be the one to present you to the overall committee, i think it varies. But he for sure discusses you with the subcommitee.

That said my interview was the easiest int ive had by far. His only 'hard' question was like this "so do you have a general idea of the problems of healthcare and how to solve them?" - If you couldnt come up with something for that, just lol.

 

[futuremsfdoc]

yeah, difeq is sort of how it seems from their website, but it just seems too ridiculous to believe. can they really justify making history, biology, literature, foreign language, and art majors take 2 semesters of math beyond what any other school in the country requires? i just can't believe that.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Pretty sure it means one year of calc that covers differentials and intergrals.

 

[futuremsfdoc]

does differentials=derivatives?

 

[maygirl]

Okay, I need some pretty good advice concerning wash u. I just received an interview invite from them. Though I'm psyched and would love to go there, I'm wondering whether it's even worth a shot, because frankly, my scores are below their averages. I'm East Asian (so not URM), an Illinois resident, and have a 3.7ish GPA and a 34 MCAT....nothing outstanding to WashU.

truthfully, is this even worth a chance because looking at the mdapplicants.com webpage (and I know that mdapplicants.com tends to have a higher MCAT and GPA pool than the regular applicant pool, but still....), no one last year with my score or lower even got accepted. they all got waitlisted and later rejected (with an exception of a MSTP person and a URM)

I'm really asking for honest and realistic opinions because I would have to buy a plane ticket and beg my employers to give me another day off of work. I would hate to go to an interview knowing that they're going to focus on my mediocre-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-applicant-pool scores, and have pretty much a crappy chance, no matter how well the interview goes...

 

[velo]

Okay, I need some pretty good advice concerning wash u. I just received an interview invite from them. Though I'm psyched and would love to go there, I'm wondering whether it's even worth a shot, because frankly, my scores are below their averages. I'm East Asian (so not URM), an Illinois resident, and have a 3.7ish GPA and a 34 MCAT....nothing outstanding to WashU.

truthfully, is this even worth a chance because looking at the mdapplicants.com webpage (and I know that mdapplicants.com tends to have a higher MCAT and GPA pool than the regular applicant pool, but still....), no one last year with my score or lower even got accepted. they all got waitlisted and later rejected (with an exception of a MSTP person and a URM)

I'm really asking for honest and realistic opinions because I would have to buy a plane ticket and beg my employers to give me another day off of work. I would hate to go to an interview knowing that they're going to focus on my mediocre-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-applicant-pool scores, and have pretty much a crappy chance, no matter how well the interview goes...

I think it would be an extraordinarily poor decision to not at least go to the interview. If they asked you to come and interview they are interested in you--bottom line. I assure you your interviewer won't focus on your GPA/MCAT (which is by no means mediocre by the way), i've never heard of an interviewer mentioning GPA or MCAT in an interview...And just in general they just wouldn't ask you to interview if they weren't at least considering offering you a spot. As for MDapps, unless there are 120 postings for acceptances at wash last year, you didn't get data from the whole class...that site is self-selecting.

Hey Velocity, what is the lowest GPA you know of that went to WashU?

I honestly don't know, I've never discussed GPA or MCAT scores with any of my classmates...sorry...Good luck!

 

[ellia08]

does differentials=derivatives?

I dont know the specific answer in terms of wash U but in general no these are not equivalent.

Typically, if your university has a Fall and a Winter semester you would take 3 semesters of calculus: Calc I, II, and III.

Then you would take 1 semester of differential equations.

They are asking how variables change in relation to time and to each other. From a biological point of view, they could be used to model drug kinetics,
neurological signalling, disease spread etc. (In physics they're used for... uh.. springs and stuff. Im a math bio major dont look at me for this one)

Key point: No. and Im a big dork. (Although different schools have different curricula so check to be sure.)