Slu

Definitely go the student host route. You learn so much from students that you don't learn staying by yourself in a hotel room. Plus they're usually really helpful about getting you to where you need to be the morning of your interview. And oftentimes they'll have a car, or know someone with one, and get you out to see the city. This happened to me on several interviews (not SLU because I did a regional interview in Seatle for them last year).

But I have visited Saint Louis, as my little brother goes to school at Wash U. St. Louis is a surprisingly (to me, being from Alaska) fun city. Visiting the arch is fun (did you know you can go up in it?). There's a lot of fun stuff to do on the riverfront near the arch too. Forest Park is the second largest in-city park in the US. and is beautiful (it's between the Wash U. undergrad and med school campuses). There is a really fun area called The Loop just north of Wash. U (which is not too far west of SLU) full of ethnic restaurants and music clubs. The cathedral downtown is definitely worth a look. They do have public transportation, called MetroLink, but I've never used it, so don't know how easy to use/convenient it is. Best of luck with your interview, and have fun in St. Louis!!

 

I agree with SMW that going the student route is the best way to go. You could get a hotel for a reasonable price here, but the insight you get from current students is undoubtedly valuable. You can get around with public transportation, but it is admittedly difficult. If your student hosts don't have time to shuttle you around, you might consider renting a car. If you don't want to rent one from the airport, Enterprise-Rent-a-Car has many local offices and they will pick you up from wherever you are.

Depending on what you like to do, my suggestion is to get an overview of the area, as well as areas that you might want to live. Go to the Loop, visit downtown, go to a baseball game, or visit the art museum or zoo at Forest Park. These will be things that will help you decide if you want to live in St. Louis.

Good luck. I just wish SLU would send me a secondary. My stats are not that bad! PM me if you have any specific questions that I can help you with.

 

hi CRAZYTERP,

I am also a MD resident and HUGE Terps basketball fan who interviewed at SLU in April 2001. I was waitlisted 2 weeks post-interview and accepted in mid-July. SLU is one of the few schools that is very consistent about getting back to you ASAP after the interview. SLU is a great school, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the city, which was green (granted it was spring) and had a beautiful park. The area around Wash U has a lot of fun places to go. I would definitely recommend staying with a student so you can learn more about the school; I did this and I got a great student host who even picked me up at the airport (she would be a 3rd year now and is now married). The students there seem friendly and laid-back, and the grading system is H/P/F with a pass cutoff of 60%. However, a very large percentage of the students seem to be married or engaged, so if you are looking for a more social, going out type of atmosphere you may want to keep this in mind. This is one of the reasons I turned SLU down for Tufts, but the main reasons were that I dig Boston and the Tufts reputation.

TWA (maybe American now) has decent flight prices into STL going out of BWI. I don't know what the fares are out of Reagan Ntl' or Dulles.

JBJ, SLU does not screen, so if your AMCAS application has been complete for a while you may want to call SLU and find out what is up.

good luck to you all.

 

I'm an undergrad at slu right now, so if anyone has any specific questions, just let me know.

But I agree with the others--stay with a host. There is nothing really to do right around campus, but its not too far to the things others were talking about. There's lots of free stuff (zoo, art museum, history museum) in Forest Park.

Metrolink ($3 single ride from the airport, $1.25 single ride elsewhere, or $4 one day pass) runs from the airport right to SLU, so you don't need a cab as long as you don't have a ton of luggage or anything. The SLU metrolink point is in the middle of a bridge, and there's shady-looking people there most of the time, but I've still walked there and felt plenty safe. You can just push a call button, and someone from SLU department of public safety will pick you up and at least take you the couple of blocks to the med school. From there, you're probably on your own, but I bet most students have a car, unless they live right by the school. The metrolink doesn't go all over the city, its pretty much a straight line, but it does have a stop at Busch Stadium, the Loop, forest park, union station (a former train station that's now a touristy mall), the riverfront, and other places like that.

 

Polargirl, where are you from?

 

I did my undergrad at Wash U in St Louis -- what a fabulous city! I loved it there. St Louis has a million hidden gems, and it's a very affordable city. Enjoy your trip there!

Cheers,

doepug
MS III, Johns Hopkins

 

Yeah, it's American now. St. Louis was a TWA hub. It may be an American hub now, but American already has hubs in Chicago and I think Dallas, so maybe not.

-RA

 

Southwest airlines has some really cheap fares between St. Louis and other, mainly midwest, schools.

St. louis is still an American hub, but I think they're slowly trying to do away with that.

SMW, I'm from St. Louis.

 

I thought from your name, you might be from somewhere a little colder!

 

oh, heh. I have quite a fondness for polar bears. But that name was taken, so.... I decided to be lazy and not change much.