thoughts on washu

[figure five]

hi,

just wondering if anybody could share their impressions of WashU. I received an interview invite this week, and I'm debating whether to go. I've been accepted at a few places where I think I could be very happy (ucsf, michigan, georgetown) but I don't want to make any hasty decisions. I also don't want to waste any more money or time, so any thoughts you might have would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ConstantlyWaiting]

Hey. First congrats on all the great acceptances. I interviewed at both Michigan and WashU, and I'm pretty familiar with UCSF so I can shed some light on your situation.

I would definately go to the interview. WashU is a really amazing place with great facilities and superb clinical training. The students there are from very diverse backgrounds and they really love WashU. I would definately choose WashU over Michigan and Georgetown (although I haven't been there). As far as how it compares to UCSF, it definately has a more private school feel. The school has lots of money and they are not shy to let prospectice students know that they use their money to support the work (research, outreach, etc.) of their med students. The support network there was amazing. It may come down to whether or not you want to live in the midwest, although St. Louis definately wasn't my idea of what the midwest was like. Overall, my recommendation to you would be to go check it out. They also have great financial aid packages (much better than places like Yale and Harvard) where they offer need based grants and also a few merit based scholarships. It will be worth your visit. I guarantee you. I fell in love with the place, but alas, they apparently weren't to0 keen on me!

Good luck to you and let me know of your decision. I have some advice on traveling to St. Louis if you do decide to go

 

[Thewonderer]

Wash U is an awesome place. Sometimes, it gets bad rep for being a place full of gunners. Well, as a MSII getting info from other friends, Wash U is really not that different from other top 10 places. The # of gunners and the atmosphere is really often year-depedent. Some years, there are lots of anal people, some years there are few.

However, St. Louis is a drawback to many, and if you have gotten into UCSF, I don't see why you might want to interview at Wash U.

 

[Original]

Definitely go to your interview at WashU. It is an amazing school! They have money to the ceiling and everyone from the students to the faculty is awesome. They most certainly love it there.

Though I'm going to have to totally disagree with ConstantlyWaiting that WashU students come from diverse backgrounds. Bull**** WashU is undisputedly the least diverse of all the top 10 and probably even top 25 schools out there.

I think this is more as a result of it being in the Mid-West than as a result of their admissions process. They have some trouble getting people in general to move out there; and even more trouble attracting african americans, hispanics, ethnic chinese, koreans, japanese, and indians. Other than the african american community in St Louis, these other ethnic communities are almost non-existent in Missourri; and WashU suffers as a result. The experience there might be "closed-off". But other than the diversity issue, I'll probably rank WashU as the best med school in the country. Go check it out.

 

[The Fly]

I was seriously disappointed with WashU--it was the only place that the tourguides (four of them, to be exact) admitted that the school was full of gunners.

I don't buy the year-dependent thing (besides thewonderer, the tour guides gave this as a stipulation of their gunner comment)--the school seemed way more competitive than comparable schools.

I'd easily take SF above all the other schools cited here--plus even for out of staters (not to mention cali-people), the school is really cheap.
Good luck!

 

[racergirl]

I haven't been to WashU, nor did I apply there. However, WashU came up in conversation when I was at NW, as two applicants I ate lunch with had interviewed there. Both of them were a little freaked by their experience! Though they interviewed on different days and figured out they had different tour guides, BOTH said their tour guides tried to steer them AWAY from WashU! One guide said it was too competitive and "cut-throat" While the other said simply "look--if you get in ANYWHERE else, go there".

Wierd, huh?

 

[saffron]

i interviewed at wash u this week...it's definitely worth your time to go take a look...the facilities are amazing (best med school library i have seen yet- and i've seen many) and they give awesome fin. aid (so if thats a consideration...) also, barnes-jewish is top 10 hospital in country, your clinical training will be amazing

as far as people, the number of cutthroat people is the same at any other top 10, but more than at a state school, for instance- b/c the school attracts really top applicants, so its inevitable that its going to be more competitive

st. louis : def. not as good as cali or nyc, but not bad either. def. not enough desis

b/t ucsf and washu is a close call, but don't give up an interview at washu - go check it out, then decide

 

[energy_girl]

Hi everybody,

I usually skim the threads, but I can't help but reply to this one. I have to say up front that I am a first year student at Wash U. and have been very involved in the applicant recruitment process, so I suppose my perspective will be biased a bit. However, I am also a Southern California transplant who had a lot of reservations about the school when I was interviewing. So let me tell you what I have seen in the 7 months I've been here.

First of all, I think my classmates are fantastic and are a diverse group of people. As an ethnic minority, I do admit (as Original pointed out) that Wash U. lacks racial diversity. At least, it is no LA or NYC. However, we do have at least 15% minorities in our first year class, and that is not bad for a Midwestern class. Our diversity shines through in other ways, too: we have all types of athletes and scholars, traditional and nontraditional students, people with all sorts of interests from frisbee to poetry to rock climbing.

Second, I have not felt the competition amongst our classmates at all. We are on a P/F system the first year, and administrators try very very hard to downplay grades. Every one of our lecturers has stressed the lack of concern over grades, and have told us not to worry about how many we get right as opposed to how much we learn, simply because we will pass our courses anyway. Students in our class constantly send out study guides to the entire class, and we have group study sessions. We also have tons of spare time, and most of us participate in some community education or outreach projects.

I really don't know why those of you interviewing have had tour guides who talked about competitiveness within the class; I had a great experience interviewing here, and met a lot of friendly, down-to-earth students. It is true that competitiveness is class-dependent, but most second, third, and fourth-years I've met are also very nice, interesting people.

Honestly, I chose to come to Wash U. because of the students. I am a relaxed person who was never part of the whole "premed" crowd (I was not a science major), and I really dreaded going to a gunner school. But the feeling I got from Wash U. was just the opposite, so here I am! Even St. Louis was not as bad as I expected it to be. There are plenty of things to do, and I and many of my classmates are volunteering in ethnic communities and their clinics (yes, they do exist!). I am very glad to have made the choice I did, I really enjoy it here at Wash U., and I encourage you to come and see for yourself. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a private message any time, and I will respond back to you via email. [For those of you who are interviewing, I am a coordinator of the Olin Buddy Program, so ask Steve (the other coordinator) to forward your email to me.]

Best of luck to you all,
energy_girl