Why St.Louis University? Should i turn down the interview invite?

[jofrbr76]

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Am I crazy to turn away an interview at Saint Louis University?

Maybe some of you who have interviewed there could tell me the things you liked/disliked about the school.

I'm thinking cost, since i'm all ready worried about possibly going to Loyola (30.5K/year) vs. Michigan state or wayne state (about 15K/year). My thinking is, i really liked everything about loyola, except cost, and i have that debate raging, why interview at a school i know nothing about, in a city i've never been to, with tuition at 33.3K/year????

😕

Joe

 

[cocoabutter]

i don't know anything about the school, but I do have a qustion. why did you apply?

 

[Mutterkuchen]

I am seriously considering SLU because of personal ties to STL. However, if I did not have those ties, I would be inclined to decline the interview if you already have acceptances at the other places you mentioned. The state tuition at Mich State and Wayne state would be hard to beat, and Loyola is in a better (though much more expensive) city.

I think you would be crazy to refuse it if you don't have acceptances at the places your mentioned, though. SLU is a decent school with a solid match list. The students I've met are nice, and STL is a pleasant, inexpensive, medium-sized, Midwestern city. We have professional baseball, football, and hockey. There are several hoppin' areas, if you like to hop, and there is generally a sufficient amount to do around here.

 

[jofrbr76]

To Answer Cocoabutter's question,

I applied to SLU b/c i thought it's mission, education, location, gpa/mcat jived with me and my application. It's not tooo far from home (i'm in michigan), i want a large city enviroment in medical school (mainly for the clinical experiences), and, frankly, St. Louis sounded "big and exciting" when i was filling in my amcas schools.

Next to Grand Rapids, Michigan, most cities do seem "big and exciting" i guess.

To JBJ:

Yes, i'm accepted at Loyola and MSU, but wait listed at Wayne.... but i'm confident i'll be accepted there. That's why i'm debating this interview or not.

Thanks all for your replies,

Joe

 

[Doctor Wyldstyle]

It's a good school. I can tell you that you won't miss out on clinical experiences if you are looking into the ER. SLU's hospital is the major trauma center for StL over Wash U's hospital which keeps anyone there pretty busy.

Location is pretty key your first years. Loyola is in the suburbs. If you want a somewhat rotten urban environment (it's really not too terrible), head over to SLU.

thats my 2 cents.

wyldstyle
2nd year med student

 

[laviddee]

hey nothing against slu or anything, but i'll tell you why i withdrew. When touring around with the student guide, he told us how recently they had changed the curriculum to become system based. Ever since then, there has been issues with people passing the boards. They used to maybe have 3-4 people not be able to pass it, but after the curriculum change, they've had more than 20 people not pass the boards. This guy was a 4th year and part of the old curriculum, that's why he could speak of the differences in the pass rates correlation with the new curriculum.

I don't know...i figure that after the curriculum change... there's some material that has been lost that shouldn't have been?? But I'm sure that they're trying to work on that. You ASK ANY SLU STUDENT about the board pass rates, and they'll know that that's an issue that is concerning the school right now.

If you're concerned about cost at Loyola, it's even more expensive at SLU ~34k. Loyola is MUCH closer to home as well (about 5 hours closer) , and yes, chicago IS a more exciting place than St. Louis.

well i'm just trying to give the other side of the coin here.. if it doesn't hurt for you to interview, then go. You may be able to use the extra interviewing experience to help at other schools? But if you have to fly, get a hotel, and then sit for a day at a place you KNOW you're not going to-- then stay home and enjoy the day.

my 2 cents.
dave

 

[maxheadroom]

I'd be careful about SLU. I go to a school across the river and I've heard from friends at SLU that they've had some pretty bad Step I failure rates for the past couple of years.

 

[dancer7]

i withdrew also because of the bad pass rates for step one. i definately liked loyola better then slu. also, the facilities at slu leave a lot to be desired................way different then the beautiful facilities at loyola. i said no to the slu acceptance and i still haven't said no to loyola yet. it was the pass rate for the boards that clenched the deal for me.

 

[Ramoray]

I cannot believe the fault logic you guys are using, chalking step 1 failurse up to SLU specifically. It is the same faulty logic when poeple look at a school like Hopkins amazing residency placement. it is not the school is it a matter that the top minds tend to go to hopkins say therefore they do better on their boards etc which gives them good resdiencies. Its the same for SLU, it is a bottom tier school so you get the worst applicants choosing to go there, therefore they of course are not going to do great on the boards. It has nothing to do with a school, it is the caliber of student and SLU has a higher percentage of low caliber students. eh i may very well end up there myeslf but the logic you guys are using makes no sense.

 

[lola]

ramoray,
i agree with you to some extent. however, other "bottom tier" schools such as nymc have outstanding board pass rates and scores.

 

[laviddee]

well i think the logic is pretty sound.

If consistently you have 3-4 people out of a class that fail the boards. The next year you change the curriculum and that class has 20 plus people failing the boards... do you think that SLU just decided, "we're going to be low tier and recruit the worst students?" or do you think that perhaps the curriculum had something to do with it?

AND EVEN IF the logic doesn't make any sense-- we're just relaying why we withdrew. Nothing wrong with stating that.

but goodluck to you-- i don't think slu is bottom tiered.. if i remember, their average gpa is 3.6 and 30 or 31 mcat. getting into any med school is such an accomplishment in itself.

 

[dancer7]

obviously it's not only the school's fault. however, the origional thread questioned going to slu with an acceptance at loyola. loyola's students perform much better on the boards and if you ask me, i would definatley not pay private tuition at slu if i was holding a loyola acceptance and there students are better prepared. i interviewed at 13 schools and that was the only one that had that many people failing. in my opinion, that definately says something about the school.

 

[Ramoray]

wow ya i just looked on the webpage, SLU has actually quite surprisingly High numbers of matriculants considering what you hear of them as a lower tier school.. mcat in 31 range and 3.7 is forsure high.. i wonder why the bad rep? hm, i would be happy to go there either way, happy to go ANYWHERE!!

 

[Doctor Wyldstyle]

First, I just wanted to emphasize that the high failure rate on the Step I boards was an isolated aberration. In other words, it happened 2 years ago but is not present during these past two classes as they have had over a 90% pass rate (approximately the average for allopathic schools). Nevertheless, SLU would like to be significantly above that average as it had usually been. So far, the outlook looks good. Steps have been implemented and studies had been done. I've met with the Dean of the medschool and other faculty to inquire specifically about that problem.

Secondly, on a brighter note, SLU scored above the national average and the highest ever for SLU on the Step II boards last year.

The change in curriculum happened years ago and has been refined over the years. It wasn't a change that happened a year ago. In fact, it changed as did most schools to the hybrid lecture PBL style before many medschools. The aberration is multifactorial and has been addressed.

Sorry, just had to add in what I know. Other than that, I agree, Loyola has great facilities, proximity to a great city, and less expensive price tag (although recent fundraising may lead to lower tuition rates this upcoming years and so on).

Any quesitons, PM me.

wyldstyle2000
2nd Year Med Student
Saint Louis University
School of Medicine

 

[Kovox]

Dude,

Just go, a few hundred dollars spent on a plane trip and hotel costs or whatnot is better than a lifetime of "what ifs, should've would've and could've." Besides, you can't judge a school till you've seen it through your eyes first.

 

[Katie]

I interviewed at SLU and almost ended up being classmates with wyldstyle after they took me off the waitlist. I know it sounds corny, but SLU will always have a place in my heart for being the first school to offer me an acceptance🙂 I thought the students were really friendly, and the hospital has a great reputation. St. Louis also looked like a fun city to me, but I ended up choosing Tufts b/c I love Boston and Tufts seems to have a better national reputation and match list than SLU. Tufts also has had a USMLE pass rate of 97%+ and scores consistently above the national average for at least the past 5 years. but I digress, I think whether or not you want to go to the interview depends on what area you want to go into. If you are interested in primary care, MSU is really the place to be. As far as specialities I'm not sure that there is a big difference in MSU vs. SLU, but SLU is nationally ranked in a large number of internal medicine specialties. I suggest taking a look at each school's matchlist to get a better idea.. If it were me, I'd go for the in-state tuition any day, but if you have time and money, SLU is worth a look. good luck!

 

[chloe5]

I turned down an interview/withdrew at SLU because I knew that I would not choose SLU over the other schools where I have been accepted. If you feel that this is may be your situation as well, turn down the interview for sure.

However, I will add (after skimming this thread) that my impression is that SLU's rep is certainly on par and perhaps even better than that of Loyola's. (This info is coming from a number of Midwest and East Coast physicians and AMA people that I talked to.) However, Loyola as you know is close to Chicago and has newer facilities. I've been told that SLU has great clinical training and that St. Louis isn't so bad. They are both religiously affiliated.

If you have the $ available, you just might want to go see for yourself.

Originally posted by jofrbr76
Am I crazy to turn away an interview at Saint Louis University?

Maybe some of you who have interviewed there could tell me the things you liked/disliked about the school.

I'm thinking cost, since i'm all ready worried about possibly going to Loyola (30.5K/year) vs. Michigan state or wayne state (about 15K/year). My thinking is, i really liked everything about loyola, except cost, and i have that debate raging, why interview at a school i know nothing about, in a city i've never been to, with tuition at 33.3K/year????

😕

Joe

 

[sanny]

eh.....i can see why u are hesitant. i was in a program at their med campus and took courses right along side the first year med students.
it IS true about the board scores (it was pretty bad the summer of '01) but the school has recognized this and have addressed the issue since then. although, the facilities do leave much to be desired, esp the anatomy lab...
on a good note, the students are great. i studied with alot of them with the courses that i took with them, and they had no hesitations or haughty attitudes when working with me (even with me not being an MS I). i ended up ta-ing an MSI course my last year there and found that the students really want to help eachother. that was really nice to see.

so its not a bad school or at the bottom of the med school tier. they are pretty smart kids- average MCAT 30,3.5 GPA....last mays graduating class matched well with one of the students doing neurosurgery at john hopkins.

just my two cents.....