Saint Louis University School of Medicine

Overall it was a good experience. If you interview at the school, you can take the Metrolink to the school from the airport. It is basically a train for short distances and is very convenient and cheap. Seemed safe enough. I stayed at the on campus hotel, I think it is called the Water Tower Inn. It was a decent hotel. There is a shuttle from the hotel to the medical school, which is about 5 or 6 blocks away. You could theoretically walk it, but it was freezing cold in the morning. The schools interview setup is a tad unorganized for my taste. Basically, they have students (around 20-25) interviewing all day with different faculty. I had a morning interview while others had afternoon interviews. I interviewed at around 10 AM and got to the school at about 9 AM. There were a couple of students who had already interviewed and were just hanging out. But at around 11 AM, what seemed like all the potential interviewees were waiting. My interviewer was a good guy. He was very calm and relaxed and didn't grill me about any ethical situations or things related to the healthcare system. He had previously read my personal statement and the rest of my application and we just talked about my various experiences and why I wanted to attend SLU. Overall, very low stress and very comfortable. That's when we were divided and taken on tours of the school. A fourth year student led us around and was very helpful and honest. She seemed to sincerely like the school and the community. After that, there is a lunch with the Dean of Admissions as well as current medical students. The grub was actually better then what I have eaten at other schools. But the Dean was a good guy who was open to questions and made a couple of jokes. He made everyone feel comfortable and even sat and ate with us, which was pretty cool. The only negative I could think of is the lack of financial aid information. There was none but since I had interviewed at other schools before, I knew the situation well. But I think it could be a problem for first timers. But all you need to know is, fill out your FAFSA and apply for scholarships, but in the end, prepare to be in debt. The interview experience went well overall, especially considering I got into the school. I read some of the other interview feedback posts that have been written, and a lot of people go off on how the city is a ghetto, etc. It's your typical big city which means it has its good and bad parts. SLU happens to be in a busier and less glamorous area but it wasn't in fear of my life or anything. Everything was safe and calm.

Nothing really. The interviewer was very relaxed and had read my file earlier and just asked me questions about my personal statement and various experiences.

Students seemed happy and helpful. The tour guide (4th year student) was helpful and straight forward about what she liked about the school. There is a lot of diversity in the city/school which is good. I had previously interviewed at other mid-West schools and sometimes it's a bit strange for a minority to experience a town with so many white people. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just that I am used to diversity and it is readily apparent in St. Louis.

When you travel from the airport to the school via the Metrolink, you can see that the city does show signs of poverty in certain areas. But it wasn't as bad as people have posted in other interview feedbacks.

I didn't realize it was so cold. I'm from Southern California where the weather is mild but what I experienced in St. Louis was insane. Truly cold weather even though there wasn't any snow. Make sure to take a coat and possibly gloves, because your hands numb up quickly. Also this school gives decisions quick. I interviewed at the school in mid-December and got an acceptance mid January. Good stuff.