WashU MD student here! Let me know if you have any questions. More than happy to help!

What do you think is helpful to know for approaching the Washu secondaries in terms of value/school alignment? I am an mdphd applicant and WashU is my top choice

Showing that you are genuinely interested in WashU and St. Louis goes a long way! A lot of applicants send out 30 applications meaning that there will inevitably be a lot of plug-and-chug in secondary essays. If you demonstrate through your writing and interviews that you've done your research about the school and program you'll stand out. DM if you need more personalized advice.

Thank you for the quick reply! Im not sure how to DM first since your profile is anonymous, but I would really appreciate your help and am open to DM'ing. I have some notes from a medical school forum I attended from a WashU representative who gave a presentation, so Ill definitely incorporate that into your advice. If you know any MD/PhD students that would also be very helpful in my case. What lead you to choose WashU over other schools?

Decided to attend here over other T10 programs. Difficult decision but in retrospect the correct one.

Few things that impacted my decision:

1) Cost of attendance! WashU is very generous with their merit and need-based scholarships.

2) Cost of living! Could afford a decent apartment minutes from school for 1/3 of cost in SF or Boston. Best part about living here is how many free city amenities there are (concerts, museums, theater, parks, botanical garden) and how cheap concerts and sport games are! More manageable on a student budget.

3) Midwestern culture! People here are so friendly and welcoming. Coming from the East Coast where academic culture is more competitive and frankly at times obnoxious, it was a breath of fresh air when I visited.

4) Clinical training facilities! I want to do research as an attending, but my primary priority is clinical medicine. It was important to me to train at a medical center that was both a tertiary care center (and quaternary) and a safety net hospital. Between Barnes Jewish, Siteman Cancer Center and St. Louis Children's Hospital (all on the same campus), you get a remarkably unique exposure to diverse patient populations and variability in pathology on the wards.

5) Curriculum! The competency-based curriculum, the mentorship structure, and the immersions really appealed to me when I visited during second-look.

Yeah I’m heading here in the fall and fucking love this school

Chose another md school over WashU and having serious regrets lol

Which other school if you dont mind me asking

mt sinai

Can you explain why as someone applying to both if you are comfortable

Following

Do you think WashU is still accepting students from the waitlist this late in the cycle? Based on last year’s cycle, I didn’t notice any new acceptances in June.

Would you mind if I DM you with some questions about primaries?!

Feel free to DM!

I don't have insight into waitlist movement. I suspect that there will be no more movement, but you never know.

80% threshold for P/F

No meaningful difference in your day to day as a student. If you have the MCAT score to get into WashU, this is not remotely a concern

Spending more time on in-house vs third party. More time on studying vs research vs relaxing. I’d argue it adds uncertainty and therefore more stress/time

I'm a current MD student. The 80% threshold includes everything from TBL scores, attendance and reflection essays to anatomy practicals, exams and peer feedback. I do third party almost exclusively and am involved in research, and I have more than enough time to relax and engage in hobbies.

Its not even remotely a stressor in my daily life and has not changed my approach to studying or my time commitment to in-house curriculum.

+1 oos mstp secondary received

Are you guys really coming / did you come anywhere close to 3k characters on the failure secondary? It just seems like so much to write on such a topic..

Anyone else still waiting on a secondary?

+1 oos md secondary invite

How can you exactly incorporate school specific interest in their failure essay. Especially if the failure you write about has nothing to do with academic or research ideas.

Me

I submitted my primary to WashU, and am still waiting to get a WashU Secondary. I took the PREview exam kind of late, will this delay my secondary? Thanks.

Also wondering this? I am going to have my secondary on the ready so when my results come out July 7th I can just send it back

me!

anybody still waiting on the secondary?

Yes I am

Dang, hopefully we get one soon! Kinda annoying tho cause been verified since first day and everything

This post has been deleted

Yeah same here. Their website says it takes 3 business days after they receive verified app to get their secondary so idk why it's taking so long

Did you guys get an email saying that they are still waiting on the PREview score

Yeah I did

My preview comes out tomorrow too smh

Yea me too

Yeah me too. Does this get auto updated or do we have to reach out to admissions informing them when our scores come out?

same here ._.

Same.

Just got my preview score so hopefully gets to washu soon.

Looks like they got my Preview score from earlier today and sent me a secondary! Auto Updated as well

same

same. i wish they hadn't been so efficient. lol these are stacking up.