<p>WashU senior Biochem major here, finishing up my last semester and heading off to med school this summer</p>
<p>Just my 2-cents:
I had no idea how awesome a school WashU was for premed until I started interviewing for MD/PhD programs and realized how respected it is (by other undergrads and program directors alike). I had undergrad (and some medical students) from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, JHU, etc. say “wow! you go to WashU?! What’s it like? That’s so awesome blahblah…”<br>
Program directors were also quite impressed with my GPA (not a 4.0) given that I was at WashU, and told me so at interviews (not at state schools, interviews at Harvard, Duke, Yale, etc.). The WashU name really does pack a punch in the admissions process (probably due to its #3 med school ranking). </p>
<p>I was taken aback to say the least, given I always considered WashU good but not great. </p>
<p>I’m rambling but here’s the point:
WashU gets you all of the intellectual challenge, respect from med school interviewers, and research opportunities of Hopkins, etc. but without the cold-prickliness. I have never felt the need to compete with my peers, whether in General Chemistry or Adv. Quantum Mechanics. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed my coursework (at least in retrospect-it’s hard to appreciate the joy of learning during finals, but that applies everywhere). </p>
<p>Some specifics:</p>
<p>TA’s do not teach big lecture classes, the most they may do is lead a 1-2x per week subsection (15-30 students) or a lab section. </p>
<p>Getting A’s- I can’t really compare to other schools, but it’s totally doable (and you can have a social life, significant other, not go mad, etc.). Freshman year is filled with nervous energy, and you will probably feel like you are busting your a** to do well, but you eventually figure out that you can slack/relax a bit and do just fine. The overall neuroticism of you/your peer group also drops exponentially with each year.<br>
Also, depends on the class/prof. If you come to WashU, send me a message and I can give you advice as to which professors to avoid (for example, take as many math classes as you can with Prof. Yohe, but avoid Prof. Kumar like the plague, Frey is better than Hayes for Gen Chem, etc.) </p>
<p>Choosing another major-I have tons of friends who thought they’d be pre-med, discovered a love for Anthro or Women’s Studies, or Econ, switched, realized they still loved science too, came back into the pre-med fold, and are graduating with a science/social science or humanities combination and going to fantastic grad schools/med schools/social work programs. At the risk of parroting the admissions office: you really can do anything you want here (and do well when moving on the the next step). A warning, however: I don’t think WashU has quite the name recognition in other fields that it has in medicine (but is still quite fine). </p>
<p>Last thing: FOLLOW THE MONEY
My family’s financial situation tanked during my time here. Working full time until my scholarship kicked in was stressful as hell and wrought havoc on my GPA. A full tuition scholarship is a blessing-take it and run. I also know that there is a great sense of community among scholarship recipients here (lots of big sib/little sib programs, bonding activities and whatnot). </p>
<p>Dear lord that was a long post… Last thing for real: college will fly by, don’t stress about the decision (easier said than done, I know). You will do fine coming from any of those universities.</p>