Need recent info re Saint Louis University!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Saint Louis University
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My D22 was admitted to the university yesterday with the Vice Presidential scholarship ($25K/year), but still needs to be admitted to the 3+3 DPT program. That decision will come in February I believe. Does anyone know how likely that admittance would be?

We are from California and not at all religious–how would my D fit in at SLU? So far I like just about everything I read about SLU, but can my D find her people there?

She’s also been accepted to DePaul exercise science with a similar scholarship. DePaul does not have the 3+3 program however. But can anyone compare these two schools?

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My daughter is in same position. We are from West Coast too (WA). We are not religious either. She really liked everything she heard about SLU and our visit this Summer reinforced her positive feelings. She’s accepted at another school with a 3+ 3 program (still waiting on PT acceptance). She’s also applied to some highly ranked schools for Exercise Science.

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I’m trying to figure out a way to visit SLU so my daughter can decide. She’s also been accepted to another 3+3 where the scholarship goes for all 6 years! But it also seems crazy for a 17 year old to commit to DPT–so much can change when they start college. Good luck to both of our girls!

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My friends daughter is at SLU and I work for a Jesuit.

I dont think my friends daughter has ever attended church in her life. Im not baptized myself. I work with openly gay and trans professors.

My friends daughter loves it there. Friendly students. She feels challenged. Likes her professors. Feels she has good opportunities. (Shes an engineering student).

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This is all good info! My daughter is concerned that it might be too conservative for her, coming from ultra-liberal Bay Area. Obviously Missouri will be conservative, but I’m hoping SLU itself might be an island?

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It will be less liberal but Jesuits are very accepting. More service work and helping the community versus preaching if that makes sense.
St Louis county is quite liberal and they have a Black female Democratic mayor. It would be a different scene for sure but I think she would find her peeps.

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I’m glad to hear all this. We are also awaiting acceptance to the DPT program. We are from Sacramento and my daughter received the VP scholarship. She’s been accepted to a fewc direct admit PT schools in the North East (Quinnipiac, Ithaca, Duquesne). We are bound to visit in March but my main concern is safety. St. Louis has one of the worst crime rating in the country but unfortunately my daughter likes everything sees in SLU. I think we have to see it for ourselves but I’m hoping someone can provide their input.

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I was very concerned about safety too. However, when we visited last June I felt completely comfortable around the campus and various other areas we visited in Saint Louis (Forrest Park, the Arch, the Hill).

We also went over to the medical campus where the DPTs spend their last 3 years. A faculty member gave us an impromptu tour (we found out later she skipped a meeting to give us the tour). We were very impressed by that campus and had no safety concerns there either.

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I’m going to answer my own question, now that we’ve attended the admitted students event. SLU has a lot going for it, but ultimately my daughter has decided it’s not the school for her.

The event was very good, organized, and informative. My D ate lunch in the dining commons with the other prospective students and I thought that was a cool thing to include. They had a fair with all the majors represented and we came away with a ton of information about the 6 year DPT. Two current students were on hand to answer questions and they both gave my D their cards in case she has more questions.

Our tour guide was excellent and D and I agreed, she seemed like a kid you’d want to hang out with.

The campus is contained and very attractive. You can see the Arch from parts of it. The medical/health campus is a few blocks away but we did not venture over there. SLU has its own hospital and medical school. We were able to go inside a couple dorms, the brand new Grand Hall, and the old Griesedeck complex. Grand felt like a hotel, new, modern, clean and fancy. Griese was dingy and not great, but apparently that’s the social dorm and it’s easy to make friends there. Overall, based on our impression of the campus, there is a lot of money at SLU.

We were all given nametags to wear with our hometowns printed on them, and I was scanning them constantly to see where people are coming from. The huge majority was from MO, IL, and OH. No surprise there. Also saw CA, CO, NC, AR, MN, and maybe NE. We were told that 50% of the student body identifies as Catholic and this felt apparent, as our tour guide told us about how she attends various religious events on campus. It seems like every dorm has mass at least once a week. The students wear their SLU hoodies, which I like, and seem friendly. Tour guide was greeted by name by several people passing by. Overall the students appear clean-cut.

D did not care for St Louis but we spent less than 48 hours there, with no car, so didn’t see much of it. It was a bleak wintry landscape, which we’re not used to.

Anyway, I would have been pleased had D chosen this school, but it is not meant to be. Happy to answer questions!

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Thank you for your review! We are due to visit in a couple of weeks. We will have a car and will be there for about a day and a half. Going to visit a school in CT first which I don’t have high hopes for as it’s very isolated.
We are from the suburbs of Sacramento and while Sac has it’s own crime and homelessness problems, we at least know which areas to avoid. My #1 concern is safety. While SLU may have their own hospital, wouldn’t the PT students leave the campus for clinicals, for example nursing homes?

Also read there isn’t much to do in the immediate area so unless you have a car, you have to Uber or take public transportation. To that, I also read, never ever take public transportation on your own, it’s dangerous. So I’m just not sure what is there to do? How is the City Foundry? Is that a place that students like? And if she needs to go to a CVS or Walgreens, is the immediate area safe for walking? We will be staying at the Element which is right across the street from the campus.

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I wish I had answers to your questions! Our Lyft driver said the area to avoid is north of downtown–she also said there would never be a reason to go there. Students are given a free transit pass but I don’t know how often they use it. Maybe they go in groups? There is Forest Park nearby and apparently all the museums there and the zoo are free. My D and I did take the Metrolink from the airport to downtown and it did not feel safe. We live in Oakland and are used to a certain amount of urban grit but this felt different. We were told there is a cute shopping street near campus (Spring St?) but didn’t have time to walk over there.

That’s a good question about PT clinicals–I didn’t think to ask that.

I would love to hear what you and your daughter think!

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The Jesuits are very open on the whole.

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We’ll be there in a few weeks too for our second visit. I definitely want to find out how safe it is to use public transportation as my D is a runner and wants to be able to get to Forest Park easily (we had a car on our first visit). I believe there is a shuttle on weekends that takes students up to a n area with a Target and Trader Joe’s - need to confirm that.

Good question about the clinical. I want to make sure I get an answer to that.

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We went back for our second visit last Friday. It was PT Admitted Student Day. We got a great overview of the program, faculty, students and facilities. My daughter loved the program and school just as much as she did on our first visit in the summer. Yesterday she committed. She knows she wants PT so this program makes sense and she can really relate to the overall vibe of the school- think she may be a midwesterner at heart :rofl:.

For future readers, it sounds like it would be really helpful to have a car starting the 4th year of the program for clinical.Otherwise , plenty of ways to get around using public transportation in groups, or catching a ride with a friend. Definitely mainly midwestern kids at the school but in the health programs there tend to be more from elsewhere as well. All the students we spoke to assured us that safety was not a problem as long as one used common sense.

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That’s very exciting! Congratulations to your daughter! Mine still hasn’t made a decision.

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[quote=“chrissreym, post:10, topic:3597585, full:true”]Going to visit a school in CT first which I don’t have high hopes for as it’s very isolated.
[/quote]

If you’re visiting Quinnipiac, it’s not as isolated as you think. The campus itself is secluded, which is nice in its own way. It sits on the edge of a 1500 acre state park which offers nice hiking opportunities and there is a rail trail nearby for biking, jogging, or long walks. But the town itself is a New Haven suburb with a population of 60,000, so there are things to do in town. In addition, the university runs free shuttle van service to shopping areas and to the New Haven Green/Yale area with restaurants and shops. The rail trail itself is another means of transportation, free of traffic. The Yale campus and surroundings are a 40 minute bike ride away for anyone who enjoys that form of travel.

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Thank you :blush:. Good luck to your daughter! Would love to know where she ends up. I think you are visiting Gonzaga- will be interesting to see what she thinks. It’s a great school but too close to home for my daughter. She wants to experience a new part of the country.

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Yep, we are in Spokane at this very moment!

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So where is your daughter headed???

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She committed to DePaul today. It was always at the top of her list. Congratulations on SLU! It sounds like such a wonderful program.

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