Hey, I’m a junior in high school and I thought it would be nice to start a Forum for prospective students like myself.
Feel free to post your stats and you’re intended major of interest. I will post my stats and scores when my transcript is finalized. Also, please ACT LIKE ADULTS!!!
Welcome to the forum! As a parent of a current WashU freshman who was admitted ED, I can give some tips/look over to see how applicants stack up.
jesus christ I feel old
Yes, that would be helpful. ok, so how did the whole early decision thing work and is your child pre-med?
lol, are you an alumnus?
@nerdmd my kid is pre-med as a Bio major considering a social science (History or Political Science) as another major or minor. So I have perspective from both sides.
How is pre-med? I heard it was very hard!
@nerdmd so here’s what my son has mentioned about freshman year.
Calc 2 is a pretty killer class. Most instructors focus on proofs and the deriviation of formulas. The average of the first 2 midterms was something around 45-50%. You will be applying the concepts and not necessarily going through plug and chug. Believe it or not some parents on the FB group for WashU parents wanted to complain to the admisnistration. If you are taking-have taken Calculus BC and got a 4 or 5, take Calculus 3 (Multivariable Calculus) instead. It’s way more straightforward-the kid took this class and got an A-. As long as you do the practice exams provided by the instructor and follow the book and lectures you should get the same grade.
General Chemistry is the class that is the real weed out class for freshmen pre-meds. The first class in the sequence has been described as baby quantum mechanics by the instructor and the average on the midterms is generally in the mid 60% range. 70% is generally a B+ and 78% is a strong A. I heard that AP Chemistry really isn’t helpful until you get to the second class in the sequence.
Chemistry lab classes are their own separate courses and the grades are not factored into the General Chemistry grades. A pretty straightforward class according to the son and an A is easily obtainable if you understand the labs.
General Biology is straightforward but a lot of reading. Think AP Biology x 5.
Don’t let the scores scare you off. WashU is a collaborative environment and instructors will normalize the grades. Also my son says that everybody will suffer together so to speak. There are plenty of resources and professors/TAs are pretty responsive. Also each dorm has a student assigned who has taken the class with a grade of A- to help out. Plus a lot of students will form study groups and they will be your friends all 4 years.
College is completely different from high school in which STEM is taught. No more plug and chug or rote memorization questions. You will be expected to use the concepts on your midterms. The good thing is that you will be well prepared. WashU students have among the highest average scores on the MCAT.
There are a couple of useful classes listed in the Biology department for pre-meds. The first class is pretty much an introduction to the med school prep/application process including ways to finance your med school education, when to take the MCAT, courses to take, and how to make your application stand out. The second class in the sequence is a shadowing experience at the emergency medicine department at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
The instructor for the classes is the head of the department and a professor at WashU Medical School who happens to read undergraduate apps to the med school for colleges in the Midwest. And he happens to be a WashU undergrad alum in Biology.
There are also a couple of classes open to freshmen that will get them a head start in research and the possibility of being published.
If you put in the work and find the opportunities, you will do fine, whether at WashU or another school. Ultimately you should go with the best fit. Good luck!
How did you son/daughter perform in school (grades, sat/act scores etc…)?
The son was 3.67UW/4.2 W with a 2290 on old SAT. All 5s on AP tests except for 3 on Physics 1 and 2. Took all AP science classes offered in school except APES and Chemistry.
@Hamurtle I’m not sure what your son is doing in biology that requires a lot of reading, but I don’t do any readings at all for 2960. The way to succeed in that class is to pay attention to the lectures, keep up with the problem sets and study guides, and really pay attention to the weekly quiz questions. The textbook recommended readings are really superfluous; the lecture slides are all you need.
Are you a student at Washu?
Yes! I’m a freshman BME.
@JemmaSimmons he reads ahead. And he mentioned that the class could be taught better even though he scored way above average on midterm #1.
pre-med?
@Hamurtle Oh goodness yes, the professor makes it clear she does not particularly enjoy lecturing for intro bio. I suppose it’s a bit different for every student. My AP Bio was extremely reading intensive, and everything we are learning this semester I’ve either heard or read about before through that class. I’m just doing the work necessary to refresh myself.
@nerdmd Nope, just normal BME! I don’t like hospitals, haha. The basic BME curriculum is very similar to the premed curriculum, though, with the exception of Orgo.
I will enjoy pre-med because I love chemistry and biology! when I took biology honors freshman year I had a 100 average but currently taking AP bio I have a 97 average. I took chemistry honors sophomore year and had a 98 average and I’m taking AP chem my senior year.
My daughter actually thought 132 (Calc 2) was fairly easy, though math and physics are her strong subjects. She took it in Fall 2016, so maybe they made a change. She didn’t take Calculus BC in HS, but I will agree that if you did, Calc III is the way to go - really straight-forward. If you’ve had AP Chemistry, I don’t think 111/151 will be that difficult. Of the pre-med classes, physics can take some time. My D is a physics minor and still spent a fair amount of time on 197/198 (and a stupid amount of time on Quantum, but that isn’t a pre-med requirement :), but she took it her freshman year. I think most pre-med wait until sophomore year after they have the college thing down. She is Electrical Engineering, not pre-med, but I know her friends spent a lot of time on orgo, which is expected anywhere you go.
Great school - great people - my D is happy there, and that is what I care about.
Yeah, im taking AP Calc bc my senior year.
This is pretty early for a 2023 thread… most 2022 haven’t even heard back