Okay, so I recently got into WashU but I’m reluctant to attend because of all the horror stories I’ve heard about how insanely difficult this school is. I’ve been told that the grade deflation is unprecedented (with perhaps the exception of Cornell) and that it is easier to get into a good medical school elsewhere.
Can anyone attest to the difficult of the pre-med track in particular and how harsh the grade deflation is? (as compared to to other schools such as JHU and the ivies). I would really appreciate it
Hey first of all congrats on getting in! It’s definitely very competitive and you should be proud.
If your main concern is getting into a good med school, don’t fret. Apparently something like 90% of premed students get into one of their top 3 choices for med schools.
I don’t personally believe that washu suffers from grade deflation, but it doesn’t have grade inflation either. The average GPA here is around a 3.4 which is pretty solid. I’m not going to lie, the workload can be large. However, it is in no way unmanageable and all your peers will have similar amounts of work, so you can support each other! If you really try in a class I don’t think there is any reason you shouldn’t be able to get at least a b/b+ (around 3.3) or an A in every course (the admission committee thought you could do it!). With that said, if you don’t want to be pushed at least a little, maybe washu isn’t the place for you.
If you have any more questions don’t hesitate to ask me, I’m currently an undergrad at washu and I’m loving it!
Im not sure about the statistic on how 90% of students get into one of their top 3 choices, though this might be true. If it is true though i guarantee that people’s top three med schools wont all be top 10 or top 20. In fact top 10 or 20 may not be on the top three list at all. They will have applied well and have chosen a top 3 that matches them and their scores well. Essentially what I am saying is that people getting into their top 3 choices does not equate to people getting into harvard, stanford, and other really great schools (Sorry if this was obvious to you but some people make this mistake). However, this does not mean that people dont get into these schools from washu.
I don’t know about med school but I’ve heard horror stories about trade deflation and a lack of camaraderie in the science classes due to magnitude of the grading curve. Would love to know if that’s true.
I have a question… If my son wants to do research in the biological sciences/chemistry are most of the research opportunities at the med school? Or are there institutes and a lot of research opportunities on the main campus?
Hi WillowMom and jjmama – our student is a Sophomore Chemistry student at Wash U and loves it. The classes are rigorous and you will work hard but absolutely not cutthroat – and there is plenty of collaboration and working together – particularly during the first year – in classes such as General Chemistry and Calculus. Student is minoring in classics/Latin/Great Books which she loves as well. She has been doing research over at the Medical school this entire year which has been a fabulous experience. I don’t know what the opportunities are on the Danforth campus but I am sure they are there if you are willing to pursue them. Like life itself, nothing gets handed to you – you will need to work and pursue. Student loves going over the the Medical School – very easy to do – hop on the light rail – 30 minutes door to door. Great to work with the research teams and doctors – it has been definitely one of the high points.
Student has some very interesting opportunities this summer and already has one offer in hand to do research for a lab in St. Louis. Student loves the city and is very happy there – would love to go to Med School there as well.
I think the Engineer is spot on – not sure about grade inflation or deflation but I know our student – and their peers – work very hard but also have lives. Spent Spring break doing an awesome community service trip further south (and has done Fall break and spring break in 16 as well.).
We can’t speak highly enough about student’s experience at Wash U.
@WillowMom That is not true… None of the sciences courses (or at least the intro chem and bio courses) are curved. Maybe they were in earlier years, but now they have set grade boundaries. Students here have study groups, and work together to get better grades.
@RandomAccount123 Pre-med here is definitely known as very difficult. But “delation”? I don’t really know what that means, since you get the grade for the work you put in here. I don’t know about other schools, since I have only attended Washu obviously, but here it’s study 10 hours for a C, unless you are great at the subject. Academics definitely took a time to get used to (still getting used to it) because it requires a lot of studying. My GPA currently is no where near the 4.0s I got in HS, but still above a 3.0 at least haha…
I would say, no deflation. Just difficult tests that you have to study a lot for, and be prepared to work very hard but only to get a B. Sounds like a buzz kill for med school admissions, but hear this: WashU has something called a “washu bump” or something like that, where a 3.5 here is regarded as 4.0 to certain med schools, and 50% of lower GPAs around 3.1 still get into med school (which is unheard of in almost every other school). All of this information is from data and one of the top people of admissions for WUSM. I know lots of people on this forum say only GPA matters, not the school, but are you gonna listen to them or someone who admits applicants to a top 10 med school?