Only at WashU

I was never part of a fraternity or sorority in college, and felt a bit of skepticism about the Big Sib/Little Sib program before school started. Now, however, I couldn’t be more grateful. I’ve turned to my Big for advice about where to live, where to eat and have fun, how many extracurriculars to join (I still joined too many), and how to manage school. It’s been so nice to have someone to turn to who has already taken a ride on this roller coaster and can remind me to take a deep breath, relax and just get out of my head. While not everyone finds a perfect match in their Big, I have found this chance to meet and interact with upperclassmen to be invaluable to my adjustment to the WashU community and St. Louis.

Our weekly coaching sessions are a great addition to the new Gateway Curriculum, especially since in-person sessions are rare with our mostly virtual curriculum (due to COVID-19). Each coaching group includes 7-8 students that meet with their coach every week to discuss different topics, like the transition to medical school and how to address implicit bias. I have really enjoyed learning more about all the people in my coaching group, doing fun activities like building marshmallow/pretzel towers, and creating a movie script of our lives. Our coach is also incredibly supportive and easy to talk to, and in addition to our larger group sessions, the coaches meet with us one-on-one to go over standardized patient sessions and our progress during medical school. Coaching provides both a safe, reliable space for us to share and discuss important topics, while taking a break from the more rigorous content in the rest of our curriculum.

At the beginning of orientation, we are sorted into three societies: Cori, Erlanger-Graham, and Lowry-Moore. Each society has a faculty advisor and eight society student leaders (four M1s and four M2s) who work alongside the OSRs to set up fun events within the WUSM community. Students can earn “society points” by participating in these society-related activities; the society with the highest points at the end of the academic year wins the “Society Cup,” a true honor you would not want to miss. Things have been quite different this year due to the pandemic; nevertheless, the highlight of my medical school journey so far has been making new friends through “socially-distanced social events” organized by societies. Some of my favorites include the Society Cup Tennis Night, Forest Park scavenger hunt, mug cake baking on Zoom, and pumpkin carving. We may be “divided” into three different groups labeled with different names and crests, but the purpose is really to bring the community together and have a great time!

Society pumpkin carving (from left: Rohana G., Amanda L., Rebecca L.)