Where We’ve Been

One month before moving to St. Louis, I reached out to WashU’s Office of Military & Veteran Services. Through e-mail and Zoom, Nancy and her team ensured my family got settled into St. Louis and that we had everything we needed. She also got me connected with some veteran community service opportunities and has been a good one-stop-shop for veteran/military resources. If you have GI Bill questions or are attending the School of Medicine on military scholarship, Bridget O’Neal and her team in the Office of Student Financial Planning are very helpful and responsive. I also highly recommend going to the Veterans Day Banquet put on by the Office of Military & Veteran Services. It was a lot of fun, thoughtfully put together, and a great way to meet other veterans and the military-connected community in all WashU schools.

As an international student, you oftentimes have additional hoops to jump through, whether they’re financial, administrative, cultural, etc., and it was definitely a worry of mine when I first got into medical school. The Office of International Students and Scholars was incredibly helpful when I needed to set up my finances for medical school, and they responded super quickly. There’s also quite a few international students in my class, and we have been pretty good at helping each other out as well.  

Having been born and raised in Mexico, I was worried that I was going to feel too far from home when I decided to go to medical school in St. Louis. Even beyond the cultural shock that comes from living in a different country, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to find like-minded people and fit right in. But WashU School of Medicine is really good at putting together a very diverse class. With students coming from many different backgrounds, it was easy for me to find my people. And even outside of my class, I found a community across the medical school. Very early on I decided to attend the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) meetings as well as the charlas. The latter are meetings where students, residents and faculty come together to speak and practice their Spanish. Going to charlas allowed me to find other Spanish speakers, both domestic and international. That’s where I found a group of other international students and residents also from Mexico. With that group, I have now come together to celebrate Dia de Muertos and Mexico’s Independence day. Believe me when I say that — even though it may not be obvious at first — it is certain that you can find your familia here away from home.

Originally, I was a little scared to move to St. Louis. My hometown has a population of around 4,000 people, and the population of St. Louis far exceeds that. I first moved to St. Louis for college at WashU and loved it so much that I really wanted to stay in the city for medical school. There are so many cool restaurants, bakeries, shops, and parks to visit, and there are many suburbs to explore if you want to step away from the busyness of the city for a bit. Living here is so much fun!  

I have really enjoyed coming back to St. Louis for school. I was born in St. Louis, and I did not leave until I went to college. Honestly, I had always pictured myself moving somewhere new to attend medical school. However, moving back to my hometown has really eased my transition to medical school. Having family close by has been really helpful when it comes to moving and dealing with the stresses of medical school. Starting medical school is a big change by itself. Moving back to a city that I know has made it so I only have to deal with the transition of starting medical school, instead of dealing with both moving to a new city and starting medical school.  

 

Growing up on Long Island and going to college in Rhode Island about three hours away, I never pictured myself leaving the Northeast, let alone moving to another time zone. You can probably imagine the panic I had after I clicked “accept” to go to a medical school that was not a short trip on the Amtrak away. To be quite honest, I knew almost nothing about St. Louis when I decided to come here, and I was definitely nervous during my 16-hour drive about how far I was moving from home. However, after making my initial journey, St. Louis quickly started to feel like a home away from home. It’s totally true that people in the Midwest are extremely nice and there are tons of great food options to explore. Not to mention, the people in your medical class will come from everywhere! There will be lots of classmates who come from St. Louis who can provide great recommendations for places to check out and people from close to where you are from who you can talk to if you’re feeling a little homesick. There are also plenty of fast and easy flights back to the East Coast, especially on Southwest, for when you want to visit home on breaks or long weekends. Overall, I love getting to live in and learn about a new part of the country. I think it’s been a great learning experience and I can’t wait to explore even more.

Hi, my name is Henok and I’ve lived in the Midwest (specifically St. Louis) for 19 years now. Over a period of almost two decades, I’ve come to appreciate some of the finer things the Midwest has to offer. For example, the seasons here are wonderful. There’s nothing quite like taking a stroll through Forest Park when the leaves are changing to their autumn colors. Being from the Midwest also makes traveling back home a lot easier. Don’t worry if you’re not a Midwest native — taking road trips to Chicago, Kansas City, and numerous other Midwest locations is an activity that can be enjoyed by anyone. Above all, the aspect I appreciate most about the Midwest is the people! The culture, values, and diversity of this region is on full display in the numerous community gatherings that occur year-round.

I grew up in Idaho, so I was fortunate to be able to grow up spending a lot of time mountain biking, hiking, backpacking, skiing, fishing, rafting — you name it. Because of this I love being outdoors and admittedly was a little nervous about moving to St. Louis. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the opportunities for outdoor recreation here. There are several state parks that are about 30 minutes away that have great trails that I go to often to mountain bike, hike, and trail run. Additionally, the Ozarks are about a 1.5 hour-drive away and they offer a ton of trails for thru-hiking or backpacking. (And there’s a student club from which you can rent outdoor gear). There are some rivers for fishing and some of the ponds in St. Louis are stocked as well. To top it off, there’s even a ski resort that’s about a 35-minute drive from campus; it’s not big but it’s got snow and chairlifts and that’s good enough for me. Overall, I have found it pretty easy to adapt to living in the Midwest and have enjoyed getting to discover new trails and parks! If you’re into biking or hiking or fishing or skiing and want to know more, please feel free to hit me up!

I spent my entire childhood in a small-ish town in Texas and attended college in Oklahoma. I like to say I kept moving north in search of the perfect region, and I think I have found it here in St. Louis! Being from the South, I am very used to hot weather and wide-open spaces. However, I also have friends and family who live in the Upper Midwest and Northeast, so I know what freezing cold winters and super busy cities feel like. I think St. Louis is the perfect balance: it’s warm in the summer, but it has real seasons, and the leaves actually change color in the fall. It’s a drivable city, but there is still enough infrastructure to support accessible public transit like the MetroLink (and we get free passes as students). Central West End has lots to do nearby, but I can still live close enough to campus to walk to school (and so many of my classmates live in the same area, so I see friends all the time on my walk)! I think I would have been overwhelmed if I had moved from the South to a giant city like NYC, LA, or Chicago. Fortunately, St. Louis was the perfect “step up” for me! 

Truthfully, I was pretty sad to leave Oregon for Missouri. I would tell people where I was moving for school and they would say, “What the heck is in Missouri?!” Not many people in Oregon have heard of Washington University, but pretty much everywhere other than the west coast, WashU is a really big deal. Also, if you’ve never been, St. Louis is a really fun place! It’s not some small-town country stop. Also, housing prices are crazy low out here compared to the West Coast!

I do miss the beauty of Portland and being so close to the coast and to mountains. St. Louis might not have the same beauty as the PNW (nowhere does, really), but there are still plenty of opportunities to get outdoors and see some beautiful stuff. There’s good coffee, food, and beer here, just like the PNW, and people are really friendly. Also, the culture within WashU itself is really incredible, diverse, and supportive. While it might be an adjustment at first, I would not worry too much about the transition to St. Louis.

Connor V.

Something I was asked on multiple interviews was if I would be willing to leave California. I always thought this question was a bit strange because I thought that if a medical school checked my boxes as an institution that I wanted to be a part of, location wouldn’t be a dealbreaker. However, when I was deciding where to go, a couple of considerations came to mind.

First, I wanted to live somewhere with reasonably nice, affordable housing that was somewhat walkable. I’d seen some room/apartment/house tours on the Second Look Facebook page for WashU, and thought housing looked nice. Later, I learned through panels and other forms of communication that housing was pretty affordable; currently, I pay about the same amount for housing in a studio with ample room for one person that I did for a one-bedroom shared with two roommates in Los Angeles. In terms of walkable, I found that my basic wants were generally met in the surrounding area: I could get to some solid dining options, a selection of cafes, Forest Park, and a Whole Foods by foot. While I enjoy walking, I do have a car which has made the city very accessible. In particular, having a car has helped me get to some restaurants and grocery stores such as Trader Joe’s and Aldi that are a bit further away.

On that note, food-related concerns that I had were if I would have enough restaurant options, and if would have access to Asian groceries. As someone who prefers to eat plant-based, I was pleasantly surprised by the options available; there is a large spreadsheet that is circulating with vegetarian/vegan spots in St. Louis that I am slowly making my way through, and I’ve found a couple of spots through Yelp that I frequent pretty often. For example, Meskerem, an Ethiopian food restaurant, has a delicious vegetarian combo that has no eggs, butter or milk! As for Asian groceries, I have found that Olive Supermarket (about a 20-to-30-minute drive away) is about as good as any market that I would have back home in Southern California.

Overall, St. Louis has been a great place to live as someone who has grown up on the west coast, is most concerned about the above things, and has mostly indoor hobbies. I think most people who asked if I was open to leaving California were referring to, in some capacity, the weather, and I have found the adjustment to local weather quite easy and honestly quite pleasant. Summer is a bit more humid than it is in Southern California, and fall and winter are colder here, but I don’t think I have made any drastic changes due to weather. On a more positive note, I have really enjoyed seeing the seasons change, and genuinely believe that St. Louis has prettier sunny days. For me, the biggest question in terms of location boiled down to “Does the school’s location have the food/green space/bookstores (insert what makes you happy here) that you would need to enjoy your time outside of school?” and I found that St. Louis fit the bill.

Maggie B.

I grew up in Hong Kong and lived in New York City right before coming to med school. While being in St. Louis has definitely brought changes compared with living in the big city, there are also some aspects that are similar. I’m used to walking/subwaying everywhere, and luckily the Central West End is pretty walkable with restaurants, stores, and apartments all within about a mile or two from each other. And throughout St. Louis as a whole, there are so many great places to eat food from different cuisines. The public transport situation in St. Louis is more LA than NYC, so there are many places that you need a car to reach. However, the train and buses are free for students and despite not having too many stops, it can take you to downtown, the Delmar Loop, Clayton, and even the airport. Finally, there are some perks I’ve found to living in a smaller city! Crowds and traffic are much, much less frequent/intense, which can make getting around so much more stress-free. The cost of living has been a very welcome change, with studio apartments available near campus at half the rents that I’m used to. And Forest Park is a wonderful oasis of trees, grass, and nature right next to the Central West End that you won’t find in any other city. Overall, I do miss the density and variety of the big city from time to time, but there is so much to like and explore in St. Louis, and I’m appreciating it more every week. 

Coming from the University of South Carolina to WashU School of Medicine was pretty intimidating for me. I had met so many impressive applicants on the interview trail and worried that coming from a big state school and not the Ivy League would either put me at disadvantage academically or mean that other students would look down on me for coming from a less prestigious school. Luckily that was not the case! The faculty are great about making sure that everyone is on the same page when starting new material, and no one really cares about where you went to undergrad; we did all get into the same school after all.  

When I was considering WashU School of Medicine, I will admit, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to spend another four years in St. Louis. I was worried that it would be too similar to the Danforth Campus and that I wouldn’t be able to grow past the “WashU Bubble.” But living in the Central West End (CWE) is an entirely new experience! There’s so much to do and the CWE gives a taste of the “city life” without the hustle-and-bustle of a real “city-city.” There’s also always the opportunity to hop over to the Danforth Campus for a while, if you’re ever in need of some extra green space or a break from “city life.” Staying in St. Louis (and being close to the Danforth Campus) also has its perks! It’s a chance to experience a new environment and try new things, while still being in a somewhat familiar space. You’ll find that, just like in undergrad, there’s a fantastic support system here amongst fellow WashU grads both in your class and the classes above, in addition to all the amazing people you will meet during your time here! While there isn’t a BD here on the Medical Campus, if you close your eyes and imagine hard enough — the chicken tenders and fries just might taste as good as a half n’ half. Welcome to the other side of Forest Park! And the beginning of your journey to becoming a WashU-Lifer. 😉