It can be hard to come up with the right questions to ask during your interview process. We’ve asked current students for some questions you can keep in mind while speaking with students, faculty, and staff. We hope these questions will get you started thinking about your ideal graduate school experience and help you best prepare for what we have to offer.
Graduate Student FAQs
Where do you live in St. Louis?
St. Louis is comprised of many neighborhoods, all with exciting, unique offerings of housing, food, and entertainment. These include the Central West End, University City, Skinker-Debaliviere, Debaliviere Place, Delmar Loop area, Demun, Clayton, the Grove, Tower Grove, Downtown St. Louis, and various others!
Some students rent apartments or small houses, while some students opt to purchase a home in St. Louis. Below is a short list of some of the resources students recommend for finding your perfect place:
- Zillow
- Leasing agencies: Byron, Quadrangle,
- Talking to fellow grad students
- The Wash U Housing Facebook page
- apartments.com
- The PGSA handbook
- Looking at online reviews
- Eric Macy @ STL Finest Homes
Where are you from?
Graduate students in our program come from all over the world, including: Long Island, Texas, Bremen (Germany), China, Pennsylvania, India, New York (not the city), California, New York City, Oregon, North Carolina, Illinois, Turkey, Missouri, and beyond!
What do you do for fun in St. Louis?
- Explore restaurants, breweries, and cocktail bars
- Walk or run in Forest Park
- Go to the (free!) zoo or brand new aquarium
- Use my student discount at the STL Symphony
- Anything outside! The summer is packed with festivals and block parties
- Find happy hours
- Hang out a coffee shop and sip a locally roasted brew
- Eat St. Louis style pizza (Imo’s pizza is a polarizing experience)
- Spend a few hours at one of the many (usually free!) museums
- Take a short drive and hike in one of Missouri’s beautiful state parks
- Get groceries at the farmer’s market
- Go to a local bookstore (Left Bank Books, Subterranean, and others)
- Get ice cream at Jeni’s
- See a movie (Chase Park Plaza, AMC, and Hi Pointe offer $5 movie nights!)
- Go out dancing
What do you do with your free time?
- Watch good movies, spend time with people in the program, exercise
- Painting and reading
- Hang out with friends, run, repeatedly watch Schitt’s Creek over and over
- Run, stress bake, go to concerts
- Go to bars and breweries with friends, watch The Bachelor
- Watch movies, exercise, play with pets, cook
- Read, cook, go to bars with friends
- Watch new tv/movies, read, hang with friends
- Yoga, going to the movie theater, eating ice cream (Jeni’s!)
- Sit in my recliner and binge watch Netflix / also Pure Barre
- Cook, spend time with friends
- Hang out with my dogs and do little arts and crafts projects, go to the WashU gym
- Hangout with cohort or labmates, go dancing, read, video games, etc.
What's your favorite thing about the program?
- Our department is warm and collaborative. This is reflected in how separate areas of research are very integrated.
- Overwhelming response: The people!
- Great funding opportunities for travel and research.
- Free food and drinks