The WashU interview format

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WashU Medicine) interviews MD applicants virtually, with two live one-on-one Zoom interviews on the same day. The school's Interview Experience page describes them this way: one is a 25-minute standard interview, where your interviewer has reviewed your full application, and the other is a 25-minute closed-file interview, where the interviewer knows only your name.

Item	What WashU says
Format	Two live, one-on-one virtual interviews on Zoom, same day
Interviewers	Faculty members of the Committee on Admissions
Interview 1	25-minute standard interview. The interviewer has reviewed your full application
Interview 2	25-minute closed-file interview. The interviewer has only your name
Virtual or in person	Virtual. No in-person interviews for 2026-27
Interview season	Mid-September 2026 to mid-February 2027, Monday to Friday
Optional sessions	Small-group talk with faculty admissions leaders, an informal student session, a self-guided virtual tour, "Meet Our Students" sessions (Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. Central), a Dean's greeting, and "Why WashU Wednesday" sessions from October

The AAMC MSAR interview procedures report for the 2027 entering class describes WashU's interview as "open, unstructured, one-on-one" and says invitations go out from mid to late August. WashU's own page is more specific and more recent in its wording, so go by it: one open-file interview and one closed-file interview.

That split is the most important thing to plan around. You're effectively having two different conversations: one with someone who has read everything you wrote, and one with someone who knows nothing about you.

WashU's timeline for 2026-27

AMCAS deadline: October 15, 2026.
Secondary: WashU screens applicants and sends secondaries about three business days after your AMCAS application is verified. The fee is $100. The supplemental deadline is October 29, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Central, and letters are due November 6, 2026.
Interviews: mid-September 2026 to mid-February 2027. Invitations go out individually by email.
Decisions: December 2026 through March 2027, with the last notifications by April 15, 2027. WashU says there's no correlation between your interview date and your decision date.
WashU accepts updates and letters of intent after the interview.
Admitted students can attend optional visit days in spring 2027.

WashU requires the AAMC PREview professional readiness exam. It accepts scores from tests taken between January 2023 and September 2026. We didn't find Casper mentioned on WashU's admissions pages.

What WashU's interviewers are looking for

WashU's admissions FAQ describes the students it looks for: humble, team players, collaborative, open to feedback, with grit, excellent communication skills and longitudinal experiences. The interview evaluation, according to WashU, covers integrity, teamwork, resilience, insight into medicine and self-awareness, as part of a wider set of factors the committee weighs.

A few of those words are worth stopping on, because they're less common in admissions language:

Humility and openness to feedback. Be ready to describe a time someone told you that you were wrong and what you did with it. Interviewers can usually tell the difference between a real example and a humble-brag.
Longitudinal experiences. WashU values commitment over time. Talk about the activity you stuck with, why you stayed, and how your role changed.
Insight into medicine. Know what physicians actually do day to day, including the hard parts, from what you've seen yourself.

The Gateway Curriculum

WashU launched its Gateway Curriculum in 2020. The school's curriculum page describes three phases:

Phase 1, Gateway to Foundations (16 months). Foundational science taught alongside clinical skills, including three 3-week Clinical Immersions.
Phase 2, Gateway to Clinical Medicine (12 months). Six 8-week clerkships.
Phase 3, Gateway to Specialization. Advanced clinical rotations, intensive skills courses and a Capstone.

Other features WashU describes that you can talk about accurately:

Competency-based grading. Assessment is Credit/No Credit or Competent/Not Competent, with a Competent with Distinction designation later in training.
The Gateway Coaching Program. Each student is matched with a faculty coach and a small cohort, about eight students.
EXPLORE pathways. Four pathways that start in the first year: Research, Advocacy and Global Health, Education, and Innovation.
Threads that run through the curriculum, including ethics and Patients, Physicians, Systems and Society.
Service. The student-run Pro Bono Health Clinic, LouHealth and the Community Engagement Hub.

The coaching program and EXPLORE pathways make good "Why WashU?" material because they connect to what WashU says it values. Someone open to feedback should want a coach. Someone with a longitudinal interest should be able to name the EXPLORE pathway they'd pick and why.

How to handle the two interviews

The open-file interview. Your interviewer has read your application, so expect questions that start from it: "Tell me more about..." Re-read your AMCAS application and secondary before the day. For each activity, know what you did, what was hard, and what you'd tell a new volunteer. Don't recite your personal statement. The interviewer has already read it.

The closed-file interview. The interviewer knows only your name. In 25 minutes you need to give them a clear picture of who you are. Prepare a short opening (about a minute) that covers where you're from, what led you to medicine, and the one or two experiences that shaped you most. Then let the conversation go where they take it. Repeating a story from the other interview is fine, since this interviewer hasn't heard it.

For both: 25 minutes goes quickly. Keep answers to a minute or two so there's room for follow-ups, and have one or two real questions ready for the end.

WashU practice questions (written by us, not WashU)

WashU doesn't publish its interview questions. We wrote these to reflect the qualities the school says it evaluates. Practice them out loud.

For the closed-file interview

Tell me about yourself.
What led you to medicine, and when did you know?
Describe the experience you've stayed with longest. Why did you keep going?
Tell me about a time someone gave you critical feedback. What did you change?
Describe a team you were on that struggled. What was your part in that?

For the open-file interview

Pick one activity on your application and tell me what you'd do differently if you started it again.
What's something a physician you shadowed or worked with did that you'd want to avoid?
Tell me about a setback in your application history and how you handled it.
Which EXPLORE pathway would you choose, and what would you want to work on?
What appeals to you about working with a faculty coach, and what might be hard about it?
Why WashU, and why St. Louis?

For more, see our medical school interview questions guide and the free question bank preview.

A two-interview drill

Recruit two partners. Give one of them your AMCAS application and secondary. Give the other only your first name.
Run two back-to-back 25-minute mock interviews on Zoom, the same way WashU will: one open file, one closed file. Use the questions above as a starting pool and let each partner improvise follow-ups.
Take a short break between them.
Afterward, ask the closed-file partner to summarize who you are in three sentences. If their summary misses what you most wanted them to know, fix your opening.
Ask the open-file partner which answers sounded like a re-read of your application. Rework those so they add something new: a detail, a mistake, what you learned.

Do the full drill once a week until your interview, and record at least one run so you can watch your pacing.

If you don't have practice partners, Confetto's AI mock interviews ask follow-up questions based on what you actually said and give rubric-based feedback afterward. The question bank has over 500 questions, and you can start with a 7-day free trial.

WashU interview FAQ

Is the WashU interview an MMI?

No. WashU uses two one-on-one interviews with faculty members of the Committee on Admissions, one open file and one closed file.

Is the WashU interview virtual?

Yes. WashU says there are no in-person interviews for 2026-27. Both interviews are on Zoom on the same day.

How long are the WashU interviews?

Each is 25 minutes, according to WashU's Interview Experience page.

Does an early interview mean an early decision?

No. WashU says there's no correlation between interview date and decision date. Decisions go out from December through March, with the last by April 15, 2027.

Can I send an update or letter of intent after my interview?

Yes. WashU says it accepts updates and letters of intent. Keep an update short and send it only when you have something new to report, such as a publication, a new role or a significant result, rather than restating your application.

Should I go to the optional sessions?

They're optional, and WashU doesn't say they're evaluated. They're still the best way to get specific material for "Why WashU?" A detail you heard from a current student in a Meet Our Students session is more convincing than something from the website.

Does WashU require PREview?

Yes. WashU requires the AAMC PREview exam and accepts scores from January 2023 through September 2026.

Applying to other Midwest schools too? See our guides to the Saint Louis University, Northwestern Feinberg and Vanderbilt interviews, or our medical school interview prep page.

Sources: WashU The Interview Experience, Important Dates, Requirements, Curriculum, AAMC MSAR interview procedures (2027).

Confetto isn't affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis. Everything here about the school comes from its public admissions pages and the AAMC MSAR report, checked in October 2026. Formats can change between cycles, so go by your invitation email.