2023-2024 UCLA (Geffen)

Get Your Med School Admissions Questions Answered!
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
med400 said:
Similar question about stats! How are my chances looking with a 3.7 sGPA? I'm planning to take the MCAT in a month, predicted score is 516. I also have lots of meaningful community experiences (started a community health initiative that helped over 1600 people, alongside other more minor community experiences like volunteering at a mobile needle exchange), clinical experience (400+ hours as a frontline worker during the pandemic and more recently became a medical first responder (I'll have about 150 hours when I apply)), volunteering experience (2000+ hours at local rural LTC and a hospital, started various programs at both to help patients, including a walking program), leadership experiences (served on my student council for multiple years, elected to Senate for my current university where I get to work with the Deans and President of the uni, started a neuroscience club, on lots of committees for my uni, president of other student run clubs throughout uni, won the dean's award for excellence one year, chief of my uni's newsletter), and extensive research (publications as first author and otherwise, conference presentations, won an award, was a Harvard research trainee in a Neurosurgical lab for 2 years).

I'm confident I will have pretty good LORs too. I know my extra-curriculars are good, but I'm worried about my GPA and MCAT! I have one outlier poor grade but I repeated the course and did really well. I am also pursuing an online post-bacc certificate with UCLA extension currently to improve my GPA in case that ends up being a hurdle. What are my odds of an acceptance looking like? Any advice/input would be very helpful!!!
Click to expand...
Was accepted this cycle if you have any questions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Might be until April we get our financial aid offers rip. Does anyone know how generous UCLA is in offering need based scholarships and aid?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
med400 said:
Thank you for sharing that, that's super super motivating to hear!!! What do you think UCLA is looking for in a student? Any sort of advice about what I could do to improve my chances would be wonderful! Thank you again sm for your reply
Click to expand...
I think the most important thing you can do is really know your story and be able to articulate with passion why medicine and how your experiences solidified that decision. The things you do do not have to be unique, but the impact they have on you will be different than everyone else's. UCLA gets so many applications that it is nearly impossible to stand out with what you have done, so do it with your story instead.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Hi,
I was recently accepted from the east coast and am trying to find out if it is much harder to match into east coast residencies from UCLA. Does anybody have good information/stats about this besides just the match results (which look to be mostly CA bc of the high population of CA residents)??

Any info is appreciated!
 
lgk8 said:
Hi,
I was recently accepted from the east coast and am trying to find out if it is much harder to match into east coast residencies from UCLA. Does anybody have good information/stats about this besides just the match results (which look to be mostly CA bc of the high population of CA residents)??

Any info is appreciated!
Click to expand...

I think the general consensus is that regional bias does exist. I don’t think there are stats floating around to answer your question though. Personal preferences when it comes to ranking the programs plays a huge role, like you said.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
lgk8 said:
Hi,
I was recently accepted from the east coast and am trying to find out if it is much harder to match into east coast residencies from UCLA. Does anybody have good information/stats about this besides just the match results (which look to be mostly CA bc of the high population of CA residents)??

Any info is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Sadly the best information will be for from the Match in my opinion. I wouldn't say you would be at a disadvantage because you went to UCLA (UCLA is a highly prestigious school around the US), but I would definitely say you would have an advantage if you wanted to stay on the west coast for residency (i.e. Stanford, UCSF, etc)
 
pandastory said:
Might be until April we get our financial aid offers rip. Does anyone know how generous UCLA is in offering need based scholarships and aid?
Click to expand...
also wondering this! especially for international students if that information’s out there
 
imma be so for real yall i need to get off this thread esp after being REJECTED but I still keep checking because I'm in the habit since I've been doing it for over seven months FML
 
  • Like
  • Care
Reactions: 7 users
I'm super curious to know, what made you guys decide ucla is the school you want to go to? for me, it's the way the curriculum is structured/the location!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
For those who were accepted, we don't need to submit a deposit to hold our position right? I didn't see any mention of it but I know most MD schools require one
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
xxerosx said:
For those who were accepted, we don't need to submit a deposit to hold our position right? I didn't see any mention of it but I know most MD schools require one
Click to expand...
I didn’t have to but I too am constantly anxious that I will **** something up and get my offer rescinded due to a technicality like that so I feel you 😭
 
  • Care
Reactions: 1 user
any accepted students not planning on attending - care to like this message 👀🙃

this is the only school I have a shot at, and have been kind of panicking as it's WL!
 
For LOR, do you guys know if it's okay that most of my references are from profs/doctors that I did research with, not necessarily clinical work? I have one reference that's from community work I did, but the rest are all profs/doctors I did research with
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
moonshapedpooll said:
does anyone know what the match rate is?
Click to expand...
Not publicly announced, but match lists are public and you can find it on google. It's hard to find out match rate based on match lists however because you can decline to be on the public list.
 
med400 said:
I'm super curious to know, what made you guys decide ucla is the school you want to go to? for me, it's the way the curriculum is structured/the location!
Click to expand...
Location and proximity to good support systems was #1 for me. Depending on what you like about the curriculum, make sure you ask current students what it's really like !! For example, there are definitely some differences with STEP exams compared to other schools and caveats to dual degrees during MS3 discovery year that you'll want to clarify.
 
Morningnight said:
Location and proximity to good support systems was #1 for me. Depending on what you like about the curriculum, make sure you ask current students what it's really like !! For example, there are definitely some differences with STEP exams compared to other schools and caveats to dual degrees during MS3 discovery year that you'll want to clarify.
Click to expand...
When do yall take step 1 and 2? Is it both during the 6 week dedicated period?
 
Came across this for anyone accepted that likes vintage:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
thepursuitofhappiness said:
When do yall take step 1 and 2? Is it both during the 6 week dedicated period?
Click to expand...
It's really up to you. At the moment, people have taken step 1 during dedicated, and then taken the MS3 year to study for step 2 along with whatever ECs you're doing. Basically what people used to do pre-step 1 going P/F. We don't have 2 separate dedicated's to study for both tests like some other schools out there (ie CWRU).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Did anyone else's interviewer call you and ask what could be done for you to commit to UCLA?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
wysdoc said:
You’ve been getting scholarships elsewhere, what did you tell them? I’m sure a call caught you off guard
Click to expand...
Noooo i havent 😭. I was pretty happy about it! Hopefully I can get some financial aid, its really important to my family.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Morningnight said:
It's really up to you. At the moment, people have taken step 1 during dedicated, and then taken the MS3 year to study for step 2 along with whatever ECs you're doing. Basically what people used to do pre-step 1 going P/F. We don't have 2 separate dedicated's to study for both tests like some other schools out there (ie CWRU).
Click to expand...
Thanks again! Are the the core clerkships p/f but the 4th year ones are graded?
 
pandastory said:
Did anyone else's interviewer call you and ask what could be done for you to commit to UCLA?
Click to expand...
I received one but it was more of have you made up your mind, what is influencing your decision and can *the interviewer* help in any way?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
organiccotton said:
I received one but it was more of have you made up your mind, what is influencing your decision and can *the interviewer* help in any way?
Click to expand...

Do y’all think this is happening to top interviewees who they are sure have competitive offers elsewhere or those who have tentatively selected to plan to enroll elsewhere?
 
I also got an email from my interviewer, but even though she tailored it to my experiences and things we talked about in our interview, I’m fairly certain she sent it to all the accepted students she interviewed!
 
Does anyone know what the average need based aid is for low income folk? 😭
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
pandapremed said:
Could I DM you too? Also a low-income student starting to get worried at what mine will look like 😭
Click to expand...
A scholarship is much rarer in medical school than in college, and it is a boon because it does not need to be repaid. Most other financing for your COA will be in the form of loans.
If you haven’t submitted your FAFSA yet get it in so your school can work on financial aid. FAFSA processing delays this year are not any school’s fault, but the fault of a poorly managed rollout of the new form.
 
wysdoc said:
A scholarship is much rarer in medical school than in college, and it is a boon because it does not need to be repaid. Most other financing for your COA will be in the form of loans.
If you haven’t submitted your FAFSA yet get it in so your school can work on financial aid. FAFSA processing delays this year are not any school’s fault, but the fault of a poorly managed rollout of the new form.
Click to expand...
I know scholarships are rare and the norm is to be on loans, I just find that terrifying as a low-income student lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
pandapremed said:
I know scholarships are rare and the norm is to be on loans, I just find that terrifying as a low-income student lol
Click to expand...
It's the reality and something you need to know as you embark on 4 years of medical school.
Whether you come from a low income household or not, the loans are meant to give you enough to live on as well as to pay tuition.
I would recommend taking out the maximum offered the first year, then see how that goes. If you are a frugal person you may find that you didn't spend as much as they estimated on housing, food, etc. But what if your car breaks down & needs big $$ repairs? The loan amount is a cushion for this kind of stuff.
You have to submit a new FAFSA each year while med school, don't forget to do that. If you didn't need the whole loan amount first year, take out less the second year.
Learn about this now to increase knowledge and minimize the fear of the unknown. You will bring home a salary staring the first month of your residency and more when your residency is done; you will be able to pay off these loans.
 
  • Care
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
wysdoc said:
It's the reality and something you need to know as you embark on 4 years of medical school.
Whether you come from a low income household or not, the loans are meant to give you enough to live on as well as to pay tuition.
I would recommend taking out the maximum offered the first year, then see how that goes. If you are a frugal person you may find that you didn't spend as much as they estimated on housing, food, etc. But what if your car breaks down & needs big $$ repairs? The loan amount is a cushion for this kind of stuff.
You have to submit a new FAFSA each year while med school, don't forget to do that. If you didn't need the whole loan amount first year, take out less the second year.
Learn about this now to increase knowledge and minimize the fear of the unknown. You will bring home a salary staring the first month of your residency and more when your residency is done; you will be able to pay off these loans.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reminders, I'm a non-trad that's pretty financially literate. Good info for others though.
 
  • Hmm
  • Wow
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Hi guys, I just received my PAL. Need based scholarships do NOT need to be repaid right?
 
Got my PAL, did not recieve any need based scholarships with an SAI -1500 ☠️
 
  • Wow
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

wysdoc
2023-2024 Belmont (Frist)
19 20 21 22 23
Replies
1K
Views
150K
ClashRoyaleKing
ClashRoyaleKing
gyngyn
2023-2024 San Juan Bautista
Replies
49
Views
7K
lestrange
lestrange
wysdoc
2023-2024 Tufts
13 14 15 16 17
Replies
806
Views
245K
outfishing
O
wysdoc
2023-2024 Michigan
13 14 15 16 17
Replies
829
Views
200K
NavyGuy
NavyGuy
wysdoc
2023-2024 Pittsburgh
26 27 28 29 30
Replies
1K
Views
243K
yourgfgf
yourgfgf
Top