So Im a third year student at Boston University. Im really interested in getting back home to Cali for my residency, and Ideally I would like to do a UC program (UCLA, UCSD, UCSF, Davis, etc). How competetive are these programs really?

I had pretty good board socres >230 but didnt honor many classes 1st and 2nd year.... and 3rd year just started.

any advise? or just let me know how tough it is

THANK YOU!!!

UCSF if very competitive, UCLA, UCSD, and Stanford are a step down but still quite competitive, and the other programs aren't that difficult to get into. Your 1st and 2nd year grades make little difference, and your board score sounds good enough to get you in the door... focus on honoring as many rotations as possible 3rd year, as its the most important part of your application (esp. medicine rotation). Doing really well on step 2 will also help you. If you're hell bent on going to UCSF, then it'll be hard, but otherwise you shouldn't have any problems.

UCSF if very competitive, UCLA, UCSD, and Stanford are a step down but still quite competitive, and the other programs aren't that difficult to get into. Your 1st and 2nd year grades make little difference, and your board score sounds good enough to get you in the door... focus on honoring as many rotations as possible 3rd year, as its the most important part of your application (esp. medicine rotation). Doing really well on step 2 will also help you. If you're hell bent on going to UCSF, then it'll be hard, but otherwise you shouldn't have any problems.

Agree with Myostatin. However, there is a huge element of *luck* involved. To me, it seems like programs like Harbor, UCLA, Olive View really favor applicants with huge board scores. There are quite a few applicants with huge board scores that haven't gotten UCSF yet so perhaps they are looking for research or some intangibles. Not sure what Stanford, UCSD are looking for - no interviews that I have heard of yet.

3rd year tip: if you get along well with an attending, don't be shy to ask for a letter of rec at the end of the rotation. Your attending will most likely be inundated with requests come 4th year. Try to secure one now!

Agree with Myostatin. However, there is a huge element of *luck* involved. To me, it seems like programs like Harbor, UCLA, Olive View really favor applicants with huge board scores. There are quite a few applicants with huge board scores that haven't gotten UCSF yet so perhaps they are looking for research or some intangibles. Not sure what Stanford, UCSD are looking for - no interviews that I have heard of yet.

3rd year tip: if you get along well with an attending, don't be shy to ask for a letter of rec at the end of the rotation. Your attending will most likely be inundated with requests come 4th year. Try to secure one now!



I agree that UCLA and Harbor are pretty numbers driven, but I can tell you that I landed an Olive View interview as did some of my friends last year without "huge board scores". From what I hear and see on their website, the Olive View residents are like the happiest on earth (refreshing and suspicious at the same time) and I think they seek people that would just add to their happiness. (though I'm not sure how they assess that) But I have never heard of anyone interviewing at UCLA with less than stellar board scores and I saw only one person on the these boards last year who interviewed at harbor with like a 210 step I and a 240 step II. Not sure about those numbers, you can look it up.

UCSF also factors in the reputation of your medical school. I am from a non-top allo school similar to Boston U., and last year a friend of mine was applying for internal med. He was AOA, Step 1 >235, and didn't even get an interview at UCSF, despite getting interviews at Hopkins, MGH, UCLA etc.

I agree that UCLA and Harbor are pretty numbers driven, but I can tell you that I landed an Olive View interview as did some of my friends last year without "huge board scores". From what I hear and see on their website, the Olive View residents are like the happiest on earth (refreshing and suspicious at the same time) and I think they seek people that would just add to their happiness. (though I'm not sure how they assess that) But I have never heard of anyone interviewing at UCLA with less than stellar board scores and I saw only one person on the these boards last year who interviewed at harbor with like a 210 step I and a 240 step II. Not sure about those numbers, you can look it up.

I just got UCLA and didn't have stellar board scores. Someone from my school matched there last year and had pretty average scores. And we are not from the best school either (also similar to BU). I guess numbers help, but a number of different factors play a role.

Process = Random