2014-2015 University of Southern California (Keck) Application Thread

[gettheleadout]

Space reserved for prompt.

Please PM the essays or lack thereof to me when the secondary is available and I will update this.

Good luck to everyone applying!

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[MalibuPreMD]

Don't annoy the admissions office with "I'm in town, please interview me" or with pre-interview updates.
Don't come to the interview day with a superiority trip or ego.
Know about LAC, our patient population, and the pros/cons of the ACA & its effect on the public health care system.

 

[BeancheBlanco]

pros/cons of the ACA & its effect on the public health care system.

Is this specific to Keck or are you just saying to know this in general? Would experience as a health insurance navigator be particularly interesting to Keck? Also, if possible would you be able to give us a little info about the school, what you like about, what you dislike about it, what the school seems to emphasize. I would appreciate it.

 

[sunflower18]

thanks for your input @MalibuPreMD ! i'm excited to be applying here

 

[MalibuPreMD]

Is this specific to Keck or are you just saying to know this in general? Would experience as a health insurance navigator be particularly interesting to Keck? Also, if possible would you be able to give us a little info about the school, what you like about, what you dislike about it, what the school seems to emphasize. I would appreciate it.

It is impressive when an applicant comes prepared to talk about topics relevant to the school - I'd say these are pretty specific to Keck.

Any experience in health care is interesting if you can articulate your role, what you learned, and some of the challenges that you faced.

I love the school. We have a reputation for training clinically competent medical students (med students have a larger role at LAC than at most other teaching hospitals). The research programs are getting to be stronger every year and there are ample opportunities for students to find mentors in whatever field you might be interested in going into.

I do not love the price tag.

I can only speak for the first two years, but the school de-emphasizes competition. The curriculum is true P/F, classes are webcast (rarely >4 hrs/day), and the workload is very manageable. The quality of life is excellent. Despite the relative lack of stress, our average step 1 score is significantly higher than the national average. Personally, I am very happy with my decision to attend Keck and believe that it is well worth the price of tuition.

I'm happy to answer any questions here or by pm. I write step 1 in a couple weeks so it might take a few days to respond.

 

[sunflower18]

It is impressive when an applicant comes prepared to talk about topics relevant to the school - I'd say these are pretty specific to Keck.

Any experience in health care is interesting if you can articulate your role, what you learned, and some of the challenges that you faced.

I love the school. We have a reputation for training clinically competent medical students (med students have a larger role at LAC than at most other teaching hospitals). The research programs are getting to be stronger every year and there are ample opportunities for students to find mentors in whatever field you might be interested in going into.

I do not love the price tag.

I can only speak for the first two years, but the school de-emphasizes competition. The curriculum is true P/F, classes are webcast (rarely >4 hrs/day), and the workload is very manageable. The quality of life is excellent. Despite the relative lack of stress, our average step 1 score is significantly higher than the national average. Personally, I am very happy with my decision to attend Keck and believe that it is well worth the price of tuition.

I'm happy to answer any questions here or by pm. I write step 1 in a couple weeks so it might take a few days to respond.

Great stuff!!! This makes me really excited to apply to Keck thanks so much! If I think of any more questions, I'll post them. Good luck on step 1!!

 

[Inygma]

Thank you @MalibuPreMD

Best of luck everyone.

 

[UCUCUC]

anyone get a secondary yet? when does USC send them out usually?

 

[No Limits]

anyone get a secondary yet? when does USC send them out usually?

Nothing yet but last year USC released them on the 8th of July.

 

[Mingote]

MD

• What is the most fun you’ve had in the last year? (3-5 sentences)
• If you could give yourself a nickname, what would it be? (3-5 sentences)
• If you had enormous wealth, how would you allocate your charitable donations? (3-5 sentences)
• What aspect of the preparation for applying to medical school did you find most challenging? (3-5 sentences)
• If you believe that you are a member of a group that is under-represented in medicine, describe what this designation means to you
• Write a sentence that is not true, then tell us why you wish it were true. (Please answer the question in 200 words or less.)

MD/PhD

• Briefly describe your reasons for pursuing a combined M.D./Ph.D. degree and your most relevant research or scholarly experiences that have influenced your decision.
• List of publications and papers submitted including one or two sentences describing your role on each publication.
• Please provide the names of faculty at USC and Caltech with whom you would like to meet, if invited for an interview.

 

[No Limits]

These are slightly different from the ones from last year. The first 5 are the same the last one is different (for MD prompts).

 

[mrh125]

MD

• What is the most fun you’ve had in the last year? (3-5 sentences)
• If you could give yourself a nickname, what would it be? (3-5 sentences)
• If you had enormous wealth, how would you allocate your charitable donations? (3-5 sentences)
• What aspect of the preparation for applying to medical school did you find most challenging? (3-5 sentences)
• If you believe that you are a member of a group that is under-represented in medicine, describe what this designation means to you
• Write a sentence that is not true, then tell us why you wish it were true. (Please answer the question in 200 words or less.)

MD/PhD

• Briefly describe your reasons for pursuing a combined M.D./Ph.D. degree and your most relevant research or scholarly experiences that have influenced your decision.
• List of publications and papers submitted including one or two sentences describing your role on each publication.
• Please provide the names of faculty at USC and Caltech with whom you would like to meet, if invited for an interview.

when did you get these?

 

[Mingote]

when did you get these?

4:38 PM EST

 

[hellanutella]

I love USC's short, quirky prompts... but that nickname one. -____-

No secondary here yet. I think USC senses that I have a massive pile of unfinished secondaries.

 

[ConsultantMD]

I like how these are actually fun questions. No secondary either, but I guess over there there is an hour left of work for them, PST.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

this is the coolest secondary I've ever seen

 

[sunflower18]

No secondary here either! Do they screen?

 

[mrh125]

No secondary here either! Do they screen?

no everyone gets them.

 

[No Limits]

No secondary here either! Do they screen?

I don't believe they do.

@mrh125 beat me to it

 

[Inygma]

No secondary yet here either

 

[Osteoth]

No secondary yet here either

+ 1

 

[brownman23]

Just got the secondary email!

 

[onceawolverine]

Just got the Secondary. This is BY FAR the greatest secondary I've received thus far. Actually looking forward to this one. Good luck everyone!!

 

[soccerusa]

Does anyone know anything about the HTE program? I read a bit on the website, but if anyone is in the program or knows someone who is that would be great!

 

[turayza]

Secondary received. Verified early June

Nickname question is so hard

 

[onceawolverine]

Secondary received. Verified early June

Nickname question is so hard

Sleep on it. Something creative and original will come to you, and it'll be so fun to write about!

 

[daenschl]

Secondary here as well. This is a fun one!

 

[BeancheBlanco]

I like the secondary but I have no idea how to seriously answer this nickname question without sounding like a total nerd.

 

[Inygma]

Still no secondary =(

 

[onceawolverine]

Still no secondary =(

From their website: "Upon receipt of a candidate’s verified AMCAS application and MCAT score, the Office of Admissions will invite applicants to complete a supplemental application. " --> it sounds like every applicant gets one, at some point.

Different schools take different amounts of time getting to different applicants. Don't sweat it. What you CAN do is start writing your secondary early, as all the prompts are here!

 

[turayza]

Sleep on it. Something creative and original will come to you, and it'll be so fun to write about!

I thought about it a few weeks ago and all I could come up with was donut: empty inside T__T
Just kidding. Will think harder.

 

[sunflower18]

I got it too!!

Nickname is definitely hard. I want to be quirky and funny in my answers instead of tying them all back to "why medicine" or "why USC", but I'm not sure that's the best way to go... At the same time, wouldn't it get boring to read a bunch of essays that have thinly veiled ways to talk about how medicine and USC are the best?

 

[dancingbacon]

The questions are so fun but that makes them that much harder haha

 

[Inygma]

I got it too!!

Nickname is definitely hard. I want to be quirky and funny in my answers instead of tying them all back to "why medicine" or "why USC", but I'm not sure that's the best way to go... At the same time, wouldn't it get boring to read a bunch of essays that have thinly veiled ways to talk about how medicine and USC are the best?

I'd love to be a USC student and be able to sit on admissions panel and read these!

 

[CCrown]

Write a sentence that is not true, then tell us why you wish it were true:

"I am not a medical student at USC"

 

[sunflower18]

Write a sentence that is not true, then tell us why you wish it were true:

"I am not a medical student at USC"

That's very clever hahaha I didn't even think of that.

 

[houston9]

Write a sentence that is not true, then tell us why you wish it were true:

"I am not a medical student at USC"

I considered doing "The prompt for this question is [fill in blank with prompt for awesome essay I've already written] and then explaining I wanted that to be true so that I could write [insert awesome essay I've already written here]

 

[sunflower18]

I honestly have no idea about the nickname one. Realistically, I would go with a shortened version of my name. But for essay purposes, should it be something descriptive and clever??

 

[ovenmitts]

I honestly have no idea about the nickname one. Realistically, I would go with a shortened version of my name. But for essay purposes, should it be something descriptive and clever??

My nickname around my good friends is not the same nickname I have with my family... Not a nickname I would give med school admission committees either, LOL.

 

[sunflower18]

i came up with something and submitted hopefully they'll like my quirky answers!

 

[Swartzlehman]

I got it too!!

Nickname is definitely hard. I want to be quirky and funny in my answers instead of tying them all back to "why medicine" or "why USC", but I'm not sure that's the best way to go... At the same time, wouldn't it get boring to read a bunch of essays that have thinly veiled ways to talk about how medicine and USC are the best?

I'm a student at Keck and I love these new batch of questions! Ours were mostly different than these, but they were in the same vein. From what I remember, my answers had almost nothing to do "Why medicine" or "Why Keck". Just be as creative as possible. We're looking for personality here, not one's ability to spin.

 

[turayza]

Is anyone in the MD/MPH program currently? It looks very intensive to squeeze the MPH on top of four years of medical school, does anyone have experience with the program?

 

[indianjatt]

I'll be an incoming medical student at Keck this Fall and would love to answers any questions applicants may have. I do not know a great deal about the curriculum or specific programs, but I can address all application/secondary related questions.

Good luck everyone and go Trojans!

 

[dr.0ne]

I submitted my primary early and LORs in the cycle (early Jun). However, I can't see my references in USC's secondary. Anyone else get this problem?

 

[lakergirl34823]

I can't see mine either....

I submitted my primary early and LORs in the cycle (early Jun). However, I can't see my references in USC's secondary. Anyone else get this problem?

 

[CitrusJ]

i came up with something and submitted hopefully they'll like my quirky answers!

Same!

 

[gard2013]

Did you guys explain the nickname or just simply put the nickname you would choose?

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Did you guys explain the nickname or just simply put the nickname you would choose?

I explained why I chose that nickname in 2 sentences.

 

[CitrusJ]

Brief description - at the top of the page it said give a few sentences for each answer

 

[MrLogan13]

I think I'm going to use a comic book character. lol