2009-2010 University of California - Irvine (UCI) Application Thread

[chickensandwich]

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Anyone else get an email from their interviewer?

XXX,

I am hearing very positive things from our med school concerning your application to UC Irvine.

I am very hopeful that you might consider joining us at UC Irvine.

You are a very special lady, with a great future in medicine.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance with your decision.

Best wishes,
YYY

I feel like I'm getting recruited! It was also CC'ed to Dr. Peterson.

Accepted in January. Wondering if I should reply.

accepted in january, i got an email too. makes me think they recently had a meeting on how to win us over 🙂 it was a very very nice surprise and i must say re: recruitment, it's a good feeling to be on the other side now

 

[RySerr21]

Now in the interview instructions it says "experiences section" from your AMCAS will be given as well, no? so you would see the EC's/Work experiences (i hope they do). Also I sent in an update letter previously, i hope they get that.

When I interviewed I didnt notice an experience section in the material that I was given. I could be misremembering or just have somehow not seen it. If there's an EC/work experience that you want to make sure is known, then bring it up in the interview. You have control over the direction your interview goes, there are a lot of open ended questions asked.

 

[MrBME]

i guess decisions for the applicants who interviewed on feb 10 are made. i just checked my status on the website and i'm on the alternate list

any suggestions on what i should do besides a letter to get accepted from the alternate list? i really want to go to UCI. i went there for undergrad and loved everything about the school.

 

[panda25]

i guess decisions for the applicants who interviewed on feb 10 are made. i just checked my status on the website and i'm on the alternate list

any suggestions on what i should do besides a letter to get accepted from the alternate list? i really want to go to UCI. i went there for undergrad and loved everything about the school.

Thanks so much for posting this, it's really helpful. Good luck to you!

I interviewed late January (I guess it was the interview day preceding Feb. 10) and have yet to hear back. Anyone know what this means...?

 

[kalpit210]

i guess decisions for the applicants who interviewed on feb 10 are made. i just checked my status on the website and i'm on the alternate list

any suggestions on what i should do besides a letter to get accepted from the alternate list? i really want to go to UCI. i went there for undergrad and loved everything about the school.

I interviewed 2/10 too... nothing's changed on my status page??

 

[MiniMoo]

Decisions don't always come out at the same time. I think typically UCI has notified waitlists first around the 3-4 week mark post-interview. Acceptances seem to come a bit later around the 5-6 week mark, although this is not always the case (I was waitlisted last year at the 5.5 week mark). So if your page hasn't changed yet, just sit tight.

 

[CalBear2009]

Yeah according to the Ryserr Theory, if someone from your interview day (or after your interviewd day) has heard they are on the AL, and you are still blank, that is most likely an acceptance. The longer blank, the better. There was one guy in my group who was initially blank when AL was posted, then changed to AL a week later, so its not 100%, but its a good indicator.

Congrats to you blank people!

 

[panda25]

Yeah according to the Ryserr Theory, if someone from your interview day (or after your interviewd day) has heard they are on the AL, and you are still blank, that is most likely an acceptance. The longer blank, the better. There was one guy in my group who was initially blank when AL was posted, then changed to AL a week later, so its not 100%, but its a good indicator.

Congrats to you blank people!

Thanks for the info everyone 🙂 I won't get my hopes up, though. I called the admissions office since I'm at the 5-week mark with no news. The lady checked and said "Hm...a decision HAS been made on your file, but unfortunately I can't give you that information. That has to come straight from the Dean. Give it 'til the end of the week, and I'll let her know I spoke with you..."

Very mysterious...? Hopefully positively mysterious Loved UCI.

 

[MiniMoo]

Thanks for the info everyone 🙂 I won't get my hopes up, though. I called the admissions office since I'm at the 5-week mark with no news. The lady checked and said "Hm...a decision HAS been made on your file, but unfortunately I can't give you that information. That has to come straight from the Dean. Give it 'til the end of the week, and I'll let her know I spoke with you..."

Very mysterious...? Hopefully positively mysterious Loved UCI.

That sounds positive to me, since acceptances are notified personally by the dean. 🙂 Good luck. Hopefully you'll hear back soon!

 

[CalBear2009]

Thanks for the info everyone 🙂 I won't get my hopes up, though. I called the admissions office since I'm at the 5-week mark with no news. The lady checked and said "Hm...a decision HAS been made on your file, but unfortunately I can't give you that information. That has to come straight from the Dean. Give it 'til the end of the week, and I'll let her know I spoke with you..."

Very mysterious...? Hopefully positively mysterious Loved UCI.

Congrats on your acceptance! The only explanation.

 

[IHeartSleep]

They must have definitely had a meeting recently to discuss accepted applicants and how to recruit them. No way...I got emails from BOTH of my interviewers within days of each other. (I posted the first one from my faculty interviewer--I got the student one a couple days ago)

RySerr, do you know of these mysterious recruiting meetings?

In any case, I LIKE it! Makes me like UCI even more...very personalized and welcoming place.

 

[Angel1982]

Anyone else get an email from their interviewer?

XXX,

I am hearing very positive things from our med school concerning your application to UC Irvine.

I am very hopeful that you might consider joining us at UC Irvine.

You are a very special lady, with a great future in medicine.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance with your decision.

Best wishes,
YYY

I feel like I'm getting recruited! It was also CC'ed to Dr. Peterson.

Accepted in January. Wondering if I should reply.

I was accepted in Jan too and recent;y received an email form my interviewer. she said she was notified that I had been accepted and that she enjoyed talking to me and stuff.
I replied because I was touched🙂

 

[RySerr21]

They must have definitely had a meeting recently to discuss accepted applicants and how to recruit them. No way...I got emails from BOTH of my interviewers within days of each other. (I posted the first one from my faculty interviewer--I got the student one a couple days ago)

RySerr, do you know of these mysterious recruiting meetings?

In any case, I LIKE it! Makes me like UCI even more...very personalized and welcoming place.

I was accepted in Jan too and recent;y received an email form my interviewer. she said she was notified that I had been accepted and that she enjoyed talking to me and stuff.
I replied because I was touched🙂

yea, I think we are notified if a person we interview has been accepted (bad news for whoever i interviewed....haha, whoops! 😱). My roomie was just notified that someone he interviewed was accepted, but that was it. Its up to the student whether or not they choose to congradulate you 👍

Congrats to everyoen so far! Keep it up! Youll be lining up for your white coat ceremony in no time!

 

[kierkegaard]

I just withdrew. It was difficult but I was honest with myself about my choices and couldn't hold an acceptance I was sure I would eventually let go knowing there are so many people out there still hoping and waiting. Hope one of you gets my spot, Irvine is an awesome school!

 

[MiniMoo]

I just withdrew. It was difficult but I was honest with myself about my choices and couldn't hold an acceptance I was sure I would eventually let go knowing there are so many people out there still hoping and waiting. Hope one of you gets my spot, Irvine is an awesome school!

Congrats on your decision! SD is amazing! 👍

 

[Appless]

I just withdrew. It was difficult but I was honest with myself about my choices and couldn't hold an acceptance I was sure I would eventually let go knowing there are so many people out there still hoping and waiting. Hope one of you gets my spot, Irvine is an awesome school!

good luck dude!! Cant wait till the waitlist starts moving. Ive written too many letters im running out of ideas lol.

 

[CalBear2009]

good luck dude!! Cant wait till the waitlist starts moving. Ive written too many letters im running out of ideas lol.

Yo Elijah! I thought you were pretty much set on Davis if LA didn't work out. You still interested in Irvine?

 

[Appless]

anyone know if WL movement happens before the may 15th deadline (i.e ryserr 😛 ). Or do we have to wait until that day? Also does it happen pretty quick or is it sorta a long drawn out process? Just curious if anyone had insight.

 

[oze]

weirdness - UCI gave me a pretty late secondary (in jan) and I finished it within a couple of days - but they havent even marked it complete yet and I would think theyre gonna be done sending out invites soon. and its not like they got any money out of me either - long live FAP! - so I wonder why they bothered.

 

[CantWinThemAll]

anyone know if WL movement happens before the may 15th deadline (i.e ryserr 😛 ). Or do we have to wait until that day? Also does it happen pretty quick or is it sorta a long drawn out process? Just curious if anyone had insight.

looking at last years UCI thread, it looked like the waitlist started moving about may 8th'ish. but im sure it depends on how many acceptances drop out before may 15th.

 

[RySerr21]

anyone know if WL movement happens before the may 15th deadline (i.e ryserr 😛 ). Or do we have to wait until that day? Also does it happen pretty quick or is it sorta a long drawn out process? Just curious if anyone had insight.

i'm not to sure about when waitlist movement starts to happen (maybe the post above is the most accurate info youll get). Other than that I'd just expect to start moving around that time. It definitely will move, most of the class comes from the waitlist. Just sit tight 🙂

 

[Angel1982]

yea, I think we are notified if a person we interview has been accepted (bad news for whoever i interviewed....haha, whoops! 😱). My roomie was just notified that someone he interviewed was accepted, but that was it. Its up to the student whether or not they choose to congradulate you 👍

Congrats to everyoen so far! Keep it up! Youll be lining up for your white coat ceremony in no time!

Ha. I was talking about my faculty interviewer🙂 Not the student🙂 I actually haven't heard from my student interviewer🙁 But I will see her in the fall I guess🙂))

 

[Nafis64]

Does UCI engage in PBL (practice base learning). I was told by a friend that they did, but looking at their sample curriculum i do not see any mention? There is a chance for small group discussion at least, right?

 

[MiniMoo]

Does UCI engage in PBL (practice base learning). I was told by a friend that they did, but looking at their sample curriculum i do not see any mention? There is a chance for small group discussion at least, right?

This is quoted straight from Ryserr (hopefully he doesn't mind):

"Curriculum - yes the curriculum is pretty traditional with lectures pretty much every day (none of which are mandatory). There is some "PBL" thrown in and they are trying to make it more and more every year. You will do small group based learning in immunology, and this year we did small group based learning two times in physioloy - blood based physiology (everyone participated) and GI physiology students had the option of doing the small group or just regular lecture. The small groups for GI consisted of a lot of self-reading and coming prepared for class. We also had the opportunity to teach classmates presentations on certain subjects from the chapter. So that was a pretty cool experience."

So it seems that, on the whole, it is primarily lecture based with a tiny bit of PBL thrown in as a sort of amuse bouche.

 

[RySerr21]

This is quoted straight from Ryserr (hopefully he doesn't mind):

"Curriculum - yes the curriculum is pretty traditional with lectures pretty much every day (none of which are mandatory). There is some "PBL" thrown in and they are trying to make it more and more every year. You will do small group based learning in immunology, and this year we did small group based learning two times in physioloy - blood based physiology (everyone participated) and GI physiology students had the option of doing the small group or just regular lecture. The small groups for GI consisted of a lot of self-reading and coming prepared for class. We also had the opportunity to teach classmates presentations on certain subjects from the chapter. So that was a pretty cool experience."

So it seems that, on the whole, it is primarily lecture based with a tiny bit of PBL thrown in as a sort of amuse bouche.

We started genetics recently and throughout that course we will have 3 small group PBL like sessions.... The groups have 10 people in them, and here is an actual example of the last session where we went over two cases (we didnt have the questions answerd, obviously, we had to talk about them). So there were 10 students, and 3 faculty leaders.

http://www.genetests.org/servlet/ac...w=NOdB&filename=/tools/cases/cf-13/index.html

But in a nuthshell, if you are set on a heavily PBL based curriculum, you'll be dissapointed at UCI, at least with the way the curriculum is right now.

 

[Nafis64]

We started genetics recently and throughout that course we will have 3 small group PBL like sessions.... The groups have 10 people in them, and here is an actual example of the last session where we went over two cases (we didnt have the questions answerd, obviously, we had to talk about them). So there were 10 students, and 3 faculty leaders.

http://www.genetests.org/servlet/ac...w=NOdB&filename=/tools/cases/cf-13/index.html

But in a nuthshell, if you are set on a heavily PBL based curriculum, you'll be dissapointed at UCI, at least with the way the curriculum is right now.

Thanks, well I am not sure if I want PBL as I have never been in a curriculum. I heard advantages and disadvantages to both, but the nice mix of added PBL thrown in there sounds good at UCI with a more traditional learning. class size is not so huge anyway which is a plus in my opinion.

 

[kalpit210]

Just got a call from Dean Peterson to let me know that I was accepted!

Interviewed 2/10

 

[DoctwoB]

Thanks, well I am not sure if I want PBL as I have never been in a curriculum. I heard advantages and disadvantages to both, but the nice mix of added PBL thrown in there sounds good at UCI with a more traditional learning. class size is not so huge anyway which is a plus in my opinion.

While I really like the idea of PBL, what i've heard from many med students dissuades me a bit. A lot of them feel that its a very inefficient way to learn information, dislike the required aspects of it and how it requires you to spend as much time organizing info for presentations as learning it. It sounds really interesting to me, but I guess when your drinking from the med school firehose, it makes life a lot harder to have inefficient required class periods.

That being said, I feel like having some PBL to learn the basics of case research and presentation is probably important, so who knows. I just think its tough to say whether or not you'll like PBL before you actually start school, so I'm trying not to let it factor into my decision.

 

[confusedchild]

Wow...just got an interview...completed 8/13.... so for those still waiting there is still hope...

I will be withdrawing from this interview - hope one of you guys get the invite!

 

[RySerr21]

Thanks, well I am not sure if I want PBL as I have never been in a curriculum. I heard advantages and disadvantages to both, but the nice mix of added PBL thrown in there sounds good at UCI with a more traditional learning. class size is not so huge anyway which is a plus in my opinion.

yea total class size is pretty small, and if only look at the number of people that actually go to class its basically like a small group every lecture, hahaha.

 

[MiniMoo]

Just got a call from Dean Peterson to let me know that I was accepted!

Interviewed 2/10

Awesome, congrats! 👍 That's crazy fast turn around though... 3.5 weeks?

 

[dadocca]

Wow...just got an interview...completed 8/13.... so for those still waiting there is still hope...

I will be withdrawing from this interview - hope one of you guys get the invite!

Just out of curiousity, were you sending them any LOIs or updates? I was complete about the same time and still pending. Trying not to lose hope but its getting pretty tough until I saw your post. Anyways, congrats on those big acceptances this year!

 

[doctorno]

Wow...just got an interview...completed 8/13.... so for those still waiting there is still hope...

I will be withdrawing from this interview - hope one of you guys get the invite!

Got an interview call at UCI. Will be interviewing next week. Any tips for the interview? Will appreciate any feedback !

 

[confusedchild]

Just out of curiousity, were you sending them any LOIs or updates? I was complete about the same time and still pending. Trying not to lose hope but its getting pretty tough until I saw your post. Anyways, congrats on those big acceptances this year!

Hey and thanks! ~ I actually never sent in anything...

 

[Appless]

Wow these guys are really pushing up against the 3/15 deadline. Here's to more good news for people!

any news koko from uci...?

 

[CantWinThemAll]

Wow these guys are really pushing up against the 3/15 deadline. Here's to more good news for people!

Excuse my ignorance but what's the 3/15 deadline?

 

[Appless]

Nope. I'm pretty sure I'm out of the running by this point. Any tips?

3/15 is essentially the date by which schools need to finish sending interview invitations.

If you already sent the normal few letters of Interest then idk🙁. Hopefully you somehow snag one of those last spots

 

[JJMrK]

Nope. I'm pretty sure I'm out of the running by this point. Any tips?

3/15 is essentially the date by which schools need to finish sending interview invitations.

Meant to tell you this before koko, congrats on your acceptance. 👍

 

[mexicochangedme]

to answer the question regarding waitlist movement: i was accepted off the waitlist on friday!

background: i interviewed in november, was waitlisted in early december. sent in an update letter about a week and a half ago, not expecting to hear anything for a couple months but feeling anxious and needing to do something constructive. i was in mexico for a few days (with my cell phone turned off) this weekend. yesterday, i checked my voice mail when i was sitting in line at the tecate border. hearing dr. peterson's voice on my first message definitely made the border wait seem way shorter (and the churro and tortilla guys definitely made out well on the situation...apparently i buy food when i am ecstatic with nowhere to go!).

uc irvine, i love you.

 

[Appless]

to answer the question regarding waitlist movement: i was accepted off the waitlist on friday!

background: i interviewed in november, was waitlisted in early december. sent in an update letter about a week and a half ago, not expecting to hear anything for a couple months but feeling anxious and needing to do something constructive. i was in mexico for a few days (with my cell phone turned off) this weekend. yesterday, i checked my voice mail when i was sitting in line at the tecate border. hearing dr. peterson's voice on my first message definitely made the border wait seem way shorter (and the churro and tortilla guys definitely made out well on the situation...apparently i buy food when i am ecstatic with nowhere to go!).

uc irvine, i love you.

oh wow awesome!!! Wheres my call lol 🙁...

congrats though dude!

 

[panda25]

got the acceptance call from Dr. Peterson on Saturday 🙂 I'm so excited!! And thanks to ryserr and everyone on this thread for all the help. Good luck to everyone!

 

[Appless]

got the acceptance call from Dr. Peterson on Saturday 🙂 I'm so excited!! And thanks to ryserr and everyone on this thread for all the help. Good luck to everyone!

cool dude! 🙂. just curious was it off the WL or did you just interview?

 

[panda25]

cool dude! 🙂. just curious was it off the WL or did you just interview?

yeah, I interviewed about a month and a half ago, and it was just a straight acceptance. 🙂

 

[MiniMoo]

Thank you! I'm happy with Tulane, except for the fact that the local cuisine might destroy what's left of my heart.

But what a way to go. 🙂 Awesome food is worth at least a single or double bypass.

 

[OGMD]

Has anyone gotten any kind of confirmation after sending in a update letter? I sent one in asking if they could let me know they'd received it and I never got a response.

 

[mexicochangedme]

Has anyone gotten any kind of confirmation after sending in a update letter? I sent one in asking if they could let me know they'd received it and I never got a response.

i received a confirmation email 7 days after sending it.

 

[Appless]

Has anyone gotten any kind of confirmation after sending in a update letter? I sent one in asking if they could let me know they'd received it and I never got a response.

They will send a response to you to confirm they got the letter. However they are very understaffed and take forever sometimes (i was told at least). It took them literally about 1 month for them to get one letter i sent via email and send a confirmation. It will come it just takes time. Ive called twice and never got a return call for my message lol. I guess you just have to wait.

 

[HomeMD]

Awesome, congrats! 👍 That's crazy fast turn around though... 3.5 weeks?

Hello kalpit210,
Sorry, MiniMoo I replied to the wrong post. I interviewed the same day! I was the only guy who came in late because my interviewed was set early in the morning. I'm the tall loud asian guy if we did end up talking together. I still have not heard from UCI yet. I am so nervous! It is the most nerve racking thing!! UCI is my top choice right now because on top of the fact that I wish to go back into academics at UCISOM one day that it is home...Are all of the results out already for UCI?

 

[MiniMoo]

Hello kalpit210,
Sorry, MiniMoo I replied to the wrong post. I interviewed the same day! I was the only guy who came in late because my interviewed was set early in the morning. I'm the tall loud asian guy if we did end up talking together. I still have not heard from UCI yet. I am so nervous! It is the most nerve racking thing!! UCI is my top choice right now because on top of the fact that I wish to go back into academics at UCISOM one day that it is home...Are all of the results out already for UCI?

Heya, I can relate to being nervous. Not all results get released at the same time though, so if you haven't heard anything yet, that's not necessarily a good or bad thing. Just gotta try to be patient. Good luck.

 

[VooDooo327]

Pending review?! 😡