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

[Appless]

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for post-interview (waitlist) updates, email is the preferred method of delivery, correct? also, will they accept an additional letter of recommendation from a supervisor of an activity referenced in my update?

Yes

 

[oze]

finished my interview today. 🙂 the next 5 weeks of waiting is going to be torture!!

And is this a good sign? Interviewer: "i really think these interviews are just to make sure you have 2 eyes, a mouth, and a head. Your bits seem to be in the right place so i guess i will write you a good review". =\

discriminating against pirates!

 

[Appless]

Finished my interview today. 🙂 The next 5 weeks of waiting is going to be torture!!

And is this a good sign? Interviewer: "I really think these interviews are just to make sure you have 2 eyes, a mouth, and a head. Your bits seem to be in the right place so I guess I will write you a good review". =\

doesnt mean much to be honest. I was told the same thing. I was told I was "the best applicant he has seen in years" and that "he knew i would be a top medical student and he would write me a very good review."

Result Waitlist haha😛 gotta love it. It may be a good sign but dont dwell on it too much. Even if what your interviewer (or mine) said was true. The others on the committee also have to agree or you will get rejected or WL (though rejections dont occur at uci till much much later and even then its minimal.) You just never come off the wl. regardless gl mini!! maybe youll get into ucla and then it wont matter😉

 

[MiniMoo]

doesnt mean much to be honest. I was told the same thing. I was told I was "the best applicant he has seen in years" and that "he knew i would be a top medical student and he would write me a very good review."

Result Waitlist haha😛 gotta love it. It may be a good sign but dont dwell on it too much. Even if what your interviewer (or mine) said was true. The others on the committee also have to agree or you will get rejected or WL (though rejections dont occur at uci till much much later and even then its minimal.) You just never come off the wl. regardless gl mini!! maybe youll get into ucla and then it wont matter😉

Haha I guess I phrased my question poorly. I took my interviewer's comment as a bad sign. Seemed he didn't take my interview seriously. He was actually looking at my application for the first time after I sat down. Lots of long silences with him going "Ummm... Let's see... What can I ask you..." as he was flipping through the pages. Bleh oh well. At least it's over.

Good luck to you as well! With UCI and UCLA! 🙂

 

[Appless]

Haha I guess I phrased my question poorly. I took my interviewer's comment as a bad sign. Seemed he didn't take my interview seriously. He was actually looking at my application for the first time after I sat down. Lots of long silences with him going "Ummm... Let's see... What can I ask you..." as he was flipping through the pages. Bleh oh well. At least it's over.

Good luck to you as well! With UCI and UCLA! 🙂

omg i had the same interview lol. Maybe we had the same person. This interview was so odd i think he was screwing with me and i failed miserably or something. It was serious the most crazy interview ive ever had. In fact calling it an interview is not the right word ...it was soo weird he didnt ask me any questions at all just sort of develed into my personal life and started giving me advice i was like wtf 😕. Totally threw me wayy off guard

 

[MiniMoo]

omg i had the same interview lol. Maybe we had the same person. This interview was so odd i think he was screwing with me and i failed miserably or something. It was serious the most crazy interview ive ever had. In fact calling it an interview is not the right word ...it was soo weird he didnt ask me any questions at all just sort of develed into my personal life and started giving me advice i was like wtf 😕. Totally threw me wayy off guard

Well glad to hear I wasn't the only one with an odd experience! If you want to PM me, can see if we had the same interviewer? But yea. Was just a very awkward 30 mins. When he finally thought of a question to ask, I'd answer and then he would sit and stare at me. I had to prompt him more than once with, "Are there any other aspects of my application I can clear up?" And he'd give a start like he spaced out for a second, and I had interrupted his daydreaming or something.

 

[JJMrK]

I like it. I mean we aren't in "blocks" in that you take every course related to Renal, but they do a good job of making the courses parallel each other. So as we were learning about GI in physio, we were also learning about GI in histo, we were learning about the abdomen in anatomy, and in our doctoring course we were learning how to do the physical exam for the GI system. This isn't always like that, but they do a decent job of making the courses pretty similar.

I like the way the classes are set up tho b/c there is a lot of overlap and you reinforce you learned previously. So weve been long done with biochem, but when you read your physio book there might be some biochem concept that comes up and you are like "oh yea i know this already." So its kinda cool. Itll be that way 2nd year too when we start doing pathophysiology and stuff like that. We'll be learning all the path but at the same time reviewing all the physio from the previous year. As oppsoed to just having a "block" where you do everything and then move on.

Thanks for the response.

 

[Angel1982]

doesnt mean much to be honest. I was told the same thing. I was told I was "the best applicant he has seen in years" and that "he knew i would be a top medical student and he would write me a very good review."

Result Waitlist haha😛 gotta love it. It may be a good sign but dont dwell on it too much. Even if what your interviewer (or mine) said was true. The others on the committee also have to agree or you will get rejected or WL (though rejections dont occur at uci till much much later and even then its minimal.) You just never come off the wl. regardless gl mini!! maybe youll get into ucla and then it wont matter😉

Same hapenned to me at UC Davis. The interviewer said that he has no doubts that I would make a great med student and will fit in well there etc. Result - waitlist and then rejection. It was weird, I thought you just stay on the waitlist forever, but it took them a few weeks to figure out they didn't want me🙁

 

[RySerr21]

omg i had the same interview lol. Maybe we had the same person. This interview was so odd i think he was screwing with me and i failed miserably or something. It was serious the most crazy interview ive ever had. In fact calling it an interview is not the right word ...it was soo weird he didnt ask me any questions at all just sort of develed into my personal life and started giving me advice i was like wtf 😕. Totally threw me wayy off guard

Well glad to hear I wasn't the only one with an odd experience! If you want to PM me, can see if we had the same interviewer? But yea. Was just a very awkward 30 mins. When he finally thought of a question to ask, I'd answer and then he would sit and stare at me. I had to prompt him more than once with, "Are there any other aspects of my application I can clear up?" And he'd give a start like he spaced out for a second, and I had interrupted his daydreaming or something.

haha im having fun trying to figure out who you guys are talking about. I have a few guesses. I wouldnt sweat the student interview or any odd comments that may have been said.

 

[MiniMoo]

So I'm pretty much 100% certain I would attend UCI if accepted. Does anyone have input as to how long I should wait post-interview before sending a LOI? I have clinical volunteering, leadership, and travel experiences to update on as well. Or should I just wait until a decision is made and send something only if it ends up being a waitlist? I'm just scared of annoying them since Dr. Peterson specifically stated "Please don't email me right after you interview or keep sending emails every month".

 

[JJMrK]

So I'm pretty much 100% certain I would attend UCI if accepted. Does anyone have input as to how long I should wait post-interview before sending a LOI? I have clinical volunteering, leadership, and travel experiences to update on as well. Or should I just wait until a decision is made and send something only if it ends up being a waitlist? I'm just scared of annoying them since Dr. Peterson specifically stated "Please don't email me right after you interview or keep sending emails every month".

I would probably do this, but it's up to you. Since nobody is rejected after the interview (at least, I don't think they do this), and many people come off of the WL each year, it might make sense to save all your best material in case you really need it.

 

[Appless]

So I'm pretty much 100% certain I would attend UCI if accepted. Does anyone have input as to how long I should wait post-interview before sending a LOI? I have clinical volunteering, leadership, and travel experiences to update on as well. Or should I just wait until a decision is made and send something only if it ends up being a waitlist? I'm just scared of annoying them since Dr. Peterson specifically stated "Please don't email me right after you interview or keep sending emails every month".

I agree with JJ. Dont bother sending it until after. Literally nobody is rejected so you dont need to worry. If WL then just send a letter or two and hope for the best. Honestly it seems like everyone sends a letter i dont udnerstand how these things can matter but ill take it. The fact that dr peterson said do not send i think is the answer to your question period. They must get like 1000+ letters from all the people they reject/interview. Im doubting their effectiveness to be honest.

 

[MiniMoo]

Ok thanks for the advice, JJ and Elijah. Your reasoning makes sense. I'll hold off for now even though it's hard just sitting around feeling helpless.

 

[IHeartSleep]

So no more honors??

What about those Monday exams? Are they doing away with those too? (Move them to Friday!! Or any other day of the week.)

The honors and Monday exams were 2 of the things I was concerned about after talking to the M1s and M2s...

 

[RySerr21]

So no more honors??

What about those Monday exams? Are they doing away with those too? (Move them to Friday!! Or any other day of the week.)

The honors and Monday exams were 2 of the things I was concerned about after talking to the M1s and M2s...

Monday exams aren't going anywhere. They tried once a few years ago to move them to Friday and everyone complained and they moved them back to Mondays. Its really not that bad. You stay on top of your stuff and you can still have your weekends to do what you want and don't feel like you need to be studying every waking moment of the weekend. There was really only one bad stretch where we had 8 weeks in a row of a Monday exams, which admittedly gets old after a while, but even then you have your weekends if you stay on top of your ****. Before and after that long stretch you will have 2-3 weeks between exams. And also remember that 2nd year is copmletely different in that you have really large exams pretty infrequently, like every 3 to 4 weeks.

Honors should not be a factor. Its already gone for the first year and is on its way for the 2nd year too. But it really doesnt make that much of a difference either way.

 

[CalBear2009]

So I'm pretty much 100% certain I would attend UCI if accepted. Does anyone have input as to how long I should wait post-interview before sending a LOI? I have clinical volunteering, leadership, and travel experiences to update on as well. Or should I just wait until a decision is made and send something only if it ends up being a waitlist? I'm just scared of annoying them since Dr. Peterson specifically stated "Please don't email me right after you interview or keep sending emails every month".

Wow even if you got into UCLA? That's awesome.

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

does anyone know anything about oregon health science med school? I know it is a good primary school one of the top three in the rankings but you have already been accepted to a u.c. med school would you consider still interviewing there?

 

[oze]

does anyone know anything about oregon health science med school? I know it is a good primary school one of the top three in the rankings but you have already been accepted to a u.c. med school would you consider still interviewing there?

If you're in state and already in a UC I wouldn't interview at OHSU. But I'm not into a UC yet so I'm interviewing at OHSU in 2 weeks. Hope that helps!

 

[Appless]

does anyone know anything about oregon health science med school? I know it is a good primary school one of the top three in the rankings but you have already been accepted to a u.c. med school would you consider still interviewing there?

I had this same decision and turned them down. I love portland, and the school seems excellent (it was one of my top oos choices going into this). But after I got accepted into a UC i turned down the oregon interview. The tuition difference cant be ignored. OHSU is very expensive and tuition is only on the rise. Furthermore, they dont have a lot of free aid to throw out there. Lastly, I want to remain in cali for the rest of my career and going to a UC would give me the best chance at that. Its up to you, but assuming you are IS for a UC school, i wouldnt bother interviewing at ohsu unless you have some reason too (family etc). IF OOS for a UC then id check it out.

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

thanks for the info I just thought that since it was ranked so high in primary that maybe there was a reason to consider this over the cost issue

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

btw I am is student of ca.

 

[sunsfan]

Got the call from Dr. Peterson this afternoon. 😍
Interviewed Jan 25.
I'm in-state.
I just gotta say... I really appreciate UCI for having the most efficient, most prompt adcom!!! 😍

 

[MiniMoo]

Got the call from Dr. Peterson this afternoon. 😍
Interviewed Jan 25.
I'm in-state.
I just gotta say... I really appreciate UCI for having the most efficient, most prompt adcom!!! 😍

Haha congrats on the acceptance!! And UCI does seem to do a good job at sticking to their quoted 4-6 week turn around time.

 

[sunsfan]

Thanks, Minimoo! I wish you good luck.

 

[RySerr21]

thanks for the info I just thought that since it was ranked so high in primary that maybe there was a reason to consider this over the cost issue

that would be a very silly reason to go to a school. What does ranked high in primary care even mean? You can get in to any specialty from any school - ESPECIALLY if you are looking in to go in to primary care. Where you will go will make no difference. In the meantime, if you can, save your money.

 

[DoctwoB]

that would be a very silly reason to go to a school. What does ranked high in primary care even mean? You can get in to any specialty from any school - ESPECIALLY if you are looking in to go in to primary care. Where you will go will make no difference. In the meantime, if you can, save your money.

Agreed. What the primary care rankings tell you is the proportion of the school's graduates go into primary care. This can indicate one of two things, the school is primary care focused or attracts lots of people interested in primary care, or that the schools graduates fail to match in competitive specialties.

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

thanks for the imput. I was leaning to the u.c. for the cost factor but wanted to get some personal imput from others who may have considered oregon and why.

 

[RySerr21]

thanks for the imput. I was leaning to the u.c. for the cost factor but wanted to get some personal imput from others who may have considered oregon and why.

Totally. Oregon is a great school no doubt - primary care ranking or not. You can't go wrong either way, and if you have the time and money to spend on a flight, it might be worth checking out just for fun. Maybe you fall in love with it and the money is no issue. I just wanted to caution you on making a decision based on 'primary care ranking.' Now there maybe other reasons you find to choose oregon (or any school) over UCI, but deciding based on a ranking is probably not the best way to do it. You can go in to family practice (or any other specialty) from any school. You perform well, you will match well. Its really that simple. I suggest looking for a school where you will be happiest. Med school is tough - might as well make it as enjoyable as possible. If you think Oregon brings a certain aspect that might make you happy for four years, then I'd say go check it out. If you are just kinda in it b/c its Oregon and its ranked high - I'd say don't waste your time or your money.

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

Thanks that makes sense.I guess I'll save my cash.Also interviewed at ucla what would be the benefit if I should get lucky and get accepted there.uci vs ucla besides prestige.

 

[panda25]

Anyone receive a decision yet from late January interview? It's been over 4 weeks.

 

[Appless]

Thanks that makes sense.I guess I'll save my cash.Also interviewed at ucla what would be the benefit if I should get lucky and get accepted there.uci vs ucla besides prestige.

they have vastly different cuirriculums and grading styles (i.e ucla is p/f all 4 years). Really unless you hate LA or have reasons(i.e family, kids, etc) to stay in irvine, mostwould choose ucla (barring some insane free tuition scholarship). But as far as i know uci doesnt really give anything like that out and aid isnt too generous. Not too many choose uci over ucla if given the chance.

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

It can't just be the pass fail or cirr. it must be the high rankings because not to long ago they were on probation for many students were not doing well on the usmle's. So it comes down to prestige.

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

Does anyone know if aid money is more abundant at ucla?

 

[DoctwoB]

Does anyone know if aid money is more abundant at ucla?

I don't think that it is, I haven't heard of them offering merit-based aid or anything. I'd agree that it comes down to pestige, and mabye location if you pefer LA to Irvin. UCLA is ranked higher, largely due to more NIH research funding, which may make getting a research post a bit easier, but I haven't heard of UCI students having trouble with that.

Where they do differ is that UCLA is one of the very few truly P/F schools, even for clinicals, with no internal rankings. Most other P/F schools are only for the first two years. This has its pros and cons, probably encourages more teamwork and less competition / less stress on the wards which is good, but it also means that the only thing that residencies have to evaluate you on is your board score and rec letter, making that one test even more massive than it already is.

 

[Appless]

It can't just be the pass fail or cirr. it must be the high rankings because not to long ago they were on probation for many students were not doing well on the usmle's. So it comes down to prestige.

no it really is just p/f...i know its hard to believe but it is for all 4 years. It comes down to prestige and if you like LA thats all. Most people will take LA> irvine and the prestige. And yes ucla has more money to throw around.

Edit: im not saying the usmle is p/f if thats what you meant. I mean as far as class grades go its p/f. I wouldnt worry too much about how it affects residencies and such.

 

[RySerr21]

Thanks that makes sense.I guess I'll save my cash.Also interviewed at ucla what would be the benefit if I should get lucky and get accepted there.uci vs ucla besides prestige.

The same rules I said before apply here. Prestige aside, go where you are happiest. I know must people dont think this way and everyone is attracted to the "prestige" factor of a med school. It seriously doesn't make a difference. Students from UCLA are doing just as well as UCI who are doing just as well as people from UCSD etc etc. So much about where you go in life is WHAT YOU PUT IN TO IT. Every school in the U.S. will give you the resources you need to become a good physician. Forget the name of the school, make a name for yourself. Work hard. Do well and you will do whatever you want.

You need to seek out things that you want in a school and the things that will make you happiest. Whether it be the curriculum, the grading system, the people, the faculty, whatever....... The H/P/F in 3rd and 4th year I think is a good thing. Those years, especially the 3rd year, really do matter and residency directors want to see that you performed well. A residency director that came and spoke to us and said behind board scores the most important factor are your 3rd year clinical grades. Did you honor biochem your first year? Not really that important. Did you honor Internal Mecine? Impressive. Now I wouldn't go as far as to say going to a school w/o Honors 3rd year would be a disadvantage, but like someone else said it just makes the step I that much more important.

 

[CHRONICFATIGUE]

Thanks for the insight.I really liked uci and the students and faculty so that makes the probabilitity of not getting into ucla less important.

 

[IHeartSleep]

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.

 

[MiniMoo]

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.

Wow that's so nice! I guess the med school gave your interviewer your email address? 😕 If you decide to go to UCI, I would definitely reply and let him/her know.

 

[RySerr21]

Wow that's so nice! I guess the med school gave your interviewer your email address? 😕 If you decide to go to UCI, I would definitely reply and let him/her know.

along with the secondary app we get basic info - name, hometown, college/major, etc. This includes an email address. i sent my interviewee an email too (that wasn't mine that was just posted, haha).

 

[MiniMoo]

along with the secondary app we get basic info - name, hometown, college/major, etc. This includes an email address. i sent my interviewee an email too (that wasn't mine that was just posted, haha).

Do you know if materials from a past cycle are re-reviewed if someone is a reapplicant? I understand that GPA, PS, extracurriculars and such might be compared, but what about LORs? Like would they dig out my older letters and look at them too? (Hopefully not because my letters from last year are not nearly as good) 😛 And is interview performance from last cycle reviewed as well? (again... hopefully not...)

And that's so nice of you to send an email your interviewee. If I ever am put in the position of being an interviewer, I think I'd try to do the same. It just leaves such a good impression about the school and the people.

 

[RySerr21]

Do you know if materials from a past cycle are re-reviewed if someone is a reapplicant? I understand that GPA, PS, extracurriculars and such might be compared, but what about LORs? Like would they dig out my older letters and look at them too? (Hopefully not because my letters from last year are not nearly as good) 😛 And is interview performance from last cycle reviewed as well? (again... hopefully not...)

And that's so nice of you to send an email your interviewee. If I ever am put in the position of being an interviewer, I think I'd try to do the same. It just leaves such a good impression about the school and the people.

Haha, I'm not too sure on the details about reapplicants and whether old and new applications are compared! Sorry 🙁 I would guess they might notice any significant improvements in GPA or MCAT or added ECs or something, but as far as straight up comparing a previous interviewer's notes to this year's notes - doubtful. Its a new year, new application.But thats just speculation on my part.

Well, if you come to UCI, you will definitely get the chance to be an interviewer! Its a lot of fun and the students take pride in having such an active roll in the admissions process. And if you think about it, I think thats the way it should be done. You can look at the numbers and the essays and everything on paper, and thats what the admissions staff is for...but who can tell whether or not a student will be a good better than a current student? I think it plays a pretty big role in why our student body is so awesome here.

 

[Nafis64]

along with the secondary app we get basic info - name, hometown, college/major, etc. This includes an email address. i sent my interviewee an email too (that wasn't mine that was just posted, haha).

So I am confused. What exactly do the interviews get for the interviewee? Secondary app, First page of primary, personal statement, and experiences. This means no academics? Does this mean academics will not be discussed or no?

 

[MiniMoo]

So I am confused. What exactly do the interviews get for the interviewee? Secondary app, First page of primary, personal statement, and experiences. This means no academics? Does this mean academics will not be discussed or no?

Right. It's semi-blind. No GPA. No MCAT.

 

[Appless]

Right. It's semi-blind. No GPA. No MCAT.

academics are discussed post interview. Before the interview they have no gpa or mcat

 

[TouchofVersed]

Hi,

i'm still on hold for an interview. as march is about to come upon us tomorrow, im just wondering what are my chances of receiving an interview.

i have received rejections from all other UC schools and USC except UCLA and UCI. how much longer until I can say, "i am officially going to get rejected" As of now, I am already saying this to myself. Anyone hear of someone getting an interview invite in march or even in april?

Oh, I'm a Cali resident too.

 

[MiniMoo]

Hi,

i'm still on hold for an interview. as march is about to come upon us tomorrow, im just wondering what are my chances of receiving an interview.

i have received rejections from all other UC schools and USC except UCLA and UCI. how much longer until I can say, "i am officially going to get rejected" As of now, I am already saying this to myself. Anyone hear of someone getting an interview invite in march or even in april?

Oh, I'm a Cali resident too.

Both UCLA and UCI definitely reject pre-interview, so if you haven't gotten chopped yet, I'd say there's still a chance. Both schools interview into April so a March interview invite is still possible. I would try to send updates if you haven't done so already. Couldn't hurt.

 

[RySerr21]

So I am confused. What exactly do the interviews get for the interviewee? Secondary app, First page of primary, personal statement, and experiences. This means no academics? Does this mean academics will not be discussed or no?

Personal statement, secondary essays, and demographics. We dont see your ECs or work expereince or anything unless otherwise mentioned in your PS or secondary essays. Academics as in specific grades won't be discussed unless you bring it up - no ones going to say "explain this grade..." if thats what you are thinking.

 

[Nafis64]

Personal statement, secondary essays, and demographics. We dont see your ECs or work expereince or anything unless otherwise mentioned in your PS or secondary essays. Academics as in specific grades won't be discussed unless you bring it up - no ones going to say "explain this grade..." if thats what you are thinking.

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.

 

[chickensandwich]

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.

both my interviewers knew things they'd only know from my experiences section, so i'm pretty sure they have that 🙂