2009-2010 University of California - San Diego (UCSD) Application Thread

[itsalovestory]

---

Members do not see this ad.

On my interview invite attachment, there is this proof of residence form, am I supposed to fill this out, what?

The directions say to bring it to your interview.

 

[ColonelTigh]

The directions say to bring it to your interview.

Thanks dude!

 

[Aggro]

I got an interview! Scheduled it for October 19th.

Does anyone know if there's a shuttle that goes from the airport to La Jolla, or am I going to have to tack a nice big cab fare to my airline ticket?

Good luck to everyone else -- remember that this process is RIDICULOUSLY random and that anything can happen. Hell, I still haven't gotten a secondary from UCSF, but UCSD wants me to interview. I don't get it. Whatever. I'll happily be a UCSD Merman Triton.

Oh, ColonelTigh -- I didn't get that residency form. Could you forward it to me or IM me? My email is cowoflight AT gmail DOT com.

 

[LAman10]

I got an interview! Scheduled it for October 19th.

Does anyone know if there's a shuttle that goes from the airport to La Jolla, or am I going to have to tack a nice big cab fare to my airline ticket?

Good luck to everyone else -- remember that this process is RIDICULOUSLY random and that anything can happen. Hell, I still haven't gotten a secondary from UCSF, but UCSD wants me to interview. I don't get it. Whatever. I'll happily be a UCSD Merman Triton.

Oh, ColonelTigh -- I didn't get that residency form. Could you forward it to me or IM me? My email is cowoflight AT gmail DOT com.

I believe there's Cloud 9 shuttles (~$20 to La Jolla)

 

[180910]

are you re-taking the MCATs in September by any chance? We have almost identical stats, and UCSD is also the only secondary from the UCs I have received. However, the other UCs told me my file would be on hold until they received my new scores....UCD even said they wouldn't even acknowledge that they had my primary app until my new MCAT scores were released.

Good luck on your September MCAT. I have already taken the exam thrice and I do not want to retake. If the other UC's decide to reject anyone below a 30, solely b/c they are below a 30, then I believe that is their loss. I feel that I am a great candidate with a great deal of hands-on clinical experience and any medical school would be lucky to have me.

Having said that, I still wonder if I am not going to get secondaries from the other UC's, why have they not sent me rejection notices? Since rejections are their lowest priority, do they hold off on sending those until a later date?

Has anyone received rejection notices from any of the UC's yet?

 

[OneMCATAway]

Good luck on your September MCAT. I have already taken the exam thrice and I do not want to retake. If the other UC's decide to reject anyone below a 30, solely b/c they are below a 30, then I believe that is their loss. I feel that I am a great candidate with a great deal of hands-on clinical experience and any medical school would be lucky to have me.

Having said that, I still wonder if I am not going to get secondaries from the other UC's, why have they not sent me rejection notices? Since rejections are their lowest priority, do they hold off on sending those until a later date?

Has anyone received rejection notices from any of the UC's yet?

Davis!

im totally with you on the frustration

 

[dermda]

hey has anyone got an email interview invite but has not seen their status page updated with a date for "invited for interview" yet?

 

[CalBear2009]

hey has anyone got an email interview invite but has not seen their status page updated with a date for "invited for interview" yet?

It takes a couple days. Don't worry.

 

[CupcakeMD]

Mann I'm still working on the secondary! Halfway done with the autobio.. 🙁

But congrats to everyone who has gotten an interview already! 🙂

 

[itsalovestory]

Mann I'm still working on the secondary! Halfway done with the autobio.. 🙁

But congrats to everyone who has gotten an interview already! 🙂

Don't worry about it-- I literally finished mine on the day it was due. I always had a general idea of what I wanted it to include, but every time I sat down, I only was able to come up with a chunk of it. This literally happened for a month, and it came together on the last day. Good luck! 🙂

 

[oze]

Has anyone with the FAP waiver gone through this process at UCSD? Do I have to physically mail in a copy of the webpage acknowledging my FAP approval, or can I forward a copy of the email to Sofia Rendon (or someone else?)?

did anyone give an answer to this? I was wondering the same thing.

 

[cardinalsrock]

did anyone give an answer to this? I was wondering the same thing.

no, nobody answered. I can't get myself to write this autobiography. I'm going to force myself to finish this by the end of the week, and once I do, I'm just going to print out the cover page from the FAP website and mail it to the address where you're supposed to send your check to. I sent an email to UCSD last week but did not get a response. I should probably call but I'll do that once I actually submit my secondary

 

[oze]

no, nobody answered. I can't get myself to write this autobiography. I'm going to force myself to finish this by the end of the week, and once I do, I'm just going to print out the cover page from the FAP website and mail it to the address where you're supposed to send your check to. I sent an email to UCSD last week but did not get a response. I should probably call but I'll do that once I actually submit my secondary

actually, I just emailed them the .pdf of the screen shot from the AMCAS website that says I have the waiver, and they said it was fine! They responded in like an hour.

 

[ilovebear]

i called the admissions office and the lady said that an email of the waiver is okay

 

[tartrate]

I feel like I am dying trying to write this monster of an essay 🙁. I need some kind of brilliant muse tonight if I ever hope to finish it.

 

[oze]

BAH! I thought I was at 7500 characters, but its 7500 character EXCLUDING spaces. Oh well, they'll just have to live with my "short" 7000 character essay.

 

[itsalovestory]

BAH! I thought I was at 7500 characters, but its 7500 character EXCLUDING spaces. Oh well, they'll just have to live with my "short" 7000 character essay.

LOL. Didn't even know that until you just posted it... I took it as 7,500 with spaces too, and got an interview. Don't worry. 🙂

 

[redwinger47]

Just got an Interview Invite!! Pretty excited, I'm OOS too. I was complete 7/15

 

[makeshift123]

so if they received my application on 6/29, and i haven't heard anything yet, is it safe to assume rejection? (I'm OOS). Kind of a bummer since i got UCSF's but no love from ucla or ucsd.

 

[BlueElmo]

So any IS people with interviews?

 

[Contrarian]

BAH! I thought I was at 7500 characters, but its 7500 character EXCLUDING spaces. Oh well, they'll just have to live with my "short" 7000 character essay.

ah dammit. I ended up cutting stuff out just to fit 7500 with spaces.

 

[copper coins]

so if they received my application on 6/29, and i haven't heard anything yet, is it safe to assume rejection? (I'm OOS). Kind of a bummer since i got UCSF's but no love from ucla or ucsd.

Hey! I don't think so. Based on the website, they don't reject people outright until March. I'm in a similar boat: My secondary application has been marked complete since 7/10 and I also haven't heard anything yet (I'm not on-hold and I haven't been invited for an interview). Did you by chance apply for PRIME? I did- and I'm thinking that might be the reason for the extra-wait.

 

[phoenixsuns]

BAH! I thought I was at 7500 characters, but its 7500 character EXCLUDING spaces. Oh well, they'll just have to live with my "short" 7000 character essay.

umm when i type in the essay, it counts the spaces on the essay counter. are you sure about this?

 

[LAman10]

umm when i type in the essay, it counts the spaces on the essay counter. are you sure about this?

maybe he/she/it doesn't have office 2007...

 

[oze]

umm when i type in the essay, it counts the spaces on the essay counter. are you sure about this?

Word gives me 2 counts, with or without spaces. Since the personal statement counted spaces, I thought UCSD did that too. Its not a big deal at all.

 

[LAman10]

wait a min.... UCSD's autobiography was 7500 characters WITHOUT spaces??? I thought all med school essays were character counts INCLUDING spaces.....

 

[oze]

wait a min.... UCSD's autobiography was 7500 characters WITHOUT spaces??? I thought all med school essays were character counts INCLUDING spaces.....

Thus my initial "BAH". It really doesnt matter though. You probably had around 7000 characters minus the spaces anyways, which is still a long essay. 7500 is the max cap, I dont think they want to read X thousands of maxed out essays.

 

[exeunt]

So any IS people with interviews?

IS. invite on 8/25, complete 8/20... interview on 9/24 😳

 

[dermda]

Originally Posted by oze
BAH! I thought I was at 7500 characters, but its 7500 character EXCLUDING spaces. Oh well, they'll just have to live with my "short" 7000 character essay.

Are you sure that the prompt is 7500 characters without spaces? I remember when I tried to save it, the website would not save let me save anything beyond 7500 characters (spaces included)

 

[LAman10]

Originally Posted by oze
BAH! I thought I was at 7500 characters, but its 7500 character EXCLUDING spaces. Oh well, they'll just have to live with my "short" 7000 character essay.

Are you sure that the prompt is 7500 characters without spaces? I remember when I tried to save it, the website would not save let me save anything beyond 7500 characters (spaces included)

yeah and I was looking at two of my friends' autobios from last year (when the char limit was 10,000). Their essays ended up being something like 9950 and 9983 w/ spaces included.... so I'm assuming the character count included spaces last year. It would seem kinda pointless for UCSD to change it to 7500 characters and then exclude spaces, as this would probably amount to roughly 10,000 characters including spaces anyway. make sense? haha

 

[itsalovestory]

yeah and I was looking at two of my friends' autobios from last year (when the char limit was 10,000). Their essays ended up being something like 9950 and 9983 w/ spaces included.... so I'm assuming the character count included spaces last year. It would seem kinda pointless for UCSD to change it to 7500 characters and then exclude spaces, as this would probably amount to roughly 10,000 characters including spaces anyway. make sense? haha

Maybe it's a psychological thing... they think you're more likely to fill out the secondary should you think it's shorter.

 

[180910]

Originally Posted by oze
BAH! I thought I was at 7500 characters, but its 7500 character EXCLUDING spaces. Oh well, they'll just have to live with my "short" 7000 character essay.

Are you sure that the prompt is 7500 characters without spaces? I remember when I tried to save it, the website would not save let me save anything beyond 7500 characters (spaces included)

Can someone confirm if the 7500 is excluding or including spaces?

 

[themoomoo]

does anyone know wht % of interviewees get accepted? thanks

 

[dermda]

from the msar it's 19.8% (quite lower than UCSF's 33.2%)

 

[itsalovestory]

from the msar it's 19.8% (quite lower than UCSF's 33.2%)

I've heard from multiple sources that UCSF tells you on interview day that your chances once you leave there are greater than 50%...

EDIT: Oops, wrong word typed.

 

[bobsmith]

Can someone confirm if the 7500 is excluding or including spaces?

It's with spaces.

If you go to the text box and type in a few spaces, the character count goes up.

 

[dermda]

I've heard from multiple choices that UCSF tells you on interview day that your chances once you leave there are greater than 50%...

wow that's soo nice !!

 

[CalBear2009]

does anyone know wht % of interviewees get accepted? thanks

from the msar it's 19.8% (quite lower than UCSF's 33.2%)

I think this data is based on martriculation, and not post interview acceptance. It looks like its around 50%. I have the US News reports (2007 data):
Interviewed: 568
Accepted: 304

Though I am pretty sure this includes the 40-80 that get an accecptance out of the "acceptable pool" None the less chances are high.

 

[bobsmith]

From the UCSD website:

47% of applicants receiving interviews offered admission

 

[chickensandwich]

hey guys,

for question 6,
In addition to the activities listed in Section 5, please list any additional activities you would like us to know about.

These would include fellowships, grants, publications, published abstracts and/or formal presentations at scientific meetings or symposia (list all authors).

did you guys talk about activities that didn't fit in section 5 or do they only want us to focus on fellowships, grants, pubs and abstracts (which means I would leave it blank)?

 

[CupcakeMD]

hey guys,

for question 6,
In addition to the activities listed in Section 5, please list any additional activities you would like us to know about.

These would include fellowships, grants, publications, published abstracts and/or formal presentations at scientific meetings or symposia (list all authors).

did you guys talk about activities that didn't fit in section 5 or do they only want us to focus on fellowships, grants, pubs and abstracts (which means I would leave it blank)?

I just talked about my grants and publications. *shrug* Anyone else?

 

[dermda]

i talked about all my meaningful activities from AMCAS

 

[itsalovestory]

I talked about everything that I didn't get to cover in my significant activities, and updated on some additional happenings since the submission of my AMCAS.

 

[WhatsUppDoc]

Ahh. Okay so UCSD received my verified AMCAS on July 27. Haven't heard anything from them since then. Should I contact them?

 

[oze]

Ahh. Okay so UCSD received my verified AMCAS on July 27. Haven't heard anything from them since then. Should I contact them?

yeah thats a bit weird, I was verified around that time and at least got an email acknowledging they had received it a few days later.

 

[WhatsUppDoc]

yeah thats a bit weird, I was verified around that time and at least got an email acknowledging they had received it a few days later.

Oh sorry, Yeah i did receive an email from them. I meant that I have not heard anything about a secondary from them yet.

 

[Contrarian]

Oh sorry, Yeah i did receive an email from them. I meant that I have not heard anything about a secondary from them yet.

Give it some time, as long as you haven't been rejected, you're still in the running.

 

[confusedchild]

hey guys,

for question 6,
In addition to the activities listed in Section 5, please list any additional activities you would like us to know about.

These would include fellowships, grants, publications, published abstracts and/or formal presentations at scientific meetings or symposia (list all authors).

did you guys talk about activities that didn't fit in section 5 or do they only want us to focus on fellowships, grants, pubs and abstracts (which means I would leave it blank)?

I actually left both of those questions blank because I didn't have anything to add, and I got an interview. I'm IS.

 

[180910]

PRIME sounds like an interesting opportunity. How does the admission committee assess your application if you decide to apply for PRIME?

 

[copper coins]

Does expressing interest in PRIME have a potentially negative effect on an applicants chance of admission? If you apply to PRIME, are you pitted against the other PRIME applicants and if you don't get accepted into PRIME, do you not get accepted to the MD program as well? Or is there a possibility that you can still be accepted at UCSD for the MD program if you are turned down for PRIME? I am interested in PRIME, but I don't want to hurt my chances. Any ideas? Thanks.

Hey Fellow Bruin! (WOOT WOOT WOOT! hahaha) This should help: http://meded.ucsd.edu/ugme/prime-heq/faq/

My answer would be no, it would not adversely affect your chances of matriculating into UCSD.