I was complete 8/12 here, but haven't heard back...have I been passed up?
2010-2011 University of California - San Francisco Application Thread
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Bummer. I still think it's better to have tried, rather than always wonder if you should have.
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In response to your question, Dianyla, my rejection was also snail mail dated 28 Oct. Hey, he called yours impressive too?? I thought I was special... Only special enough to get rejected twice, I suppose 🙂 But I did notice it was signed in actual pen!
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haha. the fact that he signed it in pen gives me a tiny bit of hope that he actually took my letter seriously
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I believe karayraisu might have appealed successfully, s/he's just not being nearly as noisy about it as I am. 🙄
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Haha don't worry, I got the dreaded Oct 28 letter in the mail too. However, I'm quite certain mine is not signed in pen, but rather it's just a signature image. Are you certain that ya'lls are signed in pen? If so, I'm feeling rather sad about it, hahaha =p
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Wow, you too? 🙁
Mind you, I'm soooo not complaining about my appeal being successful at least to clear the secondary hurdle. I just feel gratefully baffled and I think maybe I'm having some kind of survivor's guilt. 😳
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Woho just got the secondary!
I'm not sure what to include when it asks to update activities though. Did you guys talk about additional courses you're taking? I don't think I have anything to add other than that.
I'm not sure what to include when it asks to update activities though. Did you guys talk about additional courses you're taking? I don't think I have anything to add other than that.
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miniacmath when was your amcas verified
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Verified around 9/15. 3.90cGPA, 3.89sGPA, 37M mcat, OOS. I decided to go ahead and talk about the types of classes I was taking and that I'm continuing with my EC's. Couldn't hurt right?
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For anyone who has received an interview invitation, roughly how long did it take after you submitted your secondary? Is waiting >8 weeks a silent rejection?
My secondary was complete 8/12. Just checked online and got the rejection pdf today. It was dated 11/5... So yeah, guess they don't send an email notification if you get rejected. This is still much better than schools that don't tell you anything till end of the application cycle in my opinion. Thanks UCSF for entertaining me as an OOS applicant.
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Awww, thank you!
Yep, that's what I'm doing on my secondary, just mentioning that I'm still continuing activities X, Y, and Z. I don't want them to think I just abandoned all volunteering/clinical activities after hitting the submit button!
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After spending the last week and a half in glitch-land, I decided to call the Admissions Office again today to gently enquire about the progress of fixing that bug in the online system so I can finish and submit my secondary. It was supposed to take about a week when I last checked.
A woman answers (not saying her name) and I launch into my anxious run-on introductory spiel "Oh, um, hi, I'm calling to check on my application because I got rejected but then I appealed and then you sent me a secondary invite but then this computer glitch happened and now I can't submit my seconda-" and she interrupts me to ask "Is this Diane <mylastname>?" Oh, dear. 😳
It was then that I suddenly recognized the voice as the same person I spoke with Friday before last. It was late in the day - perhaps the administrative support staff had gone home already? - and the Director of Admissions herself had picked up the phone. 😱
I'm trying to not read too much into it (aside from a) they have caller ID and b) I might be calling them a leetle too often) but I'm kinda feeling like 😳 and 😀 and 😍 and
right now.
It's just nice to know that I'm not completely anonymous or unknown to them. Best computer glitch ever!
A woman answers (not saying her name) and I launch into my anxious run-on introductory spiel "Oh, um, hi, I'm calling to check on my application because I got rejected but then I appealed and then you sent me a secondary invite but then this computer glitch happened and now I can't submit my seconda-" and she interrupts me to ask "Is this Diane <mylastname>?" Oh, dear. 😳
It was then that I suddenly recognized the voice as the same person I spoke with Friday before last. It was late in the day - perhaps the administrative support staff had gone home already? - and the Director of Admissions herself had picked up the phone. 😱
I'm trying to not read too much into it (aside from a) they have caller ID and b) I might be calling them a leetle too often) but I'm kinda feeling like 😳 and 😀 and 😍 and
right now. It's just nice to know that I'm not completely anonymous or unknown to them. Best computer glitch ever!
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Got the rejection today (and I know it was today because i've checked pretty much daily for the last week or so in anticipation of a rejection), pre-secondary. complete email Aug 24.
I've actually corresponded with the dean of admissions a few times, looking for ways to make my application more competitive. So I already dashed off an email appealing, saying how connected I am to the area (lived there for 5 years immediately after undergrad, wife had lived there for ~15 years when i met her, we both want to return as soon as humanly possible), how much i want to go to the school, and that i think if i were given an opportunity to complete a secondary and submit my letters of rec, that i think i would look like a more competitive candidate than i do without them.
here's to hoping.
I've actually corresponded with the dean of admissions a few times, looking for ways to make my application more competitive. So I already dashed off an email appealing, saying how connected I am to the area (lived there for 5 years immediately after undergrad, wife had lived there for ~15 years when i met her, we both want to return as soon as humanly possible), how much i want to go to the school, and that i think if i were given an opportunity to complete a secondary and submit my letters of rec, that i think i would look like a more competitive candidate than i do without them.
here's to hoping.
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That was one of the things I emphasized in my appeal as well, asking for the opportunity to send them my letters. My biggest weaknesses as an applicant are all upfront in the primary.
Good luck on the appeal. Hell, you've got nothing to lose at this point. 👍
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To all of you still going throw this process, I wish you the best of luck. I just interviewed a few days ago and I had a terrible experience.🙁🙁 I'm pretty bummed seeing as this has been my dream school for as long as medicine has been a passion of mine. Anyways, I hope your interviews go more smoothly than mine did. From what I understand, I was the exception to the rule that the interviews are relaxed conversations. 👎 Mine felt like I was up on the witness chair testifying at a trial...totally grilled me! 😡
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I have heard many people have the same experience at UCSF, chin up. My friend two years ago left interview in tears but got in, still have some hope~
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Yikes!
I have read reports of some interviewers there leaning in the more lambasting/grilling direction. I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing, although I agree it isn't always pleasant.
Exactly! How you feel it went vs. how it actually did go are often different. An important detail is that UCSF doesn't weight the interview as heavily as other schools. I'm interviewing at my home school next week and the interview+ECs+essays are worth 80% of one's rating to the adcom. That's not the case with UCSF. Dean Wofsy was a guest speaker on one of those Radio Rounds programs recently (Episode 407) and he explained very clearly why they conduct blind interviews and how that's just another data point alongside your other academics and letters.
Keep the faith, man!
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Thanks. I mean, I have been trying to get some traction at Pitt for just as long as I have with UCSF, and I got an interview there this cycle that I feel good about (knock wood.) I'd be selling myself short if I didnt take up every option to try and get in to the places I want to.
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Thanks to both of you! Ya, i know that the experience isn't necessarily indicative of the decision. I think it just bothered me that many of the questions were illegal (questions regarding religious preference, and even going so far as to disagree with my religion), and also seeing as this is my top choice, I wanted a better experience there.
But i'm still hopeful, and we'll see what happens.
Thanks again!
I had the same experience interviewing at UCSF (also my dream school) and left sf in tears (luckily no tears were shed during the interview). It was especially frustrating to hear from fellow applicants about how relaxed their interviews were. My interviewer disagreed with everything I said, even going straight out to bluntly tell me that he didn't like my answer, or he didn't like when "students would think in that way." I have had mostly good interviews this season (or at least sufficient interviews that allowed me to get 6 acceptances so far), but it seemed unfair that the dream school interview is the one that crashed and burned. We should both hold on to the hope that it was simply the interviewer's style, and that admissions would be forgiving of 1 bad interview.....good luck to you! I cross my fingers for good results for us both!
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This. I would imagine that the AdCom knows each interviewer's style and considers the source when evaluating how a particular interviewer rated you. Whether that's to mentally dock a few "points" because one interviewer always gives their interviewees glowing recommendations, or to mentally add a few because they know you got the hardass interviewer who loves to turn up the heat and grill people.
My perspective on this is certainly biased because of how I operate as an interviewer at work. I tend to conduct fairly difficult interviews, turning on the pressure and pushing the interviewee to the edge. It's not because I enjoy dangling them over the edge, but rather because I want to know where those edges are and how they react under stress. I've found this to be much more revealing than a nice pleasant chitchat interview.
If anything, the pleasant chitchat interviews frighten me more, because the only time I conduct such an interview is when I can tell right away that the person I'm interviewing isn't a fit. If they've already folded under the first few gentle probing questions, there's no need to torture them with more. I'm not a sadist! So I just have a pleasant conversation and when they walk out the door my boss and I look at eachother and go "Next!"
Again, I don't know how much of this is transferable to medical school interviews because I'm grilling people on technical questions that they should know the answers to based on their resume experiences. Medical school interviews are much more of a "personal worthiness interview" and so it feels like much more of a personal attack when you're being grilled (and therefore judged) on your character and philosophy.
I'm really sorry to hear this. I'm actually posting for the first time after seeing this, just because it bothered me so much... and I aapologize for the length of the post.
You probably have a better idea of the legality of commenting on someone's religion than I do. Beyond that issue, however, the question seems completely inappropriate and doesn't seem to add to the interviewer's assessment of your candidacy.
It's a tricky world we're entering. A couple of years back, the head of a CA medical school bioethics department told me about a rise in the number of students coming to him to talk about how they should deal with inappropriate or even abusive treatment from well-respected doctors in the school. These docs can have a significant impact on our career, and it may feel like we have to sit there and take it.
If you really feel that your interviewer acted innappropriately or even illegally though (and I don't just mean he grilled you really hard), you might think about how you could address this with the school in a polite and professional manner as this could affect any student who has this interviewer. Perhaps addressing the issue after the adcom's decision would feel right? Really crossing my fingers that the decision will be an acceptance for you!
And finally, keep in mind that this little rant is coming from a fellow applicant, interviewing soon with the JMP. If you have anyone who you view as a mentor in medicine that you could talk to about what to do, I would encourage doing so as they will have much better advice than I. And ultimately, the best thing to do may be nothing. These are just my thoughts.
Best of luck!
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This is a tough one. If the questions were truly illegal, I think it is important to raise the issue. Otherwise, how will they ever know that they have a problem interviewer? Their stated appeals policy is that once you've received final review post-interview, you can no longer appeal. And yet, raising the issue pre-decision might endanger your application if you aren't very careful.
I found myself in that situation, I think I would send in some kind of update letter to be added to my file. In it, I would describe that I felt my interview performance was not as good as it could have been because I was thrown off by some difficult questions about topics x, y, and z. Then, focus on the positive and put in a few good words on my own behalf. I would not go so far as to directly accuse and say "So & so asked me illegal questions about topics x, y, and z, how dare they!" In fact, it would be very dangerous to make any kind of statement about the appropriateness of the questions. If you describe enough of the details about the questions, it will be apparent to them that this shouldn't have been asked.
This way, you're not offending them and you won't come off like you're trying to use this as a way to leverage an acceptance. If the questions are truly inappropriate, they will most likely be offended on your behalf and this will spur them to investigate more. Let the AdCom determine the appropriateness/legality themselves. If they think that those questions/topics were just fine, then you haven't made a fool of yourself but you have hopefully put in a few more good words on your own behalf to help qualify the possibly low interview rating when your application is reviewed.
I was trying to keep my post short (failed!), so I left out a lot of the "how." I very much like this idea, however. Ultimately, it's up to the applicant to figure this out, but I think this does a great job of avoiding hurting your chances while also addressing the issue. Awesome advice, Dianyla.
Best of luck.
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Ha...i totally feel ya. Good luck to you too!
Ya, makes sense...the only problem i see with this regarding my experience is that my interviewer was an executive member, meaning he gets a say at the final pass/cut decision before the dean signs off.
Thanks, I think I'll do that. I have a couple people I can ask. Good luck with JMP, I live relatively close to SF. If you need a place to stay, PM me.
Yes, the questions were definitely illegal, (PM me for specifics if you want) but when he asked those questions, he was NOT taking notes. He was pretty much forming an impression of me, which I'm sure will go into forming his decision, but there is no written proof of the questions he asked. I'll talk to some doctors for advice, and decide whether or not to write the letter/update. Thanks for your advice.
Thanks to all of you...Good luck!
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6 weeks exactly. But I wouldn't worry if I were u...even if it goes into 12 or 13 weeks, just let it play out. The whole process isn't as organized as we'd like to think. Good luck though.
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I've been complete for 10 weeks and no news yet... you're not alone.
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+1. 13 weeks for me and no rejection/invite still.
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For those of you who are "complete," did you actually call to find out whether or not they received your LORs or are you just assuming they got the letters?
The status page will only reflect whether your secondary is submitted. You can call to check if everything is there.
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Right, I'm currently at that status. What I was trying to ask is how many of you actually made the phone call to make sure everything is there?
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My status went from "Secondary submitted" (which was back in mid-Sept) to "AMCAS Data received" just today...is this the completion status? or is something up?
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I was under the impression that no such status update existed.
My status reads "Secondary Submitted" and the message says "The next update you should expect is notification about whether you have been selected to interview with UCSF."
Guess I was wrong, thanks for sharing that. Looks like a completion status to me.
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This happened to me too. My status used to say "secondary submitted" but now it has changed to amcas data received.
Seems like something is up because in the paragraph describing the status it says "We expect you will hear from the committee any time between now and about twelve weeks from now. Invitations to submit a secondary application will be sent after this review is completed."....But I submitted my secondary months ago ........😱
Seems like something is up because in the paragraph describing the status it says "We expect you will hear from the committee any time between now and about twelve weeks from now. Invitations to submit a secondary application will be sent after this review is completed."....But I submitted my secondary months ago ........😱
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I think something is up with the system. Some time back, people were having trouble with portal after their appeals were sent...Give it a day and see what happens. I know UCI's status page was down for most of today 😕
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They finally fixed the bug that was breaking my app, and I was able to submit my secondary, so that's finally done.
Call and check. They were just doing stuff in the computer system between yesterday and today. Maybe something happened to your account with the latest change?
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Just checked again and status is back to "secondary submitted" 🙂
Also congrats Dianyla for finally submitting your secondary!!
Also congrats Dianyla for finally submitting your secondary!!
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Oh, whew. I was worried that fixing it for me broke it for all of you! 😳
Thanks! I'm greatly relieved to finally have that in and done. Now back to the waiting!
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rejected end of october, sent in an appeal a few days later, status/computer glitch finally updated yesterday or today to say that appeal was received.
"We have received your request for an appeal. Please allow our office up to four weeks to review your request. Thank you."
"We have received your request for an appeal. Please allow our office up to four weeks to review your request. Thank you."
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interview invite on 11/15!
would it be significantly advantageous to be interviewed in early december (12/9) vs. early january (12/4)? if i interview in december, it'll be my very first one...by january, i'll have a few under my belt for practice.
any advice?
would it be significantly advantageous to be interviewed in early december (12/9) vs. early january (12/4)? if i interview in december, it'll be my very first one...by january, i'll have a few under my belt for practice.
any advice?
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