2012-2013 University of California - Davis Application Thread

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Is there a character limit for

B. Experiences

?

thanks
 
On the experiences:
They have not changed this repetition of the experiences from AMCAS section since last year and in the previous years thread it was said:

Originally Posted by smoodle
And by the way, I just called admissions and they said that the experiences section is up for interpretation. It was intentional that they put them in there with the new AMCAS formatting. So I am not sure if it would be best to try and add new experiences. What are you all going to do for it?
 
what do you guys think about adding a new experience as one that is most meaningful instead of writing about one of the activities i marked as most meaningful in AMCAS? i feel like i directly answered the question about how this has prepared me for a career in medicine in my AMCAS response, so it would be repetitive...
 
These 500 Character essay prompts are killing me.

I feel like I can't get a good presentation without more space.


Any tips?


Are they looking for straight up, to the point, concise responses that include many things?

Or are they looking for a big elaboration of one thing?




ARRRRRGGGHHHH im over thinkingthis :scared:
 
maxx52188 said:
These 500 Character essay prompts are killing me.

I feel like I can't get a good presentation without more space.


Any tips?


Are they looking for straight up, to the point, concise responses that include many things?

Or are they looking for a big elaboration of one thing?




ARRRRRGGGHHHH im over thinkingthis :scared:
Click to expand...

chill
 
Called UC Davis today and they told me that you can use AP credit if it's a continuing thing. So if you had AP Calc credit & continued the series but couldn't finish the series because you ran out of classes to take, it'll count as credit. For the lower div bio, turns out that upper div bio and lab will work.
 
endowed said:
chill
Click to expand...


That I already know that I need to do...

Im just torn because, with this little space, you can barely reflect and justify one topic to answer the prompt. If I try to put several things in there, my essay turns into a list of things about me without any room to say why I think this experience makes me a good fit for davis or why this one does.
 
hurlygrly07 said:
I agree!! Does anyone have any advice about this? its literally verbatim from the primary!
Click to expand...

I used this as an opportunity to talk about a more recent experience that I started in June after I submitted my AMCAS app. Does anyone have any thoughts regarding if a part time (20 hr) position for the past month is enough time to have under the belt when you talk about the experience?
 
Tatertots said:
You have to go to the medical school section, click "edit" and follow the instructions to assign it to the schools. You might have already done this when adding schools though. As long as on the medical school page it lists the letters under each school, you should be fine.
Click to expand...

After you assign the LORs to schools, do you need to re-certify and re-submit the AMCAS app ?
 
kryptonian said:
After you assign the LORs to schools, do you need to re-certify and re-submit the AMCAS app ?
Click to expand...

Yes. It states it in bold letters as soon as you finish selecting what LORs to send to the school.
 
adenosine3phosp said:
2 Questions:

1. I took OChem and Bio lecture and lab prerequisites separately, and of course received 2 separate grades. In the course prerequisite fields on the secondary, they only have a combined Lecture/Lab category. Which grade to I enter? Do I average the grades based on their units? or...?

2. Do we only enter the minimum courses to fulfill the requirements, or pick and choose from the courses we took that would fulfill them? For example, could I choose to list the course that I received the best grade from?

Thanks in advance 🙂
Click to expand...

1. I'm going to input my ochem and bio lecture and lab prereqs separately, but all under the OChem w/ lab or Bio w/ lab headers. The admissions office will get the idea (they know that not all schools offer courses with lecture and lab included)

2. I don't think it really matters. They will have your actual transcript in front of them, so they'll see all your grades anyway. I think they are just using this as a way to make sure you've done the prereqs so they don't have to waste time with certain applicants who haven't even done that.
 
Could someone confirm this?
So we put the whether the class is Semester or Quarter, but for the number of units earned we put the number of quarter units?
 
So, they said that they'll accept AP credit if we're continuing a series.

But does anyone know if we have to input the AP credit as one of the prereq's or do we just put what we have for that area and they'll automatically assume the AP from our AMCAS application?
 
I dont normally write not applicable on med school secondaries, but when I do, its on 9 of 12 questions.

Im the most interesting pre-med in the world.
 
Does anyone know what we can do if we are planning on taking a prereq next year?
 
do you guys think i could talk about my family experiences (doctors in the fam, going to hospital to see fam members who were sick, etc.) as an experience that led me to a career in medicine? since it was pretty influential...
 
I accidentally sent my questions directly to the admission office and they got back to me within an hour. I guess not following directions pays off. 🙂
 
I am debating whether or not to write something down for the Rural-PRIME program--I'm still on the fence about it. Sounds like a noble thing to do and I am interested in pursuing an MPH as well.

I was wondering if anyone who is in the PRIME program can post a testimonial/experience/advice for whether this is something that is worth while.

Thanks!
 
ACal said:
Could someone confirm this?
So we put the whether the class is Semester or Quarter, but for the number of units earned we put the number of quarter units?
Click to expand...

I called the admissions office today--they said you should enter it as it appears on your transcript. So don't convert semester units to quarter units (the conversion formula provided in the instructions is so you can verify that you meet their unit requirements for the pre-reqs).
 
cfive22 said:
Called UC Davis today and they told me that you can use AP credit if it's a continuing thing. So if you had AP Calc credit & continued the series but couldn't finish the series because you ran out of classes to take, it'll count as credit. For the lower div bio, turns out that upper div bio and lab will work.
Click to expand...

What the heck does it mean to "continue a series"? So if I have AP Chemistry credit and I took a General Chemistry lower div course, does the both of them together fulfill Davis' Gen Chem requirement?
 
How many days post amcas verification does it take to receive a secondary ?
 
hey guys, just a quick question...Would it be lame to write about motherhood as one of my experiences? I'm a non-trad and being a mom has seriously changed the way I think about medical school and medicine as a profession, but I have no references, verification, and how do you put total cumulative hours on something you do 24/7? Having trouble deciding what I should choose as my last "experience"...

any thoughts would be appreciated...
 
psychmdhopeful said:
Bumping my previous question about using the message center for asking questions. I just saw that the FAQ said we should email them directly - does anyone know if using that center to ask secondary related questions is okay? I don't want to flood them with the same questions by calling admissions/emailing the address they gave us. Thanks!
Click to expand...


I had a question about pre-reqs, called the admissions office number I found online and just left a message. They called me back the next day.
 
rierphfft said:
hey guys, just a quick question...Would it be lame to write about motherhood as one of my experiences? I'm a non-trad and being a mom has seriously changed the way I think about medical school and medicine as a profession, but I have no references, verification, and how do you put total cumulative hours on something you do 24/7? Having trouble deciding what I should choose as my last "experience"...

any thoughts would be appreciated...
Click to expand...

I feel like the personal statement would have been a better place for this.
 
OchemNerd said:
I feel like the personal statement would have been a better place for this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks for the input. I'm going to go with a shadowing experience I had instead. I feel like this secondary is too short to really explain anything tho. It's kind of frustrating...
 
"Indicate any evidence of accomplishment or supporting documentation"

Is this required? What if we don't have anything? What kind of things did you guys put?
 
babby's first interview invite.

terrible selection on dates to schedule..1 day in next two months lol
 
For any applicants who did undergraduate at UC San Diego, I was just in contact with Davis' Admission Office and they said that if you're from UCSD, you can fulfill their lab requirements with:

2 quarters of upp div bio lab
1 quarter of Gen Chem lab (CHEM 7L)
1 quarter of O Chem lab (143A or a PCHEM lab)

Just spreading the word because I know it's a bit confusing, and a lot of schools aren't aware of how UCSD does it's undergrad basic sciences.
 
3. Based upon your personal life experiences, what do you foresee as challenges in medical school and in your future career?

For this question, are they asking what types of challenges will be expected from me personally? (i.e., stress, time management, and etc?) Would this be in a way asking your weaknesses?
 
ACal said:
Why does my secondary say 500 characters?
Click to expand...

You get 500 characters for the essays, but if you click on the experiences section, you should be allowed 750.
 
Got placed on the "interview waitlist." They said some people on this list are offered interviews in January but I have no idea what it really means.
 
Tatertots said:
Got placed on the "interview waitlist." They said some people on this list are offered interviews in January but I have no idea what it really means.
Click to expand...

When did you get the email? It's probably because your stats are so high. I wouldn't worry because I know you'll be getting in somewhere.
 
When is the earliest dates they're offering for interviews? I received my secondary, but still in the process of writing...
 
Tatertots said:
Got placed on the "interview waitlist." They said some people on this list are offered interviews in January but I have no idea what it really means.
Click to expand...

no worries man. I wasn't even put on the interview waitlist until february. I got an invite later in february
 
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