Hey, just a basic question. How has your experience been so far? Do you like UCR?
Does your application fee say $70 instead of $80 in the actual portal? I mean, I wouldn't mind saving $10. One extra Chipotle burrito...
Yep, it's showing $70 here, too.
The questions are identical to last year's (second post in this thread).
Awesome! Thanks so much.
Sorry about the late reply! Time has been flying and I have been doing the summer externship. My experience has been amazing at UCR. With the small class size, you really cant put a price on knowing each and every one of your classmates on a personal level. This makes working in high stress situations more effective. Also the curriculum is system based and is identical to UCLA's curriculum (we even have the same titled PBLs lol). The administration is very receptive to our feedback and works closely with us. This helps build a collaboration with them that is beneficial in the future. I had choices when I was accepted and I never regretted choosing UCR. The clinical component also has you working with patients within the first two weeks. By the end of my first year, I had learned clinical skills that many of my peers at other institutions only saw via shadowing. If you are primary care oriented, this school is fantastic for you. If you are not, this school is fantastic for you. We have launched two centers recently under UCR Health, a neurosurgery one and a plastic surgery one, so specialities are abundant. I personally want to specialize, possibly sub-specialize and I feel UCR is preparing me very well for it. The idea of training medical students with a foundation in primary care is brilliant because having that foundation is invaluable in any speciality you pick in the future. Our faculty have been also teaching pre-clinical classes for over 30+ years thanks to the Haider program with UCR/UCLA, so its a true and tested curriculum. Our USMLE scores are higher than the national average (we should know our most recent scores soon). The clinical rotations are at various hospitals throughout different regions. One thing I can say about UCR is that you work with a population that not only is in dire need of health care, but also that are excited to have the medical school in the community. I am from San Diego and I have found Riverside to be welcoming. I apologize if I was bouncing around
Spector1, I am not sure on it. I sent in a committee letter because my institution offered it. Best way to find out is either to email or call them. Tammy or Cheri are wonderful people and would be happy to help. Personally, I had 5 letters submitted but 7 written for me. This allowed my pre-medical advisor to pick the best 5 out of the 7, which is quite advantageous. Good luck
I wouldn't worry! It takes awhile to sort through the thousands of applicants. Once you get the secondary, make sure to work on it effectively and turn it in as soon as you can
For my application, I put down magna cum laude as well. I also put down my membership in national honor societies (so Alpha Epsilon Delta would count) and also mentioned academic and service awards I received from my home institution. I just looked at my secondary (2013-2014) and it has the same questions. For the honor societies section, I pretty much listed out the various honors in sentences rather than bullet points. Hope this helps!
Absolutely for poster presentation. Anything that advances your understanding in a particular field is fair game. For mine, I talked about a lab I was in during the gap year (started in the lab when I applied so when I wrote the secondary I was in there for a few months). You can also write about a senior thesis (I made a small mention of it and my friends have done this). When you gave the poster presentation, was it at a conference? If so you may have an abstract published which you can also mention
I am not sure if its automated to include a minimum GPA and MCAT or is sent out to everyone.
We definitely have students in our classes that hang around the extreme percentiles. And you are absolutely right they do place a premium on fit.
If you remotely fit their mission, I am sure they will send you a secondary.
Absolutely for poster presentation. Anything that advances your understanding in a particular field is fair game. For mine, I talked about a lab I was in during the gap year (started in the lab when I applied so when I wrote the secondary I was in there for a few months). You can also write about a senior thesis (I made a small mention of it and my friends have done this). When you gave the poster presentation, was it at a conference? If so you may have an abstract published which you can also mention
Absolutely not a death sentence. There are classmates of mine that did not graduate with honors. Honors is more than just scholastic achievement. It can be a service achievement award or maybe a clinical service award (I put those two down on the application).
I remember having this problem as well. Best to call them and ask but if I had to guess maybe it's your anticipated amount of hours. Nothing too insane like having 10,000 hours accumulated over 6 months
I remember how helpful it was to have a student answer questions when I was deciding on which school to attend to
There are quite a few students that are non traditional in the class. With a rough estimate, I would say about 15 are in late 20s with some turning 30 this year. We have a good amount with other advanced degrees and worked other careers (like teachers) before coming to medical school. In all honesty I think these types of students are our top ones. We have other students who are in their mid 30s as well. As for the class size, there are rumors, but then again it's rumors that they may expand to 65 for your entering class. But it's been neither confirmed or denied. It is an exciting time though because our first class is going through clinical rotations now so they may expand since they are in the hospital all the time.
I described an experience completely unrelated to my ECs and threw in a bit about how it led me to medicine. So I think a significant hobby could work because it seems so open-ended, but that's just my interpretation.
You could speak about what specialty you are interested in. This can also be an avenue for you to express what you see yourself doing beyond the traditional clinical realm. Some people I know used this piece to also describe how they wish to be advocates for patients beyond the clinical realm on a state or federal level. Some also describe how they plan to innovate the field whether that be by research or other means. It really is up to you. But the most important thing is to back up these claims. A huge mistake would be to say you want to become a primary care physician for underserved communities and advocate on their behalf, but only have experiences shadowing a surgeon in an affluent area. The desire doesn't match the experiences. So whatever your statement is, make sure its supported. Hope that helps!
For the honors one, you can put down, at least in my opinion, any award you received in college. I spoke about some of the honor societies I was inducted in that didn't have a strict GPA requirement (one of them was a more service oriented society and had a GPA requirement of 3.2, which is definitely not honors). For mine, not only did I list the honor and award, but I also spoke of why it was important and how it overall fit my theme of becoming a physician. I also had friends speak of receiving the most dedicated award for their clinical internship. It really depends what you define it as. Hope this helps!
For this one, I put down a hobby/sport on it. I was involved in a sport that is non traditional for the past 8 years and I spoke about its significance to my life, as well as the impact it had on my philosophy towards medicine. For example, I spoke about the discipline and patience it teaches and reinforces and how that taught me to be disciplined towards my work by having a good work ethic and how patience can be used to really understand a patient and allow you as the provider to view them with a more whole person perspective (whole person is taking non-clinical factors such as socioeconomic status, culture, urban/rural/suburban upbringing, etc.).
