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I was complete late July and still silence. I'm surprised I haven't gotten the axe if so many rejections are going out...
2017-2018 University of Southern California (Keck)
- Thread starter gyngyn
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+1 mid-July
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Same, not sure if I should take that as good news or not. Keeping my hopes low in the mean time.
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Anyone who interviewed on 10/27 hear back yet?
Annnnd got a smooth "R" from Keck today as the purge continues. Complete 9/26, OOS, URM, LM 73.
I just wanted some California Loooveee, and this was 1/2 options...still holding out though. Best of luck to the rest of you USC hopefuls.
I just wanted some California Loooveee, and this was 1/2 options...still holding out though. Best of luck to the rest of you USC hopefuls.
Sorry to hear that... when were you complete?
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Oh boy.
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Nice. You made it.
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Congrats on II, I have the same LizzyM as you, do you have anything special that stands out about your app? I'm just curious because I still havent been rejected but I have 3000+hrs of research (which apparently they like a lot from last years thread) and 515 so idk if thats helping me hold on haha
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The only unique aspect of my application is that I was an officer in the USAF. Other than that my stats are fairly average.
...however I'm also a UCLA alum so they might just be stretching out my hope only to crush it later in the cycle...
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Anyone else surviving these USC genocides wondering when their fateful day will come
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Dam how am I still in the running.
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Ur my beacon of hope
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Got the axe today finally. Good luck to those still in the game lol
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After interviews how long do they take until decisions come back? I have mine early December and I was wondering if USC will take longer to release decision due to the holiday season. I would prefer celebrating Christmas/new years without the anxiety hanging over my head!!
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Bump. Maybe we'll run into each other on interview day and not know it.
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I'm Aaron Rodgers, you can look up what I look like online!
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Same here! A USC acceptance would be a great christmas present.
Also, does USC do any kind of pre-interview events the night before?
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I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post....
But, is anyone else here who is accepted to Keck torn between Keck USC and UCI? Let me know or dm if in the same boat. Don't wanna totally hijack the thread, but I would love to hear from anyone who has an opinion on the two schools. FYI uci would be in-state for me.
But, is anyone else here who is accepted to Keck torn between Keck USC and UCI? Let me know or dm if in the same boat. Don't wanna totally hijack the thread, but I would love to hear from anyone who has an opinion on the two schools. FYI uci would be in-state for me.
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I would say Keck opens more doors, unless the price tag scares you away. both are good schools
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I recently interviewed at UCI and during the pre interview dinner an MS2I talked to had a similar dilemma. You can pm me if you'd like. I can also check my packet to see if she's listed on there and I could ask her more about it or put you in touch.
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Thank you! About 71, ORM, CA res
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Thank you! Will pm!
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I was accepted to both but am leaning towards USC -- mostly because I wasn't a fan of how the second year at UCI is H/P/F...
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H/P/F irked me at first, but somebody showed me this PDF, which I thought was really interesting.
It is a 2014 survey of Residency Program Directors, where they ranked, in order, the importance of 33 different factors in choosing residents. The category, "Honors in Basic Sciences" scored 29/33 in terms of importance.
The feeling I've gotten when asking at interviews about first/second year grading is that since each school has their own system of grading, as long as you haven't failed or retaken anything, those grades don't mean much. Like, they aren't gonna punish a kid for getting all "pass" and no "honors", when a large chunk of schools will only give out "pass" or "fail".
Pre-clinical "honors" grades may not be totally meaningless, but the bottom line is, at least according to this survey...... if you do well on your STEP, have solid letters of rec, and get "honors" grades in your clinical/clerkship M3/M4 years, you will be more than fine in even the most competitive specialties.
I attached the PDF, scroll down to page 6
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Hey man, I can't seem to find anything on the portal but do you know if Keck covers anything in terms of travel of lodging for second look?
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From what I know Vanderbilt and Case pays for lodging. I don’t think it’s a common practice though.
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Oh wow. Didn't know that.
I've checked on the threads from previous application cycles and didn't see anything of the sort...
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So for my year, the second look wasn’t really a second look... it’s more just hanging out at a winery with fellow prospective student and some current students and faculty. And Keck won’t pay for your travel and lodging to attend either (I really haven’t heard of anything like that actually until you mentioned it). It’s possible that they might send out a list of student hosts for it, but I don’t remember that happening for my year.
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Thanks for helping out! I couldn't find information online for these questions but:
1. What are the clinical experiences you get Year 1 and Year 2?
2. Has the large class size of 180 students been an issue, nonissue, or benefit?
3. What is the student culture like? Collaborative or everyone keeps to themselves? Do friends go knocking each other's doors to study together often?
4. How does everyone do the required scholarly project under a faculty mentor if there are so many people?
5. How many weeks do you get to study for Step 1 and are your preclinical block exams based on Step 1 questions?
Thanks again!
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1. So starting from the 3rd week of school during your first year, you will go to Keck Medical Center or LA County to start your clinical training, and this goes on until 2nd year. You'll practice doing a patient interview, taking vitals and doing the different physical exams on the patients. I think it's pretty cool to actually get into the hospital right away because by the time I get to 3rd year, I think I'll be really comfortable talking to patients, and asking the patients the right questions to see what exactly is going on. There are also standardized patients workshops every now and then. To add to that, a lot of the student interest groups set-up a lot of different shadowing opportunities. Some are super hands on too. For example, in the emergency med shadowing, some of my friends actually learned how to suture and sewed up patients, and then for anesthesiology, you can learn how to insert IV lines on real patients.
2. Personally, the 180 class size didn't bother me too much. Each person is assigned a desk at one room that fits 24 people (MDLs), and within that, you're further divided into groups of 6 which are the people you will be going into the hospital with. So the school definitely tries to put you in different situations where you can build friendships. I'm pretty lucky coz I was able to click with a bunch of people relatively quickly, but with such a big group of people, I can see how it might take a bit of searching to find your own circle of friends especially if you're not really clicking with the people in your MDL.
3. I would say that generally, everyone's been really helpful and collaborative. Everyone's sharing their notes and practice problems and worksheets and any resources that they can find on the class facebook group. Don't get me wrong, I think there's still some competition between certain groups of people, but everyone is still willing to help out whoever is struggling with something. I definitely see a lot of group study sessions going on all the time so there's collaboration going on.
4. Keck is a HUGE school with a lot of well-funded faculty members. Also, although every student needs to do an RSP, people aren't all going to be doing it at the same time. Some will probably do most of it during the summer, others will be doing it during the school year. Others will try to go super in-depth with their projects and spend a ton of time working, while others will just do the bare minimum to satisfy the requirement. Also, if your project involves data mining or chart reviews, it won't be surprising to have multiple students working for the same PI, but doing a different analysis of the data. There's definitely space for everyone. The bigger issue I think is deciding which project to choose!
5. I believe there's a 4 or 5 week block in between 2nd and 3rd year that's dedicated for step 1. I know some people will really only use up 2 weeks of that for Step then just take the rest of the weeks off and go on a vacation or something. And yes! Our pre-clinical block exams are written Step 1 style. Professors also like to emphasize certain things in their lectures that would always show up in Step 1 so you get an idea of what to look out for.
EDIT: Just to add to this, I was told that the either the mean or median Step 1 score of last year's class was 238. Take what you want from that number, but at the very least, if you're in Keck, you'll probably do well on Step 1 (either you're really smart, you're a good test taker, years 1 and 2 are taught very well or Keck provides a lot of resources to help you succeed in Step 1).
2. Personally, the 180 class size didn't bother me too much. Each person is assigned a desk at one room that fits 24 people (MDLs), and within that, you're further divided into groups of 6 which are the people you will be going into the hospital with. So the school definitely tries to put you in different situations where you can build friendships. I'm pretty lucky coz I was able to click with a bunch of people relatively quickly, but with such a big group of people, I can see how it might take a bit of searching to find your own circle of friends especially if you're not really clicking with the people in your MDL.
3. I would say that generally, everyone's been really helpful and collaborative. Everyone's sharing their notes and practice problems and worksheets and any resources that they can find on the class facebook group. Don't get me wrong, I think there's still some competition between certain groups of people, but everyone is still willing to help out whoever is struggling with something. I definitely see a lot of group study sessions going on all the time so there's collaboration going on.
4. Keck is a HUGE school with a lot of well-funded faculty members. Also, although every student needs to do an RSP, people aren't all going to be doing it at the same time. Some will probably do most of it during the summer, others will be doing it during the school year. Others will try to go super in-depth with their projects and spend a ton of time working, while others will just do the bare minimum to satisfy the requirement. Also, if your project involves data mining or chart reviews, it won't be surprising to have multiple students working for the same PI, but doing a different analysis of the data. There's definitely space for everyone. The bigger issue I think is deciding which project to choose!
5. I believe there's a 4 or 5 week block in between 2nd and 3rd year that's dedicated for step 1. I know some people will really only use up 2 weeks of that for Step then just take the rest of the weeks off and go on a vacation or something. And yes! Our pre-clinical block exams are written Step 1 style. Professors also like to emphasize certain things in their lectures that would always show up in Step 1 so you get an idea of what to look out for.
EDIT: Just to add to this, I was told that the either the mean or median Step 1 score of last year's class was 238. Take what you want from that number, but at the very least, if you're in Keck, you'll probably do well on Step 1 (either you're really smart, you're a good test taker, years 1 and 2 are taught very well or Keck provides a lot of resources to help you succeed in Step 1).
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Thank you for such detailed answers
I loved hearing about the early clinical experience, step 1 prep, and student life there! Couldn't be more excited to visit soon.- Joined
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@Gibbward thanks for answering questions! A few of mine...
1) I know you aren't a 3rd year yet, but do you all of your rotations at LAC or Keck? Do you know if you are able to get your feet wet with some electives (opthalmology, ent, etc...) during your 3rd year before residency apps go out, or are you stuck with only required rotations until M4?
2) I see the curriculum for M1/M2 online, but what is the teaching style? Is keck still pretty standard with recorded lectures, or do they do the "flipped classroom" type stuff that some of the schools are switching too? How many hours of Lecture + Group-work in a typical week?
3) Where do most of the M1/M2s vesus M3/M4s live? On campus or off campus? And how is the area around the health science campus, in general?
4) With all the stuff going on with the Deans, how has the administration responded, and how has communication been with the medical students about the issue? Do you feel like they have been good with addressing the situation to the current medical students? I understand that whoever the dean is, it likely has close to zero impact on the quality of medical education, but I am interested to see how Admin, Faculty, and Students responded to the issues, and whether or not that's blown over already.
Thanks!
1) I know you aren't a 3rd year yet, but do you all of your rotations at LAC or Keck? Do you know if you are able to get your feet wet with some electives (opthalmology, ent, etc...) during your 3rd year before residency apps go out, or are you stuck with only required rotations until M4?
2) I see the curriculum for M1/M2 online, but what is the teaching style? Is keck still pretty standard with recorded lectures, or do they do the "flipped classroom" type stuff that some of the schools are switching too? How many hours of Lecture + Group-work in a typical week?
3) Where do most of the M1/M2s vesus M3/M4s live? On campus or off campus? And how is the area around the health science campus, in general?
4) With all the stuff going on with the Deans, how has the administration responded, and how has communication been with the medical students about the issue? Do you feel like they have been good with addressing the situation to the current medical students? I understand that whoever the dean is, it likely has close to zero impact on the quality of medical education, but I am interested to see how Admin, Faculty, and Students responded to the issues, and whether or not that's blown over already.
Thanks!
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Completed late Aug and still haven't heard anything...no news is good news, I guess?
Complete mid July, no idea what to think anymore
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1. From what I've gathered, you get to give your preference as to whether you want to do Keck or LAC (or CHLA for peds) for each rotation. There are different clerkship tracks that you will choose from (or give your preference and maybe you'll get your preferred choices), where it's possible to get a surgical subspecialty in 3rd year or you can do neurology + a 2 week elective. Otherwise, you're pretty much doing your core rotations. If you're worried about getting electives and away rotations done immediately, there's plenty of time between the the end of the core rotations in around early May until when residency apps are submitted in September to work on a few of those.
2. We do standard lectures that are all webcasted except for a select few. Then there are microanatomy or pathology labs that are optional attendance but not webcasted (the images you need to look at are all online and the lab guides are provided as well so you can just do them on your own time if you think you don't need an instructor). Gross anatomy lab is also optional attendance, and you can just go into the gross lab to look at the bodies whenever you want. We don't do any flipped class room stuff. I'd say there are around 15-18 hours of lecture/labs + 4 hours of clinical time + 2 hours of professionalism/ethics discussions a week.
3. I'm not in touch with too many of the M3 and M4 though I know that there are a few that still live in currie while all the others that I've talked to live off campus. And the area around the health science campus is fine. I definitely wouldn't be walking around there when it's dark out, but the campus itself I think is pretty safe. There are public safety officers patrolling the campus all the time. But there's not much around the area to be honest so you'll want a car (or a friend with one lol) so you can drive to cool places. Downtown really is only a 10 min away. Pasadena is only 15-20 min away.
4. So there have been many town hall meetings about this situation and where different admin and faculty have tried to talk to students about what's going on, why certain things happened, and what are the next steps moving forward. I know a lot of the student body leaders are also constantly talking to admin and staff about what went down how things can change. I don't want to say too much about what actually was discussed in the town hall meetings, but let's just say that the students were very unhappy with how this entire controversy went down, and, unsurprisingly, the students want more transparency from the admin. At the same time it seems like the admin is trying to fix the faults in the system and seemed like they were trying to listen to students. Whether or not they will do what they say they're going to do though, I guess we'll see.
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It's a great place! It's definitely exceeded my expectations so far in terms of how much a love my classmates, how helpful and knowledgable professors and preceptors are, and just how exciting and interesting it is to do clinical work in LAC+USC! If I'm being honest, I didn't really have the best vibe of Keck when I interviewed. I thought it was okay, but it didn't blow me away unlike some of the other places I visited. So if you feel meh about the school after the interview, that's okay. I don't think you'll really be able to appreciate the best parts of Keck unless you're actually attending the school tbh.Thank you for such detailed answers
