2018-2019 University of California - Los Angeles (Geffen)

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
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WhiskeyTengo said:
Wondering if it would be worth it for me to fill out and submit secondary with the time it would take and cost of the application. MCAT 519, 4.0 at small liberal arts university. 300+ shadowing hours, 300+ hospital work hours, pharmacy technician. No research experience. OOS. In student government and president of my fraternity. Do I have a chance?
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You know we screen primaries and only send secondaries to applicants we're seriously considering, right?
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Sorry for the delay! We are getting hit with drugs and bugs =O

AquaticSunrise13 said:
On MSAR it says the latest MCAT they consider is September 1, 2018. I'm planning on retaking my MCAT on September 19th, 2018 however so this poses an issue. Is that date set in stone/rigid, or is there any sort of flexibility on that?
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I would take it as set in stone, personally. Feel free to contact admissions and ask tho!

chipperchipmuck said:
For the Scholastic Achievements, does high school level count? I took Spanish all 4 years of high school and my fluency is beyond a 1-year level, but I never took it in college. Can I answer "yes" for the Spanish question?
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If you feel that you can comfortably have a conversation in spanish then yes!
 
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Lucca said:
I am but I didn’t know my McAT was slightly too old for this school until after I applied :/
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I took my MCAT 01/23/2016, and I even called and asked if that was too old to apply and they said it should be fine. Now in hindsight it seems it is too old to apply and that might be why I haven't gotten a secondary yet. I guess I will wait and see - I'm applying MSTP. It'd be a bummer if that's why I haven't received my secondary because I even called and they said that I should be good. I guess I should give them benefit of the doubt and assume it's something else. But who knows, I might still receive a secondary. I got processed on 6/21 tho.

I just check their website and it says oldest MCAT score they'll accept is June 2016, that's really frustrating...
 
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MagicCatDoctor said:
I took my MCAT 01/23/2016, and I even called and asked if that was too old to apply and they said it should be fine. Now in hindsight it seems it is too old to apply and that might be why I haven't gotten a secondary yet. I guess I will wait and see - I'm applying MSTP. It'd be a bummer if that's why I haven't received my secondary because I even called and they said that I should be good. I guess I should give them benefit of the doubt and assume it's something else. But who knows, I might still receive a secondary. I got processed on 6/21 tho.

I just check their website and it says oldest MCAT score they'll accept is June 2016, that's really frustrating...
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yah i took it 1/23/16 as well!
 
What are you guys considering a "major work experience" for the secondary? About how many hours would you consider "major"?
 
For the 4000 char describe your paid work experiences, would it be okay to copy and paste from my activities list on the primary?
 
foodholic said:
For the 4000 char describe your paid work experiences, would it be okay to copy and paste from my activities list on the primary?
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That may come off as lazy. Just reword everything
 
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Has anyone else not received a secondary yet for MD only? I was verified on 6/24 and I have not received any communication from UCLA.
 
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ev17 said:
Has anyone else not received a secondary yet for MD only? I was verified on 6/24 and I have not received any communication from UCLA.
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I havent but I added them about 2 weeks ago (since Im OOS and low stats for them). Last cycle it took about a month from verification (in late july) til I got a secondary. UCLA is notoriously slow and sends out secondaries up til November
 
ev17 said:
Has anyone else not received a secondary yet for MD only? I was verified on 6/24 and I have not received any communication from UCLA.
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I’m in the same boat as you
 
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ev17 said:
Has anyone else not received a secondary yet for MD only? I was verified on 6/24 and I have not received any communication from UCLA.
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I was verified around the same time as you and am in the same boat as you. I wouldn't worry about it though, as I know someone who submitted early June the previous cycle and didn't receive a secondary until September. This same applicant later went on to receive an II and an acceptance there!
 
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Last time I applied, the admissions office sent an auto email saying they received my AMCAS primary about 2 days after I added them as a school and sent it. Is that something they have been doing this year? (Not asking about secondary invite, I know timing on that is variable.)

Is it worth emailing the admissions office to check? I don't want to waste their time with an unnecessary email though if other people on here know that auto-receipt email wasn't a thing this year... Thanks!
 
cs1994 said:
Last time I applied, the admissions office sent an auto email saying they received my AMCAS primary about 2 days after I added them as a school and sent it. Is that something they have been doing this year? (Not asking about secondary invite, I know timing on that is variable.)

Is it worth emailing the admissions office to check? I don't want to waste their time with an unnecessary email though if other people on here know that auto-receipt email wasn't a thing this year... Thanks!
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The first email I got from them was the secondary invitation, so I don't think the auto-receipt was happening this year!
 
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cs1994 said:
Last time I applied, the admissions office sent an auto email saying they received my AMCAS primary about 2 days after I added them as a school and sent it. Is that something they have been doing this year? (Not asking about secondary invite, I know timing on that is variable.)

Is it worth emailing the admissions office to check? I don't want to waste their time with an unnecessary email though if other people on here know that auto-receipt email wasn't a thing this year... Thanks!
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I never got one from UCLA or UCSF but got one from Davis
 
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dnsf said:
A friend of mine said he got an II 8/3...
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Good to know! Are you aware of any people who have heard from UCSF or UCSD? Based on the data last year, it seems that UCs begin sending out II's around this time.
 
teriyakibeef said:
Good to know! Are you aware of any people who have heard from UCSF or UCSD? Based on the data last year, it seems that UCs begin sending out II's around this time.
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I am not aware of any UCSF or UCSD IIs. As far as I know, from the UCSD thread, UCSD had a problem with LORs so they were delayed.
 
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For the question "Describe your work experience since or during college" does this mean paid work experience? Bc I have no paid work experience but I'm an unpaid TA and had to apply to be a counselor at this camp for kids with MD..but idk if those count. Would it be worth doing the secondary if I have no paid work experience?
 
stine97 said:
For the question "Describe your work experience since or during college" does this mean paid work experience? Bc I have no paid work experience but I'm an unpaid TA and had to apply to be a counselor at this camp for kids with MD..but idk if those count. Would it be worth doing the secondary if I have no paid work experience?
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The prompt specifically says to talk about paid work experience.
 
Should I call admissions if I still haven't received a secondary? Getting pretty worried now, thanks.
 
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MedLife2121 said:
Should I call admissions if I still haven't received a secondary? Getting pretty worried now, thanks.
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When were you verified? UCLA is a little slower than most schools because they have a pretty extensive screening process.
 
I was verified early June :/. Submitted my primary on the first possible day. Thanks for the response!

CAresident12345 said:
When were you verified? UCLA is a little slower than most schools because they have a pretty extensive screening process.
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Has there been a gap between achieving your last degree and time of medical school matriculation? - I have been working for a year so the answer is yes but i already talked about my work in the paid work section.. feel silly to repeat, anyone else?
 
Premedneedsadvice said:
Has there been a gap between achieving your last degree and time of medical school matriculation? - I have been working for a year so the answer is yes but i already talked about my work in the paid work section.. feel silly to repeat, anyone else?
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In this scebario i think it would be fine to repeat yourself. Just don't go ininto as much detail about the job and add in what else you've been doing outside of work
 
MD PhD people:
for the "Statement of Purpose (Please discuss your motivation for pursuing an MD PhD)" question, did you write an entirely new essay? or copy and paste your md phd statement from amcas?
 
navy kenzo said:
MD PhD people:
for the "Statement of Purpose (Please discuss your motivation for pursuing an MD PhD)" question, did you write an entirely new essay? or copy and paste your md phd statement from amcas?
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I copy and pasted my MD/PhD statement from AMCAS. It was the same exact prompt and my reasons haven't changed since I submitted my primary.

Lucca said:
Adapting a new answer is probably a safer bet.
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well **** lol.

Really though, it's annoying how much overlap there is in the secondaries. In UCLA's, they also had you rehash all of your research experiences. Do you think they do this because some people are designated to read only secondaries, and only primaries? that would make sense..
 
Thoroughbred_Med said:
I copy and pasted my MD/PhD statement from AMCAS. It was the same exact prompt and my reasons haven't changed since I submitted my primary.



well **** lol.

Really though, it's annoying how much overlap there is in the secondaries. In UCLA's, they also had you rehash all of your research experiences. Do you think they do this because some people are designated to read only secondaries, and only primaries? that would make sense..
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It might not matter either way. These things are quite repetitive. What I’ve heard is that different people might have access to only certain parts of your app, or all of it. It’s probably not a big deal to copy paste, just saying what I would do in the situation (I have yet to receive the UCLA secondary and probably never will)
 
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anyone know stats of number of people who get secondaries vs interviews?
 
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Lucca said:
It might not matter either way. These things are quite repetitive. What I’ve heard is that different people might have access to only certain parts of your app, or all of it. It’s probably not a big deal to copy paste, just saying what I would do in the situation (I have yet to receive the UCLA secondary and probably never will)
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+1 for still not having UCLA MSTP secondary. RIP.
 
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Is UCLA rolling admissions? Considering throwing my app in here now if it's not rolling.
 
for employment, can i put future hours? i have been working at my job for 1 year and will continue until med school. they have the option of putting an end date in the future but not sure about the # of hours (putting # worked until now or until by future end date)
 
Premedneedsadvice said:
for employment, can i put future hours? i have been working at my job for 1 year and will continue until med school. they have the option of putting an end date in the future but not sure about the # of hours (putting # worked until now or until by future end date)
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I haven't done the secondary yet, so I'm not sure on the format exactly. I would not combine future hours with current, but if there is a way to put repeated periods like on th AMCAS primary then you can do that. Having all of the future hours as their own period from today to whenever you will be done with the job. Otherwise I would just leave future hours out and talk about them in the description
 
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Premedneedsadvice said:
thanks! i cant find a way to put 2 dates so i will just put the full date range, but only the hours i worked.

also what do you think about putting a grader job? its so simple and i can literally describe it in one sentence so not sure if its worth mentioning
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If it's not meaningful then leave it out
 
Are they still sending out secdonaries? Would love to have a shot here since I have a sibling that lives in California. URM LizzyM 68-69 OOS
 
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