2019-2020 UCLA (Geffen)

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
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Fruitjuice said:
Yeah I have some of those, though they don’t really mean as much the one anecdote I was thinking about. Gotta play the game, I guess.
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I could very well be giving terrible advice. Anyone else wanna chime in? I can take a look if you wanna PM.
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In the MSTP section they ask for your motivation to pursue a combined MD/PhD but that is exactly what was asked on the primary. Do I have to answer this question again in a different way or just copy and paste my answer from my primary?
 
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microgliaiba1 said:
In the MSTP section they ask for your motivation to pursue a combined MD/PhD but that is exactly what was asked on the primary. Do I have to answer this question again in a different way or just copy and paste my answer from my primary?
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I am going to answer it in a slightly different way, more tailored to UCLA specifically, but of course there will be some amount of overlap idea-wise.
I dont know if this is the right approach, but it is what I have been doing for most of my pre writing.
 
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#5 What is the one most important honor you have received?

I was planning on answering this with a live in-studio interview with ABC News where I was invited to speak about the nonprofit I founded. It's not a formal award of any sort though, although I considered it an honor to have the opportunity. Do you think this is appropriate?

#1 Most important activity
The 2 activities that come to the top of my head overlap my answer for #2 (entrepreneurial) and #3 (free clinic volunteer). I'm concerned about repetition - would love everyone's thoughts on how to navigate this. Reuse or talk about something else?

TY~
 
Mr.Wick said:
#5 What is the one most important honor you have received?

I was planning on answering this with a live in-studio interview with ABC News where I was invited to speak about the nonprofit I founded. It's not a formal award of any sort though, although I considered it an honor to have the opportunity. Do you think this is appropriate?

#1 Most important activity
The 2 activities that come to the top of my head overlap my answer for #2 (entrepreneurial) and #3 (free clinic volunteer). I'm concerned about repetition - would love everyone's thoughts on how to navigate this. Reuse or talk about something else?

TY~
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#5 - uhm yes ??? I feel like that would be a really refreshing statement for an adcom to read. It is a little more interpretive of "honor," but still very worthy in my opinion.
#1 - unless you can tell a distinct anecdote in all three instances, I would pick another example of #2 or #3, and just kill your explanation of the most valuable experience for #1.
 
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Radiata20 said:
Not a disadvantage, unless something changed and someone knows something I don't. At least up until this cycle, there has been no regional preference among our admissions, unless a candidate expressed a reason to NOT want to come to LA/CA. As with all CA schools, the apparent skew of students towards CA residents/CA undergrads is really just mostly due to disproportionate % people who have lived in CA wanting to stay in CA, not because our admissions looks at your birth place to decide whether to accept/waitlist/reject.
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Got it. Thank you!
 
Are people trying to use the full 4000 characters for each work experience? I'm not sure if I should just be giving a simple description or going more in depth.
 
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mountainblue2 said:
Are people trying to use the full 4000 characters for each work experience? I'm not sure if I should just be giving a simple description or going more in depth.
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Haha no. I did like 2-3 sentences per entry.
 
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Hey guys I have a question about the math competencies. I only have taken one semester so far in algebra (so hardly competent lol) but planning on taking a year of math (stats and calculus) this upcoming year before matriculating. Should i leave that check box on the secondary blank? Is there anywhere else that I can let them know I'm taking the classes? These classes are NOT listed in my primary, so I was kind of hoping to use my secondary to let them know I'll be competent eventually haha.

Also- secondary received for PRIME yesterday around 10AM. OOS. Unsure if the prompts have been posted, but let me know if anyone needs them.
 
Any other relatively high stats with no known red flags with no secondary yet...?
 
I added this school on a whim at 10:30 AM EST and received a secondary at 11:40 AM EST!
 
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I’m tempted to say that anyone who added this school earlier than last night and hasn’t received a secondary probably won’t be getting one. Unless they have a very nonsensical pattern of reviewing applications ...
 
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swells47 said:
I’m tempted to say that anyone who added this school earlier than last night and hasn’t received a secondary probably won’t be getting one. Unless they have a very nonsensical pattern of reviewing applications ...
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They have some really weird screening criteria then. All I’m gonna say. Will still keep my eyes out.
 
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For those who haven't received a secondary, keep your heads up! Still early!

Side note: for those who have, y'all think it's a bad idea to answer #1 about are most meaningful non academic activity with something that we didn't list as MME on AMCAS lol.
 
swells47 said:
I’m tempted to say that anyone who added this school earlier than last night and hasn’t received a secondary probably won’t be getting one. Unless they have a very nonsensical pattern of reviewing applications ...
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I'm gonna go ahead and say either way it's pretty nonsensical based on who hasn't gotten one yet.
 
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Doctors' Docta said:
For those who haven't received a secondary, keep your heads up! Still early!

Side note: for those who have, y'all think it's a bad idea to answer #1 about are most meaningful non academic activity with something that we didn't list as MME on AMCAS lol.
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Reapplicant here: last year for #1 I talked about my last 15 years of an engineering career. I got feedback from a few sources that my application was very professional and logical, but it didn't help readers get to know me as a person. This year, I'm actually talking about my relationship with my fiance for #1. Definitely most meaningful "activity" of any type in my life! Edit: yeah definitely wasn't included in my MME on AMCAS.
 
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For the Scholastic Achievement section: I'm a native Spanish speaker, but I didn't take Spanish in college. Am I supposed to answer yes under Spanish? It seemed to me to only be asking about completed coursework, so I had put no.
 
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olayalas said:
For the Scholastic Achievement section: I'm a native Spanish speaker, but I didn't take Spanish in college. Am I supposed to answer yes under Spanish? It seemed to me to only be asking about completed coursework, so I had put no.
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Your AMCAS app should show that you're a native Spanish speaker, so you're fine. I think the secondary is just asking about courses, so no worries.
 
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Secondary received this morning! YAY!

Hating myself because I didn't prewrite any secondaries in the end....
 
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When it says list any "Major Paid Work Experience" does that mean just list anything I was paid for? Should I put tutoring?
 
Doctors' Docta said:
If only we had a primary that listed all our employment to atone for such a mistake

edit: srsly, this is dumb.
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Yeah, I forgot about it because I had listed it under "teaching" rather than "paid employment" on the primary... I don't understand secondaries that ask for duplicate information. WHY
 
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EmbryonalCarcinoma said:
Yeah, I forgot about it because I had listed it under "teaching" rather than "paid employment" on the primary... I don't understand secondaries that ask for duplicate information. WHY
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Cinci Verbatim asks if you have any institutional actions. Silly silly cinci, you just like my cat.
 
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For this question: "Has there been or will there be a gap between achieving your last degree (baccalaureate or other degrees post baccalaureate) and the expected time of medical school matriculation?"

Does this include gap year stuff that's not bacc or post bacc? They seem quite specific here.
 
Doctors' Docta said:
For this question: "Has there been or will there be a gap between achieving your last degree (baccalaureate or other degrees post baccalaureate) and the expected time of medical school matriculation?"

Does this include gap year stuff that's not bacc or post bacc? They seem quite specific here.
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I interpret it as "will there be more than a summer off between when you graduate with whatever degree (BS/Masters/etc) and when you start medical school?" So if you have any gap year(s) stuff, talk about that. If you'll just have the summer off, you can just say no.
 
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No secondary today - do y'all think I should email (and if so does anyone have a contact from their secondary email?) them on Friday if I don't have anything by then? Either I have a red flag I do not know about or they are wonky with their shiz...
 
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MemeLord said:
No secondary today - do y'all think I should email (and if so does anyone have a contact from their secondary email?) them on Friday if I don't have anything by then? Either I have a red flag I do not know about or they are wonky with their shiz...
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I would just give them a couple of more days. Idk what system they're using, but trust in it for a couple more days.
 
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MemeLord said:
No secondary today - do y'all think I should email (and if so does anyone have a contact from their secondary email?) them on Friday if I don't have anything by then? Either I have a red flag I do not know about or they are wonky with their shiz...
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Relax. I didn't get my secondary until 7/20, and I got accepted before the year ended. Just use the prompt posted and perfect your writing, so you can submit it the same day you receive it.


Most schools have both manual screen and instant screen, yours might just be in the manual screen pool. It's evident from the last cycle and the cycle before that UCLA don't instant screen solely based on numbers.
 
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+1 OOS, Regular MD. High stat and high research but relatively poor clinical experience. Curious to hear about the low stat applicants that got secondaries, I would assume they have some pretty dope experiences! Sounds like they may have a couple systems this year, keep the faith.


Couple of Q’s:

—Employment only defined as work that I received pay for? I had an important unpaid co-op...this will be tough
—Do we truly need to rewrite everything from AMCAS? Anybody get in without major restructuring?
—Any insight on how personal the hardship should be? Many of my failure essays are about a failed volunteering partnership I tried to set up between a hospital I worked at and a sports gear company, but that doesn’t feel like “hardship”. Could being bullied about my skin disorder fit here? Other than mental health struggles I don’t know what other personal stuff I could use for hardship....
 
A_Sentient_Ape said:
+1 OOS, Regular MD. High stat and high research but relatively poor clinical experience. Curious to hear about the low stat applicants that got secondaries, I would assume they have some pretty dope experiences! Sounds like they may have a couple systems this year, keep the faith.


Couple of Q’s:

—Employment only defined as work that I received pay for? I had an important unpaid co-op...this will be tough
—Do we truly need to rewrite everything from AMCAS? Anybody get in without major restructuring?
—Any insight on how personal the hardship should be? Many of my failure essays are about a failed volunteering partnership I tried to set up between a hospital I worked at and a sports gear company, but that doesn’t feel like “hardship”. Could being bullied about my skin disorder fit here? Other than mental health struggles I don’t know what other personal stuff I could use for hardship....
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1. I believe its paid work only. I'm sure they'll go over your work/activities section and see your unpaid co-op.
2. I did not rewrite/major reconstruct. I kind of went with @EmbryonalCarcinoma and was just like F--- this and just said I did "X,Y,Z" :D They can look @ my gosh darn W/A section for my insightful takeaways.
3. Hardship is optional. Don't force anything -- I would really only put something that really affected you.
 
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Doctors' Docta said:
3. Hardship is optional. Don't force anything -- I would really only put something that really affected you.
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The bullying was legit and definitely affected me, I have vitiligo on my chin and neck and it developed during middle school-- yikes. But I also feel like this prompt is similar to the Harvard one, and is best left only for those that have faced some really terrible circumstances?

Considering using this for the "problem" prompt...or the failed endeavor I mentioned before (failed volunteering partnership I tried to set up between a hospital I worked at and a sports gear company)...any thoughts?
 
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MemeLord said:
Any other relatively high stats with no known red flags with no secondary yet...?
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I am above the cutoffs I think - 3.5 sGPA/520 MCAT URM Physician Assistant with no secondary. I'm OOS. Hopefully they are still manually screening. If not, I shot my shot.
 
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A_Sentient_Ape said:
+1 OOS, Regular MD. High stat and high research but relatively poor clinical experience. Curious to hear about the low stat applicants that got secondaries, I would assume they have some pretty dope experiences! Sounds like they may have a couple systems this year, keep the faith.


Couple of Q’s:

—Employment only defined as work that I received pay for? I had an important unpaid co-op...this will be tough
—Do we truly need to rewrite everything from AMCAS? Anybody get in without major restructuring?
—Any insight on how personal the hardship should be? Many of my failure essays are about a failed volunteering partnership I tried to set up between a hospital I worked at and a sports gear company, but that doesn’t feel like “hardship”. Could being bullied about my skin disorder fit here? Other than mental health struggles I don’t know what other personal stuff I could use for hardship....
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Low stat applicant checking in.
 
Etopn23 said:
I am above the cutoffs I think - 3.5 sGPA/520 MCAT URM Physician Assistant with no secondary. I'm OOS. Hopefully they are still manually screening. If not, I shot my shot.
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Same here. High Stats former military with additional extensive ECs...Hoping for a manual screening.
 
I'm at a loss for the unique leadership, entrepreneurial, or creative activity prompt. My most important volunteering experience could definitely work for it because I coordinated a group of volunteers to regularly teach a healthy cooking class for a community health center. But as I said this is definitely my most important volunteering experience and I do not have anything even vaguely as good to replace it with for the volunteering prompt.

So here is my (terrible) plan of attack...in college I got really into ceramics for a year as a way to cope with stress and a few other unfortunate life events. The prompt asks for "unique" activities, not the most important or most time spent on creative/leadership/entrepreneurial activities....so would this work? I'm no maestro at ceramics, but it is pretty unique...what do people think?
 
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