Hi everyone!
I am a current MS1 at DGSOM, and I am the chair of the student admissions team, meaning I work for and am in cooperation with the Admissions Office (but have no bearing on admissions decisions). I advocated to the office to let me come on here and answer questions for you all as best I can, so I'm going to detail some answers below, but please reply or DM with any other questions you have! I'm just hoping to make this process as transparent and least stress-inducing as possible 🙂
1) Admissions Decisions/Acceptances
I am unfortunately not allowed to say exactly how many acceptances have gone out/are left to give, but I will say that offers of admission will be continuing regularly through February, and then slow down a bit after that. There's no official end date to acceptances, because it all depends on who accepts/rejects the offers! Admissions offers are likely to come out on Thursday evenings/Friday mornings (as you've all noticed), based on when the committee meets in the week. Any Thursday/Friday is a possibility (not just bi-weekly). The offers are not in any order/don't correlate at all with interview date--anyone can be accepted at any time! Ex: I interviewed with DGSOM in September and was accepted in May. I know it is frustrating to interview so early and not hear back for so long (I truly feel you on this), but please be patient! The committee has a lot of factors to balance and it's important for them to keep their options open as they go through the cycle. I promise they aren't keeping you in limbo just for fun and they don't mean to be disrespectful or unfair.
2) Scholarships
Geffen scholarships will start to go out in Mid-March. They are sometimes sent with the offer of admission, and sometimes sent separately. There are lots of other merit scholarships and need-based scholarships that will get offered as well (and they are offered to waitlist students too). I have full tuition and fees covered by a merit scholarship that is not the Geffen. I would also HIGHLY recommend you ask the admissions office for more aid if you feel like your offer was low/unfair. Myself and four other of my classmates did this and received more aid! And yes it is true that you can get in-state tuition after your first year as an out-of-state student. There will be info on how to establish CA residency once you matriculate 🙂. DM me for more info on cost of living in LA too.
3) Misc
Don't stress too much about a bad interview! Plenty of my classmates had bad interviews, bad internet connections, faculty interviewers who came really late, etc. It truly is a holistic process I promise.
And CONGRATS to everyone who's been accepted to DGSOM!!!!!!!! I love this school so much and I'm so excited to tell you all more about it. Def join the accepted students FB page to get more info about our school and upcoming events.
4) Second Look
2nd look details will be sent out to accepted students in the next 2 weeks! Stay tuned 🙂
Please let me know if there are any other questions I can answer!