2021-2022 UCLA (Geffen)

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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WL (no top of WL). October interview
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Can we still get a geffen scholarship or a half tuition scholarship if we’ve been placed on the waitlist? Or does this mean the only way we could get accepted is if we pay full tuition? :/ so bummed
 
soontobemdlife said:
Can we still get a geffen scholarship or a half tuition scholarship if we’ve been placed on the waitlist? Or does this mean the only way we could get accepted is if we pay full tuition? :/ so bummed
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You can still get a Geffen off the waitlist. I know one person last year who literally was accepted 4/30 with a Geffen.
 
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lostmed said:
I’m going to be meeting with someone from financial aid in a few hours to hopefully get clarity on this and ask them if we should not expect anything in terms of financial aid in the next few weeks since we submitted waivers. But I agree. It isn’t very helpful to wait even longer when I can make a decision and withdraw from other schools and know where I need to move!

I’ll report back with what they tell me!
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Can you ask them how much typically is in loans and need based scholarships for low income (efc 0) students?
 
TurboMD said:
For everyone still waiting with no WL: DGSOM has a history of sending acceptances into March

For everyone on the WL: DGSOM has a history of accepting "top of WL" and others on the same day

Source: previous years SDN
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Thank you for digging back.
 
TurboMD said:
For everyone still waiting with no WL: DGSOM has a history of sending acceptances into March

For everyone on the WL: DGSOM has a history of accepting "top of WL" and others on the same day

Source: previous years SDN
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MVP Imma stop refreshing now
 
2021-2022-NonTrad said:
Its gonna be a call. Geffen at the same time as A. That's what it is. Gotta be. Looking at some of the people who have had silence...... @iHawk_MD can't be an R, so it's gotta be an A. I wasn't done with the anxiety
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Yo this is the nicest thing I've seen on this site, can't wait to see you post when you get your full COA Geffen. UCLA admissions makes no sense, so we're still in this.
 
lostmed said:
Yup I got you! Also thank you for this because I didn’t even think to ask this…this is why I like these forums sometimes lol.
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I could have given you an entire list of questions to ask lol. I tried making an appointment but the advisor assigned to me wasn't available until a week after the forms were due. So I just butchered them to the best of my ability and submitted
 
JoyFairy said:
Same!!!! I really don't want to have to do this annually. Repeatedly explaining why I need a waiver isn't exactly pleasant for my fam 😕

And yes @MedSchmetterling I emailed and they confirmed that "save" works.
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mdchaser said:
Thank you so so much!!
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Ok, so! I was told a few things:
(1) Financial aid sends waivers to the Deans to review - they don’t actually review them themselves. They had one meeting already and only had a few waivers and will be meeting again Monday so if yours is already in, you’re in a good spot! They’ll be sending out financial aid up until May. Those with waivers will more than likely be sent out end of March/beginning of April if your waiver is approved.

(2) Merit scholarships will probably be announced around mid-March. Mentioned Dr. Lucero likes to call for those and also will receive an email and a mailer.
inoffensivepersona said:
Can you ask them how much typically is in loans and need based scholarships for low income (efc 0) students?
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Ok so, they told me that this year, UCLA projects to cover about 25% in institutional need based aid and the rest would be loans and/or merit and/or outside scholarships. They also mentioned that the provisional award letter may be higher in loans because it will only be based on need based aid and federal loans and won’t include any merit scholarships you may receive.

Happy I got to talk with them. Only sad I was first told I didn’t need a waiver so my waiver will be a bit late but hoping for the best!
 
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Mikiras said:
I could have given you an entire list of questions to ask lol. I tried making an appointment but the advisor assigned to me wasn't available until a week after the forms were due. So I just butchered them to the best of my ability and submitted
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Oh no! I’m so sorry! 🥺. I’m hoping everything is perfect with them and they don’t need anything extra!
 
lostmed said:
Ok, so! I was told a few things:
(1) Financial aid sends waivers to the Deans to review - they don’t actually review them themselves. They had one meeting already and only had a few waivers and will be meeting again Monday so if yours is already in, you’re in a good spot! They’ll be sending out financial aid up until May. Those with waivers will more than likely be sent out end of March/beginning of April if your waiver is approved.

(2) Merit scholarships will be probably be announced around mid-March. Mentioned Dr. Lucero likes to call for those and also will receive an email and a mailer.

Ok so, they told me that this year, UCLA projects to cover about 25% in institutional need based aid and the rest would be loans and/or merit and/or outside scholarships. They also mentioned that the provisional award letter may be higher in loans because it will only be based on need based aid and federal loans and won’t include any merit scholarships you may receive.

Happy I got to talk with them. Only sad I was first told I didn’t need a waiver so my waiver will be a bit late but hoping for the best!
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M 👏 V 👏 P 👏
 
Mikiras said:
I could have given you an entire list of questions to ask lol. I tried making an appointment but the advisor assigned to me wasn't available until a week after the forms were due. So I just butchered them to the best of my ability and submitted
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Me when FinAid asks why my forms are a hot mess
Oh No Dancing GIF by Insecure on HBO
 
JoyFairy said:
Me when FinAid asks why my forms are a hot mess
Oh No Dancing GIF by Insecure on HBO
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Lmao LISTEN! Same.

Oh yeah another thing: apparently they look at your med school app to see if what you mention in your app aligns with your waiver. If you didn’t mention anything at all about the parent, you’re good.

Tbh I get most people who apply to medical school are super privileged but they shouldn’t limit the scope of the waiver to just those who have no contact. Some of us are ghetto and our parents are incarcerated and we love them/have contact with them lmao.
 
lostmed said:
Lmao LISTEN! Same.

Oh yeah another thing: apparently they look at your med school app to see if what you mention in your app aligns with your waiver. If you didn’t mention anything at all about the parent, you’re good.

Tbh I get most people who apply to medical school are super privileged but they shouldn’t limit the scope of the waiver to just those who have no contact. Some of us are ghetto and our parents are incarcerated and we love them/have contact with them lmao.
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See this is why I was stressed. I only put my bio parents on AMCAS cause I know nothing about my step-mom and then thought it would be unfair to include my step-dad but not her. Then because I didn't put my step-parents, I questioned whether to include step-siblings. Then for FAFSA I put my mom and step-dad and my dad and step-mom because they obvs file taxes together. But now I'm wondering if they're gonna question the discrepancies between fin aid forms and AMCAS... damn non-traditional family structures
 
Mikiras said:
See this is why I was stressed. I only put my bio parents on AMCAS cause I know nothing about my step-mom and then thought it would be unfair to include my step-dad but not her. Then because I didn't put my step-parents, I questioned whether to include step-siblings. Then for FAFSA I put my mom and step-dad and my dad and step-mom because they obvs file taxes together. But now I'm wondering if they're gonna question the discrepancies between fin aid forms and AMCAS... damn non-traditional family structures
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I feel this so much. If it’s worth absolutely ANYTHING, I’m not sure if they cross reference AMCAS with general financial aid or not but they do cross reference for those applying for waivers. I think you’ll be okay!
 
Waitlisted today as well.... If waitlisted, do we need to do anything other than fill out the FASFA for the time being? Thanks!
 
lostmed said:
Ok, so! I was told a few things:
(1) Financial aid sends waivers to the Deans to review - they don’t actually review them themselves. They had one meeting already and only had a few waivers and will be meeting again Monday so if yours is already in, you’re in a good spot! They’ll be sending out financial aid up until May. Those with waivers will more than likely be sent out end of March/beginning of April if your waiver is approved.

(2) Merit scholarships will probably be announced around mid-March. Mentioned Dr. Lucero likes to call for those and also will receive an email and a mailer.

Ok so, they told me that this year, UCLA projects to cover about 25% in institutional need based aid and the rest would be loans and/or merit and/or outside scholarships. They also mentioned that the provisional award letter may be higher in loans because it will only be based on need based aid and federal loans and won’t include any merit scholarships you may receive.

Happy I got to talk with them. Only sad I was first told I didn’t need a waiver so my waiver will be a bit late but hoping for the best!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information!

Ngl, the financial aid numbers you quoted are a bit disappointing. I thought they would have provided more need based grants/scholarships. I don’t qualify for federal student loans, so I was kinda riding on there being a lot of grants. I’m not sure if California state and UCLA’s institutional loans will fully cover the windfall.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get the Geffen Scholarship or something similar. Otherwise, I’m not sure how I would be able to afford UCLA.
 
lostmed said:
Same! Especially because I was told I originally didn’t need to and now I do. I’m also worried since they say they don’t review it until late spring and I wonder if that means I won’t have a financial aid package until then either because I would rather make a decision sooner than later…

I am meeting with financial aid today though so I’ll ask this and if anyone has any other pressing questions!
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I talked to the fin aid office and they said they’ll review the waivers mid/late march and send need based provisional letters right after. Doesn’t impact geffen scholars or other merit at all though.
 
inoffensivepersona said:
Thanks for the information!

Ngl, the financial aid numbers you quoted are a bit disappointing. I thought they would have provided more need based grants/scholarships. I don’t qualify for federal student loans, so I was kinda riding on there being a lot of grants. I’m not sure if California state and UCLA’s institutional loans will fully cover the windfall.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get the Geffen Scholarship or something similar. Otherwise, I’m not sure how I would be able to afford UCLA.
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Of course! Yeah that 25% hit kind of hard but I am hoping we get more money!
 
I wonder if the waitlist decisions means there will be no more direct A's from hereon, and any A's will be pulled from the waitlist.
 
cortinarius said:
I wonder if the waitlist decisions means there will be no more direct A's from hereon, and any A's will be pulled from the waitlist.
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it's a possibility, but if that was true and if WL decisions are done and sent, then it's strange how R's haven't been sent yet. though, it's not like the whole process isn't an enigma, especially with UCLA
 
cortinarius said:
I wonder if the waitlist decisions means there will be no more direct A's from hereon, and any A's will be pulled from the waitlist.
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I was wondering this as well, but their process is so chaotic (on our end) it's hard to know or predict anything at all. They change their process from year to year too
 
Im confused about what happened to the big A wave that was supposed to happen in mid or late february...I guess u can't fully rely on what an interviewer says
 
Look, I am grateful for an acceptance elsewhere and to have made it through this app cycle with some success. I am just thoroughly disappointed in how little transparency there is in the whole process. Not simply at DGSOM but everywhere. Even an email that acknowledges how long some of us have been waiting or how hard we have worked to get this far would be nice as they continue to finalize decisions. We are all humans, not some volume of applications nor a shadowy body of admissions people.

There are real people here waiting for some news that could change their lives. And if not, we would like to know kindly sooner than later so as to evaluate our other options.

I understand there are real people on the other side, too. They are trying to make good decisions, and I can appreciate their attention to a diverse and thoughtful entering class.

All I ask is for more communication.
 
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horchatapapi said:
Look, I am grateful for an acceptance elsewhere and to have made it through this app cycle with some success. I am just thoroughly disappointed in how little transparency there is in the whole process. Not simply at DGSOM but everywhere. Even an email that acknowledges how long some of us have been waiting or how hard we have worked to get this far would be nice as they continue to finalize decisions. We are all humans, not some volume of applications nor a shadowy body of admissions people.

There are real people here waiting for some news that could change their lives. And if not, we would like to know kindly sooner than later so as to evaluate our other options.

I understand there are real people on the other side, too. They are trying to make good decisions, and I can appreciate their attention to a diverse and thoughtful entering class.

All I ask is for more communication.
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Even when you are admitted to programs there is silence.....I have literally received a singular email from my first acceptance. I was accepted in November. These programs just exist in their own vacuum, we must approach them for news. Revolution, I say
 
horchatapapi said:
Look, I am grateful for an acceptance elsewhere and to have made it through this app cycle with some success. I am just thoroughly disappointed in how little transparency there is in the whole process. Not simply at DGSOM but everywhere. Even an email that acknowledges how long some of us have been waiting or how hard we have worked to get this far would be nice as they continue to finalize decisions. We are all humans, not some volume of applications nor a shadowy body of admissions people.

There are real people here waiting for some news that could change their lives. And if not, we would like to know kindly sooner than later so as to evaluate our other options.

I understand there are real people on the other side, too. They are trying to make good decisions, and I can appreciate their attention to a diverse and thoughtful entering class.

All I ask is for more communication.
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I agree - honestly, it’s bordering on insane that many of us have been waiting more than five months for any form of communication.
 
usernumber781 said:
No, but I looked up a Facebook group for incoming students and it has 315 members... says MS1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s are in it, too, though.
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Not sure how many acceptances that is, but then is it safe to assume those who were not waitlisted will be rejected?
 
willow819 said:
No clue if this is accurate or not, but in November an MS2 said 30 acceptances had been given out, and there were 3 different dates that people reported As on SDN at that point, so around 10 people accepted each time. This lines up with a few posts in last year's thread where people called and the adcom said they were accepting 3-10 people each time. As of today, there have been 10 separate dates where people on SDN reported As, which would mean ~100 As given out assuming they were accepting 10 people each time.

The MS2 also said 200 acceptances would be given out, and even if that includes the 50 people pulled off the waitlist according to AAMC, there could be up to 50 initial As remaining. This is assuming each time they accepted people, at least one person on SDN posted about it (though this does seem possible, as As were consistently posted every 2 weeks for a while and have recently become as frequent as every week).

Furthermore, the AAMC recommends that schools accept as many people as they will have in their entering class (175 for DGSOM) by March 15th, and the 50 waitlist As will not happen until after May 1 according to MSAR.

The class of 2024/2025 FB groups also have 80-150 more members than the class of 2026 group has, though that variation could also be due to how many current students were in the group.
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bless you, this gives me hope
 
willow819 said:
No clue if this is accurate or not, but in November an MS2 said 30 acceptances had been given out, and there were 3 different dates that people reported As on SDN at that point, so around 10 people accepted each time. This lines up with a few posts in last year's thread where people called and the adcom said they were accepting 3-10 people each time. As of today, there have been 10 separate dates where people on SDN reported As, which would mean ~100 As given out assuming they were accepting 10 people each time.

The MS2 also said 200 acceptances would be given out, and even if that includes the 50 people pulled off the waitlist according to AAMC, there could be up to 50 initial As remaining. This is assuming each time they accepted people, at least one person on SDN posted about it (though this does seem possible, as As were consistently posted every 2 weeks for a while and have recently become as frequent as every week).

Furthermore, the AAMC recommends that schools accept as many people as they will have in their entering class (175 for DGSOM) by March 15th, and the 50 waitlist As will not happen until after May 1 according to MSAR.

The class of 2024/2025 FB groups also have 80-150 more members than the class of 2026 group has, though that variation could also be due to how many current students were in the group.
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Just one question- why did you say dgsom class size is on 175? It is listed online as 120. Did that change?
 
So other than sending in a FAFSA, what do the waitlist applicants need to do? The lack of communication/transparency is confusing me lol.

also for waitlist applicants, when is the FAFSA due?
 
nadiasp980 said:
So other than sending in a FAFSA, what do the waitlist applicants need to do? The lack of communication/transparency is confusing me lol.

also for waitlist applicants, when is the FAFSA due?
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While there is no due date for financial aid, the FAFSA is required to be completed and it was due yesterday, March 2nd.
 
TurboMD said:
While there is no due date for financial aid, the FAFSA is required to be completed and it was due yesterday, March 2nd.
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I talked to FinAid at another UC and I thought that deadline was only for undergrads?
 
horchatapapi said:
Look, I am grateful for an acceptance elsewhere and to have made it through this app cycle with some success. I am just thoroughly disappointed in how little transparency there is in the whole process. Not simply at DGSOM but everywhere. Even an email that acknowledges how long some of us have been waiting or how hard we have worked to get this far would be nice as they continue to finalize decisions. We are all humans, not some volume of applications nor a shadowy body of admissions people.

There are real people here waiting for some news that could change their lives. And if not, we would like to know kindly sooner than later so as to evaluate our other options.

I understand there are real people on the other side, too. They are trying to make good decisions, and I can appreciate their attention to a diverse and thoughtful entering class.

All I ask is for more communication.
Click to expand...
I totally recognize how frustrating the whole process can be, and that's why I pushed the admissions office to let me come on here and give you all as much transparency as I can!
 
dgsom_student said:
I totally recognize how frustrating the whole process can be, and that's why I pushed the admissions office to let me come on here and give you all as much transparency as I can!
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Have any Geffen scholarships gone out yet? Also how many students get it every year?

Also how is non merit need based financial aid at DGSOM? Someone said something about only 25% of your package being need based grants. If COA is like 80k for IS students and I have an efc of 0, does that mean I’m going to have to take out 60k in loans each year?
 
Just wanted to write in with an update with as much as I know about the process!
1) The admissions committee doesn't have any more meetings regarding direct admissions offers, meaning that acceptances from here will likely come from the waitlist (but disclaimer is that anything can happen at any point in the process ofc!!).
There is a waitlist, and the "top of the waitlist" distinction is meaningful, meaning that those with that distinction are most likely to get off the waitlist. If you didn't get this distinction, you can totally still get accepted as well. It all depends on how many people accept their original offers, as you know, so it isn't the kind of thing you can predict super well.

2) I'm sorry financial aid has been so frustrating this year for you all. I am passing along this frustration to the committee to see if there's anything they can do to improve the process.
Waitlist applicants can still get merit and need-based aid. I myself was accepted off the waitlist and received a scholarship for full tuition (not the Geffen)!

Let me know if there's any other questions I can try to answer!
 
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