2021-2022 UCLA (Geffen)

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oldprem3d said:
I think someone earlier in this thread said that there are GPA and MCAT cutoffs that automatically trigger a secondary from UCLA, but if you have an IA then it goes to manual review, which doesn't necessarily mean you won't get a secondary, it just might take longer.
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That's weird because my Mcat is 508 (<512), and a low gpa.
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does anyone know how often UCLA sends interview invites?
 
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Morningnight said:
I guess slightly lower than average MCAT for UCLA acceptance 😂
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I'm sorry but I just gotta commend you for already getting 8 interview invites as a CA ORM like wow your app must be amazing congrats :)
 
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doglova said:
I'm sorry but I just gotta commend you for already getting 8 interview invites as a CA ORM like wow your app must be amazing congrats :)
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Thank you thank you, it's been a nice surprise because I honestly thought I was on the lower end of applicants going into this cycle. Best of luck for your cycle :)
 
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Is UCLA doing the VITA interview this year? The AAMC website says yes but it doesnt say anything about VITA on ucla’s website or the interview invite email.
 
donut8s said:
Is UCLA doing the VITA interview this year? The AAMC website says yes but it doesnt say anything about VITA on ucla’s website or the interview invite email.
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there isn't VITA this year. So, it's probably outdated
 
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guestuser5300 said:
theres for VITA this year. So, it's probably outdated,
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I went to one of their office hours and I'm pretty sure they did it last year but aren't doing it again this year.
 
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II received on 8/26! Was crying too hard till today to post
 
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MedSchmetterling said:
How much do stats matter post-II? I love this school and it's my top choice, but my GPA and MCAT are well below their medians
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mm I think for a fair shot you want anything above 510 and 3.6 but to be honest for UCLA it's not stats. I am below their medians but I got an interview but I truly think it is also cause I had a lot of reflection on my essays. Stats help if you are weaker in reflections but they are not what is going to get you rejected

Also for further detail, I'm a nontrad, been working 3 years full time and not URM.
 
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MedSchmetterling said:
How much do stats matter post-II? I love this school and it's my top choice, but my GPA and MCAT are well below their medians
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Hi! MS2 here. I was accepted with the Geffen with a 511 3.4 GPA. It seems that after interviews, they are looking at you more holistically. Your stats were already deemed good enough when they decided to send you the interview. Your essays, ECs, and personality seem to matter more later in the game. Hope this helps :)
 
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docb2 said:
Hi! MS2 here. I was accepted with the Geffen with a 511 3.4 GPA. It seems that after interviews, they are looking at you more holistically. Your stats were already deemed good enough when they decided to send you the interview. Your essays, ECs, and personality seem to matter more later in the game. Hope this helps :)
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This is the energy I needed this morning! Congratulations to you, and thank you for sharing. This process is such a grind but hearing about holistic admissions success stories really helps. Do you think there was a particular aspect of your application that fit well with UCLA?
 
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Bludawgs said:
Is the interview here open or closed file, traditional or MMI, and with faculty or med students?
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Also interested in this. I think this years its open file traditional with faculty/med students but thats wholly based on conjecture.
 
Bludawgs said:
Is the interview here open or closed file, traditional or MMI, and with faculty or med students?
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during my year, it was 2 traditional faculty 1 on 1 interviews, both open-file. though it seemed they just did a basic skim rather than an in-depth read. i definitely still had to explain lots of my activities. there were also 4 mmi stations with medical students. they were actually very chill and not nearly as scary as i thought they would be. prompts/situations were nothing crazy. faculty interviews were very conversational, though it did seem like a few of us had 1 "stress" interview where the faculty member acted a little short/uninterested lol. otherwise it was great!
 
BadgerBaker said:
This is the energy I needed this morning! Congratulations to you, and thank you for sharing. This process is such a grind but hearing about holistic admissions success stories really helps. Do you think there was a particular aspect of your application that fit well with UCLA?
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Thank you so much! Actually, YES. 1000% my ECs and my essays.

UCLA has recently pushed this idea of wanting students to be a "physician AND..." They literally quote that in all of their admin/ceremony speeches lol They are looking for people that not only want to be great doctors, but also students that have something else to contribute to the world. That was me to a T. I applied when they first started developing this idea and I think it played a huge role in my getting in, especially with my stats. My application demonstrated that I was passionate about becoming a doctor, but that I also had other interests that could contribute meaning to patient care and to the world in general. Everyone that I've met so far seems to be multi-faceted in that way. They had the baseline test scores/GPAs and shadowing needed to demonstrate they can pass med school, but they also had other activities or interests that made them different! We have DJs, athletes, Tik Tok/Instagrammers, bloggers, surfers, people who go on wild backpacking trips, students who have started community initiatives, etc. It doesn't need to be anything crazy, but it seems that everyone has a little something about them that isn't just about being a doctor, and the Deans have really doubled-down on that being a core part of UCLA's mission.

So if you have an interview, or if you're reading this for submitting your secondaries or a future app, definitely highlight who you are outside of medicine as well. And bonus points if you can connect that interest/passion with helping people or positively impacting the world.
 
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docb2 said:
Thank you so much! Actually, YES. 1000% my ECs and my essays.

UCLA has recently pushed this idea of wanting students to be a "physician AND..." They literally quote that in all of their admin/ceremony speeches lol They are looking for people that not only want to be great doctors, but also students that have something else to contribute to the world. That was me to a T. I applied when they first started developing this idea and I think it played a huge role in my getting in, especially with my stats. My application demonstrated that I was passionate about becoming a doctor, but that I also had other interests that could contribute meaning to patient care and to the world in general. Everyone that I've met so far seems to be multi-faceted in that way. They had the baseline test scores/GPAs and shadowing needed to demonstrate they can pass med school, but they also had other activities or interests that made them different! We have DJs, athletes, Tik Tok/Instagrammers, bloggers, surfers, people who go on wild backpacking trips, students who have started community initiatives, etc. It doesn't need to be anything crazy, but it seems that everyone has a little something about them that isn't just about being a doctor, and the Deans have really doubled-down on that being a core part of UCLA's mission.

So if you have an interview, or if you're reading this for submitting your secondaries or a future app, definitely highlight who you are outside of medicine as well. And bonus points if you can connect that interest/passion with helping people or positively impacting the world.
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Awesome! UCLA was my favorite secondary to write because of the outstanding physician AND... prompt and focus. Fingers crossed that they feel I am as good of a fit as I do.

Can you comment on your schedule and hours? I am curious about your work-life balance in the LA area. I know you're probably super busy though so no obligation! Thanks for helping out with our pre-med journeys.
 
has anyone had an interview this cycle/last cycle who can speak to the zoom process? I know UCLA used to do MMI so I'm wondering if they will include any MMI in the virtual format or if its just two open interviews?

Also in general does anyone have advice on referring to your application in open file interviews? Is it okay to refer to your application/secondary and assume they've read it or should you re-explain everything?
 
ldianna said:
has anyone had an interview this cycle/last cycle who can speak to the zoom process? I know UCLA used to do MMI so I'm wondering if they will include any MMI in the virtual format or if its just two open interviews?

Also in general does anyone have advice on referring to your application in open file interviews? Is it okay to refer to your application/secondary and assume they've read it or should you re-explain everything?
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Also interested in this. I thought I read that they were no longer doing MMI for virtual and were only doing traditional open-file interviews, but I can't find a source on that other than MSAR (which I don't really trust).
 
docb2 said:
Thank you so much! Actually, YES. 1000% my ECs and my essays.

UCLA has recently pushed this idea of wanting students to be a "physician AND..." They literally quote that in all of their admin/ceremony speeches lol They are looking for people that not only want to be great doctors, but also students that have something else to contribute to the world. That was me to a T. I applied when they first started developing this idea and I think it played a huge role in my getting in, especially with my stats. My application demonstrated that I was passionate about becoming a doctor, but that I also had other interests that could contribute meaning to patient care and to the world in general. Everyone that I've met so far seems to be multi-faceted in that way. They had the baseline test scores/GPAs and shadowing needed to demonstrate they can pass med school, but they also had other activities or interests that made them different! We have DJs, athletes, Tik Tok/Instagrammers, bloggers, surfers, people who go on wild backpacking trips, students who have started community initiatives, etc. It doesn't need to be anything crazy, but it seems that everyone has a little something about them that isn't just about being a doctor, and the Deans have really doubled-down on that being a core part of UCLA's mission.

So if you have an interview, or if you're reading this for submitting your secondaries or a future app, definitely highlight who you are outside of medicine as well. And bonus points if you can connect that interest/passion with helping people or positively impacting the world.
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Thank you so much for the insight! I was wondering if people in your class are well established in their other fields (eg: DJs, surfers, etc). A large part of my application talks about my love for art and I have have a few small commissioned pieces but nothing major at all! Not sure if this would be substantial enough for the "other" aspect.
 
BadgerBaker said:
Awesome! UCLA was my favorite secondary to write because of the outstanding physician AND... prompt and focus. Fingers crossed that they feel I am as good of a fit as I do.

Can you comment on your schedule and hours? I am curious about your work-life balance in the LA area. I know you're probably super busy though so no obligation! Thanks for helping out with our pre-med journeys.
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Not gonna lie, our schedule is awesome! They’ve switched over to a more self-directed learning system which has been great. We have scheduled time to just study - no classes no labs. Which is great because you mainly use outside resources for studying anyway. Only 2 of my afternoons per week are spent in mandatory class (like anatomy lab, clinical skills, or in this block- microbiology lab). Your class will have a slightly different schedule because of the new curriculum, but it seems that a common thread is this extra time for learning on your own. I technically have a “job” and have plenty of time to do that job (it’s virtual) and do medical school! I also have time to exercise each day, hang out with my significant other, and binge watch Netflix!
 
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are any international students with good stats still waiting for a secondary?
 
docb2 said:
Not gonna lie, our schedule is awesome! They’ve switched over to a more self-directed learning system which has been great. We have scheduled time to just study - no classes no labs. Which is great because you mainly use outside resources for studying anyway. Only 2 of my afternoons per week are spent in mandatory class (like anatomy lab, clinical skills, or in this block- microbiology lab). Your class will have a slightly different schedule because of the new curriculum, but it seems that a common thread is this extra time for learning on your own. I technically have a “job” and have plenty of time to do that job (it’s virtual) and do medical school! I also have time to exercise each day, hang out with my significant other, and binge watch Netflix!
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Damn, UCLA is already my school. This sounds perfect.
 
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docb2 said:
Not gonna lie, our schedule is awesome! They’ve switched over to a more self-directed learning system which has been great. We have scheduled time to just study - no classes no labs. Which is great because you mainly use outside resources for studying anyway. Only 2 of my afternoons per week are spent in mandatory class (like anatomy lab, clinical skills, or in this block- microbiology lab). Your class will have a slightly different schedule because of the new curriculum, but it seems that a common thread is this extra time for learning on your own. I technically have a “job” and have plenty of time to do that job (it’s virtual) and do medical school! I also have time to exercise each day, hang out with my significant other, and binge watch Netflix!
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To add to this as an MS1- we do have a bit more in-person activities since our preclinical year has been shortened to ~1 year. however, they still emphasize independent studying and the lectures are optional.
 
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ldianna said:
has anyone had an interview this cycle/last cycle who can speak to the zoom process? I know UCLA used to do MMI so I'm wondering if they will include any MMI in the virtual format or if its just two open interviews?

Also in general does anyone have advice on referring to your application in open file interviews? Is it okay to refer to your application/secondary and assume they've read it or should you re-explain everything?
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Not sure if people from last cycle will know this, as we had VITA instead of the UCLA MMI. The interview day on zoom was pretty smooth IIRC.

For the open file interviews- I think they've skimmed over your file but feel free to go in-depth into your activities. It was pretty low stress tbh!
 
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User5321 said:
Thank you so much for the insight! I was wondering if people in your class are well established in their other fields (eg: DJs, surfers, etc). A large part of my application talks about my love for art and I have have a few small commissioned pieces but nothing major at all! Not sure if this would be substantial enough for the "other" aspect.
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Yep that's plenty! It's moreso passion projects rather than like gold medalist olympic surfers or anything like that. Just people that genuinely have interests outside of medicine. We do have some social media people/med school bloggers that are kinda big (20k on TikTok or Youtube, 200k+ on Instagram) but again, I don't think they care much about the numbers or the size of your activities. It's more about you demonstrating that you have something unique to add to the community :)
 
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I just want to say that this thread is really positive for someone trying to get into medical school. For many years now it was a common joke/complaint on platforms like Reddit that schools were calling themselves holistic when they were appearing to be more and more stats focused. DGSOM truly seems like they are on the right path of helping develop not just great physicians but really well-rounded people in general. Hoping for some IIs to land in more inboxes, including mine soon!
 
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My alma mater is showing me love! Just received an II!
Complete: 7/23

Side note: Their subject line is so long that that, combined with the first line being “thank you for your application”, I thought it was a rejection and literally almost started crying in despair lmao.
 
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Has anyone found out about the format yet? I was wondering if after scheduling an interview a detailed email will be sent.

Also, from my understanding does UCLA typically do MMI? Or do they usually do a mix? Last year was full traditional + open?

Sorry for all the questions! hopefully someone can chime in
 
midnitetots12 said:
Has anyone found out about the format yet? I was wondering if after scheduling an interview a detailed email will be sent.

Also, from my understanding does UCLA typically do MMI? Or do they usually do a mix? Last year was full traditional + open?

Sorry for all the questions! hopefully someone can chime in
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I emailed them asking whether it was an MMI and closed/open file and this is what they replied:

Thank you for your message. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA will use a virtual interview process for the 2021-2022 application cycle. This will include One-on-one virtual interviews will be held with DGSOM Faculty. You may also utilize our interview process webpage: Interview Process - David Geffen School of Medicine - Los Angeles, CA

So, not very clear, but I'm thinking it will be like last year, a traditional interview with maybe a mix?
 
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Hi everyone. Under document status, is it empty for ya'll in the secondary portal? I'm secretly wondering if they never received my LORs even though it says my application is complete in the secondary portal.
 
apismnfla1003 said:
Hi everyone. Under document status, is it empty for ya'll in the secondary portal? I'm secretly wondering if they never received my LORs even though it says my application is complete in the secondary portal.
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Mine is also empty, I think this is normal.
 
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I emailed them asking whether it was an MMI and closed/open file and this is what they replied:
mindlove said:
Thank you for your message. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA will use a virtual interview process for the 2021-2022 application cycle. This will include One-on-one virtual interviews will be held with DGSOM Faculty. You may also utilize our interview process webpage: Interview Process - David Geffen School of Medicine - Los Angeles, CA

So, not very clear, but I'm thinking it will be like last year, a traditional interview with maybe a mix?
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it's so weird how vague they're being lol. but it seems like it's not fully MMI if anything. thanks!
 
Bludawgs said:
Can anyone confirm whether the interview is simply two open file faculty interviews and whether there is any MMI?
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When I scheduled and got the email that there will be two “interview blocks”, I just assumed two open interviews with two faculty?
 
Anyone interview today want to help us out? I read it as two open-file faculty interviews but now I’m not so sure lol
 
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