2022-2023 UC - San Diego

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wysdoc

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Thank you to @xxxyyyzzzaaabbbccc and @FernThePlant for sharing this year's questions

2022-2023 UC - San Diego Secondary Essay Prompts

1. This should be a true autobiographical statement. Topics to be included are family, childhood, primary and secondary school years, undergraduate years, and, if applicable, what you’ve done since completing your bachelor’s degree. You should also discuss the motivational factors which led you to a career in medicine, including any disadvantages or obstacles which might put your accomplishments into context. A repeat of your AMCAS statement will not be acceptable. Please note: if you are applying to the MD/PhD program, please include why you are specifically interested in seeking MD/PhD training at UCSD. (6000 char)


2. Some medical school applicants are already focused on pursuing a particular career pathway in medicine. While many students will change from this pathway during medical school, knowing of your potential interests does help us to assign interviewers. Your choice below does not influence how the Admissions Committee selects students to interview.
Please select from one of career pathways listed below. In addition to this selection, please provide a brief description of your future career goals: (400 char)

Academic Medicine (Working as a faculty member at a School of Medicine either as a clinician, a clinician-educator, or a clinician investigator. This could be in any field of medicine)
Primary Care and/or work in underserved communities (Working as a general internist, a pediatrician, or a family medicine physician and/or spending the majority of your time working in a community currently underserved by the medical profession)
Public Health, administrative leadership in medicine (Pursuing an MPH and/or working for a public health department or organization; working in health care policy; working as a hospital administrator)
Specialist in private practice (Working in a private practice or managed care setting as a subspecialist. Examples include cardiologist, infectious disease specialist, obstetrician, orthopedic surgeon, general surgeon, anaesthesiologist, radiologist)
Other/undecided

3. If you are an out-of-state applicant, please let us know if there are specific reasons for your interest in the UCSD School of Medicine (1000 characters)

4.
Do you consider yourself to be a member of a group that is marginalized in a way that systemically affects access to quality education or healthcare?(Y/N) if Yes, Please describe how educational disparity, health disparity and/or marginalization has impacted you and your community? (4800 characters)

Program specific:

A) For PRIME-HEq: Please describe your interest in the PRIME-HEq program. Topics to include are longitudinal experiences that you’ve had with underserved communities, including the type of community that you’ve worked with and your level of involvement. Additionally, you should discuss the length of time that you’ve spent working in these communities. (4800 char)

B) For GHAC: Please describe your interest in Global Health. The term Global Health can have many meanings; for our purposes, we find the definition provided by Koplan et. al. in their 2009 Lancet publication useful: “the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide”. In your essay, be sure to describe any personal or professional experiences that have shaped your interests, and how Global Health issues have influenced your decision to pursue a career in medicine. (4800 char)

C) For PRIME-TIDE: Please describe your experiences with American Indian and Alaskan Native communities, including the type of community and your level of involvement. Please provide the length of time you spent working in or exposed to these communities. Be sure to detail any personal or professional experiences that have shaped your interests, and how American Indian and Alaskan Native issues have influenced your decision to pursue a career in medicine. Finally, please delineate how completion of the PRIME-TIDE program will help you obtain your medical education goals. (4800 char)



Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview feedback:

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For anyone who has MSAR, could you please tell me the median GPA and MCAT scores for UCSD matriculants? I lost access to my MSAR a few days ago :( I would really appreciate the range of GPA and MCAT scores as well if possible.
 
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Members don't see this ad :)
you should just get the MSAR, you're definitely going to need it if you intend on applying this cycle.
I'm not applying this cycle. I applied last cycle and was accepted, but lost access to MSAR since it's been over a year.
 
Thank you so much! Do you also have the median and range for the science GPA by chance? I really appreciate all your help, racoonman :)
I'm another applicant, but from MSAR
10th - 3.40
25th - 3.61
Median - 3.79
75th - 3.94
90th - 4.00
 
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Hey Prewriting secondaries and wondering if the UCSD secondary has been consistent over the years or will it likely change?
 
Hey Prewriting secondaries and wondering if the UCSD secondary has been consistent over the years or will it likely change?
The UCSD secondary has been pretty consistent over the years. The biggest part is the long autobiography, which has been kept for many years now. I've heard that some personal questions get added, removed or changed each year, but the long autobiography stays the same.

Hope this helps :)
 
Is it even worth applying to this school with no research? Im IS but I think UCSD is the most research heavy state school for CA, or am I wrong?
 
Is it even worth applying to this school with no research? Im IS but I think UCSD is the most research heavy state school for CA, or am I wrong?
Shoot your shot. If you have the resources (funds + time), have crafted a compelling primary, and can write a solid secondary, why not? I've heard of folks getting in without research.
 
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IS secondary received! ... WTF I thought they were supposed to take their damn time. I didn't rewrite their god damn autobiography :((((
 
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Members don't see this ad :)
IS secondary received! ... WTF I thought they were supposed to take their damn time. I didn't rewrite their god damn autobiography :((((
+1, IS
Same, this is one of the only schools I did not pre-write for lol
 
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Prompts:

@wysdoc

This should be a true autobiographical statement. Topics to be included are family, childhood, primary and secondary school years, undergraduate years, and, if applicable, what you’ve done since completing your bachelor’s degree. You should also discuss the motivational factors which led you to a career in medicine, including any disadvantages or obstacles which might put your accomplishments into context. A repeat of your AMCAS statement will not be acceptable. Please note: if you are applying to the MD/PhD program, please include why you are specifically interested in seeking MD/PhD training at UCSD. (6000 char)


Some medical school applicants are already focused on pursuing a particular career pathway in medicine. While many students will change from this pathway during medical school, knowing of your potential interests does help us to assign interviewers. Your choice below does not influence how the Admissions Committee selects students to interview.
Please select from one of career pathways listed below. In addition to this selection, please provide a brief description of your future career goals: (400 char)
Academic Medicine (Working as a faculty member at a School of Medicine either as a clinician, a clinician-educator, or a clinician investigator. This could be in any field of medicine)
Primary Care and/or work in underserved communities (Working as a general internist, a pediatrician, or a family medicine physician and/or spending the majority of your time working in a community currently underserved by the medical profession)
Public Health, administrative leadership in medicine (Pursuing an MPH and/or working for a public health department or organization; working in health care policy; working as a hospital administrator)
Specialist in private practice (Working in a private practice or managed care setting as a subspecialist. Examples include cardiologist, infectious disease specialist, obstetrician, orthopedic surgeon, general surgeon, anaesthesiologist, radiologist)
Other/undecided


Program specific:

For PRIME-HEq: Please describe your interest in the PRIME-HEq program. Topics to include are longitudinal experiences that you’ve had with underserved communities, including the type of community that you’ve worked with and your level of involvement. Additionally, you should discuss the length of time that you’ve spent working in these communities. (4800 char)

For GHAC: Please describe your interest in Global Health. The term Global Health can have many meanings; for our purposes, we find the definition provided by Koplan et. al. in their 2009 Lancet publication useful: “the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide”. In your essay, be sure to describe any personal or professional experiences that have shaped your interests, and how Global Health issues have influenced your decision to pursue a career in medicine. (4800 char)

For PRIME-TIDE: Please describe your experiences with American Indian and Alaskan Native communities, including the type of community and your level of involvement. Please provide the length of time you spent working in or exposed to these communities. Be sure to detail any personal or professional experiences that have shaped your interests, and how American Indian and Alaskan Native issues have influenced your decision to pursue a career in medicine. Finally, please delineate how completion of the PRIME-TIDE program will help you obtain your medical education goals. (4800 char)
 
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Anyone else having trouble uploading a portrait picture for the secondary? My pic is a jpg and <4 MB
 
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Anyone else having trouble uploading a portrait picture for the secondary? My pic is a jpg and <4 MB
When you upload it does it give you an error message or are you just not seeing it? you may need to click "save progress" before you actually see the photo.
 
Does anyone know from previous years or current students for how long they send secondaries out? OOS nontrad with strong ties to SD but I worry they’ll just glide past me if stats are priority.
 
Does anyone know from previous years or current students for how long they send secondaries out? OOS nontrad with strong ties to SD but I worry they’ll just glide past me if stats are priority.
It said they will inform you if they screen you out of a secondary so you’ll hear from them regardless
 
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Anyone applying for PRIME-HEq?

I'm considering it. I'm pretty big on queer health, but I'm waffling on whether I want to do a fifth year for the master's thesis. What makes you want to apply?
 
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I'm considering it. I need to look more into it, but I'm pretty big on queer health. What makes you want to apply?
I am also interested in queer health. I have been working with under-resourced communities in San Diego for the past 5 years so I'm really interested in continuing that work and getting the training from the PRIME program to do that work as a physician.
 
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I am also interested in queer health. I have been working with under-resourced communities in San Diego for the past 5 years so I'm really interested in continuing that work and getting the training from the PRIME program to do that work as a physician.
With that level of commitment, especially in San Diego itself, I would be stunned if you weren't accepted into PRIME-HEq. From one queer person to another, I genuinely hope you get in -- we need more of us in medicine :)
 
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Dude that's so nice, I haven't prewritten fully for any schools. Just the big essays. Im gonna be so screwed the next few days.
Sorry to double post, but I'm giggling at the cohesion between your username and this post.
 
Hi I have a question regarding the following secondary question:
Do you consider yourself to be a member of a group that is marginalized in a way that systemically affects access to quality education or healthcare?(Y/N) if Y Please describe how educational disparity, health disparity and/or marginalization has impacted you and your community?

I am an immigrant who spent my childhood and college years (until age 22) in my home country(Asia) before moving to the US. I already discussed educational and health disparity in my childhood in the autobiographical statement. Unsure how to approach this since I am not part of the common marginalized groups defined by AAMC. Since I talked about educational and health disparity I feel that I should mark yes. But how should I approach the followed essay question? Just repeat myself and copy paste that part of my autobiographical statement where I talked about educational and health disparity?

any insight is welcome, especially advice from adcoms. @Goro @gyngyn @Faha @Moko @LizzyM
 
Just repeat myself and copy paste that part of my autobiographical statement where I talked about educational and health disparity?
Don't do this. A prompt is an opportunity to reveal something that adds meaning and substance to an application. It would be better to leave it blank than copy and paste.
 
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is anyone else struggling with the autobiographical sketch? It's feels overwhelming.
 
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is anyone else struggling with the autobiographical sketch? It's feels overwhelming.
I just started writing and dumped as many words as I could onto the doc. As I kept going it started to take structure! Just think about why you're applying and put that on paper!
 
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I just started writing and dumped as many words as I could onto the doc. As I kept going it started to take structure! Just think about why you're applying and put that on paper!
Yeah I got a bunch on paper and it's coming together. Now I'm trying to balance it against what I've already discussed in my personal statement.
 
Is, and in region just got secondary. Also, for the autobiography statement, can we mention COVID and the issues we faced because of it?
I want to include my COVID essay essentially as I feel that COVID essays are important but not sure if I should include it.
 
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IS, submitted 6/6, app processed 7/5, secondary received 7/5.
 
Does anybody know if it is beneficial to write essays for the programs like Prime-HEQ?
Or is it just for those who are interested?
 
for the career pathway question - i personally am interested in both primary care and public health...anyone have this same predicament? should i just choose other and write about both?
 
for the career pathway question - i personally am interested in both primary care and public health...anyone have this same predicament? should i just choose other and write about both?
I was in the same boat so I chose public health/underserved and just mentioned that I see myself working with underserved individuals in a primary care setting.
 
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@wysdoc

"Do you consider yourself to be a member of a group that is marginalized in a way that systemically affects access to quality education or healthcare?(Y/N) if Y Please describe how educational disparity, health disparity and/or marginalization has impacted you and your community?"

This is a 4800-character prompt that wasn't in the initial post.
 
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Yeah I got a bunch on paper and it's coming together. Now I'm trying to balance it against what I've already discussed in my personal statement.
How did you end up balancing what you had written on personal statement to make this additional insight?
 
How did you end up balancing what you had written on personal statement to make this additional insight?
I guess the only "insight" I had in my sketch was going a bit more into the experiences that led me to wanting to be a physician. I spent more time talking about my upbringing/family background as that was not something I was able to highlight in my personal statement. I also used it as an opportunity to highlight some of my struggles around being LGBTQ and growing up in a conservative town/family.
 
I guess the only "insight" I had in my sketch was going a bit more into the experiences that led me to wanting to be a physician. I spent more time talking about my upbringing/family background as that was not something I was able to highlight in my personal statement. I also used it as an opportunity to highlight some of my struggles around being LGBTQ and growing up in a conservative town/family.
I also talked in greater detail about my childhood and my family's first few years in America
 
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