2023-2024 UCLA (Geffen)

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med400 said:
I'm super curious to know, what made you guys decide ucla is the school you want to go to? for me, it's the way the curriculum is structured/the location!
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Location and proximity to good support systems was #1 for me. Depending on what you like about the curriculum, make sure you ask current students what it's really like !! For example, there are definitely some differences with STEP exams compared to other schools and caveats to dual degrees during MS3 discovery year that you'll want to clarify.
 
Morningnight said:
Location and proximity to good support systems was #1 for me. Depending on what you like about the curriculum, make sure you ask current students what it's really like !! For example, there are definitely some differences with STEP exams compared to other schools and caveats to dual degrees during MS3 discovery year that you'll want to clarify.
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When do yall take step 1 and 2? Is it both during the 6 week dedicated period?
 
Came across this for anyone accepted that likes vintage:
 
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thepursuitofhappiness said:
When do yall take step 1 and 2? Is it both during the 6 week dedicated period?
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It's really up to you. At the moment, people have taken step 1 during dedicated, and then taken the MS3 year to study for step 2 along with whatever ECs you're doing. Basically what people used to do pre-step 1 going P/F. We don't have 2 separate dedicated's to study for both tests like some other schools out there (ie CWRU).
 
Morningnight said:
It's really up to you. At the moment, people have taken step 1 during dedicated, and then taken the MS3 year to study for step 2 along with whatever ECs you're doing. Basically what people used to do pre-step 1 going P/F. We don't have 2 separate dedicated's to study for both tests like some other schools out there (ie CWRU).
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Thanks again! Are the the core clerkships p/f but the 4th year ones are graded?
 
organiccotton said:
I received one but it was more of have you made up your mind, what is influencing your decision and can *the interviewer* help in any way?
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Do y’all think this is happening to top interviewees who they are sure have competitive offers elsewhere or those who have tentatively selected to plan to enroll elsewhere?
 
BreadMan said:
Do y’all think this is happening to top interviewees who they are sure have competitive offers elsewhere or those who have tentatively selected to plan to enroll elsewhere?
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I got a call like this a couple weeks ago before I had selected PTE for any school
 
I also got an email from my interviewer, but even though she tailored it to my experiences and things we talked about in our interview, I’m fairly certain she sent it to all the accepted students she interviewed!
 
pandapremed said:
Could I DM you too? Also a low-income student starting to get worried at what mine will look like 😭
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A scholarship is much rarer in medical school than in college, and it is a boon because it does not need to be repaid. Most other financing for your COA will be in the form of loans.
If you haven’t submitted your FAFSA yet get it in so your school can work on financial aid. FAFSA processing delays this year are not any school’s fault, but the fault of a poorly managed rollout of the new form.
 
wysdoc said:
A scholarship is much rarer in medical school than in college, and it is a boon because it does not need to be repaid. Most other financing for your COA will be in the form of loans.
If you haven’t submitted your FAFSA yet get it in so your school can work on financial aid. FAFSA processing delays this year are not any school’s fault, but the fault of a poorly managed rollout of the new form.
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I know scholarships are rare and the norm is to be on loans, I just find that terrifying as a low-income student lol
 
pandapremed said:
I know scholarships are rare and the norm is to be on loans, I just find that terrifying as a low-income student lol
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It's the reality and something you need to know as you embark on 4 years of medical school.
Whether you come from a low income household or not, the loans are meant to give you enough to live on as well as to pay tuition.
I would recommend taking out the maximum offered the first year, then see how that goes. If you are a frugal person you may find that you didn't spend as much as they estimated on housing, food, etc. But what if your car breaks down & needs big $$ repairs? The loan amount is a cushion for this kind of stuff.
You have to submit a new FAFSA each year while med school, don't forget to do that. If you didn't need the whole loan amount first year, take out less the second year.
Learn about this now to increase knowledge and minimize the fear of the unknown. You will bring home a salary staring the first month of your residency and more when your residency is done; you will be able to pay off these loans.
 
wysdoc said:
It's the reality and something you need to know as you embark on 4 years of medical school.
Whether you come from a low income household or not, the loans are meant to give you enough to live on as well as to pay tuition.
I would recommend taking out the maximum offered the first year, then see how that goes. If you are a frugal person you may find that you didn't spend as much as they estimated on housing, food, etc. But what if your car breaks down & needs big $$ repairs? The loan amount is a cushion for this kind of stuff.
You have to submit a new FAFSA each year while med school, don't forget to do that. If you didn't need the whole loan amount first year, take out less the second year.
Learn about this now to increase knowledge and minimize the fear of the unknown. You will bring home a salary staring the first month of your residency and more when your residency is done; you will be able to pay off these loans.
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Thanks for the reminders, I'm a non-trad that's pretty financially literate. Good info for others though.
 
Hi guys, I just received my PAL. Need based scholarships do NOT need to be repaid right?
 
fredagain said:
When do we think merit scholarships are going to go out
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The second look weekend is in ~two weeks. I'd be shocked if they don't go out by the end of next week. Even then, they may lose some applicants who have already scheduled second look plans with schools that have provided timely merit aid notifications. Very odd that it is delayed, since their office says the scholarship committee is unrelated to fin aid office and FAFSA filing.

@Carti. My FAFSA was processed 3/23 and I haven't received a PAL yet. They said within 5 business days, which would be before next Wednesday.
 
6'0 OGFLYERCI said:
What is pal? Should people on the waitlist fill anything out for ucla?
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It’s the Provisional Aid Letter & as for those of us on the waitlist, I don’t think so because I didn’t get any instructions/info about financial aid via email
 
do you guys know if a thread for 2024-2025 ucla applications has been made yet? i can’t seem to find it if there is one!
 
Hi guys! does ucla med look at the grades for part time semesters when calculating the GPA, or do they only include courses taken in a full time semester?
 
med400 said:
Hi guys! does ucla med look at the grades for part time semesters when calculating the GPA, or do they only include courses taken in a full time semester?
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AMCAS requires you to submit grades from all schools.
 
med400 said:
Hi guys! does ucla med look at the grades for part time semesters when calculating the GPA, or do they only include courses taken in a full time semester?
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They take into consideration all classes you've taken -- regardless of parttime or fulltime status. If it's on the transcript, then it's counted.
 
med400 said:
Similar question about stats! How are my chances looking with a 3.7 sGPA? I'm planning to take the MCAT in a month, predicted score is 516. I also have lots of meaningful community experiences (started a community health initiative that helped over 1600 people, alongside other more minor community experiences like volunteering at a mobile needle exchange), clinical experience (400+ hours as a frontline worker during the pandemic and more recently became a medical first responder (I'll have about 150 hours when I apply)), volunteering experience (2000+ hours at local rural LTC and a hospital, started various programs at both to help patients, including a walking program), leadership experiences (served on my student council for multiple years, elected to Senate for my current university where I get to work with the Deans and President of the uni, started a neuroscience club, on lots of committees for my uni, president of other student run clubs throughout uni, won the dean's award for excellence one year, chief of my uni's newsletter), and extensive research (publications as first author and otherwise, conference presentations, won an award, was a Harvard research trainee in a Neurosurgical lab for 2 years).

I'm confident I will have pretty good LORs too. I know my extra-curriculars are good, but I'm worried about my GPA and MCAT! I have one outlier poor grade but I repeated the course and did really well. I am also pursuing an online post-bacc certificate with UCLA extension currently to improve my GPA in case that ends up being a hurdle. What are my odds of an acceptance looking like? Any advice/input would be very helpful!!!
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@med400 and @med818 Please place general questions about your application in this forum: What Are My Chances? WAMC Medical
 
How are you supposed to negotiate your PAL? Do you just email the financial aid office or is there a different way to go about it?
 
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