2024-2025 UCLA (Geffen)

Med School Insiders
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Is UCLA offering any financial aid if you are low income? I have heard they have only been giving loans....
Members don't see this ad.
 
losrulosuyey said:
Is UCLA offering any financial aid if you are low income? I have heard they have only been giving loans....
Click to expand...

I am low ses and got about 15-25k in financial aid, the rest in grad plus loans. I did not get any need based aid/scholarships
 
Members don't see this ad :)
mebdound said:
I am low ses and got about 15-25k in financial aid, the rest in grad plus loans. I did not get any need based aid/scholarships
Click to expand...
Are you in the current cohort/ class of 2029 or already a student? Thanks
 
Can someone clarify if I understand correctly:

Currently we choose "Plan to enroll" and after April 30, we withdraw all other offers, except waitlist? Even though there's no scholarship or need based aid information yet? And by June 2nd we need to choose "Commit to Enroll" and withdraw all waitlist holds as well?
 
GatsbysBatman said:
Can someone clarify if I understand correctly:

Currently we choose "Plan to enroll" and after April 30, we withdraw all other offers, except waitlist? Even though there's no scholarship or need based aid information yet? And by June 2nd we need to choose "Commit to Enroll" and withdraw all waitlist holds as well?
Click to expand...
I believe it also depends on cte of the school.
 
purple3081 said:
Good. I still find it a little strange that they haven’t sent any post interview rejections yet. It’s really hard to tell how big the waitlist really is
Click to expand...
Maybe those are still inbound may 1st hahaha

There seemed like a lot of movement last cycle after the whole curriculum viral post. Perhaps they are worried they will have similar movement?
 
Basalganglia4life said:
Maybe those are still inbound may 1st hahaha

There seemed like a lot of movement last cycle after the whole curriculum viral post. Perhaps they are worried they will have similar movement?
Click to expand...
that’s what I think too hahaha! It just doesn’t make sense if whether the people waiting for a decision are like “back ups” for the waitlist or if they are still in the running for an A. If that’s the case, I’m assuming DGSOM’s yield rate is super unpredictable
 
Basalganglia4life said:
Maybe those are still inbound may 1st hahaha

There seemed like a lot of movement last cycle after the whole curriculum viral post. Perhaps they are worried they will have similar movement?
Click to expand...
My mentor who returned from a T10 medical school as a guest speaker for their students/residents in the affiliate hospital stated people feel a similar sense of concern towards UCLA this cycle as well
 
Members don't see this ad :)
purple3081 said:
that’s what I think too hahaha! It just doesn’t make sense if whether the people waiting for a decision are like “back ups” for the waitlist or if they are still in the running for an A. If that’s the case, I’m assuming DGSOM’s yield rate is super unpredictable
Click to expand...
Are there a lot of folks waiting for a decision?
 
Basalganglia4life said:
Are there a lot of folks waiting for a decision?
Click to expand...
I’m not sure :/ I’m just assuming that anyone who hasn’t either gotten the R or the waitlist is just in a limbo. It’s just strange that we haven’t heard from those folks. It could mean either two things 1) everyone got waitlisted post interview and the waitlist is like 800 people lol 2) maybe not a lot of people are interested in going to UCLA so they don’t care to disclose that they’re still waiting
 
purple3081 said:
that’s what I think too hahaha! It just doesn’t make sense if whether the people waiting for a decision are like “back ups” for the waitlist or if they are still in the running for an A. If that’s the case, I’m assuming DGSOM’s yield rate is super unpredictable
Click to expand...
Doubt they are in the running for an A esp beyond the PTE deadline. Pretty sure all the schools move people from their respective waitlists following the PTE date
 
purple3081 said:
I’m not sure :/ I’m just assuming that anyone who hasn’t either gotten the R or the waitlist is just in a limbo. It’s just strange that we haven’t heard from those folks. It could mean either two things 1) everyone got waitlisted post interview and the waitlist is like 800 people lol 2) maybe not a lot of people are interested in going to UCLA so they don’t care to disclose that they’re still waiting
Click to expand...
Agree with the options you provided. This sounds more realistic
 
carpe_diem_to_medschool said:
Agree with the options you provided. This sounds more realistic
Click to expand...
I’m kinda thinking that it might be possibility 2 since based on the amount of people that reported being waitlisted on SDN and cycle track this year is very similar to the amount from last year. If it really was like 800 people that were waitlisted I’m sure waaaaay more people would’ve reported it
 
purple3081 said:
I’m kinda thinking that it might be possibility 2 since based on the amount of people that reported being waitlisted on SDN and cycle track this year is very similar to the amount from last year. If it really was like 800 people that were waitlisted I’m sure waaaaay more people would’ve reported it
Click to expand...
Agreed. Two cycles ago, a ton of people reported of post-ii rejections
 
Ziriyab said:
I am curious, is the drop in ranking from the current admistration cutting research funding? I am suprised to see most of the UC schools drop rankings, even UCSF.
Click to expand...


Apparently, the admit.org people are now basing [or heavily basing] the entire rank list on "match list strength". I have a transcript saved from someone on their website corroborating this in case they try to fake news me. The algorithm they are using is completely different. New MSAR data had not even been released.

They are also seemingly treat the top 50 different than others in this algorithm.

I think it is very low-quality of them and borderline nefarious of them to have released updated rankings while not telling the general public that they are basically using an entirely new algorithm.

Their new algorithm is flawed imo, and I think hurts west coast schools because west coast residencies are ranked lower across the board on doximity.

Their new algorithm assumes that all people essentially just seek the best ranked residency possible regardless of geographic location, which is just simply not true lol

Again, I do not know why they released these rankings right before impressionable students make decisions while also not sharing they changed how they are doing it.

They are not factoring ANYTHING [or nearly anything] but match list for the top 50, but that seems to be clear to no one. I had to ask them on their chat feature for them to tell me they decided to make this change. I.e yield, research funding, number of low SES students, etc. none of that is in their rankings anymore lol [according to the person I talked to on their website]
===========================
Source:
02:45 PM | J------ from Admit: For the top 50 schools, we didn’t incorporate stats - we based their algo largely on the past 2 years of match lists (and next year will be based on 3 years, so larger sample size)

02:46 PM | J------ from Admit: Match lists are the most indicative of a med school’s strength (as long as the sample size of years is broad enough)

02:46 PM | J------ from Admit: Because it includes factors like regional connections, specialty strength (like UMiami having very strong nsgy and ophtho programs), etc

02:55 PM | J------ from Admit: As for a disclaimer - we’re trying to move away from publicly posting in places just so that it doesn’t feel like we’re trying to moderate/sway discussion

02:55 PM | J------ from Admit: We want it to be open - if people want to discuss admit they can, and if not then not

02:57 PM | J------ from Admit: At the end of the day, it wouldn’t make sense to use number of low or high SES accepted students as a control. We did that last year because we had to adjust for MCAT scores

03:00 PM | J------ from Admit: Measuring the ending outcomes with match lists just made the most sense for this year

03:14 PM | J------- from Admit: Match lists are just the most ironclad way to have rankings right now, and they’re an improvement on last year

03:15 PM | J------ from Admit: And the best part about Match lists, they include factors that couldn’t be ranked before such as prestige, program director strength, specialty strength, etc
 
Last edited:
Addressed the same post above on Reddit which contains quite a bit of wrong info and is being spammed for some reason. You can see my reply here.

TLDR: Methodology is the same with match lists added as a relatively small component. Match list strength is primarily based on IM + boosts/penalties based on the ability of the school to send applicants to non-home programs. Methodology is being released soon after the essay manager - I was sick and had an exam 🙂
 
Last edited:
HappyRabbit said:
Addressed the same post above on Reddit which contains quite a bit of wrong info and is being spammed for some reason. You can see my reply here.

TLDR: Methodology is the same with match lists added as a relatively small component. Match list strength is primarily based on IM + boosts/penalties based on the ability of the school to send applicants to non-home programs.
Click to expand...
Yeah, thanks. Originally based on the replies from someone else on website.

Will look forward to methodology being linked next to the rank list when things are completed.
 
Sorry for clarification, the rankings are or are not heavily based on match list? If so, is it based on speciality or program strength? I have a hard time understanding why match list would be so heavily emphasized when most people choose to do their training close to a support system/family.
 
futuredocgall said:
Sorry for clarification, the rankings are or are not heavily based on match list? If so, is it based on speciality or program strength? I have a hard time understanding why match list would be so heavily emphasized when most people choose to do their training close to a support system/family.
Click to expand...
From his reddit post: "Hey, the ranking methodology is similar to last year with the exception of match list strength which was added this year - I'm currently working on a full blog post which will go into everything since it's been highly requested.

To give a summary, match list strength is evaluated based on three factors:

  1. The ability of a medical school to match applicants into competitive specialties (surgical specialties, derm, rads, etc).
  2. The quality of the residency programs that the applicants are matching into.
  3. The ability for medical schools to send applicants outside of their home program into the above two categories (boosts and penalties are applied if a school can only match students into competitive home programs, for example).
For the most part, the rankings are largely the same but it's clear that the new methodology is quite an improvement compared to the old one: you can see this in the ranks of Dartmouth and Case Western, for example, who have strong match lists but were overpenalized by small research funding which isn't the greatest metric. Next year I plan on adding Step 2 to the methodology which will take some weight off of MCAT and GPA as well."

To answer your question, they are indeed putting most/ a lot of the weight on match list. This can be perceived as flawed. This is why I want them to put the algorithm / methodology linked next to the rankings soon so that people can see what is going into them and judge for themselves their utility.

My goal with all of this was to make people not worry as much about those rankings.
 
Even based on that explanation, UCLA's drop (I think from 13-->22 and from 6-->22 from 2021/2022) seems a bit stark and worrying.
 
Last edited:
new MSAR has some weird data with the WL movement, have you guys seen it? It says 250 WL positions and 250 were offered? Is this a typo?
 
ConfusedPremed3000 said:
Also I think good amount of WL movement for this cycle is expected. The Groupme is steadily losing folks after the (devastatingly low and absent) fin aid offers were released. Some to many individuals that were heavily leaning DGSOM have essentially reversed that decision.
Click to expand...
When have the financial aid offers begun coming out?
 
dodoo123 said:
new MSAR has some weird data with the WL movement, have you guys seen it? It says 250 WL positions and 250 were offered? Is this a typo?
Click to expand...
Is this data for this cycle? I'm looking at the comments, and for Rutgers, it mentions reviewing applicants only after 2025. How would MSAR/schools have data this early?
 
carpe_diem_to_medschool said:
I noticed the same thing. Either they waitlisted more than 250 people or it was an inaccurate reporting
Click to expand...
but isn't this chart from MSAR like a document OFFICIALLY from AAMC?? How can they mess up something like that?? It's not just a random guy on sdn or reddit thats pulling up data from admit.org or cycletrack? Is it possible for AAMC to just "oopsie daisy, i made a mistake" like that and publish it officially on their website????



The doc's here if anyone wondering: Medical School Admission Requirements™ Reports for Applicants and Advisors under: Interview and Waitlist Information
 
workblurbs2025 said:
but isn't this chart from MSAR like a document OFFICIALLY from AAMC?? How can they mess up something like that?? It's not just a random guy on sdn or reddit thats pulling up data from admit.org or cycletrack? Is it possible for AAMC to just "oopsie daisy, i made a mistake" like that and publish it officially on their website????



The doc's here if anyone wondering: Medical School Admission Requirements™ Reports for Applicants and Advisors under: Interview and Waitlist Information
Click to expand...
The misreporting is hard to believe on my end too. Clearly based on last year’s SDN, there were people who did not get pulled off the waitlist
 
PLsPLsPLs said:
I will not be going here so no horse in this race but this is essentially meaningless. Admit .org rankings are essentially worthless as they factor in MCAT/GPA (may correlate with laymen prestige but has no bearing on your life once you're in), research funding (which past a certain point also does not impact your life, as you'll have ample opportunity to do research in whatever field you want), and match list. With UCLA being an institution that largely emphasizes service of underrepresented Californians, lots of people will match "bad" specialties.

I would personally take UCLA over most places currently rated above it, as many are in cold/depressing/dangerous areas and/or dont have the nice PF curriculum or dedicated research time. Once you start school, nobody will care about these rankings. Go outside and stop reading admit.
Click to expand...
I quite honestly appreciated and enjoyed reading this comment amongst the sea of comments from stressed out applicants. I get it, I am one, too. But it is really helpful for this more grounded take.
 
carpe_diem_to_medschool said:
Thanks for sharing!

I can imagine high COA being a deterrent for UCLA especially for those who have half/full tuition scholarships offered elsewhere. Not to mention, the need for a car getting around LA would incur additional costs.
Click to expand...
They also are not matching scholarship offers from other schools based on my experience and speaking with others, so this could be another reason we see a lot of waitlist movement.
 
purple3081 said:
Maybe they mean like UP TO 250 people could get off? As in like they don’t have a cap? Idk their MSAR data has been so confusing for the last two years
Click to expand...
Or wait actually. I think what it means is 250 waitlist offers were sent and 250 students ACCEPTED the waitlist offer. Maybe…?
 
lol123456789 said:
have they released the financial aid scholarships/need based grants? I only see the letter on the bruin portal from February?
Click to expand...
That is your financial aid/scholarship package, unfortunately.If it did not change, then you did not receive anything (90% of accepted students got the same fate). Only way it changes is if a recipient ends up committing to another med school and forego UCLA. I recommend perusing the accepted groupme with updates from the fin aid office lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2024-2025 Roseman
8 9 10 11 12
Replies
598
Views
90K
electrofartiogram
E
gyngyn
2024-2025 San Juan Bautista
Replies
0
Views
2K
gyngyn
gyngyn
I
2024-2025 San Juan Bautista
2
Replies
57
Views
8K
Ana_11
Ana_11
wysdoc
2024-2025 Alice L Walton
3 4 5 6 7
Replies
333
Views
83K
abcdefghijklmnopqr
A
chilly_md
2024-2025 Northstate
2 3 4
Replies
177
Views
40K
GCU_Grey_Area
G
Top