2024-2025 UCLA (Geffen)

BU Medical Sciences
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Um, for the first question "What missions do you want to embrace? What have you done toward your missions?" I feel really stuck T_T
I don't have a super consistent theme across my activities, as I've worked to re-establish a student organization for students with disabilities, whereas my volunteering is with immigrant patients in Chinatown, and my research is a literature research project about trauma...

So I really have no idea how to tie all of these together into one societal mission if that makes sense. 🙁
Like I'm so tempted to just say "outstanding physician and lifelong learner" cuz the one thing I can find that ties these activities together is how many different perspectives I learn from, but I don't think I can just settle with that.
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ninjarules123 said:
Um, for the first question "What missions do you want to embrace? What have you done toward your missions?" I feel really stuck T_T
I don't have a super consistent theme across my activities, as I've worked to re-establish a student organization for students with disabilities, whereas my volunteering is with immigrant patients in Chinatown, and my research is a literature research project about trauma...

So I really have no idea how to tie all of these together into one societal mission if that makes sense. 🙁
Like I'm so tempted to just say "outstanding physician and lifelong learner" cuz the one thing I can find that ties these activities together is how many different perspectives I learn from, but I don't think I can just settle with that.
Click to expand...
I don't think your answer to this has to follow a theme in your application. I answered this question by describing a goal that I wanted to accomplish when I am a physician and some steps that I have taken to get there so far.
 
ninjarules123 said:
Um, for the first question "What missions do you want to embrace? What have you done toward your missions?" I feel really stuck T_T
I don't have a super consistent theme across my activities, as I've worked to re-establish a student organization for students with disabilities, whereas my volunteering is with immigrant patients in Chinatown, and my research is a literature research project about trauma...

So I really have no idea how to tie all of these together into one societal mission if that makes sense. 🙁
Like I'm so tempted to just say "outstanding physician and lifelong learner" cuz the one thing I can find that ties these activities together is how many different perspectives I learn from, but I don't think I can just settle with that.
Click to expand...
If you don't have a goal/theme, you really can't answer that question. This isn't the kind of question you can answer with a scattered application. I honestly feel like that question was added (I applied in 2020 and it wasn't there that cycle) to weed out a good chunk of applicants.

A societal mission would be health equity or something that improves society or the field of medicine as a whole.
 
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ninjarules123 said:
Um, for the first question "What missions do you want to embrace? What have you done toward your missions?" I feel really stuck T_T
I don't have a super consistent theme across my activities, as I've worked to re-establish a student organization for students with disabilities, whereas my volunteering is with immigrant patients in Chinatown, and my research is a literature research project about trauma...

So I really have no idea how to tie all of these together into one societal mission if that makes sense. 🙁
Like I'm so tempted to just say "outstanding physician and lifelong learner" cuz the one thing I can find that ties these activities together is how many different perspectives I learn from, but I don't think I can just settle with that.
Click to expand...
sarcasmrules said:
If you don't have a goal/theme, you really can't answer that question. This isn't the kind of question you can answer with a scattered application. I honestly feel like that question was added (I applied in 2020 and it wasn't there that cycle) to weed out a good chunk of applicants.

A societal mission would be health equity or something that improves society or the field of medicine as a whole.
Click to expand...
I dont completely agree with @sarcasmrules, although I see where they're coming from. I think you can have a mission in life / in your pursuit in medicine, without your application neatly following this mission. I would personally pick one route that you are passionate about for the sake of being concise -- with at least SOME verifiable evidence in your activities. So talk about what youre most passionate about changing in the world 🙂

For example, a lot of my personal experiences, volunteering, and jobs center around a general theme. But my research is tooootally unrelated, lol. I think thats normal & expected to some degree.
 
ecobio said:
I dont completely agree with @sarcasmrules, although I see where they're coming from. I think you can have a mission in life / in your pursuit in medicine, without your application neatly following this mission. I would personally pick one route that you are passionate about for the sake of being concise -- with at least SOME verifiable evidence in your activities. So talk about what youre most passionate about changing in the world 🙂

For example, a lot of my personal experiences, volunteering, and jobs center around a general theme. But my research is tooootally unrelated, lol. I think thats normal & expected to some degree.
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Current student here, just want to echo this. You are most certainly "allowed" to have multiple interests... not everything in your application needs to tie into the exact same theme. In fact, I might even argue that a student with multiple areas of interest is much more well-rounded than a student who has tied every activity into the same topic.

As with most schools today, DGSOM wants to see that you are motivated to be a leader in your field and create positive change in an area that you are passionate about. Write about something important and meaningful to you, but please don't feel like you need to connect all of your experiences to one central "mission" in this short 800-character essay.
 
imtired123 said:
Current student here, just want to echo this. You are most certainly "allowed" to have multiple interests... not everything in your application needs to tie into the exact same theme. In fact, I might even argue that a student with multiple areas of interest is much more well-rounded than a student who has tied every activity into the same topic.

As with most schools today, DGSOM wants to see that you are motivated to be a leader in your field and create positive change in an area that you are passionate about. Write about something important and meaningful to you, but please don't feel like you need to connect all of your experiences to one central "mission" in this short 800-character essay.
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Ah okay, that makes sense, thank you! Would it be okay if I DM'd you my response? I feel like right now it's a bit broad / imprecise, and would really appreciate your feedback
 
Weirdly fast turnaround for secondaries. Verified by AMCAS 7/22 1:30PM PST, received secondary 7/22 couple of hours later. I thought they screened lol so I wasn’t expecting it.

OOS with strong ties to CA, 508, 3.5 GPA & Asian.
 
For your different activities, should I be focusing on ones I hadn't described as much in my primary? Or will they not have access to the primary and I'm expected to talk about the same ones?
 
For their question:"Are you a first-generation college graduate? (First generation to college is defined as having parents, guardians, or extended family who have a high school education or less.)"

If one of my parents has less than a high school education, but the other has an associate's/bachelor's degree, how would one answer this? It seems to be worded much more open-ended than the other prompts that talk about this.
 
miffeddoc said:
For your different activities, should I be focusing on ones I hadn't described as much in my primary? Or will they not have access to the primary and I'm expected to talk about the same ones?
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Consider your primary and secondary completely separate. You can talk about something from your primary. This is really to give them an idea on what activities to focus on in the context of your application. UCSD and UCI ask for something similar.
 
in terms of the three questions tying into the outstanding physician, AND...
do you think it needs to be medicine-related? for example, the first one i was thinking about writing abt roller derby and how i've found a community i feel welcome in and how my goal is to continue to expand the community in the same way i'm interested in mentoring/community education. is this okay?
 
mistermustachemom said:
in terms of the three questions tying into the outstanding physician, AND...
do you think it needs to be medicine-related? for example, the first one i was thinking about writing abt roller derby and how i've found a community i feel welcome in and how my goal is to continue to expand the community in the same way i'm interested in mentoring/community education. is this okay?
Click to expand...
If you look at all the other three following prompts, it harkens back to how you answered the first. So if you want to dedicate all of those prompts (and almost half of your secondaries) to your interest in mentoring and community education, you could....but it may not be favorable if you wander too far off of your interest in medicine.
 
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mistermustachemom said:
in terms of the three questions tying into the outstanding physician, AND...
do you think it needs to be medicine-related? for example, the first one i was thinking about writing abt roller derby and how i've found a community i feel welcome in and how my goal is to continue to expand the community in the same way i'm interested in mentoring/community education. is this okay?
Click to expand...
Of the 3 essays (leadership, volunteer work and scholarly project) for this essay question about outstanding physician, AND... , I think it is fine to speak about a non-medical topic in 1 of these essays, especially if you end up tying it into your career goals in medicine (mentoring and community education are certainly important aspects in healthcare!). As you can tell just from the secondary questions, DGSOM wants students who have passions outside of becoming a physician, so speaking about your unique interests is a great way to demonstrate this (and potentially stand out in your application).
 
simlish said:
If you look at all the other three following prompts, it harkens back to how you answered the first. So if you want to dedicate all of those prompts (and almost half of your secondaries) to your interest in mentoring and community education, you could....but it may not be favorable if you wander too far off of your interest in medicine.
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You grossly underestimate how much medicine overlaps with other fields: public health, social work, even education and mentoring. Part of a doctor's job is to teach their patients about health. "Doctor" actually means "teacher"; that's why MD stands for Doctor of Medicine. Let's not forget academic medicine is a thing.

Here's an example of how a non-clinical experience can enhance your abilities as a physician. Take an applicant who volunteers with homeless people and sees they face health issues that are overlooked by physicians and want to fix that. They take that experience into medical school and find ways to bridge the gap between medicine and the issues homeless people face. I also met this girl who's father was in the military so she moved a lot. Because of that, her ADHD was diagnosed late because she never had a long-term pediatrician who was familiar with her and noticed her ADHD during well-child visits. I did not meet her at a medical conference, it just came up in conversation. You can go very far from medicine and still tie it back.
 
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sarcasmrules said:
You grossly underestimate how much medicine overlaps with other fields: public health, social work, even education and mentoring. Part of a doctor's job is to teach their patients about health. "Doctor" actually means "teacher"; that's why MD stands for Doctor of Medicine. Let's not forget academic medicine is a thing.

Here's an example of how a non-clinical experience can enhance your abilities as a physician. Take an applicant who volunteers with homeless people and sees they face health issues that are overlooked by physicians and want to fix that. They take that experience into medical school and find ways to bridge the gap between medicine and the issues homeless people face. I also met this girl who's father was in the military so she moved a lot. Because of that, her ADHD was diagnosed late because she never had a long-term pediatrician who was familiar with her and noticed her ADHD during well-child visits. I did not meet her at a medical conference, it just came up in conversation. You can go very far from medicine and still tie it back.
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I agree with you, that's why I urged not to wander too far off instead of saying no don't write it.
 
For #2 is it three 800 char essays? Can someone please lmk! Thank you
 
Thanks so much for the fast reply @roadtomd1! For those programs at the bottom is it required to select them or is it optional? Is it open to everyone? Also is each question 800 chars or the essay should include all those respones at 800 chars?
 
Still haven’t received a secondary and I was verified in June… guess I got screen out🙁
 
If we didn’t get a secondary by now and had our app transmitted on the first day, are we screened out?
 
I’m honestly confused what there screening for if you have mission fit and adequate statistics…
 
I think UCLA is truly a holistic review school, compared to most others that say they are holistic. You can tell by each question the secondary asks that they are trying to learn all types of information about you, rather than focusing on test scores.
 
Fast question, due to the the 800-character limit, do you guys think it is necessary to have a narrative/story-like secondary? Or is it fine to be direct with the secondaries?
 
sam2029 said:
Fast question, due to the the 800-character limit, do you guys think it is necessary to have a narrative/story-like secondary? Or is it fine to be direct with the secondaries?
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in 800 ch there just isn't enough room to tell a story, I'd just lay out the facts as efficiently as possible.
 
just_tryingmybest said:
Weirdly fast turnaround for secondaries. Verified by AMCAS 7/22 1:30PM PST, received secondary 7/22 couple of hours later. I thought they screened lol so I wasn’t expecting it.

OOS with strong ties to CA, 508, 3.5 GPA & Asian.
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There are 2 explanations:
1. They're done reviewing the bulk of primaries they get and stay on top of the new waves of secondaries they get.
2. They see your application before it is processed. I think Yale sends secondaries before you're even verified. At least the last time I applied.
 
For some information, I am OOS and a reapplicant (with very strong ties to CA, I grew up and went to college there). I did not receive a secondary the first time I applied in 2022. This time around, I was verified on 6/28 and received a secondary on 7/14 after receiving the receipt of the primary on 7/11. I had average stats the first time and was surprised not to get a secondary (I received the R in November).

Although I now have a much higher MCAT score and a stronger app, I was still nervous about not getting a secondary. I had a friend with a 505 interview in 2022, and one with a 500 got a secondary this cycle. It seems their secondary screening process is not stat-based. We really have no idea what goes into their screening, so if you haven't gotten a secondary, don't freak out and overthink it. I still received IIs from great schools my first cycle (I sucked at interviewing, though) despite not getting their secondary. In conclusion, UCLA is mystical so don't take it personally.
 
Any idea of how long it takes to hear back for an II? Just so I can get an estimate of how long to wait, since I just completed my secondary.
 
sam2029 said:
Any idea of how long it takes to hear back for an II? Just so I can get an estimate of how long to wait, since I just completed my secondary.
Click to expand...
anytime from august through march.

Medical School Application Timeline | UCLA Med School

Attend informational sessions with the Admissions staff if you have questions about medical school applications and medical school requirements
medschool.ucla.edu medschool.ucla.edu
 
As for question 2C, the "describe your most scholarly project (thesis/research)", would it be acceptable to write about an engineering capstone design project?
It feels like the prompt is asking specifically for research, which I aint got. My engineering school didn't offer honors theses, and very few of us participated in research.
 
TitaniusAnglesmith said:
As for question 2C, the "describe your most scholarly project (thesis/research)", would it be acceptable to write about an engineering capstone design project?
It feels like the prompt is asking specifically for research, which I aint got. My engineering school didn't offer honors theses, and very few of us participated in research.
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I feel like your capstone project would qualify as your "most scholarly project". As long as you can frame it towards how it helps your mission, I feel like that's fine
 
Is UCLA still sending out secondaries? I’m kind of losing hope 🙁 I’m IS and went here for undergrad. Was really hoping for a secondary
 
sushisphinx said:
Is UCLA still sending out secondaries? I’m kind of losing hope 🙁 I’m IS and went here for undergrad. Was really hoping for a secondary
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They are still sending them out -- its not over 'til its over! Nothing you can do except wait for the secondary and/or the R. Don't stress too much about it, you've put your best effort out and now the ball is in their court. 🙂

(Easier said than done, I know)
 
MDCYCLE2024 said:
How strictly are they with the deadline 15 days I missed by one day and now can not fill out the secondary application at all. So nothing I can do right.
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Email them on the communications tab.
 
MDCYCLE2024 said:
How strictly are they with the deadline 15 days I missed by one day and now can not fill out the secondary application at all. So nothing I can do right.
Click to expand...
Yeah, unfortunately I think it's a strict 15 day turnaround. Maybe if you have a substantial excuse (death in the family, emergency situation, etc), you can get an extension. Honestly, I'm not too sure, sorry, but hopefully emailing them can give you some answers.
 
dolephant said:
Yeah, unfortunately I think it's a strict 15 day turnaround. Maybe if you have a substantial excuse (death in the family, emergency situation, etc), you can get an extension. Honestly, I'm not too sure, sorry, but hopefully emailing them can give you some answers.
Click to expand...
See the comment below, I was trying to call this morning, but I do not see the phone number at all on their website or email. May be will check MSAR.
 
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