Advice concerning UCI (Irvine)

[MahSpoon]

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During the application process I was in limbo at UCI for a long time and sent multiple update letters, yet never got an interview even though I felt that I was qualified for the school and had ties to the SoCal region.

I emailed them back in May to see if they could give me any insight into why I was passed over. Today I was finally able to speak with someone in the office. I thought this advice would help future applicants:

My MCAT and GPA (36, 3.75) from UCLA was fine but apparently my 200 hours (over a year) volunteering at the hospital was too light to even be considered for an interview.

I was told that the committee at Irvine highly emphasizes clinical experiences and will pass on a student even if everything else is good. I was given a number of 400 hours in order for an experience to be considered significant. Also, a month of concentrated volunteering here and there would not be significant.

Don't want to scare anyone though, best of luck to all applicants 👍

 

[HoboCommander]

400 hours!?!? that's a lot!

 

[talbo]

my friend also asked UCI why s/he did not get an interview there and they told her/him the same thing, contrarily, i got an interview there but my volunteer experience was definitely fewer than 200 hrs maybe in the low 100s (total hours from the different experiences added). When my friend told me, I was kind of shocked b/c it didnt really make sense to me, and similar to my other friend who did not have much clinical experience only btwn 100 - 200 hrs, s/he also got an interview, so this whole thing is kind of weird, just letting ppl know

 

[taponthecloud]

During the application process I was in limbo at UCI for a long time and sent multiple update letters, yet never got an interview even though I felt that I was qualified for the school and had ties to the SoCal region.

I emailed them back in May to see if they could give me any insight into why I was passed over. Today I was finally able to speak with someone in the office. I thought this advice with help future applicants:

My MCAT and GPA (36, 3.75) from UCLA was fine but apparently my 200 hours (over a year) volunteering at the hospital was too light to even be considered for an interview.

I was told that the committee at Irvine highly emphasizes clinical experiences and will pass on a student even if everything else is good. I was given a number of 400 hours in order for an experience to be considered significant. Also, a month of concentrated volunteering here and there would not be significant.

Don't want to scare anyone though, best of luck to all applicants 👍

This is not entirely true... I was accepted there and I didn't have half that many volunteer hours.

 

[Doublecortin]

During the application process I was in limbo at UCI for a long time and sent multiple update letters, yet never got an interview even though I felt that I was qualified for the school and had ties to the SoCal region.

I emailed them back in May to see if they could give me any insight into why I was passed over. Today I was finally able to speak with someone in the office. I thought this advice with help future applicants:

My MCAT and GPA (36, 3.75) from UCLA was fine but apparently my 200 hours (over a year) volunteering at the hospital was too light to even be considered for an interview.

I was told that the committee at Irvine highly emphasizes clinical experiences and will pass on a student even if everything else is good. I was given a number of 400 hours in order for an experience to be considered significant. Also, a month of concentrated volunteering here and there would not be significant.

Don't want to scare anyone though, best of luck to all applicants 👍

😱

your #s are crazy dude! sorry for your experience, you probably got into a really good school? no?

 

[AlbaMD]

I was accepted to UC Irvine with fewer volunteer hours than you had (foreign clinic and Red Cross). I've done tons of shadowing though, and my stats were 36S MCAT and 3.95 GPA from UC Berkeley.
Volunteer hours must be just one of the factors then; otherwise many of the people who did get accepted there wouldn't have had a chance.
400 hours just sounds like a lot!

 

[HoboCommander]

I was accepted to UC Irvine with fewer volunteer hours than you had (foreign clinic and Red Cross). I've done tons of shadowing though, and my stats were 36S MCAT and 3.95 GPA from UC Berkeley.
Volunteer hours must be just one of the factors then; otherwise many of the people who did get accepted there wouldn't have had a chance.
400 hours just sounds like a lot!

i'm guessing they added your shadowing and volunteering together to get the 400 hours?

well i've worked at a clinic for YEARS and am still short of 400 hours. so 400 hours is a LOT for a busy pre-med, though quite easy for applicants who have already finished college. UCI's policy makes it a big disadvantage for people like me who decided to be a physician halfway through college, though.

 

[alwaysaangel]

I've never heard this before but it doesn't surprise me. Regarding those of you who say you got in without that number, there are always exceptions. However also consider:

I was told that the committee at Irvine highly emphasizes clinical experiences and will pass on a student even if everything else is good.

They want a lot of something clinical I'm guessing - so perhaps some of you added up enough to be considered

I was given a number of 400 hours in order for an experience to be considered significant.

I have a feeling this was talking about experiences in general - for any experience: clinical, work, volunteer, research to be considered "significant" you need at least 400 hrs which seems reasonable to me.

Thats only 8 hrs PER MONTH! for 4 years. Or you could do 16 hrs/month for 2 years (4 hr/week - completely doable for anyone in school). Or 32hrs/month for 1 year (this is getting a bit rough if you're in school but if you decided 1 year before you got out of school to apply you should probably be taking a year off anyway).

 

[Bradstein]

I have a feeling this was talking about experiences in general - for any experience: clinical, work, volunteer, research to be considered "significant" you need at least 400 hrs which seems reasonable to me.

This has got to be it. Over 400 clinical hours seems unreasonable, but 400+ hours of ECs in general seems plausible and like a great idea.

 

[chessknt]

Am I the only one that thinks the number of hours is really superficial and stupid. I can walk in circles in an ER all I want, doesnt make the experience more valuable than someone who is actually doing something for a shorter period of time.

 

[HoboCommander]

Am I the only one that thinks the number of hours is really superficial and stupid. I can walk in circles in an ER all I want, doesnt make the experience more valuable than someone who is actually doing something for a shorter period of time.

schools care a lot about the number of hours, though. quality of hours is hard to judge beyond what you write in your personal statement

 

[chessknt]

schools care a lot about the number of hours, though. quality of hours is hard to judge beyond what you write in your personal statement

I find it hard to believe that adcoms cant find a better criterion to judge a person's soundness to become a doctor beyond number of hours 'volunteered.'

 

[MahSpoon]

I'm pretty sure the person I spoke with was referring to 400 clinical experience hours. I'm as irked as many of you are since I think the amount isn't as important as what you get out of it.

If they had said "we didn't think you got enough out of it based on your personal statement" then fine, but to say I didn't do enough to warrant an interview is a shame. Literally anyone can volunteer for 400 hours, I don't see how that helps the ADCOM differentiate students, but I suppose they have their reasons. 🙄

Glad to hear that others with less clinical were able to make UCI work out for them, but just passing on my experience.

 

[alwaysaangel]

This has got to be it. Over 400 clinical hours seems unreasonable, but 400+ hours of ECs in general seems plausible and like a great idea.

No I think 400+ hrs of any one EC makes that one EC significant. 400 hours of total ECs is ridiculously low in my opinion.

I agree that its sort of silly to count hours - but its the only concrete way adcoms have of measuring an activity and seriously - as I already pointed out - its not that hard to get 400 hrs of any one thing. If you don't have 8 hrs per MONTH to do something clinical then you're doing something wrong in your classes.

 

[MahSpoon]

If you don't have 8 hrs per MONTH to do something clinical then you're doing something wrong in your classes.

That 8 hour per month statement is misleading for two reasons:
- Many people apply after junior year so they don't have 4 years of college experience under their belt
- Many of the clinical internships I know of require more than 8 hours a month commitment, usually at least 20 hours a month.


Your point that anyone can rack up the hours is correct though, but more than likely one has to put in a serious time commitment in order to accumulate 400 hours of clinical, more so than simply 8 hours a month for 4 years.

 

[HoboCommander]

Most people apply after their 3rd year, but focus on their classes their first two years, which only gives them one year to do the 400 hours. Basically that would be 8 hours a week of clinical volunteering which is pretty tough.

 

[alwaysaangel]

That 8 hour per month statement is misleading for two reasons:
- Many people apply after junior year so they don't have 4 years of college experience under their belt
- Many of the clinical internships I know of require more than 8 hours a month commitment, usually at least 20 hours a month.


Your point that anyone can rack up the hours is correct though, but more than likely one has to put in a serious time commitment in order to accumulate 400 hours of clinical, more so than simply 8 hours a month for 4 years.

I guess it depends on opportunities and stuff. But even if you apply your junior year - thats just 12 hrs a month, and frankly I don't think a 20 hr a month commitment is a lot. But yes you're right most places want a time commitment. But if you were working in a hospital doing candystriper type stuff they would probably be ok with 2-4 hour shifts per month, depending on the hospital. And plenty of very cool free clinic, hospice, etc type stuff that allows you to do cool stuff would probably be fine with a 4 hr shift every week. Most people I knew in school did something like that. Its just not that much.

I guess my only reason for posting this is for anyone who is still in their first couple of years planning to apply. BS extracurriculars that take 3 hrs a year just don't cut it and if you are efficient with your time its completely possible to do well on full course loads while doing 20hrs/month clinical work, and lots of other stuff for that matter.

The overall sentiment that is common on this site that 200+ hours of anything is somehow an outrageously large number of hours is incorrect and irritating. Plus it gives people the wrong impression. If you want something to look significant on an app you better be doing it a good amount of time. 5hrs/week is not in anyway astronomical or impossible for a premed to muster.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Most people apply after their 3rd year, but focus on their classes their first two years, which only gives them one year to do the 400 hours. Basically that would be 8 hours a week of clinical volunteering which is pretty tough.

Why focus on classes for first two years? What is so rough about those classes that they honestly can't manage anything else?

Its that attitude that kills people. You should start early. For several reasons:
1) any opportunity that is cool and actually worth having is going to require some sort of length of time commitment. If they know you'll be around for the next 3-4 years you're more likely to get trained in something cool.
2) Med schools see that you did nothing for your first 2 years and surely that looks pretty odd.
3) To get significant experiences and really great letters of recommendation you want people to know you for several years.

There is no reason to "focus on classes" and nothing else for 2 years! Maybe your first semester while you adjust. I can even understand your first year. But 2 years of no extracurriculars? That would bore me out of my mind and there is no way the classes are really that hard.

And even 8 hrs/week for 1 year isn't that much of a time commitment. Plenty of people work 10-40 hrs/week in college. If they can do it so can everyone else.