Bomback, Ginseng, Matthew and others with luck at UC's

[Scooby Doo]

What did you guys do to have so much luck at these schools!!?!?

I noticed that you were a few that had interviews at almost or all five UC's. I basically just want to reassure myself and others who got so reemed at the UC's this year that it was a super competitive pool and not that we just got screwed some random way or something...

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[bomback]

Scooby, I just tried to have a well balanced application. I had good GPA and MCAT and I was also involved in research and leadership positions. I also worked all four years of college. I'm sure a lot of other people had similar credentials, but got screwed by some of the UCs. I really think the entire application process has great deal of randomness to it. If you have any other questions, you can PM me.

 

[matthew0126]

hey scoobs, first i want to say congrats, hey don't worry about it, didn't you get in columbia and yale? top10 schools ain't easy to get in man

yea, i was very lucky and somehow got interviews at the california schools <shrug>; i think it was a combo of mcat/gpa and my pre-med fanaticism to do lots of interesting volunteer and research experiences (rather than vanilla type activities). supposedly my personal statement was pretty good. i don't know how good my letters of rec were as most of them were confidential.

anyways it was prob a comb. of both -- competitiveness and randomness... besides, you get to live in nyc; it aint cali but cali aint nyc either, people always say it's great to spend some time in the east <shrug>, peace

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Scooby Doo:
•What did you guys do to have so much luck at these schools!!?!?

I noticed that you were a few that had interviews at almost or all five UC's. I basically just want to reassure myself and others who got so reemed at the UC's this year that it was a super competitive pool and not that we just got screwed some random way or something...•••••

 

[Scooby Doo]

Yea Matthew,

I got into Columbia...but waitlisted pretty much everywhere else including Yale. I got waitlisted at 9 places so far...pretty wild! haha..

I would rather have gotten rejected post interview from everywhere and had the chance to interview at SD, SF, and LA. I'm just getting a little more nostalgic for good ole California Schools

 

[lady in red]

You know my story, Scooby, but, suprisingly, I had A LOT of love from the UCs, except San Diego. I got into UCSF, interviewed at UCLA, invited to interview but declined Stanford, Davis and Irvine. Rejected by Loma Linda. Its just the opposite for me--out of state schools don't like me.

 

[la9s]

From my experience, it has been REALLY random with the UCs. I have a friend with extremely similar stats to mine: she lives in SD, I live in LA. We went to the same undergrad, same kinds of activities, same grades, MCATs (I would guess). She had horrible luck with UCs: UCSD waitlist, UCLA no interview, UCSF no secondary. She got into Hopkins and Stanford and waitlisted at Yale. For me, it was almost the complete opposite, and I'm even a recent arrival in California. My one thought is that it may have helped that I work at UCLA right now, doing community oriented research. Who knows, though?

 

[Scooby Doo]

Hmm...did your friend happen to interview out of state at a lot of schools early on?

I am still feel schools talk and the UC's know when you have interviewed at a lot of out of state schools! I have had so many people tell me this but then people here tend to completely disagree with it....

 

[matthew0126]

hmmm... i dunno about that. i interviewed at my first uc relatively late (mid-december); before that i was doing the typical med interviewee tour of the east coast... up n down.. up n down... up n down.... ugh

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Scooby Doo:
•Hmm...did your friend happen to interview out of state at a lot of schools early on?

I am still feel schools talk and the UC's know when you have interviewed at a lot of out of state schools! I have had so many people tell me this but then people here tend to completely disagree with it....•••••

 

[ginseng]

For me sometimes it does feel random, but when I asked current physicians and medical students for some advice at the beginning of the interview a year ago they said that I would have a better experience with the cali schools because somehow I fit their profile. What their profile is I was confused about what they were trying to say but it went something along the lines that they look at well rounded students who also have placed a lot of focus on community service, not only in the health care field. And that's why I did. I'm sure there's only a little truth to what they said, but in retrospect I did have more success in california than I ever expected. But they also said that cali schools like students who show passion and dedication, in any field, which pretty much should apply to just about any school.

 

[jmejia1]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by ginseng:
• What their profile is I was confused about what they were trying to say but it went something along the lines that they look at well rounded students who also have placed a lot of focus on community service, not only in the health care field. •••••I wrote extensively about a non-healthcare community service job in my personal statement. The only California school to give me the cold shoulder was UCI by putting me on hold pre-interview and I've only recently recieved UCLA's secondary. But I've interviewed at all other California schools, including UCSF and Stanford.