OHSU and UCSD

[AnnTaylor]

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How competitive are these two programs overall? There is a wide spread as far as the institutions that both residents and applicants came from on interview day. I know OHSU seemed quite popular on SDN ROLs last year.

I don't know if most residents got them as first or second choice, but I'm curious to know what the general consensus, if any, is.

 

[Daftrage]

The only really useful piece of info I can give you is that I received an interview at OHSU but did not as UCSD and I have a previous thread where I put all my "stats." Not sure if that means a heck of a lot though.

 

[Chimed]

The only really useful piece of info I can give you is that I received an interview at OHSU but did not as UCSD and I have a previous thread where I put all my "stats." Not sure if that means a heck of a lot though.

That's funny...I got interviews at places like Penn, Yale, Hopkins, Pitt, Longwood, etc, but got no love from UCSD. Maybe they knew I wasn't that serious about going to California? Maybe my application wasn't strong enough? Who knows.

 

[AnnTaylor]

Well, I know a lot of the UC schools have a reputation for being competitive in general and USMLE-centered for extending interview invites, either due to location, prestige, or both...And that they supposedly also favor Californians...However, OHSU, though possibly less research or numbers-oriented, seemed to be quite popular among applicants (I know SDN is skewed).
It'd also be interesting to know how many of the applicants that ranked either highly, after receiving unsolicited correspondence from PD's or chiefs, actually matched there.

 

[nitemagi]

We weigh step scores, grades, research, and letter of Rec. I pay attention to essays too. There is a little bit of a coastal bias -- meaning UC'ers definitely get a bit more of a bump in likelihood of interview, or having a clear connection to SoCal. Each coast has a coastal bias. Why waste an interview slot on someone who might not come.

And I'd say we're fairly competitive, though there are others who are more. We also weigh sociability a bit more than maybe other programs. We shy away from the autism spectrum residents 😉

 

[Chimed]

We weigh step scores, grades, research, and letter of Rec. I pay attention to essays too. There is a little bit of a coastal bias -- meaning UC'ers definitely get a bit more of a bump in likelihood of interview, or having a clear connection to SoCal. Each coast has a coastal bias. Why waste an interview slot on someone who might not come.

And I'd say we're fairly competitive, though there are others who are more. We also weigh sociability a bit more than maybe other programs. We shy away from the autism spectrum residents 😉

Are you saying that my essay I sent you guys detailing the history and science of European tapestries gave me away? 😉

 

[Cinnameg]

We weigh step scores, grades, research, and letter of Rec. I pay attention to essays too. There is a little bit of a coastal bias -- meaning UC'ers definitely get a bit more of a bump in likelihood of interview, or having a clear connection to SoCal. Each coast has a coastal bias. Why waste an interview slot on someone who might not come.

And I'd say we're fairly competitive, though there are others who are more. We also weigh sociability a bit more than maybe other programs. We shy away from the autism spectrum residents 😉

Both places likely have a geographical bias. I thought I saw on the UCSD interview forms that the interviewers were holding a slot marked "SoCal connection," which for me listed my college. But I only got a glance. I'm pretty sure that OHSU also looks for a northwest or Oregon connection -- they certainly are biased in this way for medical school admissions, and as a state institution they have as a mission producing doctors for Oregon.