UC Davis Surgical Pre-Med Internship Program

[purplegurp]

I had my interview for the Fall session of the program just last week. In the hour I was waiting, I saw 20 or so applicants come and go. If the website isn't lying, there were 3 days of interviews with multiple hours of interviewing each day. Multiple rooms were open for interviewing at one time. Considering all of this, I'd estimate around 100 people were interviewed. And I believe in past sessions that more than 300 people applied. With ~40 spots, that's a rough 10-15% acceptance rate. This is dramatic estimation, mind you.

Also, there is no drug test.

I got my acceptance within two days of interviewing, but the program orientation isn't for another 2 weeks. I'm pretty excited for it. The UCDMC is gorgeous and the surgical campus is more or less brand new. Hopefully, it ends up being a fun experience.

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[ekhong87]

hi! this is my very first post in this forum, and i was surprised/happy to see so many of you have interviewed/interned for this internship!

for those who have finished or still interning, can you share your experience?

also, i was notified to be interviewed, and i was wondering, do you guys have any tips for the interview? possibly few sample questions they asked? this is my very first interview of any sort, so i really have no clue what to expect, so any help will be appreciated.

thank you!! 🙂

 

[guatomallin]

Hello! i apologize for reviving an old thread.

Perhaps i am missing something, but I am getting the notion that High School students are welcome into the program. The information says that the program is "open to ALL pre-medical students regardless of year, academic standing, or academic institution." so it seems that I, as a high school student, am welcome. Maybe I'm just not understanding the true meaning of being a pre-med student.

Please, enlighten me, i would love to keep my $20!

 

[aSagacious]

Hello! i apologize for reviving an old thread.

Perhaps i am missing something, but I am getting the notion that High School students are welcome into the program. The information says that the program is "open to ALL pre-medical students regardless of year, academic standing, or academic institution." so it seems that I, as a high school student, am welcome. Maybe I'm just not understanding the true meaning of being a pre-med student.

Please, enlighten me, i would love to keep my $20!

Looks like you have to be at least 17 years old according to their website:

All undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students from all institutions planning on applying to medical school are eligible. This includes community college, CSU, UC, private university, and graduating high school students who are at least 17 years old.

 

[kristinairene]

Saw this at college campus last year and was meaning to apply but I have a ton of classes taking 16 above units. As far as I know you don't have to pay anything, I don't know if it's still the same now.

 

[guatomallin]

So, as you can see, I am the same high school student that inquired months ago, and I thank you for the aid.
This time, I come this forum yet again in hopes to get tips for the interview from those who have experienced it.

Thanks in advance!
(again, reviving an ancient post, sorry)

 

[MDwannabe09]

Nvm

 

[Morsetlis]

Thanks for the replies everybody. I'm hesitant to apply now though. Not because of the legitimacy of the program, but because I'm a psychology student without any hard science courses and minimal research experience. Consequentially, paying for the app seems like a waste of money.

I guess I can always volunteer at hospitals over the summer.

I'm not sure what "Surgery" has to do with "Hard Science", especially since pre-meds know nothing anyway (not more than a psychology student, that's for sure) 😉

Dorsalis pedis? Is that the one on your wrist?!

 

[guatomallin]

Oh yea, that thing, the MMIs...

 

[momop]

I had my interview last Saturday as well. I believe there was about 300 applicants for this round. I do not know how many of those were interviewed though. I was talking to one of my class mates who is currently in the program. He said we would most likely find out sometime next week. 🙂 Good luck!

What was the interview like? Group interview, individual, combined? I applied for this cycle and was curious as to how it will go.

 

[VisuallyCaptive]

I have the interview for this program and I was wondering the same thing...how is the interview process? Could someone please give any tips..?? Thank you!!

 

[khrisskhoras]

.

 

[starfishoo7]

Anyone have an interview? If so have you heard back yet?

 

[alexlex143]

Had mine on Saturday. They said by the end of the week they'd be contacting everyone.

 

[starfishoo7]

Thanks Alex, how you think you did? Good luck to you by the way

 

[alexlex143]

Thank you! Good luck to you as well. I think I did ok. Nothing spectacular. I was expecting a lot worse from the interview actually. Some of the questions they asked took me aback but overall, I thought they were pretty commonly asked questions. I had to think for a sec when they asked me what kind of animal I am most like. lol Lion is a good answer right? How did yours fair?

 

[starfishoo7]

Yeah, the animal question was the funny one, haha, I thought I did okay as well, time will tell.....

Questions weren't too bad, I'd be interested in hearing all of the different animals people said. They probably got a kick out of that.

Although the best answer of course would have been......the honey badger, haha 🙂

 

[DrBtobe]

hmm this program is like three months long and you have to do two shifts per week....basically an extended shadowing gig? Doesn't seem really worth it IMO, unless I'm missing something here

I did this program last summer. It is definitely more in-depth than shadowing. You go on rounds, you get asked questions along with the current medical students, you follow patients through pre-surgery, into surgery, and in post-surg. You get to rotate with nearly a dozen surgical specialties. The medical students (M1 and M2) at UCDavis were jealous of the amount of time we got to spend in the hospital and OR. There were labs (heart anatomy, suturing, etc.) and presentations (chief of surgery, dean of admissions, etc).
This was WAAAAAY better than any shadowing I've ever done--you were able to be more a part of what was happening (don't get me wrong--you don't actually get to do anything, but you get to ask more questions and get asked more questions.)
I think this is definitely worth the time.

Also, I did this while working 40 hours per week, taking 2 classes, and volunteering 5 hours a week. So you can definitely fit this in. However, the more time you want to spend in the hospital, the more shifts you can sign up for.

 

[Katty93]

Good luck to all of you who applied this term! I also interviewed on Saturday and said an elephant as my answer to that specific interview question! I am so anxious to hear an answer already, please let me know if any of you guys have heard back!

Also, do you guys know how many applied and were interviewed?

 

[starfishoo7]

Well, I broke it down....because I'm like that...haha

Looked like 3 people for each time slot, 30 minutes, for each interview....

If they did that for all the sessions we get....

Friday 3-8 PM (10 slots)
Saturday 8 AM-6 PM (20 slots - Probably not that high, no break?!?)
Sunday 8 AM-4 PM ( 16 slots)

Which means a total of 46 slots at 3 people each slots implies about 138 people interviewed

If they have 50 spaces open, that is about a 1/3 chance of getting accepted just off the numbers

Not horrible if you got an interview and can dance a little 🙂

**Personal Opinion*** I bet they interview 120 people and are letting 60 in because of the overwhelmingly high number of applicants this year, my 2cents

 

[alexlex143]

Thanks for the insight DrBtobe. I've heard different opinions about the program, so it's nice to hear there were some positive experiences. It really does sound like it has some great potential.

I'm not exactly sure how many people they interviewed but I'm guessing there were a bunch. There were three other people waiting with me for a 4:30 interview. And their interviews were every 30 min on the dot. So with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, interviews from 9-5, I'm thinking there were A LOT. I don't want to do the math but it makes sense. lol

 

[MedicalAuthor]

Despite any negatives anyone says, it's all worth it to be able to see what you get to see in this program.