UCLA secondary - answer all questions?

[phillz123]

So is anyone going to leave some of the questions blank (other than the hardship question?) Here are the instructions.

The committee would like to know about your interests, experiences, and personal characteristics which are relevant to a career in medicine. Please only provide information you believe is important. It is not necessary or required to supply information in all sections.


I just feel weird leaving something blank

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[Tenacity]

I'd fill them all out. You know most people will be.

 

[Rikkye]

it's a pain in the ass, but you gotta do what you gotta do

 

[jlq3d3]

Has anyone with 3.7+ gpa and 35+ mcat who has been verified NOT recieved one?

I have a 3.8 and 38 mcat, verified around June 24th, and have not recieved anything more than that email saying that they received my app.

 

[medking]

Has anyone with 3.7+ gpa and 35+ mcat who has been verified NOT recieved one?

I have a 3.8 and 38 mcat, verified around June 24th, and have not recieved anything more than that email saying that they received my app.

Are you an out of state applicant? If not, then I guess they screen by more than just numbers.

 

[Surf Rx]

How are you guys answering the "where do you see yourself in 10 years?" question? I hate those types of questions. If I knew where I would be in 10 years I wouldn't be freakin out so much about these apps and whether or not I'll get accepted somewhere.

 

[badasshairday]

How are you guys answering the "where do you see yourself in 10 years?" question? I hate those types of questions. If I knew where I would be in 10 years I wouldn't be freakin out so much about these apps and whether or not I'll get accepted somewhere.

Just say you see yourself as a good doctor just like everyone else who answers this question.

 

[somethingpositi]

I wouldn't be too freaked yet if you didn't get a secondary. UCLA screens, and I think it is done by a human being. It may take while for all the secondaries to get out.

 

[cruz21]

so is the consensus that we have to answer all of the questions? i had planned on leaving some of them blank...like the where do i see myself in 10 years question...😎

 

[Dr OCD]

i am definately not answering all of them...like the one on your most meaningful honor, come on please

 

[silverlining1]

i am definately not answering all of them...like the one on your most meaningful honor, come on please

I did well in high school and got many assorted awards, but I really haven't gotten any honors in college =/ So I'm wondering if I should pick a meaningful one from high school or just leave it blank. Bleh.

 

[yellowumbrella]

I did well in high school and got many assorted awards, but I really haven't gotten any honors in college =/ So I'm wondering if I should pick a meaningful one from high school or just leave it blank. Bleh.

yup, i'm definitely leaving the honor one blank. sigh, no honors to speak of 😛

 

[Mister Pie]

I hope to answer most of them, but some of them seem really familiar. I don't have the prompts with me right here but I remember that the first three prompts seemed kind of similar.

Still, I think if you have nothing good to write, you should leave it blank. The one thing worse than having no answer is having them read your response and have them think "I want those 5 minutes of my life back."

 

[jae9970]

yup, i'm definitely leaving the honor one blank. sigh, no honors to speak of 😛

so i cant talk about high schools honors?

 

[med11]

so i cant talk about high schools honors?

i wouldn't

 

[phillz123]

i dont really have any leadership/entrepreneurial/creative activities i can think of...at least nothing that will make a meaningful essay...this sucks

 

[badasshairday]

They are all 800 characters right. Thats only a paragraph each! Just write them if you can. If you can't/don't want to do 1 or 2 of them, its probably not a big deal.

 

[silverlining1]

so i cant talk about high schools honors?

I'm going to ask my premed advisor and see what she thinks. I kind of feel like it couldn't hurt (writing about a high school honor as opposed to leaving it blank), but I'll see what she says.

 

[Mister Pie]

I'm going to ask my premed advisor and see what she thinks. I kind of feel like it couldn't hurt (writing about a high school honor as opposed to leaving it blank), but I'll see what she says.

Well, it might kind of highlight the fact that you haven't gotten any "honors" in college more so than just leaving the prompt blank would have.

 

[kbear12]

I left two or three (I think two) blank last year and got an interview, so don't feel like you HAVE to answer them all. I'm sure it's much better to leave some blank than write a forced answer.

 

[annawhisky]

Has anyone with 3.7+ gpa and 35+ mcat who has been verified NOT recieved one?

Is that the minimum to get a secondary invitation?

 

[cac08]

Is that the minimum to get a secondary invitation?

no, my GPA is below that. I heard that UCLA's cutoff involves GPA + Verbal Score x 2 + BS Score + PS Score.

 

[phillz123]

I left two or three (I think two) blank last year and got an interview, so don't feel like you HAVE to answer them all. I'm sure it's much better to leave some blank than write a forced answer.

now thats what i want to hear! two or three? wow theres only like 6 total. my feel is that a blank is better than a piece of junk answer that makes the person who read it hate you for wasting thier time.

 

[Rocky6]

just to relieve some worries, i wrote about high school honors in the the prompt and am about to start my first year at ucla 🙂 so it's ok to write about stuff like that. pm me if you have questions.

 

[MrFoo]

How are you guys answering the "where do you see yourself in 10 years?" question? I hate those types of questions. If I knew where I would be in 10 years I wouldn't be freakin out so much about these apps and whether or not I'll get accepted somewhere.

I see myself eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER.

heheh

 

[medstuddude]

no, my GPA is below that. I heard that UCLA's cutoff involves GPA + Verbal Score x 2 + BS Score + PS Score.

hmm

 

[badasshairday]

no, my GPA is below that. I heard that UCLA's cutoff involves GPA + Verbal Score x 2 + BS Score + PS Score.

Rumor. Verbal is the WEAKEST link of my application and I still received a secondary.

 

[killinsound]

not a rumor... the dean of admission at UCLA spoke at our school and that's what he said... i dont know about the rest but he did say they multiplied your VR by two.

 

[badasshairday]

not a rumor... the dean of admission at UCLA spoke at our school and that's what he said... i dont know about the rest but he did say they multiplied your VR by two.

Weird. Well, if it's true than I am thoroughly blessed to have gotten a secondary with my low verbal score of an 8.

My MCAT break down is 12ps 8vr 13bs and my BCPM gpa is 3.7 for anyone wondering what my UCLA formula score is.

 

[Richard8794]

Weird. Well, if it's true than I am thoroughly blessed to have gotten a secondary with my low verbal score of an 8.

My MCAT break down is 12ps 8vr 13bs and my BCPM gpa is 3.7 for anyone wondering what my UCLA formula score is.

dude I have similar mcat break down (13ps 8vr 12bs) with 3.76, and I got secondaries from UCSD and UCLA...I think there must be some other factors involved in the screening process for UCs.

for an example, premed advisor at my school told me UCSD SOM accepts lots of students from UCSD undegrad. 38 students got admitted in 2006 cycle.

 

[Jaded03]

dude I have similar mcat break down (13ps 8vr 12bs) with 3.76, and I got secondaries from UCSD and UCLA...I think there must be some other factors involved in the screening process for UCs.

for an example, premed advisor at my school told me UCSD SOM accepts lots of students from UCSD undegrad. 38 students got admitted in 2006 cycle.

I'm pretty sure that the formula is correct...in getting an interview or accepted. If you look at the breakdown of who gets a secondary or not: 3300/5000. That isn't much of a screen. If you ask me I know a few non-URM less than 30s OR with blanks on their 15 ECs. It is possible with UCLA's popularity they have about 1000 of these. If you are a competent applicant, you'll get a secondary. Relax. If you're verbal is low, like mine. I'd be worried. There's no reason to discard that statement just because you received an application to send a check.

 

[cac08]

I'm pretty sure that the formula is correct...in getting an interview or accepted. If you look at the breakdown of who gets a secondary or not: 3300/5000. That isn't much of a screen. If you ask me I know a few non-URM less than 30s OR with blanks on their 15 ECs. It is possible with UCLA's popularity they have about 1000 of these. If you are a competent applicant, you'll get a secondary. Relax. If you're verbal is low, like mine. I'd be worried. There's no reason to discard that statement just because you received an application to send a check.

I got a secondary and I didn't fill in all of the 15 ECs. I don't think that the number of blanks filled in could ever be a criteria for rejection. Quality over quantity, right?

 

[badasshairday]

I'm pretty sure that the formula is correct...in getting an interview or accepted. If you look at the breakdown of who gets a secondary or not: 3300/5000. That isn't much of a screen. If you ask me I know a few non-URM less than 30s OR with blanks on their 15 ECs. It is possible with UCLA's popularity they have about 1000 of these. If you are a competent applicant, you'll get a secondary. Relax. If you're verbal is low, like mine. I'd be worried. There's no reason to discard that statement just because you received an application to send a check.

For some reason I still think you guys got it a little twisted. If you get past the screen then the numbers are out of the way and it's more about essays, LORs, EC's that determine the interview followed by acceptance.

Check out this thread on the same topic:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=412889

And this is a comment on that thread about the verbal x2 and it being an indicator of step 1 score. This guy went to UCLA for med and is now doing his derm residency.

I knew some classmates who were on the adcom, and I never heard of this.

And for those wanting to know correlations, like the studies have found, BS corelates the best with step 1. Here is one example of not doing to hot on verbal but doing okay on step 1. My #s 36N (9v,12p,15b), step 1 259 (mean 217, S.D. 23).

 

[phillz123]

bump

 

[badasshairday]

bump

 

[TheRealMD]

The only essay never to leave blank if UCLA has it is the diversity essay. Easiest way for yout to separate yourself from thousands of other cookie-cutter pre-meds.

 

[letitgo]

So am I at a big disadvantage for an interview if I have to mark "no" for some of the course requirements (math and spanish)? There is no place to note that I plan on taking it, nor did I mention anything about taking these courses on my AMCAS. Honestly, there's no way I'm taking statistics unless I absolutely have to (ie. I end up going to UCLA).

Does anybody know how this works? I tried searching but wasn't completely reassured. Thanks.

 

[badasshairday]

The only essay never to leave blank if UCLA has it is the diversity essay. Easiest way for yout to separate yourself from thousands of other cookie-cutter pre-meds.

Doogie 👍

 

[drizzt3117]

dude I have similar mcat break down (13ps 8vr 12bs) with 3.76, and I got secondaries from UCSD and UCLA...I think there must be some other factors involved in the screening process for UCs.

for an example, premed advisor at my school told me UCSD SOM accepts lots of students from UCSD undegrad. 38 students got admitted in 2006 cycle.

I think a lot of people just haven't gotten the secondary. My numbers 13 ps 13 vr 13 bs 3.55/3.78, in state, no secondary yet, Amcas verified 6/8.

 

[jae9970]

having all 15 EC slots filled up as one of the requirements? that's ridiculous..

i received a secondary from UCLA and here is my mediocre numbers:

GPA: around 3.7 ish
MCAT: 8/10/12O (V/B/P)
EC Slots Used: 10


omg i left 5 blank! 😱

i'm sure UCLA has a lot more secondaries to send, so wait a little more

 

[OncDoc19]

How are you guys answering the "where do you see yourself in 10 years?" question? I hate those types of questions. If I knew where I would be in 10 years I wouldn't be freakin out so much about these apps and whether or not I'll get accepted somewhere.

I especially loved this question because I am an MSTP applicant. Where do I see myself 10 years from today - hopefully finished with medical school!

 

[neurofreak]

bump

 

[Daydreamer2008]

Just say you see yourself as a good doctor just like everyone else who answers this question.

what a boring answer. I would say be as specific as possible (if you know).

 

[silverlining1]

ignore =]

 

[UCLAstudent]

No need to fill out all of the answers! I left three blank when I applied.

 

[neurofreak]

do you guys think its okay to leave the "describe a problem in your life question" blank? i know the directions state that you don't have to answer all the questions, but it seems like this is one of those "mandatory optional" ones, if you know what i mean.

did anyone leave this one blank and still fare well in the process?

 

[doc90211]

Does anyone know if it is ok to talk about a current leadership experience or does it have to be something that we already did
thanks

 

[Raryn]

I filled out all the ones that applied.

I think there were 8/10 of them that I did, as I skipped the "hardship" one and the one that I believe asked what I had done since I graduated (I haven't).