UCLA Step 1 Score

[Macguy86]

There is no golden number. But I am having trouble finding applicants step 1 scores matching into UCLA (Harbor) or even getting an interview.

Can people please post their scores if they interviewed there?
Also mention if you were from the east coast/west coast. Thanks.

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[obiwan]

There is no golden number. But I am having trouble finding applicants step 1 scores matching into UCLA (Harbor) or even getting an interview.

Can people please post their scores if they interviewed there?
Also mention if you were from the east coast/west coast. Thanks.

for some reason, i've never thought of ucla as a program that uses a screening step 1 score...

 

[codeb1ue]

If you're talking about Harbor-UCLA and not the main UCLA program, you're pretty safe. Almost everyone I know that applied there got an interview, and some had fairly low step 1 scores. To match may be a different story but they seem fairly generous with regards to interviews. I know you want a specific cut-off number but honestly, you're not gonna find one. If I had to guess though, it would be low 200s. Again thats purely speculative.

 

[Macguy86]

perhaps im confused, i thought harbor was the best UCLA one?

i am not from the area(obv) which one of the programs has the 'new' hospital...the regan hospital right on the UCLA campus..? is that the best one?

reading threads people say in LA Harbor>Cedars>Olive?

 

[codeb1ue]

UCLA has 3 programs. The main program which is simply UCLA, and two county affiliates... one in the valley (Olive view) and one in torrance (Harbor). There are some details regarding olive view being a true affiliate and harbor not but that's getting into details you probably don't care about. Anyways what you're talking about is the main UCLA program that is situated in the new reagan hospital. Just FYI, both olive view and harbor do rotate some of their training time through reagan.

 

[Macguy86]

ahh thank you. yes i am interested in the main program...i visited their website and was a bit confused. i was not able to find any info on the step score for the main program (or any others). could you shed some light?

from what i read it is very difficult to get an interview there if you are out of state, east coaster. So I am assuming 245+ if I want an interview? along with other stuff, including honors in med

 

[obiwan]

ahh thank you. yes i am interested in the main program...i visited their website and was a bit confused. i was not able to find any info on the step score for the main program (or any others). could you shed some light?

from what i read it is very difficult to get an interview there if you are out of state, east coaster. So I am assuming 245+ if I want an interview? along with other stuff, including honors in med

I think 245 is a bit much.... in terms of california programs i would say its UCSF > stanford > UCLA/USCD and even i'm pretty sure UCSF and stanford don't even have that high of step score cutoffs (probably 230s and you're safe to get in for interviews) i only interviewed at stanford in california and from what i heard at the interview day that an honors in medicine though is pretty much an absolute screening tool at that program...

 

[gutonc]

ahh thank you. yes i am interested in the main program...i visited their website and was a bit confused. i was not able to find any info on the step score for the main program (or any others). could you shed some light?

from what i read it is very difficult to get an interview there if you are out of state, east coaster. So I am assuming 245+ if I want an interview? along with other stuff, including honors in med

I was an East Coaster, no-name med school, mediocre Step 1 (>20 pts lower than your presumed cutoff) and got an IV from UCLA. Declined it b/c I way overapplied and had plenty of other IV offers.

 

[Macguy86]

from what people post on here it seems that you have to have a 245ish to match into the top IM programs. Its rare to see a person with a 230 match into UCSF/Stanford/UCLA. I do not know what the range is for IM, and SDN makes me think if I want to go to one the top 10 IM program I have to score 245+

I like UCLA because from what I have read the residents are really happy and have a life and its in an amazing city.

 

[Tony Starks]

So just for more clarification, is Cedars Sinai a UCLA affiliate as well? Does the main UCLA IM program have a better reputation?

 

[EaglesPA]

from what people post on here it seems that you have to have a 245ish to match into the top IM programs. Its rare to see a person with a 230 match into UCSF/Stanford/UCLA. I do not know what the range is for IM, and SDN makes me think if I want to go to one the top 10 IM program I have to score 245+

I like UCLA because from what I have read the residents are really happy and have a life and its in an amazing city.

I know people with Step 1 score in the 210-220 range that interviewed at and matched at Hopkins/MGH/Brigham/UCSF-caliber programs
I also know people with Step 1 score 250-260 that did not get interviews at any of the above (although they ended up matching at a great program Duke/Penn/Columbia/Stanford etc.).
Obviously the people with the 210s scores had something else on their application that made them standout.

I believe that if there is an absolute cut-off for step 1 for getting interviews, it's probably 200 (and even then I'm sure there are rare exceptions)

There are a number of factors that will help with getting interviews at top academic IM programs. The more of these you have, the more competitive your application will be. So try to get as many of them as possible but do not be discouraged from applying because you lack in some of them. In no particular order, some of these factors are:

- 3rd year clerkship grades - the more Honors the better
- Honors in IM clerkship
- Honors in IM subI
- Step 1 score
- Reputation of Medical school
- AOA
- PhD
- Research (general)
- Research as part of prestigious fellowships such as Sarnoff or HHMI
- Publications
- Strong Letters of recommendation
- Signs of becoming a leader in medicine (ex. involvement in AMA-MSS, leadership in other student organizations, running a free clinic here or abroad, research etc..)
- Make a strong impression there during an away Rotation
- **Having some affiliation with the University (ex. went there for undergrad)
- **Having some connection to the city (ex family lives there)
(** These two are soft factors but will definitely come into play when deciding between two equally qualified students)

 

[ID15]

from what people post on here it seems that you have to have a 245ish to match into the top IM programs. Its rare to see a person with a 230 match into UCSF/Stanford/UCLA. I do not know what the range is for IM, and SDN makes me think if I want to go to one the top 10 IM program I have to score 245+

I like UCLA because from what I have read the residents are really happy and have a life and its in an amazing city.

For THE 'top programs' ie MGH/BW/Hopkins/UCSF I would be willing to bet that's true. Their Step 1 average (who match) are probably 245+. I don't think UCLA is in, or really all that near their caliber. Probably a top 20 school, but I wouldn't go too near the top 10. People I know were getting interviews at UCLA with 220+ pretty handily. Matching average may be a bit higher, but I would wager not all that much ~ maybe 230's at most, but that's still speculation. UCLA may be a bit more competitive due to location, but if you're getting interviews in the top 25 range of schools, your chances at UCLA should be quite good.

If you want to interview at a Top 10 program, shooting for 230+ is a good bet. A top 4 program 240+. Otherwise it will come down to grades, research, etc.

 

[rosiean86]

How useful do you think it is to do away rotations at the UC schools? I've been hearing a lot about how competitive their IM programs are, and so I'm thinking of doing away rotation at UCLA and UCSD. I'm from a state school in TX, but I have family there and I think I'm an ok applicant-Step 1 score was 241, and although I'm not AOA I've consistently high passed my first 2 years and have honored all my 3rd year rotations so far including medicine) except OB/GYN; no research but I think I wil have strong LOR, one from a nephrologist who was chief resident at UCLA and then stayed for her fellowship.

Thoughts?

 

[Speculatrix]

How useful do you think it is to do away rotations at the UC schools? I've been hearing a lot about how competitive their IM programs are, and so I'm thinking of doing away rotation at UCLA and UCSD. I'm from a state school in TX, but I have family there and I think I'm an ok applicant-Step 1 score was 241, and although I'm not AOA I've consistently high passed my first 2 years and have honored all my 3rd year rotations so far including medicine) except OB/GYN; no research but I think I wil have strong LOR, one from a nephrologist who was chief resident at UCLA and then stayed for her fellowship.

Thoughts?

If you are interested in UCLA, the only way to "guarantee" you an interview there is to do an away rotation (which should give you a courtesy interview - your stage to shine). I would follow the standard recommendations about away rotations, maybe do a cush subspecialty that gets your foot into the hospital, but not necessarily in the spotlight of a general IM team where you may or may not perform well - it's really a gamble, since you have those other great factors going for you. Once you get your interview invitation, you can play the game a little more and engineer things to your advantage to an extent. If you do not do an away rotation there, there is a very real possibility that you will be rejected outright from UCLA without even an interview. This is a top program - capricious rejections are normal, auto-invitations based on score are not. However, if that old chief resident was under the current PD and still maintains active contact with the PD, you may be able to get an almost-guaranteed interview without the away; a mere LOR won't be enough for this. Pull every string possible if you wish to be ranked to match there (post-interview of course).

UCSD: should be very easily accessible with your USMLE score and the rest of your application. I don't think they screen based on MSPE, so applying early may really boost your chances even further of getting an invitation. I think the same applies to the other UC schools (like UCSD, UCI) except UCSF, which is likely an impossible match for you.

 

[rosiean86]

^Thanks for the reply, that really helps! And I wasn't going to apply for UCSF anyway, I knew it was too much of a reach, plus I don't really like the city in general.

 

[verbalassasin]

How useful do you think it is to do away rotations at the UC schools? I've been hearing a lot about how competitive their IM programs are, and so I'm thinking of doing away rotation at UCLA and UCSD. I'm from a state school in TX, but I have family there and I think I'm an ok applicant-Step 1 score was 241, and although I'm not AOA I've consistently high passed my first 2 years and have honored all my 3rd year rotations so far including medicine) except OB/GYN; no research but I think I wil have strong LOR, one from a nephrologist who was chief resident at UCLA and then stayed for her fellowship.

Thoughts?

Wait unless I missed something, why would you not b competitive for UCSF with a 241 STEP I score? You have honors in almost all of your clerkships, especially the one's that count so I think you should be competitive for all the cali programs and even some of the upper echelon east coast programs.

 

[Phineus]

^Thanks for the reply, that really helps! And I wasn't going to apply for UCSF anyway, I knew it was too much of a reach, plus I don't really like the city in general.

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE Apply! I applied with a 231 Step 1 (no Step 2), ?High Pass in Medicine (was top quartile when I took it early in 3rd year, but dropped to 40th percentile overall for my class- have no idea how a school figured if I got Honors or not), top 20% of class in clinical years from a middle tier school (not NE or West coast) and got interviews in most of the upper echelon NE programs (I did not apply to Cali or the Midwest). You never know how competitive you are until you apply!

 

[Macguy86]

where did you end up matching? was it your number 1? wondering if people here 'self-select' when ranking. for example if I had a 230 and got an interview at MGH, UCSF, Uof Chicago, Northwestern, ect.. i might be inclined to rank NW/Chicago over MGH/UCSF just because i know i have a better chance matching there than MGH.

I am having a really hard time, searching for people who matched at BIDMC and their step 1 scores. can someone please let me know the range hey have seen. I saw 1-2 post with scores of 255+ and when I searched for BWH I saw 260+ for step 1/2.

i also see so many most of people with their rank list with MGH/BWH (literally 50-60+)
but then only 6-7 people post where they got accepted and of course 267+/cancer curing students who matched post their info.

 

[chitown82]

where did you end up matching? was it your number 1? wondering if people here 'self-select' when ranking. for example if I had a 230 and got an interview at MGH, UCSF, Uof Chicago, Northwestern, ect.. i might be inclined to rank NW/Chicago over MGH/UCSF just because i know i have a better chance matching there than MGH.

Clearly you don't know much about the match.

 

[Macguy86]

no i do not have a good understanding of it.
if there are 2 candidates and both are ranked to match at say Northwestern.
The first person ranks NW 9th on their list after MGH/BWH, JHU, ect
While candidate 2 ranks NW 1st on their list.

I am assuming northwestern has a ranking in terms of preference of students as well, correct. If the first candidate above was ranked to matched (higher up on NW preference list) than the second candidate...will the 1st candidate match to NW even though he ranked it 9th assuming he/she did not make the cut for the other 8 above?

 

[EaglesPA]

no i do not have a good understanding of it.
if there are 2 candidates and both are ranked to match at say Northwestern.
The first person ranks NW 9th on their list after MGH/BWH, JHU, ect
While candidate 2 ranks NW 1st on their list.

I am assuming northwestern has a ranking in terms of preference of students as well, correct. If the first candidate above was ranked to matched (higher up on NW preference list) than the second candidate...will the 1st candidate match to NW even though he ranked it 9th assuming he/she did not make the cut for the other 8 above?

The answer is YES. In your example above, If Candidate A does not match to his #1-8, he will match to Northwestern before Candidate B (if A is ranked above B on NW's list) even though A ranked it #9 and B ranked it #1

That's why the advise is to rank the programs according to your preference not according to your perception of your chance of matching.

 

[rosiean86]

Wait unless I missed something, why would you not b competitive for UCSF with a 241 STEP I score? You have honors in almost all of your clerkships, especially the one's that count so I think you should be competitive for all the cali programs and even some of the upper echelon east coast programs.

I always was under the impression that you needed to have an impressive research background to interview at UCSF. Is that not the case?

Even so, as I mentioned before, I just don't like SF the city.