UCSD Class of 2008

[Eraserhead]

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Dude, you are messing with me, right? You are like, the BIGGEST purveyor of SD. I've read your posts. I know what you are all about. Or is it all talk? Can you walk it too?

Huh, why would I be messing with you? I don't follow your reasoning...

Of the schools I interviewed with, UCSD was certainly not my top choice although I am happy I get to go...

 

[lolli]

Huh, why would I be messing with you? I don't follow your reasoning...

Of the schools I interviewed with, UCSD was certainly not my top choice although I am happy I get to go...

Oh man, are you enthusiastic about SD a couple of posts back. I just thought you were all about it, all the way. That's cool, though, I'm glad you would be happy there, even if it isn't your first choice.
Where else are you waiting on? did you post on mdapplicants?

 

[Eraserhead]

Oh man, are you enthusiastic about SD a couple of posts back. I just thought you were all about it, all the way. That's cool, though, I'm glad you would be happy there, even if it isn't your first choice.
Where else are you waiting on? did you post on mdapplicants?

Well if its the school that takes me of the schools I'm interested in, then yes I am all about it... whatever school it is... UCSD is an awesome place for sure, eventually I just didn't feel like it was the perfect place.

 

[lolli]

Well if its the school that takes me of the schools I'm interested in, then yes I am all about it... whatever school it is... UCSD is an awesome place for sure, eventually I just didn't feel like it was the perfect place.

Congrats on reaching 2000. I thought you needed a little help there.

 

[Eraserhead]

Congrats on reaching 2000. I thought you needed a little help there.

😀 Lately I'm out of things to say on here, SDN can get pretty tired pretty quickly.

 

[lolli]

😀 Lately I'm out of things to say on here, SDN can get pretty tired pretty quickly.

I'm procrastinating on a final paper. I could find any distraction exciting. So, um, yeah, how about 3000?
just kidding.
here's a poll:
best hang-out spot in san diego?
favorite san diego restaurant?

 

[Eraserhead]

I'm procrastinating on a final paper. I could find any distraction exciting. So, um, yeah, how about 3000?
just kidding.
here's a poll:
best hang-out spot in san diego?
favorite san diego restaurant?

I can't participate, I've only been to San Diego a few times. I wanna have a list of these places before August though 🙂

 

[GoSkins2004]

I'm procrastinating on a final paper. I could find any distraction exciting. So, um, yeah, how about 3000?
just kidding.
here's a poll:
best hang-out spot in san diego?
favorite san diego restaurant?

hang out spots: O'Hungry's Bar in Old Town (where you drink beer by the yard), The Blarney Stone in Clairemont (good, hard-to-find Irish pub), The Onyx Room, located downtown in the Gaslamp district (on Tuesday nights they have live, no-cover jazz which is pretty decent)

restaurants: for mexican food, Casa de Pico in Old Town, and for Thai food, Celadon in Hillcrest.

ive lived in san diego for almost 2 years now, but there's still a lot to explore, so if anyone else has cool spots, let me know!

 

[GymHopper]

Hey ya'll,

I'm gonna go to UCSD, too! Whohooo...hehe. So...anybody know already what they're gonna do about housing in SD? Too bad that the admissions office doesn't have like a list for incoming medstudents who are looking for other incoming students to room.

Maybe we can start something here? I'd totally want a roomie that's also a first year, that way we can study and die together, LoL

 

[Eraserhead]

Hey ya'll,

I'm gonna go to UCSD, too! Whohooo...hehe. So...anybody know already what they're gonna do about housing in SD? Too bad that the admissions office doesn't have like a list for incoming medstudents who are looking for other incoming students to room.

Maybe we can start something here? I'd totally want a roomie that's also a first year, that way we can study and die together, LoL

I'm not sure what I am doing... probably doing the summer program and then figuring something out then... I think I'll probably try to live alone unless its too expensive bc I just function better that way.

 

[Alexander99]

I'm totally a fourth quarter player... 😎 😎 except for the fact that I've never played a single sport in my lifetime... I'd fully consider myself to be a fourth quarter player in terms of academic stuff at least 😎

Not even miniature golf??

 

[Alexander99]

Hey, are any of you waiting to hear from other schools? Or are you all SD all the way, baby?

UCSD all the way baby! Believe me. Once you guys live down here and realize going to the beach everyday is a possibility, you'll never want to leave. Of course, we'll be busy enough where a lot of times, the beach is a blessing and a curse (it beckons you to go out there but you can't cause you have to study.)

 

[Eraserhead]

Not even miniature golf??

OK I was in a bowling league once (briefly) and did a bit of swimming but never really stayed on a team... and now I go to the gym occasionally. I was a lifeguard though (pools not beach). If miniature golf counts, then all of this combined might make me some kind of athlete. 😎

 

[Eraserhead]

UCSD all the way baby! Believe me. Once you guys live down here and realize going to the beach everyday is a possibility, you'll never want to leave. Of course, we'll be busy enough where a lot of times, the beach is a blessing and a curse (it beckons you to go out there but you can't cause you have to study.)

I hope are you right. But why can't we study on the beach too? 😴 I'm productive in a lounge chair.

 

[Alexander99]

I hope are you right. But why can't we study on the beach too? 😴 I'm productive in a lounge chair.

Studying at the beach is like a person on a diet going to a buffet. The results are normally unfavorable.

 

[Alexander99]

Time to revive this thread--I have a real question though:

Does anyone know when UCSD's start date is this year? Last year was September 2, the first Tuesday of the month. This year, September 2 is on a Thursday. I assume they'll want to start on a Tuesday again so are we looking at September 7th then? I sure hope it's not August for many reasons.

 

[GoSkins2004]

Time to revive this thread--I have a real question though:

Does anyone know when UCSD's start date is this year? Last year was September 2, the first Tuesday of the month. This year, September 2 is on a Thursday. I assume they'll want to start on a Tuesday again so are we looking at September 7th then? I sure hope it's not August for many reasons.

you can get the schedule from the website...i think classes start the 7th but we have a week long mandatory orientation starting on aug. 30th.

http://meded.ucsd.edu/students/calendar/cal04-05.html

 

[supersunny]

Studying at the beach is like a person on a diet going to a buffet. The results are normally unfavorable.

don't knock it till you try it 😉

 

[Alexander99]

you can get the schedule from the website...i think classes start the 7th but we have a week long mandatory orientation starting on aug. 30th.

http://meded.ucsd.edu/students/calendar/cal04-05.html

Nice find (I was looking for it but I could only find the old one.) We start August 30? WTF? That means we have less than 4 months left now and I'm not even out for the summer yet (won't be until the second week of June.) That means my summer break is only going to be 2 and 1/2 months long. The worst part is, I applied for some summer TA positions that don't end until September 4. I wonder how that's gonna work out. :/

 

[stressedout]

hey my fellow SDers,

Anyone going to do the summer program... I am going crazy trying to decide whether or not to!

 

[Alexander99]

hey my fellow SDers,

Anyone going to do the summer program... I am going crazy trying to decide whether or not to!

I'm not going to go and I'll give you a little advice about it:

I think the only people that really benefit from the program are non-science majors. During revisit day, I even heard some non-science majors did fine without going to the program. If you're a non-science major, you might want to consider doing the program cause it will obviously help.

Personally, even if I were a non-science major, I'd still skip it because it's 6 weeks long--that's basically my whole summer. I really need to be able to relax and have some fun before med school starts or else I'll risk getting burned out.

 

[Eraserhead]

hey my fellow SDers,

Anyone going to do the summer program... I am going crazy trying to decide whether or not to!

I'm doing it for the following reasons:
1. I basically only took the pre-reqs and some light upper division science classes
2. I've been out of full-time schooling for 2 years, and I've grown very lazy about things... at my research job I make my own hours and rarely wake up before 9am.
3. I want more time to get used to SD, find permanent housing, find friends, etc.
4. , the most important reason....

 

[lolli]

Do you guys remember talking to any current students about how much time they actually do spend in lecture? How mandatory are all of the lectures? What kinds of notes are available if you don't go?

 

[Eraserhead]

Do you guys remember talking to any current students about how much time they actually do spend in lecture? How mandatory are all of the lectures? What kinds of notes are available if you don't go?

They ranged from none to all, it depends on the type of student they are I suppose. They are not mandatory at all, but the dean said they might consider taking attendance in the future if no one shows up at all.

There are two sets of notes, the class note taker and the instructor's notes I believe. I'm pretty sure they are online too.

 

[Alexander99]

Do you guys remember talking to any current students about how much time they actually do spend in lecture? How mandatory are all of the lectures? What kinds of notes are available if you don't go?

What Eraserhead said. I'm going to adopt the strategy of going to as many classes as I can as long as I find them somewhat useful. At the same time, if the lecturer is just terrible and I don't get anything out of it, I'm going to just study off the lecture notes.

I know during revisit day they kind of gave the students a guilt trip about attending lectures but here's the deal: good lecturers invariably have high attendence (from what I hear.) If the attendance is disturbingly low, it may be time to reevaluate the quality of the lecturers. Just because a faculty member is well known and does ground-breaking research doesn't necessarily mean they are engaging or even competent lecturers.

 

[lolli]

So, do you think that people's negative comments about UCSD and so many lecture hours etc. are kind of unfounded, since you don't really have to go?
It seems to me that it would always be better to have the option, than to not have the option.

 

[Eraserhead]

So, do you think that people's negative comments about UCSD and so many lecture hours etc. are kind of unfounded, since you don't really have to go?
It seems to me that it would always be better to have the option, than to not have the option.

Yes, I think they are. If you are the type of person that will get stressed out by the fact that you might be missing out on something small by not sitting in the lecture, I could see how that could be bothersome though. I'd rather go to lecture, do most of my knowledge absorption there, and go home for the day and chill out but things are rarely that simple. Depending on the professor and the testing style, it may or may not be important to go.

 

[Alexander99]

So, do you think that people's negative comments about UCSD and so many lecture hours etc. are kind of unfounded, since you don't really have to go?
It seems to me that it would always be better to have the option, than to not have the option.

Yeah. I think it's unfounded. First of all, you're right in that the lectures are "optional" in the sense that they don't take attendance. Why bitch about how many lecture hours there are if you don't have to go?

Second, according to the director of academics, the notion that UCSD has significantly more lecture hours than other schools is just a rumor. She said each med school has to report how many lecture hours their cirriculum includes and she said there's no significant difference between UCSD and a majority of schools.

Either way, I used to worry about the supposedly high lecture hours at UCSD but now I don't think it matters at all.

 

[Eraserhead]

Yeah. I think it's unfounded. First of all, you're right in that the lectures are "optional" in the sense that they don't take attendance. Why bitch about how many lecture hours there are if you don't have to go?

Second, according to the director of academics, the notion that UCSD has significantly more lecture hours than other schools is just a rumor. She said each med school has to report how many lecture hours their cirriculum includes and she said there's no significant difference between UCSD and a majority of schools.

Either way, I used to worry about the supposedly high lecture hours at UCSD but now I don't think it matters at all.

Right, bitching is not allowed. I'll bitch about people bitching if they start to bitch next year. 🙂

I think Dean Savoia who I really liked as a person comforted everyone when she talked about the rumors and lecture hours. Its not what people make it out to be although the sheer number of schedule-able hours is higher... the reality of the situation is that it's what you make of it, like most things in life.

 

[Jalby]

Second, according to the director of academics, the notion that UCSD has significantly more lecture hours than other schools is just a rumor. She said each med school has to report how many lecture hours their cirriculum includes and she said there's no significant difference between UCSD and a majority of schools.

2 things.

1. yes, I think it is founded and I broke it down to these two on a different thread.

2. I've seen the report the dean is refferring to and they are out and out lying to you guys about that. It's on the aamc.org website, and other schools reported all schedualed material. Tests, review sessions, option labs, etc, etc. UCSD only listed lecture hours and not clinical stuff, electives, etc, etc. The numbers turned out similar there (I only looked at the UC schools on the website. UCSD, UCI, UCSF, UCLA, etc, etc)

 

[Eraserhead]

2 things.

1. yes, I think it is founded and I broke it down to these two on a different thread.

2. I've seen the report the dean is refferring to and they are out and out lying to you guys about that. It's on the aamc.org website, and other schools reported all schedualed material. Tests, review sessions, option labs, etc, etc. UCSD only listed lecture hours and not clinical stuff, electives, etc, etc. The numbers turned out similar there (I only looked at the UC schools on the website. UCSD, UCI, UCSF, UCLA, etc, etc)

I find it hard to believe that the dean lied to all of the incoming students.

 

[lolli]

2 things.

1. yes, I think it is founded and I broke it down to these two on a different thread.

2. I've seen the report the dean is refferring to and they are out and out lying to you guys about that. It's on the aamc.org website, and other schools reported all schedualed material. Tests, review sessions, option labs, etc, etc. UCSD only listed lecture hours and not clinical stuff, electives, etc, etc. The numbers turned out similar there (I only looked at the UC schools on the website. UCSD, UCI, UCSF, UCLA, etc, etc)

Hey Jalby baby,
Could you direct me to the thread you broke it down on?

 

[Jalby]

I find it hard to believe that the dean lied to all of the incoming students.

What she said is accurate. "According to the AAMC survey, UCSD has as many hours as other schools" It's like politicians.

 

[Jalby]

Found it. This years information isn't updated, so you have to look at old info. I only looked at UCI and UCSD, but you will notice a difference in what is actually reported.

http://services.aamc.org/currdir/section2/courses.cfm

 

[Jalby]

Alright. Here is a cut and post from what I wrote earlier. I'd probably change a little of it.

It actually is a difference in what you have to learn versus what other schools have to learn. The reason most schools were able to reduce the amount of lecture hours that they teach is because they cut out a lot of material that wasn't relevant to modern medicine that has been taught throughout the existance of medical schools (Harvard was the first to do this)

For example, there is a lot of useless structures in gross anatomy that you won't be tested on again. Embryology has been cut down a ton. Histology is only the basics. You don't have to memorize the Krebs cycle in biochemistry, etc, etc. A lot of stuff like that has been cut out at other schools that traditional schools keep. The stuff like Path, Pharm and stuff like that, it's exactly the same.

Here is the rough anaology I use in my head. My school teaches 20 hours a week but only covers about 90% of what you are tested on in the boards. UCSD covers 95% of what is on the boards but does 30 hours a week. (pulling all numbers out of a$$)

One reason this is important is that UCSD has Honors/pass/fail. In order to get honors, you do have to know all the minor details because that is the difference between getting a 90 and a 95. So if you want honors, you really need to learn the useless stuff that sometimes gets taught.

 

[Eraserhead]

Alright. Here is a cut and post from what I wrote earlier. I'd probably change a little of it.

It actually is a difference in what you have to learn versus what other schools have to learn. The reason most schools were able to reduce the amount of lecture hours that they teach is because they cut out a lot of material that wasn't relevant to modern medicine that has been taught throughout the existance of medical schools (Harvard was the first to do this)

For example, there is a lot of useless structures in gross anatomy that you won't be tested on again. Embryology has been cut down a ton. Histology is only the basics. You don't have to memorize the Krebs cycle in biochemistry, etc, etc. A lot of stuff like that has been cut out at other schools that traditional schools keep. The stuff like Path, Pharm and stuff like that, it's exactly the same.

Here is the rough anaology I use in my head. My school teaches 20 hours a week but only covers about 90% of what you are tested on in the boards. UCSD covers 95% of what is on the boards but does 30 hours a week. (pulling all numbers out of a$$)

One reason this is important is that UCSD has Honors/pass/fail. In order to get honors, you do have to know all the minor details because that is the difference between getting a 90 and a 95. So if you want honors, you really need to learn the useless stuff that sometimes gets taught.

OK I believe this post is accurate and I agree with Jalby's opinions here. I don't plan to bust my ass for honors, so I'm not worried. Frankly I am tired of hearing negative things about UCSD though, things really are exagerated...

 

[dentate_gyrus]

I missed the second look, have any accepted applicants recieved mail from UCSD recently?
When do we start orientation for this fall?
Thanks.

 

[Eraserhead]

I missed the second look, have any accepted applicants recieved mail from UCSD recently?
When do we start orientation for this fall?
Thanks.

No mail recently. They probably wait until the class list is more final. Orientation is August 30th I believe.

 

[hoping2004]

is first quarter at UCSD pass/fail? or am i just making it up? guys...i'm so excited we're going here!!

 

[Eraserhead]

is first quarter at UCSD pass/fail? or am i just making it up? guys...i'm so excited we're going here!!

Yeah, the first quarter where you do all the molecular stuff is pass/fail. I think its the toughest quarter in terms of the pace and amount of material. Because of what second look people said, I'm going to do the summer program mainly to help get through this stuff.

 

[hoping2004]

yea! thank goodness that first quarter is pass/fail. it'll give us a chance to ease into things and spend more time gettign to know each other. thanks ucsd!

 

[Alexander99]

yea! thank goodness that first quarter is pass/fail. it'll give us a chance to ease into things and spend more time gettign to know each other. thanks ucsd!

Even when we get to the honors/pass/fail quarters, I'm not too worried about it. We're all planning on doing the best we can, right? So if I do the best I can and I get honors, great. If I only get a pass, that's fine. I think it only really matters if a student was counting a pure pass/fail system and just barely getting by and having to study the minimum possible. In that case, I'd see why they'd want to bitch.

 

[Eraserhead]

I went to UCSD for undergrad...i'm a cali boy..but U of M is really great, great facilities, faculty, etc. What you guys think...

U of M is freezing cold and far from the ocean and the type of people I'm used to. That's what I think.

 

[Alexander99]

So UCSD's average Step I score from last year's class was reported at being 1 standard deviation above the national mean for first time test takers. That corresponds to a score of 240!! Is it just me or is that excessively high?

 

[docmemi]

So UCSD's average Step I score from last year's class was reported at being 1 standard deviation above the national mean for first time test takers. That corresponds to a score of 240!! Is it just me or is that excessively high?

how can that be?? 😕 😱

 

[Eraserhead]

how can that be?? 😕 😱

It can't be. There's no way. Sorry folks.

 

[docmemi]

just got this in an email. from the score report of a fellow that works for our research team...

for the august 2003 usmle step 1 administration it says:
"For recent administrations, the mean and SD for first-time takers from us and canadian med schools are approximately 215 and 21, respectively, with most scores falling between 152 and 278. a score of 182 is set by usmle to pass step 1." it also said something about the SEM (=estimated range that you would fall in by chance if you were to repeat the test) for this scale is about 6 points.
"A score of 75 on this scale, which is equivalent to 182, is passing."

that may give some of you some hard evidence if you were ever wondering about step 1 scores.

 

[Alexander99]

just got this in an email. from the score report of a fellow that works for our research team...

for the august 2003 usmle step 1 administration it says:
"For recent administrations, the mean and SD for first-time takers from us and canadian med schools are approximately 215 and 21, respectively, with most scores falling between 152 and 278. a score of 182 is set by usmle to pass step 1." it also said something about the SEM (=estimated range that you would fall in by chance if you were to repeat the test) for this scale is about 6 points.
"A score of 75 on this scale, which is equivalent to 182, is passing."

that may give some of you some hard evidence if you were ever wondering about step 1 scores.

So the mean is 215 with a standard dev of 21. That would make one standard dev above the mean about a 236. That sounds more reasonable than a 240 but it's still pretty high. I think it's possible though since Baylor and U Penn's average is around there. It has a lot to do with the composition of the class as well too and UCSD can be pretty numbers driven.

 

[Eraserhead]

(waiting for Jalby comment) 🙂

 

[Alexander99]

(waiting for Jalby comment) 🙂

That guy has the answer to everything! Some might accuse him of being a "know it all" but in his case, he actually does know it all so he gets no complaints from my side. 🙂