UCSF MSTP secondary question

[simlamblue]

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I thought this would probably be the best place to ask, the two questions that they ask on the AMCAS for MD/PhD essays are exactly the same questions that UCSF has on its MSTP application, my question is can i just copy and paste the answers, the application even stats that "even if you answered these questions on the AMCAS, you MUST answer them here for our records" so I am guessing they want you to just copy/paste, but I was just wondering if any of you guys did that or wrote/modified your answers. Any and all help is really appreciated.

 

[Inuranic]

I thought this would probably be the best place to ask, the two questions that they ask on the AMCAS for MD/PhD essays are exactly the same questions that UCSF has on its MSTP application, my question is can i just copy and paste the answers, the application even stats that "even if you answered these questions on the AMCAS, you MUST answer them here for our records" so I am guessing they want you to just copy/paste, but I was just wondering if any of you guys did that or wrote/modified your answers. Any and all help is really appreciated.

For a definitive answer, I would probably call/email their office on Monday.

 

[simlamblue]

yeap done that, but they didn't return my call ( Im not bitter, Im sure they are swamped) and also emailed but I was hoping that this would be a faster way.

 

[Ariodant]

It's not a good idea to Ctrl+C the entire essay from your primary for any secondary, even if they don't out flat tell you not to recycle your primary essays. But you don't have to come up with a entirely different essay either. Take your primary essays, rephrase it a bit, tweak it here and there, maybe use a different opening/closing paragraph, but recycle the more technical part (structure/data presentation/discussion, etc.). Shouldn't be too hard to do. As for the non-technical (i.e., bulls***ting) essays, I would write a new one, approaching the same story in your primary why MD/PhD essay, but from a different angle. Some other schools ask similar questions on their secondary (plans for MD/PhD, role model, to name a few), and you are more than welcome to Ctrl+C from/to those, and UCSF won't know😀

PS: Jana and Catherine don't return every call/email, unless it's urgent or cannot be resolved without their intervention. General questions like "with these stats do I have a shot" or "how should I go about writing my secondary" don't have definitive, fool-proof answers, and the directors' approach may not be the same as the committee's.

PPS: Might be another good topic to add to the stickies. With our highly redundant MD/PhD secondaries a lot applicants each year will wonder about the same question.

 

[Sun24L]

yeah, i'm kinda confused about this since there don't seem to be any word limits, and the boxes appear rather small, even though they are expandable. are they looking for full blown essays or just short paragraphs?

 

[simlamblue]

I think you're right Ariodant, better safe than sorry thanks alot.

Sun, the first question says in detail, so I think im going to talk about everything I did in the AMCAS significant research essay, the 2nd question says briefly so I think <500 words is what i'll aim for. And Im also writing paragraphs and essay format. Good luck!!!

 

[Neuronix]

PPS: Might be another good topic to add to the stickies. With our highly redundant MD/PhD secondaries a lot applicants each year will wonder about the same question.

I have no idea how to answer these sorts of questions. It seems school dependent and it's an area that changes year to year. There were no MD/PhD essays on my AMCAS for example. The first year AMCAS added their MD/PhD essays few schools dropped theirs. Since then schools seem to be dropping essays or tweaking prompts. Compounding this problem is that some adcoms seem to think "it's ok if they just copy & paste, we asked the same question twice" while others seem to think copy & paste is a sign of laziness even if it is the same question. Meanwhile, as you point out many offices won't answer e-mails about these sorts of issues and applicants aren't in a position to push for answers. Current students meanwhile don't really care and it would look awfully strange if me as a 6th year asked about this sort of issue (though I do from time to time for stuff for my program).

So how do we answer such a nebulous question? I'm happy to take suggestions. Currently my answer is: your guess is as good as mine as to how to handle this.

 

[Calf]

Well Stanford basically tells you you can copy/paste, so that's what I'm doing.

As for UCSF, if I get the secondary (crosses fingers), I will probably copy/paste more or less, with minor tweaks.

 

[simlamblue]

so this is the email I sent and the response from UCSF:
Hello, my name is XXXX, and I was wondering for the MSTP application
essay questions is it okay to have the same information that I put on my
AMCAS application for the MD/PhD essays? Thank you very much for your
time.

Dear XXXX - Yes. We do not receive the AMCAS questions here at UCSF, which is why
we have those questions on our secondary application.

Jana Marie Toutolmin
Administrative Director
Medical Scientist Training Program
University of California, San Francisco
533 Parnassus Avenue, Room U-583
San Francisco, CA 94143-0662
Telephone: 415-476-4423
Fax: 415-476-9843
Email: [email protected]

*I didn't ask if I could copy/paste but since they dont recieve the questions anyway... Hope that helps

 

[Ariodant]

Weird...If they receive the primary you'd think they receive the essays as well. But if that's what they tell you then go ahead and copy paste

To answer Neuronix's question, I agree that it's school-dependant and no fool-proof answer exists. But applicants will ask about it anyway. Unless they take the time and trouble to get a definitive answer from a certain school like simlamblue did, I'd say the safest way to go is stick to your story, but tweak the approach and wording to avoid the laziness accusation.

 

[Neuronix]

Unless they take the time and trouble to get a definitive answer from a certain school like simlamblue did, I'd say the safest way to go is stick to your story, but tweak the approach and wording to avoid the laziness accusation.

I'd rather they did contact the programs and give definite answers like this one rather than me telling people the wrong answers. If this question is asked in the future I will link to this thread, but the correct answer is liable to be different next year.

 

[pyf]

For anyone who is *still* filling out secondaries (ugh), they answer this question on their website and I thought it might be helpful to post it here:

Secondary Application

MSTP application materials will be sent only to applicants who pass the initial screening and are invited to submit a secondary application to the SOM. You will be asked to submit a brief supplemental essay describing your past research experiences, your interests, and your future career goals. For the Fall 2008 admissions cycle, you may duplicate your two AMCAS essay responses on the UCSF MSTP application.

See here: http://medschool.ucsf.edu/mstp/admissions/application.aspx

I would assume that in response to the "Research Training Plans" question, it would still probably be a good idea to tailor your response to UCSF is particular. Unless, I guess, you don't actually want to say anything more specific.

 

[sunshine8i8]

just to warn you, the box for listing the research projects (I think the first one) does not expand beyond one page. (or at least it didn't for me!)

 

[Calf]

Anyone NOT gotten a secondary yet? This is the last school I'm waiting on 🙁.

 

[Ariodant]

CA residents will get priority during screening.

 

[Caribou]

CA residents will get priority during screening.

Just to clarify, that is only true with regards to receiving a secondary.

 

[Calf]

Ah, ok thanks.

 

[Synplast]

Anyone NOT gotten a secondary yet? This is the last school I'm waiting on 🙁.

I still have not gotten a secondary yet. It's the last school I have to hear from too, and my primary was completed in July.

 

[standard101]

UCSF MSTP doesn't distinguish in vs out of states.

 

[Ariodant]

But the MD committee does. You have to pass their screen to have your file put on the MSTP director's desk.

 

[Scotoma]

The box asking you to explain your research in detail only asks for your most recent project, whereas the AMCAS asks for all significant research. Since my most recent is not really my most significant, I'm wondering if the space right under the statement "List the research projects on which you have worked below" can be used to paste in your AMCAS response. There isn't a box there, but does anyone know if you are only supposed to enter information into the boxes?

 

[sunshine8i8]

The box asking you to explain your research in detail only asks for your most recent project, whereas the AMCAS asks for all significant research. Since my most recent is not really my most significant, I'm wondering if the space right under the statement "List the research projects on which you have worked below" can be used to paste in your AMCAS response. There isn't a box there, but does anyone know if you are only supposed to enter information into the boxes?

If I remember correctly, that prompt is asking for a list/table. Also, I found in MS Word the box does not expand past that page.

 

[Scotoma]

If I remember correctly, that prompt is asking for a list/table. Also, I found in MS Word the box does not expand past that page.

Thanks for the response. I think I agree that the prompt is for the box below rather than the space below (since it does say "list" and not "describe"). So that means that even though their website says you can duplicate your AMCAS responses on their secondary, this is not exactly the case, since they ask a different question on their secondary ("most recent" rather than "all significant" research experiences).