UCSF - please help!!

[labrynth79]

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Hello!

My good friend is a current applicant this year, like many of you, and has finally received an interview invite. After many rejects from most schools (pre-interview), he believed that his chances this year were quite slim. However, from out of nowhere, UCSF has invited him for an interview. He is obviously ecstatic, but also incredibly apprehensive.

With this said, he found out that UCSF asks for a 2 paragraph essay prior to the interviews. Does anyone have information about what he will be asked to write on? About himself or his goals? Politics? International affairs?

As you might know if you've interviewed there or have heard about it, going into the interview blind is probably one of the worst feelings that you can have. I am trying my best to help him and I hope that some of you out there would be willing to share.

Thanks so much! 😀

labrynth79
p.s. good luck with everything! I know how incredibly difficult and stressful the application process can be - there was much drama for me when I applied to med school.

 

[dentist2008]

I interviewed at UCSF on nov 2. It was pretty good. Tell your friend that he should not be worried about the essay. They just give you a topic and ask you to write a couple of paragraphs. there is no right or wrong answer. Basically, they want to find out if you are able to write a couple of paragraphs without difficulty or horrible gramatical errors. In our group, there were different questions given but you didn't have a choice. I was just given a sheet with a question on it. Other people, each had different questions.
As far as I remember, my question was something like: " do you think dental procedures should be affected by the ability of patient to pay money or not"
Good luck on the interview.

 

[akathisia]

I interviewed on Jan 12 and the essay seems to be an assessment of your ability to handle a topic and how well you can throw together a few sentences. My question asked about me about how my feelings were on supreme court justice term lengths and if I think they should be life-time appointments or short term appointments. I would tell your friend to go to Barnes and NOble or some bookstore, find, read, then learn the Kaplan MCAT way of writing essays. It's a quick and dirty method that only takes a few hours of practicing to master.
I guess nobody really knows what they (UCSF) are after giving applicant an essay but I would guess it is to weed out people that cannot communicate in effectivly in english and also to see if you can put an argument together quickly and effectively.
If he is really worried he should get the Kaplan MCAT book and do some of their timed essays. Other than that the interviewers are very nice and the seem to just want to learn about you as an individual. Tell him he'll do fine, just be himself.

 

[labrynth79]

dentist2008 and akathisia,

thanks so much for both your responses - I really appreciate it and I am sure that my friend does as well.

take care!