University of California Medical Schools

[mynameistino]

Does anyone know how competitive medical schools in California compared to the rest of the Country? Like, Minnesota?

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[MWillie]

Pretty damn competitive?

 

[javert]

Pretty damn competitive?

That pretty much sums it up.

...and to be clear, he's referring to California, not Minnesota

 

[dynx]

Does anyone know how competitive medical schools in California compared to the rest of the Country? Like, Minnesota?

About the same. I hate all these people complaining about how hard it is to get into a medical school in Cali. The truth is that they just can't handle med admissions, period. People all over the country are dealing with how hard it is to get into medical school, California is not special except there are a couple more people in the app. pool.

 

[sunUCB]

The truth is that they just can't handle med admissions, period.

i don't know - i don't think that's quite a fair statement....maybe it is. maybe CA is just more random....but i know in my case, i've gotten 11 interview invites, all of them have been out of state, some from much much higher ranked schools than some of the CA schools....but maybe that's the randomness of the process, all i wanted was one interview in CA and it didn't happen. so i guess i can't "handle" the process.

 

[sunUCB]

oh and by the way, i'm not saying my stats are excellent enough to get a CA interview (3.56, 33) but i do think that it is a fair statement to say that, if i lived in Texas (just an example...don't bash me) i would have at least gotten 1 interview from one of the schools in my own state with those numbers.....that's my only point. but i don't want to sound whine-ish, i am actually glad to go out of state for a few years.

 

[javert]

oh and by the way, i'm not saying my stats are excellent enough to get a CA interview (3.56, 33) but i do think that it is a fair statement to say that, if i lived in Texas (just an example...don't bash me) i would have at least gotten 1 interview from one of the schools in my own state with those numbers.....that's my only point. but i don't want to sound whine-ish, i am actually glad to go out of state for a few years.

I think sunUCB hit the nail on the head.

 

[Tra La La]

Getting into a UC school is MUCH MUCH MUCH easier if you are a Cali resident. This might seem obvious b/c the UC med schools only take 15% (at most) of their classes from out-of-staters.

 

[dvd200e]

i also found myself in a similar situation to sunUCB with similar stats (3.6, 35). i was offered no interviews in california, but interviewed at was accepted at schools with higher stats and rank. i was really left wondering what the hell was going on.

 

[Haybrant]

About the same. I hate all these people complaining about how hard it is to get into a medical school in Cali. The truth is that they just can't handle med admissions, period. People all over the country are dealing with how hard it is to get into medical school, California is not special except there are a couple more people in the app. pool.

this will go down as about the most ridiculous post ever on sdn; can't handle the med admissions? you must be really special you know that.

 

[Tra La La]

Getting into a UC school is MUCH MUCH MUCH easier if you are a Cali resident. This might seem obvious b/c the UC med schools only take 15% (at most) of their classes from out-of-staters.

But hey, to be honest, getting into a UC medical school (or any medical school for that matter) is not easy.

 

[Tra La La]

i also found myself in a similar situation to sunUCB with similar stats (3.6, 35). i was offered no interviews in california, but interviewed at was accepted at schools with higher stats and rank. i was really left wondering what the hell was going on.

It's so random.

I got rejected from my "safety" schools.

 

[Sparky Man]

About the same. I hate all these people complaining about how hard it is to get into a medical school in Cali. The truth is that they just can't handle med admissions, period. People all over the country are dealing with how hard it is to get into medical school, California is not special except there are a couple more people in the app. pool.

i can handle med admissions and from my application experience this year, i think it's harder to get into a medical school in california.

 

[Tra La La]

i can handle med admissions and from my application experience this year, i think it's harder to get into a medical school in california.

Are you a Cali resident?

 

[Sparky Man]

Are you a Cali resident?

yeah, i am. i was born in california, grew up there and even attended the state college near my home. since then, i have been in graduate school, out of state. i'm not saying that the ucs have burned me in any way, just that there's a noticeable discrepancy between the calibur school that wants me in california compared to anywhere else. but, i can't complain.

 

[Tra La La]

yeah, i am. i was born in california, grew up there and even attended the state college near my home. since then, i have been in graduate school, out of state. i'm not saying that the ucs have burned me in any way, just that there's a noticeable discrepancy between the calibur school that wants me in california compared to anywhere else. but, i can't complain.

Man, that's weird. Sorry about the crapshoot way this process works.

 

[Ambs]

this will go down as about the most ridiculous post ever on sdn; can't handle the med admissions? you must be really special you know that.

I agree with you, Haybrant.

 

[dxw]

Some people just don't get it. After going through the process twice, I would definitely say it is incredibly hard to get into a CA school as a CA resident. It's not just the fact that the application process is random as it is in most schools. Throw into that the fact that there is such a limited amount of spaces for so many competitive applicants. If you've got good stats, decent ECs, and you get in, then you were the lucky one whose application got read in the beginning of the process, which is when they still have enough seats to consider you. If you apply later in the process or your application is simply read late, you definitely have to do something extraordinary to make them notice you. I would say my second time around I've had some pretty interesting accomplishments, and yet I only got interviewed at one UC. In comparison, there are a large number of great med schools in the rest of the country, which is why really great CA applicants end up going out of state for med school.

 

[Sparky Man]

Man, that's weird. Sorry about the crapshoot way this process works.

Thanks Tra La La. No worries, though. It's definitely part crapshoot, which is kinda like real life! Makes it exciting & unpredictable.

 

[sbadal2007]

considering everyone agrees it is difficult for even Cali residents to get into a cali school, what are the chances of a cali resident who goes to an out of state school to match into a cali residency.

 

[Tra La La]

It's definitely part crapshoot, which is kinda like real life! Makes it exciting & unpredictable.

Amen to that!

 

[Tra La La]

considering everyone agrees it is difficult for even Cali residents to get into a cali school, what are the chances of a cali resident who goes to an out of state school to match into a cali residency.

Hmm...good question.

Do Cali residency programs have a prefernce for Cali residents, or graduates of Cali medical schools?

 

[canttouchthis]

couple more people in the app. pool.

couple more my a$$. If they let in all the people applying to med school from UCLA undergrad, they'd almost fill up all the available seats in california. The fact that the lowest ranking UC still has an average gpa of 3.7 and average mcat of 32 is crazy. Throw in the fact that most applicants from CA are asian and thus are just smarter than me, and you have a difficult situation. heh..maybe I can't handle this process and I have cracked under the stress.

 

[curiouslygeorge]

The problem for California applicants is this: there are only 600 or so in-state seats. While that would be perhaps even a large number or seats in another state, there are close to 4000 applicants in California. So the California applicants suffer difficulty getting into their own state AND getting in out of state where others who might have lower stats will be considered first if it is within their home state (and understandabley so).

 

[sbadal2007]

But my question still stands "is it harder to get back into cali for residency's?" or does it really depend on how you perform in medical school and your track record rather than your state of residence

 

[Tra La La]

Throw in the fact that most applicants from CA are asian and thus are just smarter than me, and you have a difficult situation.

Classic!

 

[sunUCB]

i'm only an undergrad applying to medical school, but i'll answer that question based on what i've heard - yes, it is harder, but if you come to CA to do some of your 3rd and 4th year rotations, then it shows you have the desire to come back to CA and it will increase your chances of getting a CA residency. Look at the match lists for schools with an absurd amount of CA residents (like rosalind franklin) - you'll see that a ton of people do get to go back to CA for residencies.

But my question still stands "is it harder to get back into cali for residency's?" or does it really depend on how you perform in medical school and your track record rather than your state of residence

 

[sbadal2007]

why california why must you do this to your residents...arnold should create 12 more med schools...at least in cali...come on AHHNNULLLLDDD YOU CAN DO IT

 

[CalGirl]

Hi guys, yep I must agree that it is VERY difficult for us Cali residents to end up at a UC med school. I interviewed at 13 med schools all over the country, and only one was a Cali school (UC Irvine). I have decent stats (3.8, 33) and EC's, but still only one UC showed me luv!

As far as residency, here is my understanding: YES, it is definitely easier to get Cali residency if you are already at a UC med school - so if people are choosing between a UC med school and an out of state school, that is something to take into consideration. But, if that is not an option, I wouldn't worry because PLENTY of people come back to Cali from whatever med school. I worked at Children's Hospital Los Angeles for the past 6 months, and I met a bunch of residents who had gone to school all over - Michigan, Med College Wisconsin, Chicago Med, NYU, international schools, DO schools, everything! Just my $0.02.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Why does everyone only get like 1 UC interview? Cuz there's a database to discourage multiple UC interviews.

 

[Tra La La]

Why does everyone only get like 1 UC interview? Cuz there's a database to discourage multiple UC interviews.

For reals?

I've never heard of this database.

 

[scrappysurfer]

Why does everyone only get like 1 UC interview? Cuz there's a database to discourage multiple UC interviews.

Is this actually true? I've heard this, but I interviewed at 2/3 UC's I applied to. (Davis gave me the 'ol heave ho pre-secondary).

Anyways, I genuinely wanted to go out of state for medical school, but got dumped from nearly all out-of-state schools. Two out of state schools that interviewed me were ranked top 5 by USNWR. A third I suspect interviewed me because I had expressed enough interest in the school to go there while I was in town and meet up with faculty. All seemed concerned about giving a spot to a candidate with the stats to get into Cali schools. All in all, it seems that only *top* schools will look at Cali students because they assume that you will stay in California.

As for match, my Mom is on clinical faculty at USC. Her residents all seem to be from ivies. I've heard that residency programs like to mix things up by having out of state residents.

 

[DR DRE]

Hi guys, yep I must agree that it is VERY difficult for us Cali residents to end up at a UC med school. I interviewed at 13 med schools all over the country, and only one was a Cali school (UC Irvine). I have decent stats (3.8, 33) and EC's, but still only one UC showed me luv!

As far as residency, here is my understanding: YES, it is definitely easier to get Cali residency if you are already at a UC med school - so if people are choosing between a UC med school and an out of state school, that is something to take into consideration. But, if that is not an option, I wouldn't worry because PLENTY of people come back to Cali from whatever med school. I worked at Children's Hospital Los Angeles for the past 6 months, and I met a bunch of residents who had gone to school all over - Michigan, Med College Wisconsin, Chicago Med, NYU, international schools, DO schools, everything! Just my $0.02.

Were you an Aug MCATer?

 

[nomo15]

Hi guys, yep I must agree that it is VERY difficult for us Cali residents to end up at a UC med school. I interviewed at 13 med schools all over the country, and only one was a Cali school (UC Irvine). I have decent stats (3.8, 33) and EC's, but still only one UC showed me luv!

Sorry to butt in, DR DRE, but I had this same kind of situation and I was not an Aug MCATer. I received like 15 interviews invites, completed 8 of them, and got into three schools (two of them in the US News top ten). Two Cali interviews - Davis and UCLA (my alma mater). WL at Davis, and barring a late second miracle from UCLA (my interview is this month) I'll have zero cali acceptances. I'd say this state is purty tough

 

[Anandimide]

Much harder to get into Cali residency (even the crappy programs) for out of staters. In fact a meeting I went to recently told all of us Cali people to basically forget about it....

But my question still stands "is it harder to get back into cali for residency's?" or does it really depend on how you perform in medical school and your track record rather than your state of residence

 

[skreenin]

Sorry to switch things up a little bit, but i was wondering what y'all thought about UCSD vs UCLA? I want to do some neuroscience research, and ultimately do my residency somewhere in cali... a lot of posts keep referring me to "match lists", any idea where i could find those for students from those particular schools?

 

[CalGirl]

Were you an Aug MCATer?

Actually, Dr. Dre I took the MCAT's a year early, in August 2003. So I was an August MCATer, hehe, but not in 2004. So that didn't affect my application at all. I applied pretty early, in mid-June, and completed most of my secondaries pretty quickly.

 

[mynameistino]

geez....i'll be moving to california next year for my sophomore year till the end...can i still keep my residency in minnesota?

 

[bhp]

Any recent acceptance from any of the UC schools and USC?

 

[BravaItaliana]

i also found myself in a similar situation to sunUCB with similar stats (3.6, 35). i was offered no interviews in california, but interviewed at was accepted at schools with higher stats and rank. i was really left wondering what the hell was going on.

...left feeling like what dynx is saying is unduly unfair. I'm in that same position, good stats, good intentions and not a single interview with a UC or anywhere in California for that matter...but accepted at schools across the country that are ranked higher. So, like SunUCB, apparently I simply can't handle this process. Too feeble-minded I guess.
I kind of get the impression that while it's still easier to get into a UC if you're a resident, they're not going to bother to make it easy for anyone. Let's face it, admissions committees are here to baffle us and make our lives miserable. So screwing with those of us in california is merely a job requirement.

 

[synapse]

...left feeling like what dynx is saying is unduly unfair. I'm in that same position, good stats, good intentions and not a single interview with a UC or anywhere in California for that matter...but accepted at schools across the country that are ranked higher. So, like SunUCB, apparently I simply can't handle this process. Too feeble-minded I guess.
I kind of get the impression that while it's still easier to get into a UC if you're a resident, they're not going to bother to make it easy for anyone. Let's face it, admissions committees are here to baffle us and make our lives miserable. So screwing with those of us in california is merely a job requirement.

were you an august mcater?

 

[synapse]

i also found myself in a similar situation to sunUCB with similar stats (3.6, 35). i was offered no interviews in california, but interviewed at was accepted at schools with higher stats and rank. i was really left wondering what the hell was going on.

did u take the mcat in august? were there any type of delays on your app?

 

[scrappysurfer]

Any recent acceptance from any of the UC schools and USC?

i was put on the ucsd mstp ranked waitlist yesterday. so at least they are moving again.

 

[lakersfan]

Any recent acceptance from any of the UC schools and USC?

Hey, I got into USC about 2 weeks ago.

But anyways, back to the topic. It is very hard to get into a California med school. Only 19.3% of California applicants end up going to a med school instate (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2004/masian.htm). As a whole, people on the west coast end up going to a med school out of state since there are so few med schools on the west coast relative to population size.

But anyways, here are some more facts. I believe UCLA and UC Berkeley are the schools that have the most premeds in the nation. The competition is pretty tough since these are schools where the average SAT > 1400 and the premed average is probably higher since a lot of intended premeds drop out after intro gchem and ochem.


If you look here (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2004/masian.htm), you will see the UCLA and Cal have premed class size of 500+ (UCLA's > 700). It would be one thing if these were premeds who lacked the brain power but these are very smart people competing with each other to a degree that I could have never imagined.

 

[bhp]

Hey, I got into USC about 2 weeks ago.

But anyways, back to the topic. It is very hard to get into a California med school. Only 19.3% of California applicants end up going to a med school instate (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2004/masian.htm). As a whole, people on the west coast end up going to a med school out of state since there are so few med schools on the west coast relative to population size.

But anyways, here are some more facts. I believe UCLA and UC Berkeley are the schools that have the most premeds in the nation. The competition is pretty tough since these are schools where the average SAT > 1400 and the premed average is probably higher since a lot of intended premeds drop out after intro gchem and ochem.


If you look here (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2004/masian.htm), you will see the UCLA and Cal have premed class size of 500+ (UCLA's > 700). It would be one thing if these were premeds who lacked the brain power but these are very smart people competing with each other to a degree that I could have never imagined.

Congratulation! Can you tell me when you interview with USC?

 

[lakersfan]

Congratulation! Can you tell me when you interview with USC?

Thanks! I interviewed 1/14.

 

[Newquagmire]

i was put on the ucsd mstp ranked waitlist yesterday. so at least they are moving again.

sorry to hear about that. fyi, if you're still considering going to ucsd mstp, check with the admissions people about how likely it is that you'll actually be admitted from the waitlist.