2016-2017 University of California - Riverside Application Thread

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
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Soo ... scholastic activities ... :bookworm:
General consensus that they are asking for school-related activities? Do you guys think including research abstracts that I worked on after graduating from undergrad would count ....
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I'm having such a hard time with these secondaries. :(

I feel like I have to write 250 words multiple times on the same exact question. I have lots of experience and thoughts on working with medically underserved and whatnot, but I can only rehash it so much.

BTW, additional question on the disadvantaged form, if anyone marked themself as disadvantaged on the primary
"Describe the manner in which your experiences demonstrate your understanding of, and commitment to, underserved communities ." :smack:literally the exact same thing as the activities question
 
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Does everyone have an interview category in the application status section that has a lock and "not scheduled yet" next to it? Just wanna know if this means something or if my neurotic self is reading too much into it, LOL :)
 
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Yeah, I have it as well. They still haven't gotten all my letters either, and was told via email they are having IT difficulties with downloading letters from AMCAS or something.


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deforestasian said:
Yeah, I have it as well. They still haven't gotten all my letters either, and was told via email they are having IT difficulties with downloading letters from AMCAS or something.


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Oh gotcha, just my neuroticism at work then....
 
I just got off the phone with admissions and they said to "copy and paste all my AMCAS activities info" into the secondary in the activities section. The person told me that they ask us to do this because they don't refer back to the primary at all except for the personal statement. I guess they tried having an automatic "fill-in" feature this year that would directly pull AMCAS activities from our primaries and insert them into the secondary but it didn't work so we have to fill them in again this year.
 
BrainMD101 said:
I just got off the phone with admissions and they said to "copy and paste all my AMCAS activities info" into the secondary in the activities section. The person told me that they ask us to do this because they don't refer back to the primary at all except for the personal statement. I guess they tried having an automatic "fill-in" feature this year that would directly pull AMCAS activities from our primaries and insert them into the secondary but it didn't work so we have to fill them in again this year.
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:wtf:
 
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BrainMD101 said:
I just got off the phone with admissions and they said to "copy and paste all my AMCAS activities info" into the secondary in the activities section. The person told me that they ask us to do this because they don't refer back to the primary at all except for the personal statement. I guess they tried having an automatic "fill-in" feature this year that would directly pull AMCAS activities from our primaries and insert them into the secondary but it didn't work so we have to fill them in again this year.
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Ugh, I already submitted and only put the title of each activity; since the space was so small, I didn't think they would expect a description. :/
 
thejasminedragon said:
Ugh, I already submitted and only put the title of each activity; since the space was so small, I didn't think they would expect a description. :/
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Honestly if we get knocked for this, when it wasnt in the instructions, then whatever
 
wait, we have to put the description in the activities header??
 
Just got off the phone with admissions, they said the name alone is fine, and we can include a sentence or phrase if we want to further identify the activity. They also said that they will have the AMCAS on hand while reviewing.
 
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Now this is confusing...which do we do? Sounds like you talked to different people
 
BrainMD101 said:
I just got off the phone with admissions and they said to "copy and paste all my AMCAS activities info" into the secondary in the activities section. The person told me that they ask us to do this because they don't refer back to the primary at all except for the personal statement. I guess they tried having an automatic "fill-in" feature this year that would directly pull AMCAS activities from our primaries and insert them into the secondary but it didn't work so we have to fill them in again this year.
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Pusheen said:
Just got off the phone with admissions, they said the name alone is fine, and we can include a sentence or phrase if we want to further identify the activity. They also said that they will have the AMCAS on hand while reviewing.
Click to expand...

Now this is confusing....Sounds like y'all talked to different people. What should we do?! ahh
 
docsmall said:
Now this is confusing....Sounds like y'all talked to different people. What should we do?! ahh
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I think they might just be giving out conflicting information, which probably means it's not a big deal. Instinctively, I don't feel like that tiny text box merits AMCAS word vomit, and if they want that, they need to inform people about that and tell people who call. I'll probably just leave the titles, and maybe do a phrase or two, but I don't think it's going to make or break anything.
 
Pusheen said:
I think they might just be giving out conflicting information, which probably means it's not a big deal. Instinctively, I don't feel like that tiny text box merits AMCAS word vomit, and if they want that, they need to inform people about that and tell people who call. I'll probably just leave the titles, and maybe do a phrase or two, but I don't think it's going to make or break anything.
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I feel you. I will probably do the same!
 
To add on to the frustrations about that activities section, I accidentally wrote 250 instead of 350 hours for my research... It's correct on AMCAS but I made a mistake on the secondary:( I hope they don't care.
 
Anxious Affect said:
To add on to the frustrations about that activities section, I accidentally wrote 250 instead of 350 hours for my research... It's correct on AMCAS but I made a mistake on the secondary:( I hope they don't care.
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Maybe if you call or email them they can change it for you? They would probably have access to your answers. It's worth a shot anyway
 
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I'm still waiting on a letter packet, but after I submitted the secondary I got an email saying that "my file has been assigned to the Admissions committee for a comprehensive review". I wonder if they evaluate without LOR's?
 
Anyone still waiting for a secondary? Have yet to receive a confirmation email for my primary. :/
 
I am visiting a couple medical schools in southern california next week (Mon-Wed), is there any medical student who is willing to give me like a tour of the campus and answer some of my questions? I realized just today that med school admissions are nothing like undergrad admissions where you can schedule group tours anytime you like. So I am requesting if anyone is willing to show me around for part of the day (30 min or so). I can pay you for your time!

Also advice: is visiting med schools before you've received a secondary or interview a good idea at all? I wanted to use my experience to craft my secondary if I get one...but would it be a waste of time?
 
For any current med student @ riverside who is not from inland empire, what do you believe made you stick out?

Being on a tight budget, I've been struggling with this secondary and also discouraged because 25/50 matriculants are from UCR . Would appreciate any input!
 
FYI - Logged onto portal this morning and the "Scholastic Activities" question has been changed to:

"Please list any Scholastic Activities that you have been involved with (including honors and awards)"
 
LordH said:
For any current med student @ riverside who is not from inland empire, what do you believe made you stick out?

Being on a tight budget, I've been struggling with this secondary and also discouraged because 25/50 matriculants are from UCR . Would appreciate any input!
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Not a current med student here, but I know that the class size is expanding! This years incoming class size is 60 and I heard they might expand it to 70-75 this cycle. With that said, students at UCR will still take up 24 spots.


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MDhopeful324 said:
Thanks! It's just a little discouraging knowing that others have received them automatically.
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I definitely understand that feeling but none of us have any concept of what metrics they're using for those automatic secondaries (for any of the UCs) so a preliminary eval of your app before they send a secondary could actually be a good thing!
 
LordH said:
For any current med student @ riverside who is not from inland empire, what do you believe made you stick out?

Being on a tight budget, I've been struggling with this secondary and also discouraged because 25/50 matriculants are from UCR . Would appreciate any input!
Click to expand...

Hi there! I'm not from the inland empire and my roommates aren't either actually. I think the most important thing for UCR is being a good fit for their mission. Also, our class size this year is actually 60 instead of 50! Best of luck to you
 
Oh no... my secondary invite email got lost in my inbox and I just found it right now. The email says: We ask that you complete your secondary application within two weeks. Do you guys think it's still okay to apply to the school or do I have no chance since I'm almost a month late.
 
Also wondering this, I had a similar incident. Somehow got archived in my gmail and, wondering why I hadnt received this secondary, I happened to search and find it. I cranked it out and attempted to submit it this evening about a half hour ago, and the application payment section says that its down for processing, aka there's no way I can submit. Today was two weeks from when I received the email, so ill only miss it by a day, but I am wondering if that puts me in a pile of "review later" since I am not going to be able to adhere to the timeline.
 
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For those who have completed their secondary, does the "status" page of your portal shows a lock next to the "interview" with a message that says "not scheduled yet" or something like that? I didn't receive an II but just wondering when that came about.
 
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PHgeek123 said:
For those who have completed their secondary, does the "status" page of your portal shows a lock next to the "interview" with a message that says "not scheduled yet" or something like that? I didn't receive an II but just wondering when that came about.
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Yup mine has a lock on it too. I'm not sure what it means though.


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PHgeek123 said:
For those who have completed their secondary, does the "status" page of your portal shows a lock next to the "interview" with a message that says "not scheduled yet" or something like that? I didn't receive an II but just wondering when that came about.
Click to expand...

Yea I have that too. It's been there for a while though. Not sure exactly when it came about


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Does anyone know how extensive the secondary application screening is for UCR? I just received my secondary today and was pleasantly surprised because I was under the impression that they really like Inland Empire and/or rural residents, but I am neither nor do I have any connection to the IE.
 
On the personal section of the essays, it says to limit answers to 250 words. I am at 270 but the system still allows it. Will that be a problem??
 
sof18 said:
On the personal section of the essays, it says to limit answers to 250 words. I am at 270 but the system still allows it. Will that be a problem??
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...if it says to limit your words to 250, limit your words to 250.

Following instructions might be a good thing to do.
 
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