The David Geffen School of Medicine is one of the most sought-after medical schools in California. With a medical school acceptance rate of just 1.34%, it’s a highly competitive program that attracts the brightest aspiring medical students. Read on to find out more about this elite medical school and how you can get accepted.
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Mission Statement
To improve health and healthcare, UCLA will:·
- Create world leaders in health and science
- Discover the basis for health and cures for disease
- Optimize health through community partnerships
- Heal humankind one patient at a time
Admissions Statistics
- Total number of matriculants per year: 175
- Success rate (overall): 1.34%
- Success rate (in-state): 1.65%
- Success rate (out-of-state): 0.99%
- Success rate (international): 1.74%
- Average Accepted GPA: 3.85
- Average Accepted MCAT score: 514
UCLA Medical School overall acceptance rate:
Eligibility
The UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine welcomes applicants from US citizens, Canadian citizens as well as international students. In terms of educational qualifications, a minimum of a bachelor’s degree with three years of coursework from an accredited US or Canadian university is required for all students. The MCAT is also required, and students must have written the MCAT within four years of matriculation.
While the admissions success rates are slightly higher for in-state students, UCLA states that it does not favor in-state students, making it an out of state friendly medical school.
Selection Factors
The David Geffen School of Medicine is one of the most elite medical school programs in the country and as such, it has a rigorous selection process. In general, students with a diverse resume, excellent academic record, meaningful community service, and proven research skills are prioritized. Since UCLA has a focus on holistic, community-based medicine, they also prefer students with strong leadership skills and a background in working with underserved communities.
Read on to learn more about some of the key selection factors for admission into UCLA’s medical school.
MCAT and GPA
UCLA places a lot of importance on academic prowess and the average GPA of matriculants is around 3.85. UCLA also does not have any rigid GPA “cut-off”, however, due to the large number of applicants, you should aim to at least meet the average accepted GPA to have a good chance of admittance.
The MCAT score is a mandatory and crucial element of your application. For a competitive program like UCLA’s, the average MCAT score of successful applicants is 514. A lower MCAT score could be offset by a high GPA, stellar academic record, brilliant medical school recommendation letters and an unforgettable admissions interview – but why take the chance? The MCAT is definitely not an easy test but with the proper preparation and hard work, you can achieve a good MCAT score. Ensure you create an effective MCAT study schedule, take on additional classes or tutoring if needed, take a lot of practice tests, and keep working towards improving your score.
For your UCLA application, your MCAT score should not be more than 5 years old at the time of application. If you had to retake the MCAT, they require you to submit all your scores.
Coursework and Undergrad
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA does not require the completion of any specific medical school prerequisites. All that is required is at least 3 years of undergraduate coursework resulting in a completed degree program. It does have a list of recommended competencies that can be demonstrated through completion of college level coursework. The competencies are in three categories:
Activities & Extracurriculars
Remember, UCLA, with their emphasis on holistic medicine and community service, look for a robust medical school resume that speaks to the student’s suitability for medical practice, beyond just the academics. They want to see a passion for medicine and a commitment to service, not just a high GPA. In particular, showcase how volunteering or engagement with your community will make you an outstanding physician.
Don’t be afraid to include things that are not directly related to medicine. Just make sure there is a clear link between your activities and how they will make you a great doctor. Use your non-medical experiences to showcase your soft skills such as leadership, empathy, and compassion.
Personal Statement
The medical school personal statement is your time to showcase how you will make a physician beyond your grades, scores, and experience. Most applicants will have stellar scores and experiences, but UCLA is looking for well-rounded future physicians. In particular you should consider the non-academic competencies UCLA is looking for such as human diversity, writing and communication skills, and interpersonal skills. UCLA also states they are interested in accepting applicants who have undergone hardship and are now on the path to excellence. The persona statement is the place to explain things like lower GPA or gaps in your resume.
Secondary Application
The exact UCLA secondary essays prompts will change from year to year, but you can already prepare for these questions based on previous prompts and knowing the purpose of the secondary essays. There will be ten different prompts, designed to find out more about your passions, interests, limitations, hardships and achievements.
Here is a list of the most recent prompts, all of which must be answered in 800 characters or less:
- At the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, students are provided with curriculum and experiences enabling them to become an “Outstanding Physician, AND…,” dedicating themselves to important societal missions. What missions do you want to embrace? What have you done toward your missions?
- Respond to the following and indicate how these areas of experience have impacted your progress toward your future career goals in relation to becoming an “Outstanding Physician", and: Describe your most unique leadership, entrepreneurial, or creative activity. Describe your most important volunteer work and why it was meaningful. Describe your most scholarly project (thesis, research or field of study in basic or clinical science or in the humanities) and provide the total number of hours, dates and advisor.
- Describe how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted your pathway to medical school. Include any academic, personal, financial or professional barriers, as well as other relevant information.
- Did you experience or are you anticipating time between graduating from college and matriculating into medical school? If yes; Describe the activities in which you participated or are planning to participate. Examples include additional schooling, employment, or caring for a loved one.
- Do you identify as being part of a group that has been marginalized (examples include, but are not limited to, LGBTQIA, disabilities, federally recognized tribe) in terms of access to education or healthcare? If yes; Describe how this inequity has impacted you or your community and how educational disparity, health disparity and/or marginalization has impacted you and your community.
Remember that these questions are designed to assess whether you will be a well-rounded physician. Since you have limited space on these answers, make sure you are concise and only include information that is relevant to the application and the values of UCLA Medical School.
Letters of Recommendation
UCLA requires a minimum of three and a maximum of five letters of recommendation from their medical school applicants. They accept individual letters, letter packets as well as committee letters, for example, committee letters from your pre-health advisory office.
UCLA is looking for holistic, well-rounded candidates, so make sure some (or all) of your letter writers can comment on your specific drive and determination to become a physician, not just your ability to get a good grade. Given UCLA’s commitment to community-based medicine, any letter writer who can comment on your ability to work with diverse communities or in international contexts would be an asset! For example, a supervisor of a volunteer project or a professor at an international school from a study-abroad semester would make ideal references.
You should consider both the strength of your relationship with the letter writer and their ability to serve as a referee. For example, a tenured science professor who directly supervised your research will be a much better letter writer than a graduate student lab instructor who graded you for one term.
Check out these hardest medical school interview questions!
Interview Formats
UCLA typically starts sending out interview invitations for medical school applicants from August 1st. They have a two-part interview process.
- First, there is a virtual interview using the AAMC Virtual Interview Tool for Admission (VITA). This is a one-way, online interview software that records your responses.
- The second stage involves a traditional, 1-on-1 interview with an open file. This means the interviewer will have full access to all the information in an applicant’s file.
Some of the other med school programs at David Geffen School of Medicine have different interview strategies. For example, PRIME-LA applicants must also complete Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) while MSTP applicants only need to participate in traditional interviews.
Think of UCLA’s mission, which emphasizes community service and healthcare innovation, when preparing for your interview. For example, be ready to discuss your involvement in a local health clinic or a research project on medical technology, and how these experiences align with UCLA’s core values. Practice answering questions with a focus on community impact, underserved populations, and research excellence.
Acceptance and Waitlist Information
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA generally sends out offers of admission from October all the way until July. Students have two weeks to accept, decline or defer the invitation. Typically, 150 students might be waitlisted per year with approximately 50 being eventually accepted.
Application Timeline
It's absolutely crucial to know the exact medical school application timeline and to track the dates religiously so you never miss an important deadline. As the UCLA med school program is so competitive and utilizes rolling admissions, it’s essential that you apply as early as possible.
Check their admissions portal or the AAMC website portal to confirm the exact application dates.
Tuition and Debt
- Tuition and fees for in-state students: $38,272
- Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $50,517
- Estimated total cost of attendance for in-state students: $84,125
- Estimated total cost of attendance for out-of-state students: $96,370
- Students receiving financial aid: 94%
- Average graduating indebtedness: $129,794
The tuition and total costs listed above are calculated per year of medical school. Note that the tuition remains the same for every year of school but the medical school costs in terms of items such as books, supplies, lab research fees, rent, transportation etc. may fluctuate.
Funding Opportunities
There are a variety of funding opportunities at UCLA, check out the official website for more details and eligibility. These include needs-based scholarships, loans, and merit-based scholarships.
Need-based financial aid
With the aim of making their medical school education affordable for as many students as possible, the David Geffen School of Medicine offers financial aid in the form of medical school scholarships, loans and grants to eligible students. See the official Financial Aid website for eligibility and application requirements.
Merit scholarships
UCLA also offers a few merit scholarships for which all UCLA medical school applicants are automatically considered. This includes the Leaders of Tomorrow Scholars Program which offers $5,000 research stipends to students and over 100 philanthropic scholarships.
Residency Match Rates
UCLA does not provide specific statistics for match rates, but does on a volunteer-basis list where students are matching. The majority of UCLA medical school graduates match into programs in California, reflecting their commitment to train doctors within the state that will specifically serve communities in California.
Popular residencies include Internal Medicine and Surgery, with over 50% of graduates matching into one of these specialties. Approximately 70% of graduates take up a residency in California, so it might be a good idea to make it clear in your application if you plan to practice in California in the future.
Available Programs
UCLA offers 7 medical programs in addition to their standard MD program.
Admission requirements and timelines differ for these programs. For more information see the official Degrees and Programs website.
Academic Curriculum
UCLA recently launched its redesigned curriculum to foster a more innovative teaching strategy, incorporate new content and provide greater flexibility in the student learning journey. This redesigned curriculum is focused on research, education, advocacy, and a humanistic approach to medicine.
In the first year, students are enrolled in pre-clerkship studies on foundational subjects, while also beginning to practice clinical care through immersive settings. In the second and third year, students begin clerkship rotations which culminates in the “year of discovery” where faculty mentors and students are matched for intensive mentorship programs. In the fourth year, students choose elective coursework and capstone projects based on their previous three years of training.
Campus and Faculty
UCLA is located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Nestled within the greater UCLA campus, it benefits from its proximity to a range of world-class facilities, including the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where most programs are based out of.
Affiliated Hospitals
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- UCLA Medical Center
- We LA VA Medical Center
- St. Mary Medical Center
- Kaiser Permanente (Sunset and Woodland Hills)
Research Fields
There are several major research centers at UCLA Medical School. These include the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, which focuses on cancer biology and innovative treatments; the UCLA Brain Research Institute, which leads in neuroscience and neurological disorder research; and the Broad Stem Cell Research Center, known for work in regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies.
It is a good idea to do some research into these centers and mention ones that interest you in your application to stand out!
Notable Faculty
Many of the world’s top research physicians have worked at UCLA, including 1998 Nobel Prize winner Dr. Louis Ignarro and Dr. Michael Gottlieb, one of the first physicians to report cases of HIV/AIDS.
Contact Information
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine admissions website
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine homepage
Admissions Email: [email protected]
FAQs
1. Am I eligible to apply for the MD program at UCLA?
US citizens, Canadian citizens and international students with a minimum of a three-year Bachelor’s degree from an accredited US or Canadian university are eligible to apply for the MD program at UCLA.
2. How do I get into UCLA’s medical school?
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has a highly competitive medical school program. To get admission, you must have a good GPA, a high MCAT score, excellent recommendation letters and great extracurriculars including volunteer hours, clinical hours, and research work.
3. Is UCLA’s medical school hard to get into?
With an application success rate of 1.34%, it’s definitely extremely tough to get into UCLA.
4. Does UCLA prioritize in-state applicants for its medical school program?
No, UCLA considers all applications and does not give any priority to in-state applicants.
5. What is the required MCAT score/GPA for admission into the MD program at UCLA?
The median MCAT score for matriculants at UCLA is 514 and the median GPA is 3.85. However, there is no “required” MCAT score or cut-off GPA for admission into the MD program at UCLA.
6. What are the pre-requisite courses for admission into medical school at UCLA?
UCLA does not have any prerequisite courses for admission into medical school. They provide a list of recommended courses that include key subjects such as biochemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and physics along with some background in humanities and sociology.
7. Does UCLA offer financial aid?
There are a variety of financial aid opportunities at UCLA, check out the official website for more details and eligibility.
8. When is the last date to submit my UCLA medical school application?
October 1st is the last date to submit your primary application on AMCAS. You will have two weeks to submit your essays after receiving an invitation to submit your secondary applications. .
9. Is the secondary application important for UCLA’s medical school?
The secondary application is an important part of the UCLA medical school application process. The answers in a secondary application can often work as a tie breaker if there are two candidates with equally good academic records. Don’t take UCLA’s secondary application requirement lightly if you want to ensure you get a call back for that interview.
To your success,
Your friends at BeMo
BeMo Academic Consulting
Disclaimer: BeMo does not endorse or affiliate with any universities, colleges, or official test administrators. The content has been developed based on the most recent publicly available data provided from the official university website. However, you should always check the statistics/requirements with the official school website for the most up to date information. You are responsible for your own results.
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