**UCLA SOM c/o 2009 Thread**

[lulubean]

do you guys have a link to the need access form?

i'm also interested in how your package looked like. do you come from a well off family?

website is:
http://www.accessgroup.org/software/need_access/onlineapp.htm

also, i have heard that ucla on average covers about 25% of the cost to attend with grants. of course, if your parents have a relatively high income, like mine, this will unlikely apply. (sucks to be me cuz they are not giving me a dime! )

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[doctorish]

website is:
http://www.accessgroup.org/software/need_access/onlineapp.htm

also, i have heard that ucla on average covers about 25% of the cost to attend with grants. of course, if your parents have a relatively high income, like mine, this will unlikely apply. (sucks to be me cuz they are not giving me a dime! )

UCLA also gives every entering student a grant of around 1600, which may not be much compared to the overall cost, but if you're parents are in the upper income, it may be more than you receive at most schools as far as grants.

The other things to think about, is that if you're parents aren't going to pay for the EFC, than you would have to take out the rest of the loan, and depending on the school they will give you alternative or unsub loans. I was told that the unsubsidized stafford (which UCLA gives to compensate for EFC) is still better than the alternative loans you'd probably have to take out at other schools. At least the unsub stafford has a capped interest rate, while alternative loans are subject to the inflation in the economy.

i'm no expert, but thats what i have gleaned from reading the phamplet and talking with the people at UCLA . hope that helps a little

 

[gonius]

25% of the cost to attend with grants. )

.25 * 40000 = 10000 in grants

is my calculation correct because i think thats actually a lot

 

[UCLAstudent]

.25 * 40000 = 10000 in grants

is my calculation correct because i think thats actually a lot

I actually will get more from UCLA than I was expecting. I didn't think that my parents' income would allow me to qualify for any need-based aid (it didn't for college), but the number that the school gave me is tentatively $5500.

 

[lulubean]

.25 * 40000 = 10000 in grants

is my calculation correct because i think thats actually a lot

hmmm..good point. perhaps they meant 25% off registration fees
(20K * .25 = 5K)

that would be about what uclastudent got.

 

[booblahblah]

I was wondering if anyone has already received their financial aid package with an estimated budget. I have not received my package yet so I still have no idea what all their costs will total to. Why is UCLA SO SLOW? It's kind of frustrating esp. since May 15 is right around the corner.

 

[winterblows]

OK. I finally decided on UCLA today. Anyone else that's set on UCLA c/o 2009 wanna start chatting/hobnobbing?

You guys probably didnt have this problem, but Im on a non ranked waitlist, and I heard that UCLA has a first and second tier waitlist system, where 1st tier is ok, but 2nd tier is pretty much a rejection. Is this true, and if so Im assuming the non ranked one is 2nd tier, cuz why would you rank a bunch of people youll probably reject.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I am not 100% sure, but I thought that the unranked waitlist was the better one.

 

[derf]

You guys probably didnt have this problem, but Im on a non ranked waitlist, and I heard that UCLA has a first and second tier waitlist system, where 1st tier is ok, but 2nd tier is pretty much a rejection. Is this true, and if so Im assuming the non ranked one is 2nd tier, cuz why would you rank a bunch of people youll probably reject.

i think the nonranked is the 1st tier. you're in good shape.

 

[skreenin]

I just got my big package of flyers and pamphlets from ucla today... omg it looks so sexy... i'm really getting excited now. i started packing away my books and stuff and then was like 'oops... still got finals...' haha can't wait...

any new ucla-ers?

 

[lunanv]

I just got my big package of flyers and pamphlets from ucla today... omg it looks so sexy... i'm really getting excited now. i started packing away my books and stuff and then was like 'oops... still got finals...' haha can't wait...

any new ucla-ers?

awww!! i haven't gotten mine yet! what's in there??

 

[lulubean]

hey, have any of you decided what 1st and 2nd year selectives to do? there are sooo many that sound good. medical spanish, women's health, sigh...
have any of you heard which ones are worth taking? and are we limited to just one selective?

 

[UCLAstudent]

Hey lulubean, where did you find a list of the selectives? Did it come in the mail? Thanks.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Oh, I found it online. Never mind!

 

[lunanv]

woo hoo! health clearance forms!!! it's staaaarrrtting!!!

 

[lulubean]

woo hoo! health clearance forms!!! it's staaaarrrtting!!!

did you get those in the mail? i didn't get that in my packet...

 

[UCLAstudent]

I haven't gotten any packets yet. Maybe today.

 

[lulubean]

I haven't gotten any packets yet. Maybe today.

don't worry, it was the exact same packet that we got at revisit weekend.

 

[UCLAstudent]

don't worry, it was the exact same packet that we got at revisit weekend.

Okay, thanks.

 

[lunanv]

did you get those in the mail? i didn't get that in my packet...

i didn't get another packet... i just got a thin envelope with a few papers telling me which vaccinations/titers UCLA required...

(also i live like 40 miles from UCLA, so maybe i got it sooner b/c of proximity )

 

[UCLAstudent]

I live like 70 miles from UCLA, so I'll probably get it today.

 

[skreenin]

hey uclastudent and any other so-cal-ers... any advice on what mobile service and checking account services i should sign up with? i don't know what's good down in LA...

i got the vaccination stuff today in the mail~

 

[UCLAstudent]

I got the vaccination stuff yesterday. Oh boy! We're "official," guys!

skreenin: I personally use Wells Fargo for checking, but I can't really compare it to anything else. For mobile, I have Cingular, which is fine, but you could probably find one with better reception in the UCLA area. Lol.

 

[JimDiGriz]

You guys are gonna love the White Coat ceremony in August.

 

[lulubean]

hey uclastudent and any other so-cal-ers... any advice on what mobile service and checking account services i should sign up with? i don't know what's good down in LA...

i got the vaccination stuff today in the mail~

washington mutual is great too in LA. i had sprint for phone service when i still lived there and it was cheap and reliable.

JimDiGriz, i can't wait for the white coat ceremony!!!

 

[striped sweater]

You guys are gonna love the White Coat ceremony in August.

what is it like? tell us all about it!

 

[lunanv]

hey uclastudent and any other so-cal-ers... any advice on what mobile service and checking account services i should sign up with? i don't know what's good down in LA...

i got the vaccination stuff today in the mail~

anything is fine in LA as far as cell phone providers go. sprint, cingular, tmobile... i don't know of anyone who has had reception issues in west LA.

also -- does anyone know when we get UCLA email accounts? my undergrad just sent me a threatening letter about how mine gets deactivated on june 24th...

 

[JimDiGriz]

what is it like? tell us all about it!

Cell phone: I have Cingular and it works well in the hospital/Westwood/7th flr classroom where you'll spend all of your first year (you move to 6th flr for the 2nd year)
White Coat ceremony: IF you guys are excited about getting vaccination forms because it makes you feel like a part of UCLA SOM, this ceremony will be great. It's gonna come at the end of the orientation wk. There'll be some boring speeches (expected); at the end everybody's name and previous school will be announced - some physician will put the white coat on you (which you pick up previously) - AND YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT. And even though you will not want to, you'll have to take it off sometimes later that night, BUT...
You get to wear it real soon as you:
1. Take all the pictures with the family members posing with the Dean, etc
2. Take all the pictures with classmates you don't yet know very well
3. Interview standardized patients in the Doctoring class (although half of the time in the second half of the year you'll forget it and end up interviewing without it)
4. Go shadowing anybody you want in the hospital (including any surgery at the OR: just tell them you're a 3rd year and warn the surgeon performing it - they love having people come and watch them [some like to teach, too])
5. Go on preceptorship rounds with a physician they'll assign to you, where you'll practice interviewing patients and doing physican exam
6. ....

any q's about ucla? let me know. we are in psychiatry block right now, so things are kinda slow... still

 

[striped sweater]

White Coat ceremony: IF you guys are excited about getting vaccination forms because it makes you feel like a part of UCLA SOM, this ceremony will be great. It's gonna come at the end of the orientation wk. There'll be some boring speeches (expected); at the end everybody's name and previous school will be announced - some physician will put the white coat on you (which you pick up previously) - AND YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT. And even though you will not want to, you'll have to take it off sometimes later that night, BUT...
You get to wear it real soon as you:
1. Take all the pictures with the family members posing with the Dean, etc
2. Take all the pictures with classmates you don't yet know very well
3. Interview standardized patients in the Doctoring class (although half of the time in the second half of the year you'll forget it and end up interviewing without it)
4. Go shadowing anybody you want in the hospital (including any surgery at the OR: just tell them you're a 3rd year and warn the surgeon performing it - they love having people come and watch them [some like to teach, too])
5. Go on preceptorship rounds with a physician they'll assign to you, where you'll practice interviewing patients and doing physican exam
6. ....

lollllll

 

[lulubean]

any q's about ucla? let me know. we are in psychiatry block right now, so things are kinda slow... still

yes, what's the deal with the 1st and 2nd year selectives? any recommendations?

 

[JimDiGriz]

yes, what's the deal with the 1st and 2nd year selectives? any recommendations?

you'll have plenty of time to decide on those. I'm taking medical spanish right now (intermediate/beginner level). For this selective they had written and oral exams where they placed you according to your abilities in Spanish (no rookies were allowed)
Most people enjoyed whichever selective they chose. The best thing to do is narrow it down to 3-5, then find 2nd years (i.e. us) that took that particular selective and get the dirty details.
Don't forget some selectives are year-long and some only for 3-4 months. After a while you'll realize that free time is an important commodity.

You are welcome to send any q's! I love this medical school, but I think I usually give unbiased (and very useful) opinion/info, as i've been here for 6 years now (grad sch before med)

 

[UCLAstudent]

JimDiGriz, thanks for all of the information. I can't believe we start in 2.5 months.

 

[JimDiGriz]

JimDiGriz, thanks for all of the information. I can't believe we start in 2.5 months.

yep, and I can't believe i'm almost done with my first year. Although, they told us that 'technically' at this point we've done more than the half of curriculum, so we are all MSII's now.
How appropriate now that we are studying delusions of grandeur.

You are going to love the new curriculum! It's very low stress, but a lot is left up to the student to learn (you must be self-driven).

 

[acl3623]

i just got my admission and registration information letter in the mail. anyone know if i have to have the online form filled out by the 15th (uh..now)? ive got some questions before i submit it, i dont want to put half ass info down..

also, anyone got any suggestions for off-campus housing? looking for a 1b/1b...?

 

[lunanv]

i just got my admission and registration information letter in the mail. anyone know if i have to have the online form filled out by the 15th (uh..now)? ive got some questions before i submit it, i dont want to put half ass info down..

also, anyone got any suggestions for off-campus housing? looking for a 1b/1b...?

ooo.. i just went through this last month and finally settled on a place in westwood (mostly bc i got sick of looking...). i wanted something proximate, though, so this place works out well.

westwood area tends to have kind of old apartments for waaay too much based on what they look like (unless youre willing to pay $$$$ for some of the highrise buildings along wilshire... 1800 or more for a 1bdrm).

brentwood is really nice -- i was thinking about renting there, and apparently its not that much of a hassle to drive to school if you know the appropriate shortcuts.

santa monica -- very cool area, but will take you 30 min to drive through the traffic.

palms/mar vista -- lots of students live here.. hear some parts of it can be ghetto, but its much cheaper and close to UCLA.

check rent.com, apartments.com and the UCLA student housing site for recent listings. people have also had good luck with westsiderentals.com, but that costs $60 for 60 days.

hope that helps

 

[gonius]

is anyone going to move down from SF or Berkeley 7-31ish and would want to share a uhaul? i looked online it its 200-240 for a good sized van.

PM me if you're interested

 

[acl3623]

ooo.. i just went through this last month and finally settled on a place in westwood (mostly bc i got sick of looking...). i wanted something proximate, though, so this place works out well.

westwood area tends to have kind of old apartments for waaay too much based on what they look like (unless youre willing to pay $$$$ for some of the highrise buildings along wilshire... 1800 or more for a 1bdrm).

brentwood is really nice -- i was thinking about renting there, and apparently its not that much of a hassle to drive to school if you know the appropriate shortcuts.

santa monica -- very cool area, but will take you 30 min to drive through the traffic.

palms/mar vista -- lots of students live here.. hear some parts of it can be ghetto, but its much cheaper and close to UCLA.

check rent.com, apartments.com and the UCLA student housing site for recent listings. people have also had good luck with westsiderentals.com, but that costs $60 for 60 days.

hope that helps

thanks! yea that is a lot of help since the surrounding areas look close to ucla but i know with traffic it really changes everything.
i found a lot of places in culver city...anyone give it or ?

 

[lulubean]

culver city gets a . i used to live in palms, and i loved that area. its really close (and similar) to culver city except it is a little closer to santa monica/venice and the beach. both palms and culver city are great because they are near fun places in LA but they cities themselves are quite and affordable residential areas. they are also super close to ucla (15-30 minutes by car depending on traffic, also near great public bus lines). what major streets are you thinking of living by Lunav?

 

[skreenin]

bump

any new bruins?

anyone hear back from weyburn terrace yet?

 

[UCLAstudent]

skreenin, I haven't heard from Weyburn, yet. I'm hoping that they'll group the medical students somewhat together.

 

[lunanv]

culver city gets a . i used to live in palms, and i loved that area. its really close (and similar) to culver city except it is a little closer to santa monica/venice and the beach. both palms and culver city are great because they are near fun places in LA but they cities themselves are quite and affordable residential areas. they are also super close to ucla (15-30 minutes by car depending on traffic, also near great public bus lines). what major streets are you thinking of living by Lunav?

the place im pretty sure im going to end up at is on hilgard... so itll be a nice 5 minutes walk to class

 

[skreenin]

skreenin, I haven't heard from Weyburn, yet. I'm hoping that they'll group the medical students somewhat together.

amen to that. i've heard rumors that they group us into similar buildings... but i'm not exactly sure on that (it'd be kinda nice/crazy though).

i have a friend that told me to start bugging weyburn terrace about housing around mid june if we haven't heard anything (he lives there now and said it was a nightmare last year getting things worked out). I'll let you know when i start my flurry of phone calls ^^

 

[lulubean]

bump

any new bruins?

anyone hear back from weyburn terrace yet?

just got my housing assignment at weyburn terrace! i got a studio - woo hoo! any of you hear yet?

btw, where are all the other future bruins???

 

[skreenin]

oooh that's awesome lulubean!

man i just realized that i forgot to update my address when i moved home from school. now i'm waiting for the housing people to come back from being "busy"... if you guys have any housing questions the number is (310) 825.4271 . Ooh! i'm through! haha ok now i'm off the phone with em. Sooo... the guy told me that they just completed their first round of offers for the housing. I was just recently added to the med school's guaranteed housing list. They said they'll email me within a few days with the offer, and that i'd have 3 weeks to respond and accept. So people who haven't heard yet, i guess round two'll be coming out soon~

 

[doctorish]

just got my housing assignment at weyburn terrace! i got a studio - woo hoo! any of you hear yet?

btw, where are all the other future bruins???

yay! I got my housing offer a couple of days ago. (2 bedroom apt weyburn) Just out of curiousity, lulubean, how long is your contract? I expected to get a year long contract, but mine starts in late july and ends on 5/31 which is before first year ends, so I'm a little confused.

i'll probably goign to call them on tuesday, but i wanted to see if anyone else had this problem too?

 

[UCLAstudent]

doctorish, was your offer received via e-mail, as well? I haven't gotten my assignment yet.

 

[skreenin]

I got my assignment via email shortly after i made that post. Yea my contract goes till 5/31 as well, but i hear that we get a guaranteed 2 years so it shouldn't be too big of a problem.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I just called the housing office. They haven't made me an offer, yet, but said that a new batch will be going out at the end of this week.

 

[lulubean]

yay! I got my housing offer a couple of days ago. (2 bedroom apt weyburn) Just out of curiousity, lulubean, how long is your contract? I expected to get a year long contract, but mine starts in late july and ends on 5/31 which is before first year ends, so I'm a little confused.

i'll probably goign to call them on tuesday, but i wanted to see if anyone else had this problem too?

my contract is also till 5/31

 

[doctorish]

my contract is also till 5/31

I called them and they said not to worry because we can get an extension for a couple of monthes of just renew the lease for a year when it expires in may.

another question, does anyone else use a mac? I read the computing guidelines and UCLA computing doesn't support macs, or recommend them. I heart my computer. does anyone know how important it is to have a PC? I'm assuming there are computer labs we can use if we need a specific program, right?