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Learn the UCSD Medical School acceptance rate, admissions requirements, and read a UCSD secondary application essay examplePart 1: IntroductionIf you’re a premed who attended college in California, UC San Diego School of Medicine is likely on your radar. UCSD Medical School is one of the younger medical schools in California, but it has churned out impressive results in its half-century of existence. Innovation is at the School of Medicine's core; from theirreimagination of the medical education model—which emphasized basic science education alongside clinical training—to the doctors whopioneer life-saving surgeries. Each year, UCSD cultivates a diverse class of 100 to 130 future physicians. About one-quarter of the student body is underrepresented in medicine, and the class is made up of equal parts men and women. Due to the school’s strong research reputation and rigorous standards, it’s difficult to become one of those matriculants. In this post, we will help you understand how to present yourself as a competitive applicant and discuss what goes into standout secondary application essays. We will also cover requirements and deadlines that you’ll need to keep in mind when applying to UCSD. Part 2: UCSD Medical School MD programsIn addition to the traditional, four-year MD program, UC San Diego offers three other programs for students wishing to obtain an MD:
In this guide, we’ll cover the traditional MD path. UCSD Medical School tuition and scholarshipsIf you’re a California resident, the first-year cost of attendance at UCSD Medical School is estimated at $71,130 in 2022–2023. This figure includes tuition, room and board, books, and supplies. Non-residents must pay an additional $12,245 in tuition, bringing their total to $83,375. UCSD does not offer specifics about their need-based financial aid program, but their data show that in 2021 UCSD Medical School graduates left campus with an average debt of $147,070, far below the national average. Part 3: How hard is it to get into UCSD Medical School?UCSD Medical School admissions statisticsUCSD’s current acceptance rate is 3%. Let’s dive into the admissions numbers for the class of 2026:
(Suggested reading: Average GPA and MCAT Score for Every Medical School) UCSD Medical School admissions requirementsUCSDdoes not require any specific coursework in order to apply for their School of Medicine. That said, they do recommend that students study the following in order to be strong applicants, including labs for all courses that offer them:
UC San Diego only considers U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and DACA recipients for admission. Foreign students without a green card are ineligible. Furthermore, all applicants must have completed at least one full year of study at a four-year college in the U.S. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UCSD has loosened some of its application requirements. Of particular note are policies surrounding the MCAT. While UCSD usually requires MCAT scores earned within three years prior to their planned matriculation date, during the 2022–2023 cycle, the adcom will evaluate all applicants for interviews without considering MCAT scores. Applicants who have been unable to take the MCAT as the result of COVID-related cancellations can still apply to UCSD. That said, UCSD states that they strongly prefer to see a candidate’s MCAT score before making a final admissions decision following the candidate’s interview. While they may make exceptions on a case-by-case basis, we suggest that you do everything you can to submit MCAT results. (Suggested reading: Medical School Requirements: The Definitive Guide) UCSD Medical School application timelineTo apply to UCSD Medical School, you’ll submit your AMCAS application according to the following timeline:
UC San Diego has a policy of rolling admissions. They tell applicants that there is not a significant advantage to applying early—other than the peace of mind from possibly knowing the outcome sooner—and that they simply make offers throughout the year. However, it’s always our recommendation to apply as soon as possible, which means getting your scores and more together by mid-summer. You will be given exactly one month to submit your secondary application from the day you receive your invitation. Again, UCSD has a rolling admissions process, so it might take longer for you to hear back after submitting your secondary application than it took for your friend. But no matter what, you are guaranteed to know by March whether you will get to move on to the interview round. If you are invited to interview, you should expect to hear back from the admissions committee with your decision about four weeks after your interview. (Suggested reading: The Ideal Medical School Application Timeline) Part 4: UCSD Medical School secondary application essays (examples included)On its secondary application, UC San Diego asks applicants to submit a 6,000-character “autobiographical sketch,” as well as a short response to one other question. Below, we’ll go over how to tackle each prompt and provide strong examples for each. Question 1: This should be a true autobiographical statement. Topics to be included are family, childhood, primary and secondary school years, undergraduate years, and, if applicable, what you’ve done since completing your bachelor’s degree. You should also discuss the motivational factors which led you to a career in medicine including any disadvantages or obstacles which might put your accomplishments into context. A repeat of your AMCAS statement will not be acceptable. Don’t let the term “sketch” mislead you; they are looking for a 6,000-character personal essay (approximately 1,000 words), but one that’s a little different from your traditional med school secondary essay. Use the word “autobiographical” in their prompt description as your guiding star. Think about this essay as a long-form answer to your future interview prompt “So, tell me about your childhood.” UCSD is giving you an opportunity to share a little bit of your inner life—what motivates you, how you think about the world, how you got to be the way you are. You can organize the essay chronologically (“I was born in Austin, Texas…” or even “My parents emigrated from Karachi, Pakistan”) or thematically (“In my childhood, three things mattered, in this order: homework, God, and sports”). The best essays employ a mix of both. Note that this is also a chance to simply deliver more than your AMCAS application would have allowed you to. A chronological account of your life is not a good medical school personal statement for your other applications, but it’s exactly what UCSD is asking for. Let’s take a look at an example: I was born in Naperville, Illinois. My parents moved there a decade before the town was declared “the best city to raise a family in” by Home and Garden magazine. With two highly educated parents in the Chicago suburbs in the late ‘90s, I was set up to live out the now stereotypical Indian American model minority life. But when I was 11 months old, my dad faxed in an application to a relatively obscure international organization. He got the job, and our family moved across the Atlantic to our new home in Vienna, Austria. Now, you might think this would be rosy, but my family moved to Vienna at a time when brown-skinned people were a rarity and our neighbors were of the generation that participated in the Holocaust. So we stayed inside our warm bubble of school and home. I didn’t always fit in, but I did feel at home in my studies, and class was often the only time I was treated with respect by classmates. A still-poignant memory: in kindergarten, my class partnered with fifth graders, who became our “reading buddies.” I was paired with a ten-year-old learning English and charged with reading to her instead. As a high schooler, I got all As pretty easily. I had a penchant for history, but, much to my father’s chagrin, merely tolerated science. After school, I rushed home from the bus stop, eager to read or invent a new machine with my kid brother to make our Monopoly games more “efficient.” At dinner, all five family members shared stories of our days and on our various intellectual pursuits. My sister expounded on the social injustices of the American prison system while my dad vainly explained to uneducated ears how he was altering his field’s understanding of groundwater. I was obsessed with the concept of fairness. When playing card games as a kid, I insisted on restarting the game if I accidentally caught a glance of my opponent's hand. I created a musical theater summer camp in middle school and donated the proceeds to an arts program for homeless youth. I didn’t think poverty or racism were inevitable and I wanted to create a more equitable world. That’s why I found it supremely unfair when my little brother was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and needed emergency surgery. Why him? Why us? What if we hadn’t detected it early enough? Luckily, the surgery went flawlessly. In the recovery room, a nurse noted how lucky we were that everything happened “here” and not during our vacation in India two weeks prior. Having listened to my sister at the dinner table all of those years, I quickly decoded her statement. My brother’s successful treatment was all but guaranteed with our health insurance in a private hospital in a first-world country. That my brother might not have recovered had my parents lived and worked elsewhere weighed on me. So heavy was this weight that it convinced me to go into medicine. When it came time to apply to college, I didn’t even consider school in the U.K. or elsewhere like some of my peers. I had been waiting 13 years to call the U.S. home again. I applied and was admitted to UC Berkeley, just 30 miles away from my grandparents in San Mateo. College was a whole new game for me socially. In Vienna, between the feeling of being an outsider to the transitory nature of my international school, I had never developed strong attachments. Don’t get me wrong; I had friends. But when I walked across the stage at graduation, I was eager and ready to move on. But now, living, eating, and studying with my classmates, I could no longer keep everyone at a distance. I found myself bonding and connecting on a level I had never known before. I was thriving off of the intimacy of friendship, but I didn’t know how to balance this new facet of my life with academics and extracurricular activities. I chose to stay up all night with my theater cast members instead of studying for my calculus midterm and hit the road for a weekend camping trip when I had a history paper due. My grades suffered tremendously. I was unhappy with my lack of academic discipline and I knew that it was not sustainable, but I didn’t know how to fix it. So I buried the feelings and continued to prioritize relationships over all else. My summer after freshman year I had nothing to do because, unlike my friends, I had failed to secure any type of internship or research position. The eight weeks at home were miserable. I was an ocean away from the friends who had become so dear to me, and I was filled with guilt for having wasted the privilege of being a student at a prestigious university. After four weeks of wallowing, I decided to make a change. It wasn’t easy. It involved a lot of self-reflection and owning up to my weaknesses. But I realized that if I didn’t set boundaries, then all of those dreams of increasing equity through medicine would stay out of reach. I flew back to campus that fall feeling clearheaded and I set my new plan into motion. Step one was to institute a rule that I had to say no to any social activity on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Step two was to drop out of the College Democrats and PhiDE. That still left me with my two biggest joys, theater and volunteering at a homeless shelter. The first semester was hard; I often felt like I was missing out and saying no all of the time was exhausting. Yet, I was excelling in classes and felt in control again. My GPA never fully recovered, but I don’t regret it. That time I invested led to what I think will be lifelong friendships. I have more empathy than I did five years ago, and I know that will make me a more compassionate physician. Further, I might never have discovered my medical niche. See, after a year of my strict schedule, I found I actually had extra time on Mondays and Wednesdays. I decided to spend it on an elective course, “Information Technology and Society.” It was in this class that I started thinking about how I could use technology to reach not just 100 patients but thousands. I started voraciously reading into the field of telemedicine and realized that I wanted to work on solutions to create more equitable health outcomes. I see my future career playing out along these same values that I cultivated when I was young: the desire to apply the study of science to real injustice. Why does it work?
Question 2: Some medical school applicants are already focused on pursuing a particular career pathway in medicine. While many students will change from this pathway during medical school, knowing of your potential interests does help us to assign interviewers. Your choice below does not influence how the Admissions Committee selects students to interview. Please select from one of career pathways listed below. In addition to this selection, please provide a brief description of your future career goals. (400 characters) Before you describe your goals, you’ll choose from the following career pathway options:
400 characters is just a few sentences, so you’ll want to be clear and concise in your response. Here’s an example: I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, a medically underserved region of California. I plan to go into family medicine so I can become a PCP, enabling me to serve the many residents of my hometown who don't have easy access to healthcare. In addition to opening a clinical practice, I aim to create community health programs that provide free preventative services to the region's agricultural workers. Part 5: UC San Diego School of Medicine interviewUCSD uses the interview to ensure candidates meet the school’s technical standards, which are defined as:
UCSD usesthe Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format, which consists of eight different 10-minute interview “stations.” At each station, applicants are presented with a written case study, which they then discuss with the interviewer. In the 2022–2023 application cycle, all interviews will be held virtually. (Suggested reading: How to Ace Your Medical School Interviews) Final thoughtsAs with any top medical school, you’ll need a solid GPA and high MCAT scores to be considered. UCSD School of Medicine aims to produce physicians that serve patients compassionately and scientists that create a positive impact in the medical ecosystem and the world at large. So, be sure to submit excellent secondary essays that reflect those qualities. THERE'S NO REASON TO STRUGGLE THROUGH THE MED SCHOOL ADMISSIONS PROCESS ALONE, ESPECIALLY WITH SO MUCH ON THE LINE. SCHEDULE YOUR COMPLIMENTARY 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION TO ENSURE YOU LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE. Does UCSD send secondaries to everyone?UCSD Secondary Application Process
UCSD School of Medicine (SOM) does not send out secondary applications to all applicants, instead, they use primary applications as a way to screen applicants and choose who will progress to the next stage of the admissions process.
Is UCSD a good medical school?UCSD is one of the best medical schools in the nation and the world, according to several ranking organizations. On U.S. News & World Report's list of top medical schools for 2022, UCSD tied for 19th with the Ivy League's Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences for best schools for research.
How many applications does UCSD medical school get?UC San Diego Allopathic (M.D.) Medical School Admissions History. Does UCSD Med accept update letters?pOLICY ON APPLICATION UPDATES
The UCSD SOM Admissions Committee does not consider updates to grades or activities or any other documents outside of the AMCAS application and secondary application process. Please do not send additional materials supporting your application.
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