Application

Application packet for Fall 2012

This program is open to all individuals who plan to attend medical school. Any pre-med students, regardless of school of attendance or academic/education level who can demonstrate their maturity, ability to follow directions, aptitude to learn, desire to be mentored, and interest in discovering their future in medicine may apply.

All of the following accompanying documents are required by the submission deadline of July 25, 2012 by 11:59 PM PST

Application Fee of $20
Application (submitted online)
Unofficial Transcript (submitted online)
Passport-style photograph of yourself (submitted online)
Letters of Recommendation (submitted online by the letter writer) *A minimum of 2 letters is required but no more than 3 letters will be accepted. At least one letter must be from an instructor, professor, and/or teaching assistant.
Short Essays (Submitted Online with application)
Curriculum Vitae (Submitted Online with application)

The application can only be accessed and submitted online. Take your time to write thoughtful and thorough answers in your application. There is a 300-word maximum to each question.

Please consult the Application Technical Guide, available in the Application Packet, for more information on formatting.

Class Size

We are accepting 40-50 students for each cycle. However, if we have an exceptional pool of applicants we may increase this number.

Make sure you download and read the application packet before you apply: Application packet for Fall 2012

GPA

A minimum 2.7 GPA is required. A high GPA is not a requirement for this program. While GPA is important, we understand it is not a complete reflection of the person. We would like to encourage as many pre-meds as possible to apply for this program since it may serve as a great motivation in future aspirations to become a successful doctor.

Letters of Recommendation

There is a requirement of TWO letters of recommendation and an optional third (highly recommended). One of the letter writers must be a faculty, instructor, teacher, or T.A. that you have had in college and or high school (only an option for first year college students or recent high school graduates). The other recommendations can be from anyone else you choose. They can be community leaders, supervisors, ministers or individuals from past volunteer experiences. The letter writers cannot be your friend, club member, another student, spouse, or relative, even if they are medical professionals.

All letters must be written on official letterhead (i.e. must include the logo or mark of the institution with which the letter write is associated) and be signed by your letter writer. They must also be submitted in PDF format.

Give your letter writers ample advanced notice. Do not contact your letter writers the day before the deadline to ask them to submit a letter since there will be a risk that they won’t be able to submit it online in time.

You will be given 3 unique links, one for each letter of recommendation. They are found on the LOR page of the application website. You are responsible for sending one of these links to each of your letter writers. The link is a regular URL link that the letter writer can just copy and paste into any web browser. The letter writer will then be redirected to the LOR submission webpage where he or she will find instructions about what we want in the letter as well as on how to upload the letter.

You can send out these links at anytime. You do not need to complete the application or the short essay questions before you send out the links.

Transcripts

We require that you submit all of your transcripts from all post secondary institutions that you have attended, regardless of major, or institution type. This includes community college, university, post-bacc, or graduate degree. The transcripts can be unofficial (to save you cost), but if the committee deems inaccuracies, they may request an official transcript from all institutions that you have attended to be submitted. If any part of your transcript is missing or an entire transcript is missing, we will deem the application incomplete and not grant you an interview.

We also require that you submit all of your transcripts in pdf format (less then 3MB) in chronological order, and in one pdf file. If you are not familiar with the technical aspect of this, please spend a few minutes to Google this. It is up to you to submit the transcripts as required.

NOTE: We will not accept a typed up word document with your grades as a replacement for your transcript.

Curriculum Vitae

If you need help writing your Curriculum Vitae then please check online or at your college career center for formatting and standards. A few good resources to checkout are:

http://web.mit.edu/career/www/guide/cv.pdf

http://iccweb.ucdavis.edu/graduates/pdf/CRN1011AdvancedResumes.pdf

http://iccweb.ucdavis.edu/pdf/CRM/Career_Resource_Manual_0809.pdf

Reminders

Please make sure that you do not wait until the last minute to submit the application. Give yourself plenty of time to thoroughly complete it. Accidents like the Internet being down, computer problems, server crashes, or catastrophes do often happen at the last minute, and we cannot plan or accommodate for that.
Do not wait until the last minute to ask the person who is going to recommend you to write you a letter of recommendation. Writing and submitting letters of recommendations takes time and they may not be able to meet our deadline. Sending your letter writers a friendly reminder is also encouraged. Again, this is your responsibility and not theirs!
We expect all the information to be accurate and not copied or fabricated. If at any time we discover inaccuracy or infringement, we will discard your application and you will not be considered for a spot in the program.
Check your schedule to make sure you can make all the required dates for the program, as posted under Requirements.

Selection Committee

A selection committee will review all completed applications and select individuals for an interview based on the strength of the application, essays, GPA, and supporting documents. This is a competitive program. Therefore, include all relevant details when writing your essays or answering questions in the interview.

The selection committee consists of Pre-medical Surgical Fellows (program alumni), student coordinators, and the program director. The committee members are implementing the guidelines and requirements set forth by the Chairman of Surgery, Surgical Faculty, and Program Director at UC Davis Health System Department of Surgery. Due to the limited time of the surgery faculty, the candidate selection has been deferred to alumni interns, student coordinators, and program director.

Items You Need Before You Apply

Paid $20 application fee
Your current contact information
Passport-style digital photograph of yourself
Unofficial transcripts (if multiple, then merge into one PDF file)
Letter writers’ contact information: Full professional name, title, company/organization/school e-mail, business address, phone number and extension
Curriculum vitae