University of California, Davis, School of Medicine Admission
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine Undergraduate Program
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine Application

The Facts

The University of California, is a rather large, public institution located in the town of Davis, California, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 30,000 students. The university's School of Medicine is significantly smaller, and is home to about 400 graduate medical students. The average age of enrollment is around 25, and it is fairly rare for any of the students to enter the school directly from their undergraduate education. The school is perhaps best known for its wonderful research programs, as well as for its integration into the university itself. Aside from the basic MD degree, the school offers joint degrees in the MD/MPH, the MD/MBA, the MD/MA, and the MD/PhD in the areas of biochemistry, biomedical engineering, cell biology, genetics, immunology, molecular biology, neuroscience, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, as well as the humanities and social sciences.

Admission to UC Davis's School of Medicine is extremely competitive among the many students who apply; last year, over 4,040 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 200 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 90 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had average MCAT scores of about 11.0 in Biology, 11.0 in Physics, and 10.0 in Verbal, as well as an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.5. Students are notified of their admissions status on a rolling basis, and there is currently no early application program in place.

The School of Medicine has about 690 faculty members, all of whom come from very diverse medical and academic backgrounds. The school also boasts a very manageable student to faculty ratio of about 1:1, and the small classes allow for plenty of discussion and interaction between students and their professors.

Graduate students are often accepted to some of the most prestigious residency programs in the nation, and most frequently specialize in the areas of primary care, family medicine, medical research, as well as neuroscience.

Clinical Programs

Students are required to complete extensive clinical training including 8 weeks of surgery, 8 weeks of medicine, 8 weeks of pediatrics, 8 weeks of ob/gyn, 8 weeks of psychiatry, 8 weeks of primary care, 4 weeks of emergency medicine, 2 weeks of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 2 weeks of opthamology, 2 weeks of neuroscience, as well as 2 weeks of otolaryngology. Students complete their training at affiliated facilities including UC Davis Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Hospital, David Grant Hospital, Sutter Hospital, as well as Highland General.

What's Good

"There are many opportunities to participate in exciting research projects."

"The students here tend to be more supportive than competitive. It's a nice change of pace."

"The professors are obviously passionate about what they do, and they love nothing more than to share their advice."

What's Bad

"There are a huge amount of requirements, and you will basically have no life."

"There is no on campus graduate housing, which is a big inconvenience."

"The administration seems more concerned with the undergraduate students, and they can be hard to get a hold of."

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