University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA Admission
University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA Undergraduate Program
University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA Application

The Facts

The University of California is a very large, public institution located in the city of Los Angeles, California, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 35,000 students. The university's David Geffen School of Medicine, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 674 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 renowned research facilities, as well as for its focus on community health and serving underprivileged communities. Aside from the basic MD degree, the school offers joint degrees in the MD/MBA, the MSTP, the MD/MPH, as well as the MD/PhD in affiliation with Drew University.

Admission to UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine is extremely competitive among the many students who apply; last year, over 5,244 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 150 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 130 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had average MCAT scores of about 11.0 in Biology, 11.2 in Physics, and 10.5 in Verbal, as well as an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.7. 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 700 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 2:1, and the small classes allow for plenty of discussion and interaction between students and their professors.

Graduates of the Geffen School of Medicine often go on to be accepted to some of the most prestigious and competitive residency programs in the nation, including UCLA's own program. Students most frequently specialize in the areas of primary care, family medicine, medical research, public health, as well as pediatrics.

Clinical Programs

Students are required to complete extensive clinical training including 12 weeks of medicine, 12 weeks of surgery, 6 weeks of pediatrics, 6 weeks of ob/gyn, 6 weeks of psychiatry, 6 weeks of family medicine, 4 weeks of radiology, 2 weeks of neurology, as well as 2 weeks of opthamology. Students complete their training at affiliated facilities including the University Hospital, Harbor General, Cedars-Sinai, Kaiser Sunset, Kaiser West LA, Kern Medical Center, King/Drew Medical Center, Olive-View UCLA Medical Center, Sepulveda Veterans Affairs, St. Marys Medical Center, as well as West LA Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

What's Good

"There are so many opportunities for patient contact, which helps with the entire learning process."

"The faculty here is the best you could ask for; they love nothing more than to share their knowledge and advice with you."

"The facilities are world-class and high-tech. You have the best of everything here."

What's Bad

"Things do get very competitive; students tend to want to showoff as often as possible."

"If you are an out of state student, the school is quite expensive."

"There are some classes that are way too much to handle, and you are totally loaded down with work."

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