san francisco state university medical school acceptance rate

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UCSF Medical School acceptance rate For the class of 2024, UCSF Medical School received 7,345 applicants, invited 507 to interview (6.9 percent), and ultimately enrolled 161 students. Their acceptance rate was 3.8 percent.

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: UCSF Medical School programs

Part 3: How hard is it to get into UCSF Medical School?

Part 4: UCSF secondary essays (examples included)

Part 5: UCSF interview

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Part 1: Introduction

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine is widely regarded as one of the best medical schools in the nation. In fact, it’s the only program to consistently rank among the nation’s top six for both research and primary care.

In addition, the UCSF acceptance rate sits just under 4 percent, placing it among the most selective medical schools in the country. If the odds of admission aren’t daunting enough, the USCF secondary application gives its applicants the opportunity to answer only two cut-and-dry essay prompts, making it potentially tough for an applicant to stand out in today’s hyper-competitive admissions landscape.

Many applicants understandably agonize over how to get into UCSF. That’s why we’ve created this useful guide to help you put your best foot forward as you begin work on your UCSF Medical School application.

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Part 2: UCSF Medical School programs

UCSF MD programs

USCF offers several tracks of study through which its students can earn their MD:

• The traditional four-year MD program
• MD/Masters in Advanced Studies in Clinical Research (MD/MAS)
• Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD)
• UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Medical Program (joint MD/MS in the Health and Medical Sciences with UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health)
• MD/Master of Public Health (joint MD/MPH with UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health)
• Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved—PRIME-US (five-year track focusing on urban underserved populations)
• UCSF San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education—SJV PRIME (five-year track focusing on underserved populations in the San Joaquin Valley)
• MD/PhD in History of Health Sciences

UCSF tuition and scholarships

UCSF’s current tuition and fees is $42,791 for California residents and $55,036 for non-residents. Though UCSF’s tuition costs remain on the lower end of most top-tier programs, it’s important to remember that living in San Francisco is far from cheap. The city’s cost of living is the highest in the nation, largely due to scarcity in the rental/housing market, so the overall cost of spending four years as a UCSF medical student might end up being more expensive than other top programs with higher tuition rates.

UCSF notes that increasing scholarship support is their highest priority, and that the number of scholarships awarded to its students have gone up by more that 50% in the last decade.

If you’re an out-of-state applicant, it’s possible to become a California resident after 366 days of living in the state, so long as you meet the following criteria:

• Demonstrate intent to permanently reside in California
• Established a primary domicile in California
• Relinquished all ties to your past place(s) of residence

To check off these criteria, you’ll need to register to vote in CA, designate CA as your permanent address on all personal records, and pay California income tax. Once these metrics have been in effect for over one year (366 days), you can be considered “in-state” for UCSF’s tuition purposes.

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Part 3: How hard is it to get into UCSF Medical School?

UCSF Medical School acceptance rate

For the class of 2024, UCSF Medical School received 7,345 applicants, invited 507 to interview (6.9 percent), and ultimately enrolled 161 students. Their acceptance rate was 3.8 percent. These stats make UCSF a highly selective program.

UCSF Medical School accepted students statistics

• Average GPA: 3.8
• Average science GPA: 3.8
• Average MCAT score percentile: 93rd (approximately 516)

Over 90% of our students get into med school—the first time.

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Part 4: UCSF secondary essays (examples included)

Compared with other top medical schools, UCSF’s secondary application is slim. With only two essays totaling under 1,000 words, it might seem impossible to distinguish yourself from the thousands of other applicants vying for your spot in this elite program. To help you knock these prompts out of the park, we’ve broken down each response into the necessary marks you should aim to hit and advised a structure that will allow you to shine even with such limited space allowed.

Before we dive into the individual prompts, it’s worth noting that there is no secret formula or special strategy to blow the UCSF admissions committee’s socks off. It’s no accident that this secondary is so light. Much of what UCSF is looking for will be covered in your primary application’s personal statement and activities list, plus your MCAT score, GPA, letters of recommendation, and so forth. The best way to answer a straightforward secondary application prompt is to be straightforward—be clear, get to your point, and argue it persuasively and with conviction.    

UCSF secondary essay prompts

After submitting your AMCAS application, UCSF typically sends out secondary applications within 3-10 weeks. They’ll consider these applications on a first-come basis.

As in the case of all medical school admissions, it’s advisable to submit your AMCAS primary as soon as possible after the system opens!

Question 1: If you wish to update or expand upon your activities, you may provide additional information below. (500 words)

Between your medical school personal statement and your AMCAS Work and Activities section, you may feel as though you’ve already completed this prompt. You’re not wrong; you have. But here they get another chance to see what makes you tick. Though this prompt may seem optional (“if you wish to…”), it’s not.

This is your chance to cover a passion that you haven’t yet demonstrated in your primary application. Review your personal statement and activities list and consider what other personal attribute will best round out the application. Remember the qualities medical schools look for when making their admissions decisions and try to isolate which of these (leadership, collaboration, service, cultural competency) you still need to refer to in order to present as the most well-rounded applicant you can be.

The most important advice we can give on this prompt is to avoid rehashing a resume. This essay provides an opportunity for you to craft an argument about why you, rather than a thousand other hopefuls, will make the best physician in the future and how your particular drives and passions will be best suited for UCSF.

Take a look at our advised structure below, followed by a sample essay drawn from composites of our successful students.

Thesis: begin your essay with an argument. This argument should be your overarching claim for what you care about as a future doctor. It should argue your passion.

• For example, if you have demonstrated an extensive commitment to service or volunteer work and want to expand upon that work here, your thesis statement would be the argument that you have a commitment to serving the underserved, and that you’ve demonstrated that commitment through the activities you’ll write about here.

Evidence: use three to five activities from your past that support the argument you make in your thesis.

• Important note: you shouldn’t think of this as “listing” examples. Instead, structure an argument that builds to your thesis by showing the trajectory that’s led you to the place you are now. Start small and build to your largest commitments, showing how one step led to the next.

Why UCSF?

• You don’t get the chance to discuss why UCSF is your top-choice program elsewhere in your application, so use this prompt to do so, particularly as it relates to your argument above.
• Do your research. What opportunities are available to you at UCSF or in San Francisco that relate to your past activities? How will your passion for these activities allow you to contribute to UCSF?

Conclusion: remind the admissions committee about the passion you’re arguing, and how you’ll carry that passion forward into medical school and beyond. 

Here’s an example:

Providing equal access to healthcare to otherwise underserved communities is my greatest goal for my future in medicine. I’ve known this since my undergrad days, when my biggest commitment outside my coursework took place outside of the campus’s walls. I remember learning in a sophomore seminar that despite the dozens of top universities in Boston, the city’s public schools in lower-income neighborhoods were short on volunteers to run extracurricular activities such as pre-professional clubs like HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America.) As president of my high school’s HOSA chapter growing up in Texas, I got to meet doctors and nurses who showed me science wasn’t an abstract discipline but a tool to save lives. That knowledge helped me delve deeper into my science education in order to turn those options into a reality. I hoped introducing young high school students to future career possibilities, especially in communities with low graduation rates, might go a long way in inspiring them to complete their education.

I first canvassed freshman biology courses at Dorchester High to garner interest in a student-led HOSA chapter. Once I recruited over a dozen students, I worked as their sponsor to help register their club with the national organization and structure their vision for what they wanted to learn and achieve as a group. From there, I drew on my university peers and educational network to organize guest lectures, a CPR course, and other activities the HOSA chapter wanted. My service to these kids was rewarding as was seeing how my service propagated more service work as the HOSA chapter began volunteering at the local hospital, assisting with the Boston Marathon, and even joining the efforts of other HOSA chapters to increase numbers in support of their volunteer projects.

Seeing how I could lead by example—how through one service initiative, numerous others came about—I came to understand a core aspect of why medicine as a profession is so important: in providing health and well-being to one person through medical care, you’re also able to positively impact all the people that person touches and the community those people serve. Though this network of service, a doctor can have an astounding impact, and this is exactly the kind of work I hope to continue should I be fortunate enough to train at UCSF.

 At UCSF, I’ll join the “San Francisco Cares” initiative already underway with the program’s Public Health Club, in which I’ll utilize my background working with underprivileged teens in Boston to provide health education to the city’s homeless youth population. I also hope to volunteer with UCSF’s “Wellness and Community” program to help educate SF’s homeless youth on STD testing, needle exchange programs, and other initiatives to improve their quality of living and empower them lead healthy, happy lives. UCSF’s commitment to community service is just one of the many reasons the program is my top choice.     

Why does it work?

• This applicant uses his essay to demonstrate a passion for service, an ability to take initiative and collaborate, and a savvy for leadership. All medical schools want you to be excited about patient care; top medical schools often expect you to couple that interest in patient care with an understanding of how healthcare fits into society, intersects with inequality, and can have a multiplier effect.
• This student used his personal statement to talk about a family history, which meant that focusing primarily on service here rounded out his application. Note how he ties in how his commitment to service will contribute to UCSF’s culture and how being in San Francisco provides unique opportunities to work toward his long-term goal of increasing access to healthcare for all.

Struggling to write your UCSF secondary essays?

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Question 2: If you are 2020 or earlier college graduate, please use the space below to tell us what you have done since completing your undergraduate degree. (350 words)

This is a standard prompt you’ll see across many secondary applications. UCSF wants to know what you’ve been up to between graduation and this application cycle. How have you spent your time out of college to better prepare yourself for a career in medicine?

If you’re applying straight out of college, you can of course skip this prompt. Otherwise, use this opportunity to construct an argument about what you care about in the medical field and how you’ve taken steps post-graduation to follow that passion before diving into medical school.

It’s a straightforward prompt, but you must still avoid making the most common error applicants make with these kinds of essays: writing something that could just as well be conveyed in bullet points. You still need to construct an argument and/or tell a story about what you’ve been doing and why.

Here’s our advised structure:

Thesis: what was your goal for your time post-graduation?

• Did you want to learn more about a specific field of medicine? Did you want to get hands-on experience in the field? Did you have a specific research interest in college that you continued?
• This goal should directly relate to why you’re applying to medical school to begin with. If you want to be an oncology specialist, how have you used your time since graduating college to deepen this passion and expand your growing expertise?

Evidence: Specific job roles that stand as evidence for how you went about reaching your goal.

• Include the level of commitment you gave to each role (hours, days per week, etc.) as well as the type of actual, day-to-day work you did in those roles.
• Avoid listing jobs. Instead, build upon your experience to best argue how you’ve worked toward your goal.

Takeaways: What did you learn from your post-grad experiences that you’ll carry with you into medical school and beyond?

Here’s an example:

During college, I worked for three years in Professor Dulac’s lab researching potential genetic determiners to predict colon cancer risk. Through this research, I became well-versed in the ways doctors might one day implement preventative care measures to diagnose and treat colon cancer from its earliest stages. Upon graduation, I realized I had little understanding of the way colon cancer is being treated on a day-to-day basis in the current healthcare environment. Therefore, in the year following graduation, I aimed to deepen my practical knowledge of oncological care, specifically for colon cancer, as it’s an illness that has personally affected members of my own family.

To gain practical experience in patient care, I began by shadowing Dr. Kloppenski in Massachusetts General’s oncology wing. Three days a week, during her morning rotations, I got the opportunity to see how she provided care to her colon cancer patients, from the practical components of administering drug therapies to the tougher, more humanistic aspects of her role such as discussing a patient’s prognosis with his family. From her, I learned what I never could have in my genetics lab—that providing care to these patients involves more than scientific expertise. Being faced with a colon cancer diagnosis is likely the most frightening moment of a patient’s life, and the way Dr. Kloppenski was able to relay the patient’s condition to them in honest, straightforward terms while at the same time emboldening them with the assurance that they were in the best possible hands, that she would do everything in her power to fight for their recovery, was one of the most inspiring feats I’ve ever witnessed. Before embarking on my medical school training, I wanted to make sure that the actual practice of medicine, and not just scientific research, appealed, and after this shadowing experience I am more certain than ever that becoming a physician specializing in oncology is the correct path ahead.

 In addition to shadowing, which was by far the most rewarding experience of my gap year, I also worked as a part-time receptionist at a family practice office in order to pay rent, and in my remaining time I volunteered at Mass Gen in the geriatrics physical therapy ward three evenings a week to help post-surgery elderly patients regain their mobility.

Why does it work?

• First, this applicant demonstrates passion. It’s clear how much she’s gotten out of her shadowing experiences, which demonstrates that she’s ready for patient care.
• She also has a very clear thesis that shows us her process of deciding that medicine is right for her. By admitting that she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to go into cancer research or medical practice, she directly addresses the method by which she chose medicine, persuasively conveying that through an influential shadowing experience during her gap year, she’s been inspired to take up the call of caring for and treating patients.

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Part 5: UCSF interview

On a rolling basis, UCSF will invite roughly 7 percent of its best applicants to interview. During the 2020–2021 application cycle, all interviews will be conducted virtually.

If you’re among the lucky few to be invited to interview, that means the admissions committee sees immense potential in your application and your ultimate future as a UCSF-trained doctor. So, what should you expect from this highly selective interview round?

Unlike many medical schools, USCF’s interviews are closed-file, meaning the faculty members (or a combination of one faculty member and a current med student) interviewing you have no previous knowledge of your application narrative, your personal background, your demonstrated passions and activities, or your goals in medicine. This blind interview format allows you to get a totally fresh start at this critical stage of the admissions process.

With the understanding that your interviewer won’t know your application, you’ll need to be sure to hit the application highlights within their traditional interview questions. Be prepared to speak about your most illuminating achievements and activities, why you’re interested in studying medicine (in general and at UCSF in particular), and what your goals are as a physician.

Review the ways you structured your application essays into arguments using specific examples from your past as evidence and be prepared to convey that argument verbally so that it clicks for the interviewer in the same way it did for your application reader.

Many applicants consciously or unconsciously end up quoting their own personal statement in closed-file interviews. While that’s not inherently bad, since you’re not repeating yourself to someone who’s already read your work, we recommend that you don’t memorize your Personal Statement and regurgitate it. Why? We usually do not speak the same way we write, and it’s obvious, in many cases, that you’ve pulled from a written text and are trying to fake it as conversational and colloquial.

Each applicant who’s invited to interview will receive two 40-minute sessions with two interviewers per session.

(Suggested reading: How to Ace your Medical School Interview)

Final thoughts

UCSF, with its high rankings and small class size, is a “reach” school for nearly every applicant. Though the odds are tough, by following the strategies outlined in this guide, you’ll be one step closer to getting in. UCSF boasts a fantastic medical education, and every component of your application will need to be outstanding to secure a coveted spot among the ranks of accepted students.