Any UCSF Mepn Applicants?

Winnie04 · Dec 22, 2006

Hi chickpea,

I saw somewhere in previous posts that the UCSF MEPN interview is split over two days for local applicants, but is crammed into one day for people coming from farther away.

chickpea25 · Dec 22, 2006

Sadness: rejected by UCSF this morning.

Honestly, I don't know what the magic formula is for that school. I bet it's the fact that while I have worked in a bunch of medical settings, I've never had direct care experience with patients. Ivy league undergrad, majored in science, did research, fine GRE scores, As in all my prerequisites, lots of volunteer work, speak Russian, in the process of learning Spanish, and letters of recommendation from highly esteemed physicians. Heck, I got into medical school and chose to do nursing instead! Who knows. After I read about all of your backgrounds, I knew that there's something entirely basic they must be looking for and maybe the whole stellar background thing is not it? It's a mystery! As for those who got interviews, good luck!

I don't think I'll reapply, as I hope to get into at least one of the other schools I applied to and would be perfectly fine attending any one of them. I just really wanted to live in San Francisco : (

sci-fry · Dec 23, 2006

Just a thought......

There MUST be a big part of this process that is simply a numbers game. There is no way that only 150 out of 600+ applicants would be both a good match for the program, and good nurses as well. Surely there must be many, many people for whom not being invited is almost arbitrary. Who knows what factors come into play, including balancing the class demographically.

There are probably a fair number of applicants who are really not prepared or qualified, but I do not believe it is the majority.

I hope that all of you who are determined to become nurses will. There are many roads, including finding ways to step in and care for people now. We need you.

If I am not invited into the program, I will find another way, and I hope you will too.

mepn64 · Dec 24, 2006

Dear SciFry,

I don't think your statement that "there are probably a fair number of applicants who are really not prepared or qualified, but I do not believe it is the majority..." was very nice of you to say. All of the mepns that I have met, year after year are very talented and absolutely driven individuals. I have yet to meet one who was "not really prepared or qualified." Each of the ones I've met were truly unique and had something special about them that really made them stand out in my mind. I have always been impressed with each succeeding crop I've encountered. And in terms of balancing the classes...I do not believe there is a magical formula targeted. It seems that of large number I've met, each one of them had their own unique and wonderful story, and I could see the excitement in their eyes! Congratulations on those of you who have been asked to move forward and best wishes to all.

Elenaroo · Dec 24, 2006

Dear SciFry,
I don't think your statement that "there are probably a fair number of applicants who are really not prepared or qualified, but I do not believe it is the majority..." was very nice of you to say.

Mepn64,

Thanks for the congratulations and good wishes, but I feel I just have to jump in here. I think that what scifry was trying to say was that the majority of applicants to the mepn program are extraordinary people who are highly driven and likely to suceed and excel as future nurses. Because of this, even highly qualified applicants must be denied interviews because of the sheer number of well-qualified applicants.

I think her comment about applicants being not prepared was meant more along the lines of while there might be some applicants (not current or past mepns) who are unprepared, the majority are. Thus, after putting aside the applications from those who aren't prepared out of the 600+ who apply, you're still left with a large number of applicants who would all likely be a great fit for the mepn program. Unfortunately, only 150 could be selected to move on, but that doesn't necessarily mean that those not selected were any less qualified. Rather, at some point when dealing with that many amazing people, the cut has to be made somewhere, and I think what scifry was trying to say is that in this case it might be arbitrary.

I certainly don't feel she was trying to be mean, but rather encourage those who weren't selected to interview that there wasn't necessarily anyhing "wrong" with their applications, but just a poor luck of the draw. If anything, after hearing some of the backgrounds of those not granted an interview, I'm more convinced than ever that the mepn classes must be an extraordinary group of people.

Just my two cents...

sci-fry · Dec 24, 2006

Elenaroo -

Thanks for the clarification - you understood exactly what I was trying to say!

chickpea25 · Dec 24, 2006

I'm sure all the MEPN students are great. I mean, that must be the case. I'm also aware that to narrow the interviewing pool is extremely difficult. As an undergrad, I worked in the admissions office at my university and am well aware of how hard it is to turn down applicants. I have a feeling that my lack of direct care experience was the reason I was not interviewed. I had a realistic view of the admissions process at UCSF, especially since I have two friends who are in medical school there and one in graduate shool in immunology. I knew from the get go what I was dealing with. I was also applying with a typical "pre-med" profile, not a "pre-nursing" profile which, ironically, means that my lack of real world experience was a hindrance to me when applying to nursing programs. Med schools don't necessarily weigh that as much. It's mostly grades and MCAT scores.

Applying to medical school was a daunting process and in the end, I only got into one school from the vast number I applied to, so when I chose to do nursing instead, I was prepared for a competitive admissions process.

I'm planning to work as a medical assistant in the next couple of months to gain more practical experience and hope that I will be able to enter one of the direct entry programs I applied to in the fall. I have an interview at Yale scheduled, which is exciting, and welcome news after yesterday's disappointment.

star19 · Dec 24, 2006

I also received my rejection several days ago from UCSF

I am also confused on why UCSF didn't EVEN invite me to an interview.

I applied to the Psych NP program and was invited to interviews to both University of Washington and UPenn. Both of these school actually had a better ranking than UCSF in psych. And for your info, University of Washington is only interviewing the top 50 applicants out of the hundreds they received. Thus, I was really starting to doubt myself when I found out that I was not even the top 150 applicants for UCSF while also being an extremely top candidate for the University of Washington.

I just want to say, "Don't give up!!!!!" We are all going to become a great advanced practicing nurses. Every school just have a different standards and qualities they are looking for in a master's entry applicant. Because I received an early admit to Western University MSN-E program yesterday without even having to attend an interview becaurse I totally meet Western's standard for their entry program.

So here's my final note to my future fellow nurses: Don't give up! Apply to more programs and we are all going to become a great NP or CNS!!!

bambou · Dec 30, 2006

I am a finalist for the MEPN at UCSF too.

Good luck to all of you and Happy New Year!

NurseInTraining76 · Jan 24, 2007

I wanted to reply to anyone who is interested, particularly PC2, since (he/she?) asked.

I did get an interview, and if you would like to know more about me, my background, or my essay, feel free to email me. I had very competitive scores (near perfect GRE - which I understand is not that important, and for good reason), 3.6 GPA, reasonbly strong work and volunteer experiences, including a fair amount of volunteer work, both in direct patient care, and also in establishing an alternative energy company, and 3 years management experience. I had the pleasure of being able to read 4 of my 5 references, and they seemed pretty strong as well. I am male.

I labored a great deal on the essay, but in the end I don't think I started writing it far enough in advance. I did get feedback from a few MEPN students, and I think the essay is really the trickiest part of the app. They are not looking for a life narritive so much as a summary of professional interests and qualifications. I had to throw out almost all of my first couple attempts. In the end, I think my essay was probably not as strong as it could of been. To my horror, I discovered after mailing it that the very first sentance contained a reasonbly obvious grammatical error. Lesson: try not to make your last edits in a rush.

At any rate, I really was desperate for help when I was going through this, and in the end I found it. It helped a great deal that I moved to SF.

So, I am making myself availible, to answer some questions.

Good luck to all of you. 600 applicants for 90 slots is a 15% acceptance rate. No small challenge to be sure. Many brilliant pepole will be turned down.

pc2 · Jan 24, 2007

I wanted to reply to anyone who is interested, particularly PC2, since (he/she?) asked.

Fantastic!! I'll send you an email.

diddle · Feb 11, 2007

So a few weeks have passed since my interview and I am DYING. I just don't know if I can make it until March 1st. It still sounds so far away from now! Anyone else waiting?