Accepted to UCLA, UCSD, and UCI but leaning toward SDSU for pre-physical therapy? Bad idea?

State Forums
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Hello!
So I got accepted to all four of these schools. Many people thought it was pretty obvious that I’d pick UCLA, however they only begin to understand my uncertainty when I explain that I want to be a physical therapist so the hands on approach of a CSU may be a better choice.

I got into UCLA as a Physiology major, UCSD as a Physiology and Neurobiology major in Marshall, UCI as a Ecological and Evolutionary science major (I plan to transfer to their Exercise Science major once I fulfill the prerequisites) and SDSU as a Kinesiology Pre Physical Therapy major and made it to SDSU’s Honors Program.

My grades are pretty good, but I’m scared that if I go to a harder school then I would face an unnecessarily large amount of competition. However, I’ve experienced being one of the smartest people in some of my classes and being surrounded by smart people and enjoyed being surrounded. At UCs I’d be surrounded by very intelligent people and be able to learn from them, however I’d also be competing with them for grades. At UCs, I’d be surrounded by pre-med students. I am really interested in the exercise science major of UCI, granted I’m able to transfer into the major. It’s probably the closest thing the UCs have to pre-pt. I understand that I shouldn’t just take the easier route for the sake of it being easier but I don’t want my gpa to suffer due to the competition and diminish my chances of getting into grad school. It’s hard to convince me that my fear of unnecessarily high academic competition won’t happen because I watched my sister do very well in high school, struggle in UC Berkeley and have a gpa that crushed her dreams of dentistry school.

I’ve visited all schools but UCLA (I had accepted rejection long ago and was blindsided by an acceptance) and liked UCI the best because it was more comfortable but I really liked the other schools as well. I can honestly see myself in each school but I have to pick one. I’m from the Bay Area and, as you can see with my school choices, I want to go down south. Cost isn’t an issue. I can’t make out which would be the best fit academically/socially, I feel like I can fit in all. Everyone says they can see me at UCLA, which I can completely see too. I like to be at least somewhat involved in my school. I’d enjoy going to sporting and campus events. I’m not so fond of partying but I would like to go to a few.

Basically, my biggest concerns are (1) UCs are researched-based, not the hands-on I’d need for PT (2) The higher tier the school the lower my gpa could drop.

Side note, I sound like I may come across as bashing on UCs, but it’s kind of just me trying to fight wanting the simple “prestige” of a UC and stuff. I am worried about the lowered graduation rate, grad school acceptance rate, job rate and the fact that I am REQUIRED to study abroad at SDSU.

Alright that was a long post of me rambling, thank you for reading. Any advice, or simply encouragement, would be appreciated!

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The upper tier UC’s, especially UCB. can be competitive and hard on the GPA. If you do well at the upper tier UC’s, you should get into top ranked graduate programs.

First, you are not your sister, and maybe you will not struggle at UCLA, a school a little less competitive than UCB. Secondly, you might research into whether many SDSU students go on to graduate programs or PT. You might also want to research PT schools such as USC, which has a top ranked program, to determine what schools are most of the accepted students from. You don’t want to attend SDSU and find out that it is a difficult climb to fulfill your graduate school dreams.

From my understanding, I think there are 2 PT schools in CA.

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@UCBUSCalum
hat is true regarding me not being my sister, but just the fact that we are alike just makes the fear closer to home. Thank you, I’ll definitely look into that! Yeah’s true, if anything I’d chose the harder of my choices then go “down” to a lower tier school if it really comes down to that.

Actually, just an fyi, there’s a lot more PT schools in CA including UCSF, CSU Fresno, CSU Long Beach, CSU Sacramento, CSU Northridge, UOP, Samuel Merritt, USC, and few more privates. Thankfully there’s a bunch because only 2 schools would make for a super limited number of admits

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SDSU is a great school, but I have never heard of a requirement to study abroad. That’s news to me and a bunch of my fellow Aztecs!

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@“aunt bea” yeah I was surprised when I found that out too, but it’s required for the health science department

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There are also some business majors that require study abroad as part of their major requirements. A friend’s daughter whom just finished the Public Health program which included the study abroad requirement and thought that it was such a great way to finish off her 4 years at SDSU and major.

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Thanks for the info. on PT schools. The UCSF program is a joint program with SF State University. I know of a person who just graduated from the UCSF/SFSU program. Her undergraduate work was from UCI. She is now at USC, I believe for residency.