<p>I would love to go to UCLA, but I've heard so much about the cut throat competition among pre-meds that I've become hesitant about going.</p>
<p>As a prospective medical student, I know the most important thing is going to a school that gives me the chance of getting the highest GPA (and that I like). I know that competition will be bad anywhere in the UC's, but I've heard that it's especially crazy in UCLA. I don't mind working hard for my grade; I'm just afraid I won't be able to thrive in such an aggressively competitive environment. I've heard stories about people ripping out pages in textbooks and destroying study materials.</p>
<p>My high school was filled with competitive students, but they were mostly willing to collaborate and help one another (while still competing against one another).</p>
<p>So, my question: What is a pre-med student's (who will major in something bio related) experience at UCLA? Would going to UCSD or UCI provide a more collaborative, relaxing experience or is about the same?</p>
<p>I am in my first year at UCLA, so I might not be that knowledgeable, but I would say that yes it is very competitive. I noticed that freshman classes are not that crazy competitive (I think because freshmen aren’t that obsessed about their grades, yet), but once you get into sophomore classes (LS for example), it does get very competitive. I haven’t seen people ripping pages out of textbooks, but definitely you get the feeling that you cannot trust people so much (i.e. they might give you horrible advice about what classes to take). I know what you mean about people collaborating in high school. In my high school, too people in AP classes were competitive but we all collaborated. In my experience, this is definitely not the case in UCLA. Yes, you can find people who are nice and helpful, but it is not as easy as it was in high school. I think it is definitely possible to get As though, but it will be very difficult (depending on the class of course). Having said that, I cannot compare UCLA to other schools, so I cannot comment on whether it would be easier in UCI, UCSD or any other school for that matter.
Hope this was helpful.</p>
<p>@northofboston, thanks for the input! Anything is helpful. Have you picked a major yet?</p>
<p>I went to UCI for my first two years. I’m not one of the brightest in the bunch at all…in high school I was like a B+ average student. Not meaning to brag or anything, but at UCI I was basically a straight A student (with many A+'s). Sure, I did work hard but it was nothing excessive compared to high school to be honest. I didn’t just suddenly become a genius upon entering college; in fact, I doubt I really mastered very much of the material at all (I am a biology major after all). I just had to make sure I worked slightly harder than all the slackers who make up that nice padding to the grading curve. The chemistry professors at UCI are amazing btw. </p>
<p>Then I decided to transfer to UCLA. It is FAR MORE competitive. Putting in the same amount of effort I did at UCI, perhaps even more, I am finding that my grades are less than what I am used to getting. Okay, so maybe it’s arguable that I am just not as fit to compete at UCLA…having been rejected by UCLA coming out of high school. That still does not change the fact that pre-med at UCLA is much more competitive than UCI. There are slackers at UCLA too, but I’ve found that I can no longer rely on the grading curve to earn me A’s like I did at UCI. I myself, am no longer pre-med but if I were, I’d be very worried right now. I wouldn’t go back though. I love being at UCLA much more and there is still some adjusting going on. There are amazing, friendly, inspirational people at both schools. I have yet to encounter any actual sabotage but I have heard the myths about BOTH UCI and UCLA. I still believe they are myths though. If you are dead set on getting into medical school, I’d pick UCI for the GPA…but honestly you can’t go wrong no matter which of the three you pick. GPA is not everything, and I feel like UCLA would offer better opportunities in terms of getting involved. You are lucky to have to make this choice tbh. Just go where you are most comfortable and don’t try to throw everything into getting into medical school. Who knows, you might hate the pre-med stuff halfway through.</p>
<p>Most of this stuff is urban legend.</p>
<p>@sphan95
I am currently debating on what major to pick.
If you don’t know what to major in for pre-med, it does not really matter. As long as you complete all your pre-reqs, you should be fine. I read somewhere that if you are not majoring in a science you should take a couple more science classes, in addition to pre-reqs in order to show the admissions committee that you are prepared for med school course load.
Anyways, on picking a major, I would advise to pick something you are interested in and/or something that could be useful if you did not get in to med school/decided you did not want to go into the medical field after all. You can’t really find that many jobs with a biology degree.</p>
<p>I have multiple former classmates that went the pre-med route and majored in biology (or something similar) but couldn’t cut it when it came to med school admissions.</p>
<p>Now they are left looking for normal employment with only a biology degree to fall back on (which isn’t leading them to any real jobs that pay well)</p>
<p>For this reason I strongly recommend majoring in something that has strong employment potential as an alternative to med school. Bioengineering, chemical engineering, etc. Even something non science like economics or business.</p>
<p>Heck, you might have the grades but then opt against going to med school when you see the 70k a year tuition bill you would be looking at :)</p>
<p>Just be sure to supplement your major with all the premed required classes.</p>
<p>I am in my 4th year at UCLA as a biochemistry major and am Pre-Dental (Pre-Dental has almost the same pre-reqs as med). I’m going to be honest, many of your pre-med friends your freshman year are going to switch out of pre-med. While I did not personally find the courses to be too challenging, there are professors with teaching styles which may not suit your studying and/or testing habits and you may do poorly in those classes. (use bruinwalk.com, also if you take the chem 20/30 series and decide to take chem30CL with Bacher prepare for pain, alot of pain, you will probably not work as hard for any other class in your undergrad career.) Other than that, no we don’t bite lol. Nobody rips pages out of textbooks or the like. People on campus are generally friendly. It’s pretty much like a normal university. Just make sure you find a group of friends or associates with like interests who will be willing to help you out given that you help them out too. Using the test bank at the SAC will probably also benefit you.</p>