When I applied, I was super undecided (still am) so my majors are all over the place. I love engineering but I still can’t decide if I want to give up medicine so I still need to think about which schools are good for medicine. But I’m choosing between:
UC Berkeley: Computer Science LSA (Bachelors of Arts)
Bachelors of Arts in computer science might affect job prospects and kind of expensive
UCSD: Computer Science and Engineering BS
It like costs a lot (as much as Berkeley), would it make a difference if I saved money with UCI (I’d live at home)?
UCI:Computer Science and Engineering (or something like that) BS
Not really known for computer science or engineering
CalPolySLO: Electrical Engineering BS
It’s so cheap but is it okay for medicine?
Are any of these cons reason enough to eliminate that school?
It’s not fair, but you’re probably going to need to decide whether you want medicine or CS/EE pretty early on. A couple of reasons. Every school will have a sample curriculum for a CS or EE major. such as http://www.cse.ucsd.edu/BSCS Take a look, then take a look at the requirements to apply to med school. Some overlap, but not as much as you’d want. Nor is there a lot of free electives in the schedule. You’ll probably need 5 years to complete both, and you’ve already mentioned money as an issue. Is there an extra 25% for college laying around?
Next, while it is possible to do this, the workload is going to be high and the classes tough. Med schools care a lot about GPA and while they might make a bit of allowance for this major, it won’t be enough to equalize things. Furthermore the kind of extras that really help in med school admission (research experience) or are de-facto requirements (exposure to a medical setting) are going to be impossible during the school year. During summers, something has to give; do this for med school, and you’re not holding internships that are the key into prestigious companies as well as looking great on a resume.
I know it would be so much easier if I just decided XD I’m going to use my first CS class to see if I’m good compared to my classmates and to see if I like programming under pressure but my gut is saying engineering/compsci right now
The thing with UCI is that I’ll be living at home which sounds unappealing XD. So it’s not true that my chances for med school are lower if I come from CalPolySLO?
Cal Poly SLO has a lower acceptance rate than UCI and where you go to school does not affect how much easier it would be to get into med school. All you need to do is get the prerequisites done and have a high GPA for whatever major you want. You don’t even need a specific major for med school.
Definitely not lower for going to a cal state, as long as you get a great GPA. If you look at UCSF med’s current roster you’ll see kids from much lower ranked CSUs, because any school can teach you organic chem.
The biggest downside of a cal state for premed is that research experience is hard to come by. You can fix that by interning during your summers through an REU or similar opportunity.
Cal poly’s a great school for engineering, and cheap if you’re planning med school, and it sounds like you like it. I’d go for it (but switch majors if you decide med school)!
Just to inform you, UCB has been deciding whether or not to cut Public Health AND Chemistry majors. I’m pretty sure they’re leaning towards cutting it because these majors are research based and they don’t receive any funding from it. No monies, no majors.
^^ That’s patently wrong. What Cal has been thinking about is cutting the COLLEGE of Chemistry and absorbing its majors into the College of Arts and Sciences. You would still be able to major in chemistry, for crying out loud. It’s a key field.
There is some news about the possibility of eliminating the College of Chemistry as a division level administrative organization and moving the chemistry and chemical engineering majors to the College of Letters and Science and College of Engineering respectively. But that is quite different from eliminating the chemistry major.
There does not seem to be any obviously findable news about the School of Public Health.
@ucbalumnus – here’s a link to an article about the undergraduate public health major. Please note, that it didn’t exist as an undergraduate major before 2003.
For computer science at Berkeley in the College of Letters and Science, you would have to apply (petition) for that major at the end of your second year, and whether you got in would depend on whether your grades met the current requirements, so there are no guarantees. They do this because they don’t have enough classroom space for everyone who would like that major. (The EECS major is different. You get admitted to that when you start as a freshman. However it is more difficult to be admitted into EECS than into the College of Letters and Science.)
With the other UCs you would know from the start whether you had your CS major.
California is a very, very competitive state for medical schools and students from Cal States are at a disadvantage - UC students fare better, all things being equal (a study was done and it’s one of these cases where the strict GPAXMCAT system doesn’t work as there seems to be a disdain for CSU students in med school/law school admissions; I don’t have the link but it must be out there if you’re interested). Cal Poly is probably considered better by med schools than cal states in general BUT your GPA would still need to be in the 3.6+ range, and that’s VERY hard to do in engineering.
BA vs. BS: BA only means you have more leeway to take electives, which is better for a premed whose electives will be the premed requirements. NO difference in terms of job prospects.
All things considered, I’d go with a BA in CS from UCB.
Cal Poly is a great engineering school and they offer pre-med requirements. The problem is getting classes. Because of the learn by doing philosophy, many classes have a lab component and that limits class size. Cal Poly has grown the school and class offerings haven’t kept up. It’s a tough place to get needed classes (classes required for degree progress) and it’s near impossible getting into classes that aren’t. EE requires 194 credits to graduate and it’s tough to do in four years. It would be difficult if not impossible to add year long sequences of chemistry and biology to the EE requirements.
I see this claim often on these forums, but have never seen a link to anything that indicates that it is due to anything other than the selection effect of CSUs generally getting weaker students than UCs to begin with, or that CSU students are disadvantaged in medical school admissions compared to UC students with similar GPA and MCAT scores.
However, the L&S CS major (BA degree) at Berkeley is now a limited enrollment major, due to the huge increase in popularity in recent years. A few years ago, there were under 100 graduates per year in the major, which was open to any who completed the prerequisites with a 2.0 GPA. Now, there are over 300 graduates per year in the major, and the GPA threshold to enter the major is 3.3 (was raised to 3.0 a few years ago, then recently raised to 3.3).
If I were to do UCSD vs. UCI, since they’re roughly equal in rank (roughly). Is it worth just going to UCI and commuting (I live 20 minutes away) to save money? But if this option is open, should I just go to community college and transfer to Berkeley? I realize that this is my decision in the end; I just want other people’s thoughts on what they would do if they were in my shoes.
I would go with either UCI/SLO or UCSD. Going to a CCC is fine if money is a huge issue but there are no guarantees that you would get into UCB as a transfer. Given the opportunity to attend Either of the three schools sounds like a better choice (advice from a parent with 2 current college students). Also many Med schools want to see your Medical school course requirements taken at a 4 year university instead if a CCC.
Would you recommend UCI even though I have to commute? I guess I’m having a hard time accepting that I might choose UCI over Berkeley and UCDavis/UCSD Regents. But if you think it’s a good idea and that I can do without the college experience of dorming then I’ll think again