<p>If I go to a CSU instead of a UC for my bachelors will it hinder my chances of getting into medical school? Plain and simple. (Don't care to hear about how I should go to a UC instead, already heard it plenty). Also are there any of you here that have success stories of going to a CSU for your Bachelors and getting into Medical schools? Thank you for your time.</p>
<p>If you are applying to UC medical schools in California (UCSF, UCLA, UCD, UCI, USCD) I think you would have a very difficult time getting accepted just due to the perceptions that the UCs have of CSUs and CSU students.</p>
<p>On the other hand if you are applying to private medical schools in the East and Midwest I do not think it would make that much difference whether you went to a UC or a CSU. Although I currently practice medicine in California I went to medical school and got my MD in Philadelphia. While the schools there have heard of UC Berkeley and UCLA they are otherwise pretty hazy about California’s system of higher education, are totally unaware of the sharp distinction the state makes between the roles of the UCs and CSUs and for example would not be aware that there is any difference between between how SDSU and UCSD operate. They certainly will not see any difference between CSULB, SJSU, Cal Poly Pomona and Sacramento State University on one hand and UC Riverside, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz and UCSB on the other any, more than they would make a distinction between the University or Oregon and Oregon State University.</p>
<p>The most important thing to these medical schools are your UG GPA, irrespective of whether it was earmed at a UC or a CSU and your score on the MCAT. So while you will almost certainly not even be considered by a California medical school, if you can graduate from a CSU with a strong GPA (>3.7) and achieve strong MCAT scores (>30) you should be a competitive candidate for admission to medical schools in the many parts of the country that are not aware of the strict caste system that exists in public higher education that is peculiar to California.</p>
<p>One resource to look at to find “success stories” would be mdapplicants.com, where there is a pretty extensive database of self-submitted application details searchable by undergraduate institution, among other things.</p>
<p>you might check each CSU website. Fullerton, for example, lists recents grads who have gone onto health schools (med, dent, pharm, nursing, vet).</p>
<p>You can certainly get into medical school with a degree from a CSU. That is however not the same as saying that CSU graduates do as well in applying to medical school as UC graduates. Your academic record will be evaluated by your grades and the courses you take in context of your undergraduate institution. I went to a top UC Medical school and there were 7 CSU graduates in my class. There were twice as many who were from Stanford, and 8 X as many from UCB/UCLA. Compare this to 6500 undergraduate students at Stanford, 46,000 at UCB/UCLA and over 260,000 in the CSU’s. You can of course explain some of this disparity with the predilection of those aspiring to medicine to go to more competitive colleges and other self selection. Medical schools do however in my experience take into consideration your undergraduate college. This consideration however is generally qualitative rather than quantitative. Pre-USNWR rankings it was “known” which colleges were excellent, very good , good etc. Your academic record was evaluated in this context. My friends tell me that this situation still persists today. One person I know for example in Philadelphia tells me his medical school divides colleges into good/average/below average in their evaluation of applicants. The admissions people in medical school do not need to fine tune their knowledge of every college. They just need to know in general their strength. As an anecdote, the few Docs I know who went through the CSU’s all had close to or perfect undergraduate records.</p>