Assistance in choosing the right college

College Search & Selection
1

Hi!

I’m currently a senior in high school seeking advice from other college undergraduates, graduates, parents, or any other person who will gladly help me out in my dilemma.

I’ve already applied to multiple universities and am currently waiting on notifications. Although I did apply to few out-of-state colleges, I’m planning to head to a UC due to multiple factors. But my problem is that I can’t decide, neither do I have enough knowledge nor wisdom, to know which UC is best for me.

I’ve applied to all UC’s except UCSF and UCM, and I’m currently planning to major in biological sciences and potentially head to pre-med if plans don’t alter. And IF I do get accepted into all the UC’s I applied to (that’ll be God’s blessing), I wouldn’t be sure which one to choose.

Many of my friends and acquaintances believe that a student would be ignorant as well as questionable to not head to UC Berkeley or UCLA, but that type of mindset is also naive. I know all about each UC’s rankings and statistics, which leads people to believe that, for example, UCLA is a great college while UC Riverside is a terrible college that accepts the rejects, which is by no means true. Rankings are always changing, and each school specializes, or has, multiple programs and opportunities that other UC’s may not present. Riverside has recently created it’s medical school in 2013, which it’s medical center is probably going to be in the process of creation in the next 2-3 years. And if that happens, UCR will potentially surpass Davis in ranking due to new applicants, technology, and its improving facility. I don’t need people to tell me what each UC’s national rankings are, but rather how they achieved those rankings.

What I hope many of you can enlighten me with is knowledge in the form of websites, personal experience, etc., to help me decide which UC is the best for me. Biological sciences and pre-med school are my main concerns on which UC can present me with the best possible learning experience as well as life experience, but research programs, facilities, school/area environment of the university, and improving/changing opportunities would also be helpful.

I’m presently researching each UC’s uniqueness and details, so if any of you can provide me with info, that’d be more than helpful! Thank you!

2

EDIT: Also, graduate programs/specialization would also be helpful. I forgot to mention that earlier > _ <.

3

I can’t speak for your majors, but UCSB is my favorite. The atmosphere seems like the best and it is gorgeous and on the beach. Good luck!

4

grad schools are irrelevant at this point because you don’t choose an undergrad for its grad school. you’re supposed to go to different schools to expose yourself to more profs, etc.

what are your stats??

5

Im just trying to look ahead in terms of grad school.

Weighted GPA-3.95
Unweighted-3.7
SAT Composite-1930
ACT:None
AP’s: European history, Spanish language, Psychology, English Language and Composition, English Literature, Microeconomics, Government, Calculus AB
Extracurriculars are numerous which i’m assuming many other students applying have similar activities.

Those are just some stats, and if you need more let me know :smile:

6

Typically, UCs don’t like to take their undergrads for grad school, however for professional school (MBA, med, law) it’s the opposite. With Riverside getting a med school and with all kinds of health-related tracks for undergrads, it could be a smart choice. One downside is that their honors program is very very minimal.
However, keep in mind that a majority of freshman decide not to pursue premed… and then, you’d be way better off at UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCD, etc., rather than at Riverside.
UCD would be an obvious choice, of course - nice campus, cool students, great strength in the sciences.
All in all, though, you should wait till you get your acceptances…

7

I agree with @MYOS1634, wait until you get your acceptances and then worry about which to choose.