Barrett, The Honors College vs. UCs and a couple other colleges for Pre-med

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hello,

I am a current high school senior and want to pursue medicine as my career. My first choice major is Biochemistry as I am very interested in the chemistry that occurs at the molecular level in our bodies.
Here are my stats as of 2020:

GPA: 3.87 (unweighted)

of AP's: 8 (got 2 5s and 2 4s last year, and will be taking 4 this year)

Ranking: N/A
ACT/SAT: didn’t report (all got cancelled in Bay Area)
Extracurriculars: have about 10 with 6 really good ones

Colleges in Mind:

  • Barrett, the Honors (my family is very impressed: low cost, ivy-level education)
  • UC Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis, Riverside (for the Early Assurance Program)
  • University of Washington (really love the campus)
  • UNC at Chapel Hill
  • UMD
  • Applying to USC also, but probably not going to attend because of the high cost.
  • And many other, but these are the ones I look forward to committing to if I get accepted

I don’t mind the class size or the location of the college. I believe it is up to the students to receive education, no matter how it is provided to them.

I am very confused between Barrett and UC’s. I live in California, so the price will be about the same for both without any aid. My question is if I get into both, Barrett and my choice of UCs, which would most likely provide me with necessary experiences for med school, as well as prepare me well for the requirements?

Thank you.

2

You can get a very good “pre-Med” Education at any college in this country except a music conservatory or school of the arts.

3

Any of the UCs you listed AND Barrett (and all of the other colleges on your list) will all provide the necessary opportunities for you to develop a creditable med school application.

Just like it’s up to student to make the best of the resources a college offers to get a good education, it’s entirely on the student to make use of the resources at the college and the surrounding areas to make a strong med school application.

No college is going to walk you through the process of finding clinical volunteer sites or help find you a research lab to work in. Doing well in classes and on the MCAT, finding ECs to get involved with and developing personal contacts with your professors for LORS is entirely YOUR responsibility.

So I suggest that you take pre-med out of the equation and find the college that best suits you.

Pick a college that offers you the best combination of:

– fit (because happier student do better academically)
–cost (because med school is hideously expensive and pre-meds are strongly advised to minimize their undergrad debt)
–opportunity–including the opportunity to explore other majors and other careers (because the odds say that the vast majority of freshmen pre-med will not end up never applying to med school. And because 60% of pre meds who DO apply to med school every year don’t get a single acceptance.)

4

But isn’t there an obvious difference in the “quality of education” between colleges? Like ivy leagues vs. honors colleges vs. state universities?

5

Medical schools screen students based on UG GPA and MCAT score first. Good luck with an Ivy league institution if you can get in and maintain a GPA >= 3.75 or more. UCB and UCLA are two great public (state) universities in CA. You may want to choose UCB/UCLA for UG if you can get in.

6

There could be differences in content of courses, but it is not reliable to make assumptions about that based on general prestige. Course content differences would need to be checked by having a subject matter expert compare syllabus and exams of courses at different colleges.

Very large endowment private colleges may offer a more luxury class experience compared to public colleges. This may include some features like smaller class sizes that may matter to some students but not others.

7

Even Harvard students complain that their coursework doesn’t adequately prepare them to take the MCAT.
[Premeds in Search of MCAT Prep Say Harvard Classes Provide Insufficient Instruction](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/5/16/mcat-test-prep-premed/)

And medical school coursework is in a whole separate league of its own w/r/t difficulty.

No undergraduate institution adequately prepares anyone to take the MCAT or prepares them for the academic rigors of medical school.

Medical school adcomms are pretty agnostic when it come to undergrad prestige. Other factors hold vastly more importance when it comes to making decisions about which applicants to interview and accept.

And really–any college that offers all the med school pre-reqs classes is all any pre-med needs. The rest is up to the student.

8

@medstud101, you appear very similar to my daughter, who is a freshman at Barrett.

We are California residents. Her stats were:
3.7 (UW)/4.2 (W) GPA
33 ACT
7 APs
Good ECs, including Varsity Lacrosse

She was a National Hispanic Recognition Scholar Recipient (NHRS) so she received a full OOS tuition scholarship.

Accepted to many of your same schools:
UCSB (off waitlist), UCSD (off waitlist), Cal Poly SLO, Wisconsin, Michigan, SDSU Honors, Oregon, and Colorado. Waitlisted at U of Washington, Rejected at UT Austin, UCLA and UCB.

Are you either a NHRS or National Merit Semifinalist? ASU gives full tuition rides for both of these. They’re generous with financial aid.

I really love UCSB, but in the end, we were really impressed with Barrett. One of the best tours and a lot of attention paid to us. She gets lots of benefits, and her class schedule is ideal. And it has worked out–her friend who is a freshman at UCSB has been at home this year, and my daughter has been in Tempe and will be going back in January for Spring Semester.

I think UDub is way too overpriced OOS, although I really like that school. My daughter was concerned about the weather there and in Oregon. UNC is a great school, but extremely difficult OOS to get into (I’m guessing average GPA is 3.95+).

If you are going to med school, save your money and either go in state to a UC or Cal Poly SLO if you apply, or go to Barrett, which is a great deal if it is equal to in state, and a good education. Med schools look more at GPAs and MCAT scores more than the actual undergraduate name, and the material you learn will probably be similar. ASU and the UCs are both well known and respected schools.

Between those, go where you feel most comfortable and which school costs the least, assuming they’re within 10-15% of the cost of each other.