<p>i has been accepted to UPenn and Berkeley (my top two choices), along with Cornell, UCLA, and UVA. With Berkeley and UPenn being my top two choices, i can't seem to choose which would be the better place for me. I will be majoring in Biology and plan to go into medicine (neurosurgeon) or veterinary medicine (specializing in horses.) My father likes the Ivy League prestige that comes along with UPenn. My mother is just interested in the best place for me. However, i am not sure which place would provide me with the best experience. I currently live in the DC area, so a different environment away from the East Coast would be nice. However, it is hard to turn away an offer from an Ivy League school.</p>
<p>a couple things:
1) i love Berkeley's Integrative Biology major - it looks so interesting
2) i love the idea of coming out West to a totally different environment from the uptight DC area
3) i do like the idea of staying on the East Coast so i can still visit several of my friends who are going to Virginia schools
4) i am Korean, so i am comfortable pretty much at either university
5) i do not want to be in a rural area - i don't know what kind of area Berkeley is like, but i'm assuming it is NOT like Ithaca
6) i would like to be at a place where it is competitive, but not to the point where everyone is enemies. i want to be in a supportive environment
7) UPenn does have a top ranked vet school AND med school.</p>
<p>at this point, i really don't know where to go. :(</p>
<p>any opinions are appreciated
thank you.</p>
<p>ps - financial aid has not arrived from either of the two schools, so for now that is not an issue, although i am expecting both places to give good financial aid, as UCLA offered me about $9,500 next year in scholarship money and my EFC is relatively low (around $2500)</p>
<p>from your 1~7, i actually think berkeley would be a good place for you. i don't think the fact that you did your undergrad studies at upenn will give you any advantage in getting into their med/vet program. also, i'm sure that berkeley's name will be just as valuable as penn's when applying to med/vet schools later on.
berkeley's is very competetive. but unless you're majoring in something like mcb, no one will try to harm you. IB is actually one of the most chill majors from what i hear. my roommate is switching from chemistry to IB. he's also premed and he said that IB is one of the easiest majors at cal.
berkeley is not rural at all. fifteen minutes (or less) from the bay area, downtown berkeley, but not as crowded as nyc. socially active, and we have D1A football, which penn doesn't.</p>
<p>I have the exact same problem - UPenn vs. Berkeley, except with major in Economics. I live about an hour from Berkeley, and I'm going to visit UPenn next week. I'd say give Berkeley a visit, and see where you'll fit in best. =)</p>
<p>Berkeley is a tough school. The science classes here are packed with some of the best students and are taught by some of the best professors with very tough curves. Some might argue that GPAs here, especially in the sciences, are extremely deflated in comparison to other schools, most notably Ivy League schools. This is relevant to you because you are seriously considering a field in medicine (or veterinarian) after graduating and medical schools accept applicants with extremely heavy emphasis on GPA. If you go here it is a generally accepted anecdote that you will have to work a little bit harder to get the As you need to get into med-school. ON TOP OF THIS the statistics I provided earlier show that the top medical schools are LESS LIKELY to accept a Berkeley student than a UPENN student even if the students had the same GPA and MCAT. Even schools with ties to Berkeley, schools like UCSF and UCLA, seem to accept students from UPENN with even lower GPAs and MCATs than Berkeley Students. If you are seriously considering doing medicine I highly recommend you think all of these things through before deciding to come to call. From what I've seen around me Cal has crushed many-a-students dreams of being doctors. I'm not implying that if you come to Berkeley it'll be impossible for you to go to your dream medical school, its just going to be a lot more difficult.</p>
<p>wow i did not know those stats, thanks for providing me with them.
and no, i haven't visited Berkeley yet -- i am planning to go to the accepted students day on April 21, but i have seen pictures on Wikipedia. It looks very pretty there!
Thanks for all the helpful replies, i think they are definitely helping me.
i am leaning more towards Penn at the moment - it really seems like a great school for me.</p>
<p>i'd say upenn. i haven't checked the stats, and correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm betting that it has a higher rate of students who actually matriculate into any med school. also, you'll probably have more resources available to you as an undergrad imo. here, you have to fight pretty hard to obtain a lab position and whatnot since there are so many premeds here... if you're also going to pay for oos tuition for 4 years, then forget berkeley.</p>
<p>the competetiveness of premeds at berkeley is so overhyped. work hard, and you will get the grades you want regardless of the school.</p>
<p>Berkeley is a tough school. The science classes here are packed with some of the best students and are taught by some of the best professors with very tough curves. Some might argue that GPAs here, especially in the sciences, are extremely deflated in comparison to other schools, most notably Ivy League schools. This is relevant to you because you are seriously considering a field in medicine (or veterinarian) after graduating and medical schools accept applicants with extremely heavy emphasis on GPA. If you go here it is a generally accepted anecdote that you will have to work a little bit harder to get the As you need to get into med-school. ON TOP OF THIS the statistics I provided earlier show that the top medical schools are LESS LIKELY to accept a Berkeley student than a UPENN student even if the students had the same GPA and MCAT. Even schools with ties to Berkeley, schools like UCSF and UCLA, seem to accept students from UPENN with even lower GPAs and MCATs than Berkeley Students. If you are seriously considering doing medicine I highly recommend you think all of these things through before deciding to come to call. From what I've seen around me Cal has crushed many-a-students dreams of being doctors. I'm not implying that if you come to Berkeley it'll be impossible for you to go to your dream medical school, its just going to be a lot more difficult.
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<p>Actually, the Penn statistics you showed do not demonstrate what you said they showed. The Penn statistics are the GPA's of ALL students who matriculate at particular med-schools, not the GPA's of specifically the Penn students who matriculate at those med schools. </p>
<p>"The statistics below reflect the mean GPA and MCAT scores for matriculating students at each school. Statistics specifically regarding Penn applicants (both seniors and alumni) are kept in the Career Services library."</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I think your assertion is probably true - that Penn premeds with lower GPA's and MCAT scores will probably tend to be more successful in getting into med-schools compared to Berkeley premeds. The data does not show that, however.</p>
<p>even though it hurts me for saying this...(because i go to berkeley and i love cal) if you're doing pre-med, you will probably be better off at penn.
from what i hear, private schools including many ivys, get a little bit of grade inflation? even if this is not true, berkeley definitely gives you some grade deflation. its tough here man.. btw I'm also korean doing pre-med:)</p>
<p>gluck with you decision.. just remember it's ultimately your choice and choose wisely!</p>
<p>I'd say go to penn. Better gpa inflation, less cut-throat competition and Penn has a pretty strong biology/pre med program. Oh and vagelos lab is pretty cool too :)
Also, the living cost here is so darn cheap you'd be amazed how much you can save each year. Can you imagine getting a good chinese meal for $3.50 at Berkeley? At Penn you can (I'm talking about the food truck) :)</p>
<p>I know this doesnt really have anything to do with premed, but I have an uncle who's a prof at UC Davis and who has been on admission committees for grad school. He said that berkeley applicants get between a .25 and .5 gpa boost when being compared to other schools with more grade inflation.</p>
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I know this doesnt really have anything to do with premed, but I have an uncle who's a prof at UC Davis and who has been on admission committees for grad school. He said that berkeley applicants get between a .25 and .5 gpa boost when being compared to other schools with more grade inflation.
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<p>I've heard this asserted numerous times, but I have never seen any evidence to support this. If anything, the evidence actually * contradicts * this assertion, at least in the case of med-school, which is one of the types of graduate school that the OP is interested in (I don't know about vet school, which is the OP's other targeted graduate school).</p>
<p>The data indicates that Berkeley premeds get no break in terms of getting into med-school, particularly the top-ranked ones. If anything, the data indicates that Berkeley premeds may actually need a * higher * GPA in order to get into the top med-schools. That's right - * higher *. </p>