<p>Hi, I am a new member here. I am currently a high school student thinking about applying to berkeley for undergraduate education. I want to go to medical school to become a doctor and I wonder if UC Berkeley is a good place to go for pre-med. If it is not a good place then please tell me why. I really love the campus. Please give me your comprehensive comments.</p>
<p>Berkeley has all of the materials that you will need to succeed. However, UCB is known for its competitiveness and low acceptance rate. Considering the quality of UCB students, their acceptance into medical school is only slightly above average (~55% versus the national 48% with some other top schools boasting 70+% acceptances). This might also be because UCB is a public school. At least, I think it is.</p>
<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/2008seniors.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/2008seniors.stm</a></p>
<p>Is it a good place for premed though? I really like the berkeley campus and I would like to do pre-med there but am uncertain if it is good or not for pre-med.</p>
<p>Sorry for double posting, but can someone please help me answer this question? I really need to know if berkeley is the right choice for me to go to college for premed. Please help.</p>
<p>Post #2 is a very thorough answer.</p>
<p>Once again, the resources at UCB are everything a pre-med could want. HOWEVER, there is the trade offs that I mentioned as well. If you want to go to UCB, its settled. Go there, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>mmmcdowe covered it pretty well in post #2 - all the resources are there (just like pretty much every other school, though). Just also be aware that there is no hand-holding at the UC’s. If you want help or advice, you need to go seek it out on your own.</p>
<p>It’s a feeder school to UCF.</p>
<p>Its not a feeder school to UCSF. bluedevilmike said so himself. Also, I know what you guys have been saying on this topic, but I have read here on this forum that going to berkeley for premed is a bad idea. Can you guys help me out by giving a pros and cons of going to berkeley for pre-med?</p>
<p>I am a Berkeley Pre-med. All I can say is people exaggerate everything. Berkeley is a perfect place to do pre-med. If you study, you should be fine.</p>
<p>My DD graduated from Berkeley and is applying now.</p>
<p>Yes, you can do premed from Cal</p>
<p>No, no one will hold your hand, you must be self- motivated and a bit self taught on the process We found their advising to be “cookie cutter”- they give you a page that shows the one and only way it is done, whereas following CC & SDN one would learn that is not so.</p>
<p>Yes, there are some amazing science profs at Cal, yes, you can find research & shadow opportunities</p>
<p>Yes, the curve can kill you. My DD has quite a few B+ grades where she just couldn’t quite beat the curve.</p>
<p>If Cal is a good fit for you, go there; if you are already on forums like this you can make your way to med school</p>
<p>1st off, what do you mean by self-taught? I am pretty motivated on going to medical school and I like Berkeley. What do you mean by cookie cutter? Also, I know that this might be a noob question but what is CC and SDN?</p>
<p>CC= college confidential website (right here where you are ;))
SDN= student doctors network forum, posters can be neurotic and over the top, but it can also help you ensure you don’t miss anything important. Despite a year of research there DD still missed some time saving application tips</p>
<p>Cookie cutter = they have a very rote, one way should work for every one way of advising and yet they also have various advisers who are assigned to bio students. My DD followed one adviser’s advice on class selection and was told by the next one that it was all wrong. In the end she followed her own path (for instance the debate on whether to use AP credit for Bio 1A&B- DD was a bio major and did use her AP credit which allowed her to enjoy graduate level bio classes rather than revisit basic bio and she is getting interviews, so it seems to not be an issue)</p>
<p>If you attend Berkeley and are pre-med you will do yourself a service by pursuing your own outside information and not sitting back and waiting for an adviser to hold your hand through the process. Read this site & SDN and learn how to make the most of your journey to med school.</p>
<p>somemom, what do you mean by your daughter could not beat the curve? What are usually the highest grades in class, and what is the average percent for a C? </p>
<p>I’m at a community college, and I’ve always done very well in science courses. But, cc grades are inflated (it’s not difficult to get 100% on finals), so I don’t know what to expect at berkeley. </p>
<p>I want to major in MCB, but how often do students get a 4.0 in those classes? I went to a really rigorous high school (average sleep 3hr/day), and I’ve always assumed students struggle at Cal, because most came from easier public high schools and aren’t used to the workload. Can you confirm this?</p>
<p>My DD was a 4.0 UW HS student with the most rigourous courseload (including APs) in a school which sends most kids to university, including Ivy types, and she was ranked in the top 5 and her SAT was above 1400.</p>
<p>She still has several B+ marks, I don’t think there was anything below B+, but a smattering of B+/A- grades will knock one quickly down to 3.5 or below. Many of her prereqs were B+, many were A. What I mean regarding beating the curve is that I recall her complaining she just could not get above a B+ in one year of a particular prereq science course track. She had the same prof for both terms, he even offered to write her a ‘strong’ LOR, so she certainly got to know him, but she could not break into that tip top A group.</p>
<p>I do not recall the exact curves, but with two science kids at two UCs, I can recall complaints about an OChem course where the A on a test was 44% (so what did any one learn that would help them in the next Ochem course?) and another complaint of a course where the lowest A was a 97% on a particular exam (not the overall class)</p>
<p>My DD has not really struggled, though that first term chem class was the first sub A mark in her life and she went from feeling horrid about it as the course was unfolding to ending up proud of EARNING that mark. And she got an A in AP chem, so she had solid preparation.</p>
<p>I think one can do fine, but there are a ton of kids who were 4.0 in HS and you cannot all get the A in every course. I would not say to be scared by it all, just take your courses seriously and attend every one. Ochem at Berkeley was pretty intense. My DD had to schedule surgery during one term and even with that she would not have been allowed to make up an exam if she had to miss one, the curve was all the prof’s sections and, I think, included 1200 people from his various lecture sections. It was big & tough, but doable.</p>
<p>My DD felt she was capable of A work in those courses where she earned a B+, but sometimes she just couldn’t get over the hump.</p>
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<p>Ok, a few things here - first, and no offense meant, but lol at equating the quality of your high school education with the average amount of sleep you get each night. Second, that sleep schedule (if accurate) is not at all healthy for a teenager (or anyone for that matter). And third, you should not be putting that much effort and time into high school. If you actually had to try that hard to maintain your GPA, your courseload was too much for you.</p>
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<p>Not true at all.</p>
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<p>Depends entirely on the professor - most science classes (at least the lower division ones) are based on a curve. Some professors use a strict bell curve, others have their own design. Usually, though, you have to be in the top 10-15% of the class to make an A or A-.</p>
<p>Icarus is right. You sleeping three hours a night in high school is a <em>bad</em> sign, not a good one, for your chances in college.</p>
<p>And its freaking nuts. You would be dead by now if that wasn’t an exaggeration.</p>
<p>Well, I exaggerated a little bit. (I went to San Marino high school, which is a public school known for grade deflation). I meant to say I’d get soooo much homework (with only 3 AP classes), that most times, due to hours spent on labs after school, it was physically impossible to finish w/o pulling an all-nighter. I gained a lot of study skills and time management strategies, so I think I’m prepared for Cal, but I don’t know. :/</p>
<p>I’m at a community college now, and I’ll have finished my entire premed series(including OChem) here, so when I transfer, I’ll immediately enroll in upper division bio classes. How do upper division classes differ from lower?</p>
<p>Again, to emphasize: having to work that hard in high school is a bad sign. Talented premeds usually managed to ace high school with a minimum of effort, especially at public schools in a state with horrible public schooling.</p>