Best Pre-Med School for Me

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hello, I’m a high school senior and finally heard back from the colleges that I got accepted to. I got into 12 schools in total and was waitlisted at two. However of the 12 colleges, only a few are realistic for me as I am staying local, (I’m from South Gate, California, in the county of Los Angeles) and I definitely cannot afford an expensive college (my EFC and ESC are $0). I am a ‘pre-med’ student and my goal is definitely to go to medical school. I was part of an Introductory Medical Assistant program when I was 16 with USC and WLAC where I earned straight A’s and was the only person to move on to the advanced portion where I was the only high school student. As of today, my stats are as follows:

9th:
-H ENGLISH 9 A/A

  • HEALTH A/NA
    -CC ALGEBRA 1A B/B
  • INSTRUMENTS A/A
  • ADV PE 1A B /B
    -LATIN AMER. STU. NA/A
  • H BIOLOGY A/A

10th:
-H ENGLISH 10 A/A

  • CC GEOMETRY A/A
    -ADV BAND A/A
    -ADV PE 2 A/A
  • H CHEMISTRY AB B/C
  • AP WLD HIST A/A

11th:
-AP ENG LANG A/A

  • SPAN SP 1 A/A
  • H ADV MATH C/B (Algebra II & PreCalc in one year)
  • ADV BAND A/NA
  • AP US HIST B/A
    -INTRO PSYCH A/NA
    -INTRO SOCIO NA/A
    -COMP OP/2 NA/A

12th:
-AP ENG LIT A
-AP CALCULUS AB C
-AP BIO A

  • MOLECULAR BIO A
  • H PRIN AM DEMOCR A
  • COL PER COUN A

AP’s & SCORES
AP World History: 4
AP Spanish Language: 5
AP English Lang: 3
AP United States History: 2
SAT: 1160
ACT: 20

GPAs: LAUSD (Weighted) GPA 3.965
LAUSD (UNweighted) GPA 3.690
-Campus Rank: ^44/530
-School Rank: ^21/104
-Spends 20+ hours in church activities
-Was in Marching/Concert Band for a year in a half
-Was a first-chair alto sax player in the first year
-I’ve tutored in math, English, and music
-I’ve worked sporadically throughout high school
-I’m a Peer College Counselor (a selective program to help in the college center)
-Escalera STEM -college prep club
-STEMinist- advocating for females in STEM

Colleges I got into that I am considering:
-UC Davis
-UC Santa Barbara
-UC Riverside
-CSU Long Beach
-University of La Verne

I got waitlisted at UCLA and UCI and those chances are slim to none so I’m not even considering them right now.

I know Davis and Santa Barbara and UC’s, in general, are the best options in terms of prestige, however, CSU Long Beach is 20 minutes away from me and I’m getting full financial aid so because of money I’m inclined to it. Yet I am getting discouraged as many are saying that CSULB is a bad option or won’t be as good which I get in comparison to UC’s and privates. I obviously hope to do better in college than in high school, I want to finish my medical assistant course, begin volunteering as a registered medical assistant, shadow, intern at clinics and hospitals. I want to be a professor’s research assistant and be involved in minority educational outreach programs as well as work in healthcare in minority and low-income communities. I will obviously strive for the best grades and MCAT score but I can’t guarantee that right now. Any advice? Thank you for your time in advance!

2

@needsabreak

Congratulations on your success in getting multiple college admissions.
Happy you have determined and focused on education which is a foundation for better life.

Since finance is tight, CSULB is not a bad choice. It helps you to settle and re-calibrate yourself with college level education. Later if you are doing well and money situation improves you can try for a UC transfer.

I know UC’s have a special program for students transfer from community college. Not sure (need to check) if that program or have any similar programs for CSU (probably not).

More important (irrespective of CSULB or any UCs) is study well the basic science courses and get good GPA for any health related career choices since they are very competitive. Seek help which ever college you go by reaching out to Profs office hours or TAs.

Noticed your HS courses did not have any mention of Chemistry or Physics which are core subjects and you need to start them in college.

More experienced and people familiar with CSULB may chime in. Best wishes.

3

Medical schools do not care where you attended Undergrad. What is important is to keep your debt at a minimum, maintain a high GPA, get a competitive MCAT score and participate in Medically related EC’s.

There are advantages of being a Big Fish in a Smaller Pond so to speak so CSULB might be a better option academically and financially. You look like a very hardworking individual, but the UC’s will have a large high achieving student population all competing for those precious A’s in the Medical school pre-req courses. Going to CSULB and excelling academically would put you in a better position to achieve your goal. I know of 2 individuals that attended CSULB as pre-med and were successful getting into Medical school. Hard work and determination will pay off in the end but make sure you have a backup plan.

Be sure to take advantage of all the resources available to you at CSULB including their pre-health advising center.

https://csulb.edu/colleges/cnsm/sas/hpao/

Best of luck.

4

Go where you spend the least, since medical school is extremely expensive, and as a CA resident you should plan on attending med school OOS since there are so many applicants.
And yes, Long Beach sends students to medical school every year-and in a few years, you can be one, too!