<p>I have been accpeted to Cal Poly San Luis as a Biological Sciences Major. I am definetely considering attending SLO however i have also been admitted to University of Washington. I am wondering which school would be better considering i want to go to a good med.
school.</p>
<p>pre medicine at cal poly is good only bad thing is that it is not great in providing research oppurtunities like the UC’s.</p>
<p>First it is a medium size department so interaction with staff is easy. </p>
<p>second of all their human anatomy and physiology concentrations has some courses not offered at many universities for Ex. Functional Histology which is very rare for any undergraduate school. </p>
<p>Thrid reason is the MCAT prep courses they have strategically in the winter quarter (1/5-4/8) right before the mcats. Note: you do have to pay about $1400 for it but it is still it is way cheaper than many commerical companies. </p>
<p>fourth, Cal Poly offers the official MCAT a couple times a year on campus so you dont have to drive far you take it. </p>
<p>fifth, Cal Poly offers a course called " orientation to health professions" in which you are given a maximum of 2 units a quarter and 6 units maximum to vounteer from the hospital.</p>
<p>btw, they are proposing to build The Center for Science and Mathematics which Will replace aging “spider” Science Building 52 with a new 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) structure. It will add new laboratories, classrooms, and studios to support the expanding population of the university. It is planned to be the largest and most technologically advanced structure in Cal Poly once constructed. In addition a Centennial Park will be constructed adjacent to the structure</p>
<p>i hope that helps</p>
<p>btw can you compare your stats with mine to see if i have a good chance for next year? I am applying RD</p>
<p>intended major- Biological Sciences</p>
<ol>
<li><p>GPA (I know it is under average):
3.5 uw, 3.6 UC gpa, 3.9 gpa weighted. i have taken 12 honors/ap classes freshman to junior year. This year i am taking AP Biology and AP Calculus AB which are the last ap/honors classes my school offers. i have recieved 4 C’s in high school 1 in Algebra 2 honors, and 2 in spanish 3, and 1 in AP chem. </p></li>
<li><p>Test Scores: </p></li>
<li><p>31 ACT</p></li>
<li><p>3 AP tests all 3’s</p></li>
<li><p>Extracurricular:
Volunteer: </p></li>
<li><p>200 hr. at local hospital</p></li>
<li><p>100 hr. assistant throwing coach</p></li>
<li><p>50 hr. local foodbank</p></li>
<li><p>50 hr. Boys and Girls Club</p></li>
</ol>
<p>clubs/sports:
- 4 year nhs
- 4 year csf
- 4 year mesa
- 4 year track and field (Captain, 4 year varsity)</p>
<p>awards:
- Ap scholar
- 2009 most improved thrower (made a 45 foot improvement in the discus from freshman year to sopomore year)
- 2009 league champion</p>
<p>First off, i want to warn you that Cal Poly does not look at any extracurricular activities. The ones that you list are of importance if you are applying to a UC or private university however Cal Poly does not care. You probably already know this.</p>
<p>First off, i want to forewarn you that Cal Poly does not look at extracurricular activities. You probably already know this cuz it seems like you have done your research. Extracurriculars will help you if you apply to a private school or UC but Cal Poly just asks you to list the number of hours without elaborating on what you have done. I feel like everyone stretches the truth on this portion of the application.</p>
<p>Stats:
ACT:28
SAT:1240
GPA: 4.14 weighted 3.69 unweighted
Extracurriculars: Not much, 2 hrs picking up neighbor’s dog ****.</p>
<p>The best advice i can give you is to shy away from the C’s. A lot of my friends have been wait-listed or denied and they have better test scores than me but they got one or two C’s. Cal Poly and especially the UC’s seem to be glancing at test scores and taking grades into greater consideration. Your test scores are definitely good thou. Good luck…thanx for the info.</p>
<p>I was admitted to Cal Poly for Biology and I got two c’s both in Algebra II/Trig Honors but the next year i got A’s in Pre Calc honors so the c’s might not have been that big of a deal to them.
My stats are:
gpa: 3.83UC(when i applied), 3.64 unweighted
ACT:32
SAT:1390
I had taken 3 AP classes, AP bio (b’s) AP Chem (b then a) and AP art history (b then a) and i got 5’s on bio and chem ap tests and a 4 on art history</p>
<p>senior year classes are AP calc AB, AP Psych, AP govt, AP econ, AP Lit, and AP environmental science. I’ve gotten all a’s so far… not that it matters to cal poly they don’t look at that.</p>
<p>hope that helps a bit… a few c’s don’t hurt too much as long as you show improvement :)</p>
<p>I got into business with two Cs in AP Chem</p>
<p>I’m in your same position, master p, but I plan on majoring in biomedical engineering. I’m still pushing for Cal Poly because I feel like you do receive a better education there (and the weather is much nicer)! I know that my friend’s sister is currently a pre-med student at UW and she’s having a hard time there, especially because it is so competitive and cut throat. If you want to go to UW’s med school, then would opt out of attending UW because it is nearly impossible to get in if you went there for undergrad. But hey, that’s just my two cents.</p>
<p>Serenalert, I’ve read that medical schools prefer a pre-med grad that graduated from their undergraduate university over a pre-med grad that graduated from another undergraduate university.</p>
<p>Another Question: Does anyone know whether a student can switch majors at Cal Poly? I know that the school says you must stick with the same major all four years, however i know a lot of people that have gone there and swithched majors several times.</p>
<p>master: i have a brother at cal poly and he says they blow the difficultly of switching majors out of proportion. my bro was a biology major for a whole year with about a 3.4 gpa. then on a whim he went on a nasa summer internship because his roomate was going and my bro didnt want to come back home. when he came back he absolutely loved aerospace engineering so in the next 2 quarters he took all the req. courses and he was very persistent because at first they wouldnt let him. so in the end they allowed him to switch. He had about a 3.3 gpa. but granted he has to stay at cal poly for 2 extra quarters but in the end he did switch majors. </p>
<p>on a side note: my parents made a deal with him that when he finally gets a job he has to payback those extra $12k :)</p>
<p>Master, sure, it’s do-able to change your major.</p>
<p>The problem is, you have to jump through a ****load of hoops if you want to change your major from college to college. Within a college, it’s not so bad at all… but say if your major was Math, and then you wanted to major in Computer Engineering? You’d basically have to go follow ENTSurgeon’s brother’s route… re-do all your courses, talk to advisors, etc…</p>
<p>It may not be impossible… but it certainly isn’t easy either.</p>