Took hardest classes available; received 2 Bs in non-STEM classes; around a 3.95 I think just 10-11.
SAT mid 2300s.
ECs fairly strong.
Anticipating strong recs/essays.
How does my list look? Trying to stay near California and take Pre-Med path. Parents prefer lower tuition (They like UCs) and closer location.
Warning: Pre med competition at UCLA, UCB, and UCSD is insane especially at Berkeley. Intelligent students who get in’s GPAs are wrecked by the curve set by the brainiacs. They don’t call it the University of Chinese Braniacs and the University of Competitive Bitches for nothing. The name barely matters in med school admissions. Only your gpa does. I recommend out of the UC’s Santa Barbara, maybe Davis, and Santa Cruz.
The goal here is to avoid overloading yourself, especially first year. Pre-meds start out with Bio, Chem, Math, some other heavy course and a mick, and are then surprised to find that they are a) swamped b) sleepless and c) have no social life. Many of them wash out in the first year because they over-reached. Don’t be one of them. Where ever you decide to go, take a light first semester. If you do bio+lab, chem+lab and math - that’s all you need. Pick basket-weaving or yoga if you feel absolutely compelled to choose a 4th course. Even at your safeties, you will be surprised at how much work those weeder classes can be with all those other pre-meds who also need a 3.7 or more for med school admissions.
And medical school is wickedly expensive - at least $180k for in-state and $240k for a private. Don’t go into debt for college.
@MegaMetalHead I definitely agree and I’ve heard the same from my peers. Our school is similar in that it is a large, public, and very competitive school in the Bay Area so I think I’m used to that type of environment and could handle the rigor. If I got into Berkeley/LA would you really recommend I choose SB/Davis over the two just to inflate my GPA?
@N’s Mom Thank you for the advice! Does it make a difference if one takes more or less classes sooner or later? In other words, what are the benefits of doing the opposite opposed to what you recommend?
Yes definitely. I would go with SB or Davis before LA or Berkeley for pre med. I know it’s not as “prestigious” but if med school is the goal then definitely.
The benefit to front-loading all your heavy classes? I guess if you decide you don’t want to be pre-med, you’ll find out sooner and have more time to switch to something else. If you want to study abroad junior year, you may have to plan your schedule carefully if you take it a bit easier first year. If you don’t complete the pre-med requirements until the end of senior year, it could delay your application to medical school by a year, but that’s usually more of a problem for people who decided that they were pre-med in their junior year (like my nephew!).
The thing to do is sit down with the course catalog and plan out roughly what classes you plan to take when, how that fits with your major, any study abroad, and when you want to take the MCAT. You don’t have to pick every class out now - just figure out what required classes are offered when and how that puzzle would fit together if you assume that you’re first year is one where you are going to cut yourself a bit of slack to adjust and avoid crashing your GPA.
By the way, Megameta’s point that you will get no credit for attending UCB vs. UCSB is correct - at least not from med school admissions. It’s about GPA, MCAT and, for state schools, and your state of residence.