<p>I want to go into Pre-med, and perhaps try a bit of astrophysics, so I was wondering which of these two schools would be the best at the undergrad level. I know that Berkeley is very competitive but at the same time, Caltech's cirriculum is tough as well. And in order to get into a good med school, I have to maintain a good gpa, so which one is the better choice for me?</p>
<p>In general it is harder to get a certain GPA at Caltech than at Berkeley. If your primary goal in college is to go to a good med school, I would recommend Berkeley. After all, Caltech’s core curriculum will have you taking plenty of unnecessary (from a straight pre-med’s point of view) courses in math and physics. </p>
<p>If you care more about getting a diverse education in math, science, and engineering, Caltech might be better for you. You should visit both and make your decision based on that. Feel free to talk to the pre-med advisor here and at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Trying a few astrophysics courses might be easier at Berkeley, but I imagine the courses here involve a bit more math. (at least for the introductory level)</p>
<p>If I had to speak my heart out, I’d say forget premed, and go to Caltech :)</p>
<p>However, practically speaking, what lizzard says seems to hold quite strongly, and I get the feeling you’ll be better off at Berkeley as a premed who is trying out some science.</p>
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<p>Why is that? Berkeley is larger. If anything - wouldn’t Berkeley give you more breadth and Caltech give you more depth?</p>
<p>For example - I think Caltech uses Jackson’s EM book (difficult graduate text) for Physics undergrads, which is generally unheard of at other institutions. Berkeley, I’d imagine, can offer a wide variety of courses - although it may be difficult to register for classes.</p>
<p>If you’re going for pre-med, Berkeley is most likely the better choice out of the two. It is cheaper and your chances of getting into med school from UCB is higher. Beyond what lizzardfire said, medical school is extremely expensive; it’s not easy to afford a private school education + med school fees. However, I think both schools are sub-optimal for pre-med. Both schools don’t really have a hospital on campus as far as I know.</p>
<p>You can “try out science” at any school. You don’t need a world-class professor to teach what is already known in the world.</p>
<p>SDTB- Berkeley being larger isn’t the point. The point is core. Caltech requires certain things of all students, and Berkeley doesn’t; as a pre-med you are going to be taking a lot of courses at Caltech that you wouldn’t at Berkeley. </p>
<p>[Career</a> Center - Medical School - Preparation](<a href=“http://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepAcad.stm]Career”>http://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepAcad.stm) <– That’s Berkeley’s suggested pre-med track. Take a look at the math and physics requirements! You’ve got one year of each, (vs. Caltech’s almost two) and if you bother to look at the syllabi you’ll see that the math and physics these pre-meds are supposed to take are barely above high-school level. Breadth essentially refers to the things you study outside what you need to study from (in this case) the point of med school admissions. In a sense, Caltech is both “broader and deeper” at the same time depending on how you look at it: Is learning more physics depth in physics, even if the subtopic is something largely irrelevant to the major? For example, is quantum mechanics depth or breadth?</p>
<p>In any case, I have a feeling we’re going to get bogged down in semantics. The point is that you will be forced to learn more in math and science here than you will be at Berkeley, and the curriculum is obviously much more set up for students attempting to be pre-med to expand their knowledge in these areas.</p>
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<p>This point is essential.</p>
<p>I’m a fairly big math enthusiast, and definitely haven’t taken physics, biology or chemistry at Berkeley. My goal is to go deep into not only math, but the subfields I like best. </p>
<p>Sure you could take tons of breadth at Berkeley, but the point is Caltech is a small, personalized atmosphere where you and your cohorts are put through a challenging core which you should probably consider at least remotely important to your educational philosophy if you’re going to the school.</p>
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<p>You’re right, we would get bogged down. </p>
<p>Given the OP’s situation, it seems that the most logical choice is to go to Berkeley. He isn’t forced into learning more math/science, so he can freely choose what to take. I think options are incredibly important for someone that is uncertain. If he isn’t confident that he’s going to ace all his classes, he should make flexibility a priority.</p>
<p>We are probably arguing the same point. You say core at Caltech. I say flexibility at Berkeley. You can arguably learn just as much physics at Berkeley as at Caltech if you choose to do so. Caltech just makes it “easier” to schedule yourself because they force you.</p>
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<p>I agree. If environment is important to the OP, Caltech is one of a kind. In fact, the environment is one of Caltech’s most attractive features.</p>
<p>99/100 premeds aren’t going to take the same level math and physics courses at Berkeley that they would at Caltech even if they profess a desire to. It’s a lot harder to have a really good knowledge of courses far from your intended field of study and then have the motivation to take these courses knowing that you probably won’t know any friends in these courses.</p>
<p>In general, we’re often forced to take classes in diverse areas of science that we wouldn’t otherwise. If you had told me three years ago that I’d enjoy biology to the point that I focused my research on biological applications, I’d probably call you nuts. (I’m a EE). Yet I was surprisingly intrigued by the Bi1 class here at Caltech, at least enough to pursue the idea of EE applied to bio further. That probably wouldn’t have happened at Berkeley, as I would not have taken a bio class there.</p>
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<p>The last line is incredibly important. It is a fact that friends in classes push you to enjoy your studies quite often. So I agree, the OP’s decision truly comes down to how important this small, intense atmosphere of incredible rigor appeals to him. If it appeals, Caltech is the obvious choice, and if not, Berkeley is the obvious choice. I would make this decision <em>NOT</em> based on visiting (though visiting would give additional perspective) but based on the vastly different educational philosophies of the schools! </p>
<p>But OP, do you <em>really</em> want to go to medical school? Are you more of a science enthusiast? These are important questions. The thought of being premed somehow makes me cringe. Being a science major at Caltech sounds much more fun to me.</p>