My son is about to submit UC application as in-state. He is looking at UCSD as top choice for his pre-med studies (NeuroBilogy or Cognitive Science spl Nueroscience). What should be ideal ranking for colleges to choose, which puts least additonal requirements on course work besides med school requirements and majpr requirements
Muir, Revelle, Sixth, Marshall, Warren, Roosvelt
Your son can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just about any four year college in this country (arts conservatories excluded).
He should be considering other attributes that will make him a happy and successful college student.
Is your son a high school senior now?
He applied to BS/MD and some pre-med colleges already.
We are about to submit UC applications.
UC San Diego has 7 colleges inside it. We need to rank them while applying. Each college has its own requirements of course commitments.
Perhaps @Gumbymom can help.
Does this mean your son needs to choose a major within UCSD?
And what is a “pre-med college”. Your son can take pre-med courses almost anywhere.
He is applying for Pre-Med and decided on Neuro Bilogy or Cognitive Science spl Nueroscience. UC San Diego has 7 colleges inside it. They are not split according to major like other colleges. They are split according to a theme and require different course commitments like Writing, Social Sciences, Math, Sciences etc. If they most overlap with Med School and Major requirements, it is the best option.
@thumper1 UCSD has a residential college system that is not tied to the student’s major. See here: Colleges
Each college has its own general education requirements. When selecting UCSD as a school choice in the UC application, you need to select a major, and also rank the UCSD colleges.
This link will allow you to compare the Colleges based on GE’s, Location and Dining options.
In general, Muir college is the most flexible with their GE requirements.
Warren and Marshall are also popular for Pre-med students.
Link for AP/IB credit for each college.
Thank you @Gumbymom
Surely, your student can compare the requirements and rank them based on that.
https://catalog.ucsd.edu/undergraduate/graduation-requirements/index.html
There is no ideal ranking. Look at the links that Gumbymom sent and see if one feels like a better fit.
Sixth is the newest building. It opened a couple of years ago during the pandemic. People used to refer to the old location as “Camp Snoopy” but now it is one of the most popular choices.
Seventh is the newest college but not the newest buildings. It took over the old transfer student housing in The Village. In my opinion, the GE categories appear to allow more options (less defined), but I have not heard feedback from a student yet. The housing is the farthest from the center of campus and is apartment/suite style.
For future applicants, Eighth College is due to open in Fall 2023.
@lkg4answers isnt that the current folks applying??
You need to be aware that at this particular school “every other student” at this UC is a “Pre-med” student going in.
Yes, UCSD has a med school and my very good friend is on the admissions committee for this med school. Just because your child intends to apply to this school, does not mean that it will give him any advantage at this or any other UC when applying for med school. They wipe the slate clean and grasp students from all over the country. There are too many “premed” applicants and too few slots.
Because the school is divided by “colleges”, the admissions committee will “note” the rigor of the student’s schedule since the competition is so fierce for those few med school seats.
If your child chooses Revelle over say, Warren or Roosevelt, they will notice. Ranking the UCSD colleges is a personal view. No one can rank them for you because it is particular to the student’s choices.
Edited to add: “What should be ideal ranking for colleges to choose, which puts least additonal requirements…” if your child plans to be accepted to med school, this thinking is the opposite of what med schools want.
Successful applicants seek those challenges. Med schools don’t want applicants who choose the easiest path.
I have a daughter who chose the toughest and worst schedules because she knew it would be tougher in her med school. She got into UCSF’s med school, but she also had amazing premed counseling at Davis. Their students do well in med school admissions. (She also received med school admission to UCSD, USC, UW and Colorado). I’ve had friends from SDSU who got into UCSD’s med school, also with amazing “health professions” advisors at SDSU. It’s the experienced advisory panels, at the colleges, who help advise their students with admissions to med schools.
I would start by reviewing all the GE requirements for each college and where AP/IB/CC credit can help reduce these GE requirements. Please note that many of students do not get their first choice college and UCSD makes it very difficult to switch colleges after being accepted. There is no right or wrong ranking, only what best fits your son.
FWIW: S was human bio major at UCSD (Marshall) well over a decade ago. From the two majors your S seems interested in, it seems like the neurobio major reqs are identical to human bio. S graduated in 4 years, was able to complete GEs, earn a minor, worked PT last 3 years, involved himself in various ECs that med schools expect to see, and had a solid social life. I have no idea what the demands of cog sci degree entail in conjunction with premed and various GEs of different colleges. I suspect you won’t get an answer to the “ideal ranking for colleges to choose” because what might be ideal for one student won’t be ideal for another. I don’t remember why S choose Marshall, he may have flipped a coin.
“You need to be aware that at this particular school “every other student” at this UC is a “Pre-med” student going in.”
I remember a story S told about his first day sitting in back of lecture hall with 2-300 others in I think a general chem lecture. The prof walks in and first thing he said was how many are premeds. S obviously couldn’t say for sure, but from where he was sitting every hand seemed to go up. Keep in mind that this was just one of several separate lectures all teaching same exact course all with 200-300 students
And to say the competition is fierce is absolutely on point. Out of the 200-300in S’s class, probably 15-20% got an A.
No matter what college/major he chooses, he needs to keep in mind that UCSD is a quarter system. (10 weeks). In some courses like gen chem, he could have a “midterm” at end of week 4, a second “midterm” at end of week 7, and a final in week after quarter ends. He needs to be ready to go on day one. Good luck to S.
Oh right. I don’t know why I was thinking it was next year’s class. Everything I’ve read says they are welcoming their first class in fall of 2023. Can someone confirm that 8th is an option on this year’s application?
Yes. This is what we are doing.
If he can not avoid as many GE requirements as much as possible that do not align with Med School pre-requisites as possible.
What we gathered is Revelle and Elenor Roosevelt have more GE requirements. At the same time, Ravelle seems to be popular with Pre-Meds.