Hi everyone, I’m currently a freshman at UCSC and I’m planning to transfer for fall 2019. I would be really great if you guys would chance me so I can see where I am right now.
Current Major: Human Biology (Premed student)
Applying to: NYU, Pepperdine, Notre Dame, USC, Boston U, U of Michigan
1st Semester GPA: 3.80/4.0 (still sad that an A- doesnt count the same as an A rip)
High School GPA (unweighted): 3.75/4.0
AP Courses:
AP Human Geo- 4 AP English Lang- 4
AP Calc AB- 4 AP English Lit- 5
AP Bio- 3 AP Calc BC- 4
APUSH- 4
AP Chem- 3
Sat II:
Chem: 760 History: 710
SAT: 1470/1600
ACT: 32/36
High School Extracurriculars: Co-Captain of National Award Winning Dance Team, volunteered/taught at local education center, shadowed PHD students at a USC engineering lab, part of the team winning first place in a medical olympiad
Just life stuff: Won many dance awards, did art for 10 years (was third runner up in the national and scholastic art and writing awards)
College: Joined a dance group, but mainly wanted to focus on my academics for my first semester.
Reason to transfer: There’s not many opportunities for premed students in Santa Cruz and its really difficult to commute on and off campus for me.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the help!!!
Just my opinion: Given your list of schools, I don’t think your reason for wanting to transfer rings true. Your list looks like you are seeking prestige. You’ve only been at SC for one semester and you already want out. Those schools will note that. (Your previous posts indicate that you were waitlisted at NYU.)
Generally, med schools admit a variety of majors since there aren’t “pre” med majors. You don’t need to go off campus for premed opportunities. The schools will want to know how you tried to access those premed opportunities on campus (labs, clinic, etc.) and it doesn’t look like you tried. But you did join a dance organization.
Also, your previous AP scores in the science areas were not strong.
Transfers receive minimal scholarships. I hope your parents are willing to pay $70k per year.
There are a number of parents of med students/physicians on this site that can give you more information:
@mom2collegekids, @WayOutWestMom
Hello @“aunt bea”! Thank you so much for your reply! Although the opportunites thing is my main reason for transfer, I do have a lot more. During my short time at UCSC, I havn’t been very happy. I’m not really a “nature person” and I much prefer and feel more comfortable in a more urban enviroment. Also, I’ve realized that I dont mix well with the students there. Everyone that I’ve spoken to has super different interests than me that fit the school better and I just feel like I don’t belong. Not only that, but every upperclassmen I’ve spoken to about premed says that our “pre-med” program is practically non-existent and provide hardly any help to the students. When I went to go check this out for myself, the counselors barely gave me any info on how to take the premed route (I guess this is what I meant when I said opportunites).
Also, about the science areas thing: I know it doesn’t look it, but I do have a passion for science. However in high school, I struggled a lot with personal matters and my hardest classes (the science ones) tanked. But in college, I’ve just taken my first quarter of Chem. I was finally able to understand Chem as I made sure to utilize my office hours and dedicate much more of my time to studying. Because of this, I got an A in the course and am actually very proud of myself.
Although I do have my reasons for transfering, there is only one reason why I wanted to transfer after one year. My counselors and teachers have told me that if I were to transfer schools I would have to do it in one year. I originally wanted to do it after two, but they urged me to do it after one because they wanted me to assmilate into the pre-med programs (and the school in general) better. This is also why I didn’t join any science clubs. I wanted to focus on my first year academics so I had a better start in university, as I wasn’t planning on transfering until after my second year. (At first, I wasn’t planning to transfer at all actually)
So thank you for this reply (I hope this give a little more context?), and I will definitely be contacting the two users that you’ve suggested me!
@taxicab777
It really doesn’t matter where you go to undergrad for med school. But if you are so unhappy at UCSC, then go ahead and transfer. Be aware that transferring will likely mean that you will need to postpone your application to medical school until after graduation. This means you will need to take one or more gaps years between college graduation and the beginning of med school–assuming you are fortunate enough to get an acceptance. Start planning for that now.
You also need to be prepared to lose credits when you transfer. This means it will likely take 4 more years to graduate, not just 3. (Going from a quarter system to a semester is a PITA. D1 lost a ton credits when she moved from a CA college on the quarter system to a semester system college.)
However, your big issue will be cost. All the schools you’re applying to are private and expensive. As a transfer student you are unlikely to be considered for merit aid and none of the schools on your list promise to meet financial need for transfers. Can your parent(s) afford to pay the full cost (which is ~ $60K/year & up) for 4 years?
Medical schools is hideously expensive so pre med hopefuls are strongly advised to minimize the amount of undergrad debt they incur. There is very little aid for med school except loans, loans and more loans. Additionally as CA resident, the odds say IF you are accepted to med school it will be OOS and at a private school.
You also need to understand that pre-med at the schools you list (with possible exception of Pepperdine which I am not familiar with) is super, super competitive. You’ve done well so far at UCSC. Are you sure that you will be able to continue your success when you’re swimming with the sharks at your transfer schools? Your fellow pre-meds, against whom you will be competing for the necessary As in science & math classes, will have had stronger science & math preparation than you.
As a FYI, D2 lived in Ann Arbor and worked for the UMich SOM for 2 years before she quit to go to med school. She said that there is a year long (or longer) waitlist for UM undergrad pre-meds to get shadowing or volunteer positions at the UM SOM hospital.
Here is UCSC’s pre-med advising web site, which should get you started with what you need to do:
https://careers.ucsc.edu/health/medicine/Preparation/index.html
If you do transfer, consider other UCs or CSUs as well as private schools, in order to keep costs down for undergraduate, so that you have more money left for expensive medical school.