Chances at UCI/UCSB/UCSD/UCLA for pre med (biology)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

Demographic: Upper-middle class Indian-American Male, live in Cali

Freshman Year gpa: 3.0 (3.5 UC)
Sophomore year gpa: 3.5 (3.8 UC)
Junior year gpa: 3.8/3.9 (4.2/4.3 UC) (projected)
SAT: 1570 composite, 790 math/780 reading, 18/24 on essay
SAT II Math: 800
taking my AP tests may 2019.
My school doesn’t rank

ECs:
Class Council – school secretary, may be an ASB officer next year, can rely on council again if I don’t make it.
Volunteered abroad – done physical therapy with children in Nepal, and health courses in Accra, Ghana
JOOI – VP of Octagon, volunteering club that is very prominent and pretty well reputed worldwide.
Internship at a hospital in my area in the Emergency Care center
May go to a Uni this upcoming summer

I want to get into a solid UC for biology and pre med basically. How good are my chances? I had some problems at home and a lack of motivation in past years but have been getting it together this year for my SAT and GPA (I’m a junior).

2

UC’s do not use Freshman grades in their GPA calculation only 10-11th. Freshman year grades and courses are reviewed to make sure you have completed the a-g requirements. Senior grades will maintain your provisional admission.

Below are some UC statistics to help gauge your chances. The UC’s consider GPA, Test Scores, HS course rigor and Personal insight essays very important. EC’s, AP scores and SAT subject test scores (if recommended) are important.

If you are aiming for Medical school/Pre-Med, California is the worst state for a pre-med to be a resident. Large population; not enough med school seats.

CA produced over 6200 med school applicants in the last cycle. Only 16% of the those 6200+ matriculated at a CA med school (public or private). Another 25% matriculated at an OOS med school, but most CA applicants (59% or 3652) were not accepted into ANY med school.

Nationally, less than 40% of med school applicants are accepted into any medical school in any given year. The odds for MD/PhDs are even poorer–238 applied; 88 matriculated.

You look like a very capable applicant but I would also look beyond the UC’s for schools that might be a better fit in terms of your professional goals.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:

UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above:

UCB: 42.7%
UCLA: 47.2%
UCSD: 84.2%
UCSB: 82.0%
UCD: 90.3%
UCI: 94.1%
UCSC: 92.7%
UCR: 97.5
UCM: 98.1%

2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71

2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:

UCB: 1360-1540

UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
UCM: 1020-1280

Best of luck and with your SAT and upward trend in grades, the possibilities are endless.

3

I think the common theme about pre-med is trying to get as high of a BCPM GPA as possible while incurring the least amount of undergraduate debt.

I would be wary of doing pre-med at a UC, especially since some of them practice grade deflation/give out low grades in the introductory Chemistry/Biology sequence. Add to that extremely large classes and that’s not conducive to a pre-med.

Look to LACs where you can get more individualized attention with smaller class size/more in-depth teaching.

4

@Gumbymom Thank you so much!! I’m relatively new to the college search but being a California resident, I don’t really know that many great options that are out of state. Would you have any recommendations? Thanks!

5

@Hamurtle Thank you!! How much would my undergrad college matter for my app to med school?

6

@Sidthebrownkid undergrad college doesn’t matter that much for med school. You will need a high BCPM GPA, good MCAT scores, and enough medical school related ECs (shadowing, clinical opportunities, research, volunteering) to make your application viable.

Remember that probably less than half of pre-meds even remain as such and even apply to or are accepted to med school. Have a backup plan. For example, if you are a Biology major, take enough CompSci classes to have a focus in Computational Biology/Data Science/Bioinformatics.

7

@Hamurtle Thank you! Would you have any recommendations for LACs that I should take a look at? Much appreciated :slight_smile:

8

There are a bunch of them in the Midwest/South that are good, but I’m not that much of an expert on LACs. Rhodes in Tennessee is supposed to be good for pre-med.

If you want to consider some good OOS private schools for pre-med, Case Western, Rochester, and Tulane come to mind. You do have the GPA spike from freshman to junior year and the standardized test scores are above range. And all 3 schools have top tier medical schools.

9

@Hamurtle Thanks so much for your help!!