Hey y’all I have been researching schools to apply to. Looking in California, though I live in Washington. So far my lists consists of: Cal Poly, San Diego State University, UC SD, UC Irvine, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, USC, and as for colleges not in California - University of Colorado Denver and Arizona State University. Do I need to know my major before picking the best fit school for me for pre-med?
At the UC schools you will be paying over 60K/year with no financial aid available. The large CA population means that the classes you need for pre-med will be very competitive grade-wise. I don’t know why anyone from OOS would choose a UC campus.
However as a CA taxpayer I do encourage you to attend a UC campus. We love the subsidy the OOS students give to the UC system.
Coming to California for Pre-med is a bad idea as an OOS student. UC’s will cost around $65K/year with little to no financial aid and Cal states such as SDSU and Cal Poly SLO/Pomona will be around $38-40K/year.
You want to select a college that you think you have a high chance of getting a competitive GPA 3.7+, is affordable (minimum loans) and where you will have access to medically related EC’s.
Also California has more qualified Medical school applicants than available spots so most California Pre-Med students end up at out of state Medical schools.
Save your money, attend an affordable in-state Washington University and strive to be a top student.
No. As a premed you can major in bio, art history, Spanish, etc, etc. Med schools don’t care what your major is as long as you complete premed reqs. So obviously you want to pick a major that the school offers and with an eye on what you plan to do with that major after college as overwhelming majority of those that start premed change their minds and of those who do apply 60% fail to get even one acceptance anywhere.
If you want to go pre-med then think about:
- The cheapest reasonable college so you/your parents can use the money for med school
- The college needs to prepare you for MCATs but still allow you to get a good GPA
- Access to volunteering opportunities (e.g., near a hospital)
- Success in graduates getting into med school
- Options if you don’t go to med school
If you want to do Bio or chem, then any college has those. If you wanted to do, say, medical anthropology, then you would have to find a college that offerst hat.