CSUB vs. UC Davis for Biology, Pre-Med

Hi, I’m a current high school senior who got accepted into CSUB and UC Davis as a Biology major (their Pre-Med program). I’m weighing the pros and cons of going to UC Davis versus CSUB for their Pre-Med program.

Will going to one over the other increase/decrease my chances of getting into medical school or a California medical school? Will it be difficult to pursue ECs or volunteer experience at one compared to the other? Will it be much harder to obtain a high GPA at one college compared to others? Also, does Davis have a lot of opportunities for volunteering, research, leadership, etc. that Bakersfield may not offer? Is it harder or very selective to get into these opportunities at Davis compared to Bakersfield? Thank you.

Davis is better for premed, no question.

You can go to either school to gain your premed prerequisites.

Bakersfield has a large number of clinics that serve underrepresented clients who are considered medically indigent. Asl long as you avail yourself of the premed clubs, health advisors, and tutoring services at Bakersfield, you should be able to gain a good experience at that school.

CSUB is also a LOT less expensive than Davis, such that you can save a lot of money for med school. Med school is very expensive and there is no free ride. Students are typically on loans, parent funding and savings. Scholarships for med school are hard to find. So you are on your own dime. Saving as much as you can on undergrad expenses makes sense.

Our daughter attended Davis and performed extremely well and got into med school. She was proactive with her school’s pre-health advising clubs and groups. She interviewed for local clinics that served the medically indigent. She had biotech and lab experience prior to getting into Davis. She is bilingual Spanish, which served the client population very well in her clinical experiences.

Davis is on the quarter system but her high school also used that system, so she was very accustomed to the 10 week timelines.

Bakersfield is on the semester system. A semester is typically 15-17 weeks.

Bakersfield is an agricultural town and is several hours from LA.
Davis is between Sacramento and San Francisco but is closer to Sac. On a good day, in traffic, you can get to Sac in less than a ½ hour.

You need to decide which school is better for you. We can’t make that decision for you.

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The petroleum industry is there as well.

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I forgot about the oil derricks! Thanks @ucbalumnus!

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