<p>Any anecdotal UC Davis med school admissions stats?
Someone asked me whether it makes sense to go to UC Davis instead of UC Berkeley/UCLA for premed.</p>
<p>There are plenty of pros and cons both ways. As a Davis premed, I can tell you that one big plus at Davis is that there is virtually no stereotypical cut-throat premed attitude here. Everyone is really helpful and friendly :)</p>
<p>One major difference that can tilt your favor either way is that Davis and LA are on the quarter system while Cal is on the semester system.</p>
<p>Berkeley is obviously more prestigious, however whether that makes a difference in medical school admissions is a hotly debated topic on this board. I’d say you should be where you’ll be the happiest and therefore most likely to succeed. They’re both excellent schools.</p>
<p>Entadus, could you extract some admissions info from Health Sciences Advising at UC Davis?
A simple comparison among these schools will make the decision much easier.
The one thing I notice is that Berkeley/MIT all seem to have higher admissions stats despite grade deflation. I wonder whether this phenomenon is correlated with the fact that 64%/56% of premed applicants are Asians at these institutions.</p>
<p>Unlike undergraduate admissions, there is not a demonstrable gap in the standards expected of Asian vs. White applicants in medical school applications.</p>
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<p>Nope. If you look at AAMC data for ALL Asian and White matriculants, the avg. GPA and MCAT are practically the same. Asians are not held to a higher standard. </p>
<p>The higher GPA/MCAT that the students at MIT or Berkeley are held to might be making up for other deficiencies in the applications, not their race.</p>
<p>Maybe not. I was just wondering whether the higher concentration of “gunners” in these schools hurts one another’s chances. Do med schools practice undergrad school diversity? Berkeley and UCLA have the highest numbers of premed applicants.</p>
<p>Undergrad school diversity is a factor but a very very minor one that is behind at least 10 other factors.</p>
<p>Med schools are looking for the best applicants. It’s not unusual to see a school have 7 matriculants from Harvard one year but only 2 the next, depending on how many acceptable applicants they see from year to year.</p>
<p>The other important point is that the number of “acceptable” applicants does not differ by as much as you think. Yes, Berkeley and UCLA produce 700 applicants but only 55% of them are good enough to get into med school. Cornell produces 470 applicants, 75% of which are good enough for med school. Harvard has 320 applicants, 93% of which are med school material. That works out to 385 qualified applicants from UCLA, 352 from Cornell, 300 from Harvard. Not much of a difference.</p>