<p>So I am going to major in biomedical engineering as an undergraduate, and I intend to apply to medical school after. I don't know if I should apply to Duke or UC Berkeley. Both are top-tier schools, but I have been reading that premeds at Berkeley are quite disadvantaged (in terms of premed advising, grade deflation, etc.). Would it really be a bad idea to go to Berkeley for premed? I know that Duke is obviously a great school for premed, but is Berkeley necessarily a BAD school for premed? Do you think Berkeley could work for an extremely motivated student, who has a strong high school academic record? Also, does anybody know about premed acceptance rates to medical schools for Berkeley and Duke? I just want to know if choosing Berkeley will preclude or greatly decrease my chances at a top-tier medical school. I know that at Duke, they have a great premed program, but how is Berkeley?</p>
<p>Duke is #2 in biomedical engineering. GO THERE!!</p>
<p>If you are dead set on going to medical school, I would recommend that you go to Duke. The grade curves in the pre-med courses at Berkeley (particularly Chemistry) are very brutal.</p>
<p>That being said, I would not say its not doable. I personally pursued pre-med at Berkeley and did perfectly fine, but judging from my conversations with my high school friends, it would have been easier elsewhere.</p>
<p>n99127, so it’s not like it’s actually bad at Berkeley? I mean, you were able to maintain the necessary grades, and get the advice, etc. that you needed at Berkeley? what major did you do?</p>
<p>I was a triple major: MCB (biochemistry), economics, and statistics (its worth noting that economics and statistics overlap significantly at this school). MCB/Biochemistry is essentially the major for pre-med students here.</p>
<p>I feel that the difficulty of the introductory pre-med courses was about as difficult as their AP equivalents, so if you feel like you could get 85-90% on the AP tests (Berkeley’s curve is a bit harsh in this regard sometimes) then you should do fine. If you haven’t taken the AP/IB/w/e course, then it will probably be significantly more difficult. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t count too much on getting advice here. Berkeley is a very large school and the advisers are often extremely busy, especially those that are focused on pre-med. You could always ask student counselors though, and students from UCSF do visit from time to time. There is also a specific P/NP class you can take to learn about pre-med preparation here.</p>
<p>Overall, it’s not that bad, just probably harder than doing it elsewhere.</p>