<p>I am hardworking and pretty average... like any other people who got in : )</p>
<p>I want to be a doctor, so I am planning to go to a good grad school
In order to do that, which university would provide me the best environment ?</p>
<p>There is no wrong answer, but I need some advice! Thanks</p>
<p>UCLA has the largest amount of premeds of any American university, so you will end up facing a lot more competitive from other premeds at UCLA.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that you should visit both and make your own decision.</p>
<p>Like you said, there’s no wrong answer - you need to decide which school you like more and go there. You will have no significant advantage at one school over the other - it’s all about where you’d be most happy.</p>
<p>Almost all the life science majors declare themselves pre-med in the fall, and after the quarter is a dramatic decrease and change of majors, lol.</p>
<p>UCLA pre-med life is cutthroat. Be prepared. But also realize that UCLA is a playground for pre-meds. You get access to the UCLA medical center, and there’s so many opportunities available.</p>
<p>Don’t let the competition scare you off. The real world is about competition. And like everyone else says, choose a school you will feel more comfortable with. If you’re happy at your school, you will do better in it.</p>
<p>I really suggest you visit both schools to get a good feel.</p>
<p>I heard you shouldn’t attend Berkeley for premed because of the harsher curves. It’s pretty competitive here also, but the chem classes are usually straight scaled, and the physics and math courses for life science majors have favorable curves (easy to get a B, work a little harder to get an A). The life science (biology) courses give out grades based on the standard bell curve.</p>
<p>it’s pretty competitive being pre-med at LA. LA has the biggest pre-med population out of all the UC’s so that in itself should tell you something about the curves and whatnot. I’m pre-med here too and it’s pretty stressful (as it should be at any competitive university but esp at UCLA and Cal) I would def. go to LA if I was dead set on being pre-med because of all the opportunities here (compared with Cal because you don’t really have very many hospitals that are right next to the campus, you might have to go to SF or farther places) LA has a bunch of hospitals in it’s vincinity (Cedars Sinai hospital is very famous and reputable, V.A. hospitals, UCLA ronald reagen hospital) so we’re really spoiled in terms of volunteer/interning/job opportunities in the health related field. But note that it is really competitive here too. GL in whatever you choose to do! :)</p>
<p>I agree with the earlier poster – go to the school where you’d be happier. In passing, I should note that about every 3rd student you talk to is intending to go into medicine, but quite a few change their minds along the way. I think part of the reason is they are taking hard classes but don’t have any real exposure to medicine to keep themselves motivated for their goal. So I would suggest volunteer work as suggested by an earlier poster. Take a look at [UCLA</a> Premedical Peer Association](<a href=“Student Organizations | UCLA Student Organizations, Leadership & Engagement”>Student Organizations | UCLA Student Organizations, Leadership & Engagement) , talk to the premed advisor, etc. I’m sure you can find equivalent resources if you decide to go to Cal.</p>
<p>Go to UCLA. The university has more resources and opportunities. Berkeley doesn’t even have a med school. UCSF, in San Francisco, serves as the school’s medical branch. That should speak miles about the challenges you will face at UCB.</p>
<p>To every poster above:</p>
<p>Would you suggest the same for a pre-health student? Are there differing opportunities for pharmacy than medical students?</p>
<p>
UCSF is a 20 minutes BART ride away, there is Alta Bates medical centers that you can get to on the bus within 5-10 minutes. There is the UC Berkeley Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, which will be up and running pretty soon. There are also countless numbers of professors in various biology departments who do medically-relevant research.</p>
<p>Is this even a question…obviously UCLA is better for pre-med. If you really hate competition though, go to Berkeley. Although if you hate competition, then you should just not be pre-med at all since you won’t make it.</p>
<p>can’t believe no one’s mentioned Berkeley’s horribly low pre-professional acceptances…</p>
<p>look up any number, and you’ll see you have to do more than exceptional at Berkeley (relative to other universities) to get into any preprof program.</p>
<p>for some reason med and law schools just don’t like berk undergrads.</p>
<p>and coupled with GPA deflation, yikes.</p>
<p>[UCLA</a> Career Center](<a href=“http://career.ucla.edu/Students/GradProfSchCounseling/MedicalSchoolStatisticsForUCLAGraduates.aspx]UCLA”>http://career.ucla.edu/Students/GradProfSchCounseling/MedicalSchoolStatisticsForUCLAGraduates.aspx)</p>
<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/national.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/national.stm</a></p>
<p>These statistics are for medical school, but as always, check your facts before making any unsubstantiated claims like “med and law schools just don’t like berkeley undergrads.” However, notice that UCLA does have more people applying to medical school than Berkeley does. Take what you will from it, since it’s relatively close acceptance rates from both schools.</p>
<p>I still believe it doesn’t matter where you go for undergrad, but rather the GPA/MCAT you get from your determination and study habits. Look at which university you’d feel happiest at - better enjoyment = less stress when studying.</p>
<p>i saw the stat about a year ago, didn’t want to search for it.</p>
<p>i stand by what i said: the GPA and MCAT combo for Berk undergrads needed to be a lot higher relative to other schools.</p>
<p>not unsubstantiated,</p>
<p>here <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm#pennsylvania[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm#pennsylvania</a></p>
<p>the acceptance rates are dangerously low for the average stats.</p>