<p>I am a senior currently stuck with a decision between Irvine and San Luis Obispo.
I am a biological sciences major at both universities, though possibly interested into switching to biomedical engineering. My plan after college is to apply for medical school. I understand that the most important criteria for medical schools is to get good grades and high MCAT scores. I’ve also visited both campuses.
Cal Poly:
-has a nice campus
-the dean is really friendly
-teachers seem more easily accessible
-College of Math and Sciences has a Health Professions Advising Center
-lecture classes at around 140 people
-website says that 70% of their pre-med students are admitted to medical school</p>
<p>UC Irvine:
-“UC” label
-nice campus
-large classes, (100’s in lectures) but with smaller discussion groups
-research/volunteer opportunities</p>
<p>where’s the place to go for an aspiring doctor? a mid-tier UC, or the top of the CSU’s?</p>
<p>Chanteezy,
I go to Poly right now so forgive me if I’m being biased, but I will be honest! I don’t know much about UCI but I’ll tell you about Poly.<br>
Bio major are under the College of Science and Math (COSAM) which is a very strong college in our campus. All majors take courses from COSAM to fulfill their GE requirements. You are right, Dean Bailey is awesome and is a great educator. The biggest lectures will be over 100 but Cal Poly is generally known for smaller class sizes. Also, Cal Poly has a “learn by doing” philosophy so as an undergrad you will get unique hands on experience. Irvine is a city close to LA and Newport, so there will be way more things to do, but I find no shortage of fun here in SLO. COSAM has really good lab opportunities, American Medical Students Association, and a lot of students get involved in the Scribe program at the main hospital in SLO where they shadow in the ER room. If I wasn’t a psych major I’d totally be down for bio at Poly. In fact, I’m a bio minor. I hope that helps! But good luck making your decision.</p>
<p>I am deciding as well between Cal Poly and UCI for my Bio-Engineering major. I heard that at Cal Poly some areas on Bio engineering are pretty new. I visited SLO and liked the feel of the college compared to UCI. I also heard that a lot of major companies hire directly from SLO due to their philosophy on “hands on learning.” Still thinking about which one, but leaning towards SLO.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO, in my opinion is, better than UC Irvine. Whereas Irvine is just another UC, Cal Poly wins because of it’s distinction as being the best at things. It also helps you by making you focus on your specific major, and that focus will translate into a better GPA and readiness after college. If you’ve already visited both campuses, then it’ll be even easier for you to decide because only you know which type of environment you want to be in.</p>
<p>i think that for your biological science major, uc irvine would be better. cal poly is better at engineering although people have told me that it is hard to change your major like changing from a science to an engineering one at cal poly. you probably have to have a major that is already in the department of the major you are in.</p>
<p>The bio-med engineering department at Slo is 4 - 6 years new.
UCI, I think, is a better choice for bio-med engineering.
Again, that’s my opinion.</p>