<p>hey guys i needed your input on a situation i'm having. I've decided to at least think about being pre med and study anthropology. I've felt that UCLA fits what I'm looking for, regardless of its prestige. My parents, however, aren't letting me choose and want me to go to USD. THeir arguments are that the smaller classes,closer professors will help you get a higher gpa for med school compared to getting a gpa at ucla. In other words, they don't think i'm capable of handling the competition at ucla. I got a scholarship at USD which helps the cost come close to that of UCLA. I just wanted to see what you guys thought about it and if UCLA is truly worth the experience and cutthroat pre med competition and if there's a good backup plan (not community college) just in case i screw up ( hopefully not). I really don't want to go to USD if i'm not confident about it. Thanks so much</p>
<p>Is pre-med something you want to do, or something your parents want you to do?</p>
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<p>Your parents aren’t the ones who will be attending, YOU are. They need to take a step back and let you make the first adult decision of your life. UCLA has lower cost and much higher ranking. Also, they have a stellar record of pre-Med acceptances to top Medical Schools.</p>
<p>I went to UCLA as a pre-med freshman. The large (300+) lectures halls for bio, chem, calculus were really competitive and each class had a “normal” curve. That is a lot of C’s! I switched to another major sophomore year and got into the grad school of my first choice. I would have done better in science and math courses with smaller classes. Not the best place for pre-med in my opinion except for the 10% of the students at the top of the curve.</p>
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That’s unfortunate since as the couple of other posters stated - it’s YOU who’ll be going to college - not your parents. I also have the same question as the other poster - do YOU want to end up going to med school or is this something your parents have dictated that you do?</p>
<p>A few points -
- Well then why not go to CalState San Marcos - the competition there might be even less than at USD. Why not go to the least competetive college you were accepted to so you can be at the higher end of the class? Something is wrong with this logic.</p>
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<li><p>There’s a pretty significant percentage of students who have ‘pre-med’ in mind when they go to college and end up changing their minds (or don’t make it into med school). If that happens you want to be at a school with other good choices for you and a good reputation (I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with USD but UCLA is clearly more selective).</p></li>
<li><p>In addition to the GPA, there’s also the MCAT that you’d be taking. Which school do you think would prepare you better for taking the MCAT - the less selctive one or the more selective one (that can teach at a faster pace)?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you want your doctor to be one who went out of his/her way to go to the least challenging option so they could try to make it to med school or would you rather have one who took the more challenging path and succeeded?</p></li>
<li><p>If your parents are as controlling as it appears from your post, it might be a good thing to attend college in a different area than where they live so you can gain some independence. </p></li>
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<p>However, as long as your parents will be footing the bill for college they have a say say in where you’ll be permitted to go whether it’s a reasonable decision or not.</p>
<p>The pre-med weed-out at UCLA is likely to be really severe. Of course, there are students who shouldn’t have been pre-med to begin, but there are an awful lot of students who will be weeded out that would have become great doctors had they gone to other schools. Also, budget cuts within the California system are likely to result in fewer upper class electives, fewer research opportunities (for undergrads; the grad students will still be there to make sure the professors’ research can be accomplished), cuts in mentoring services, tutoring, and career counseling, etc., all making it incrementally more difficult for you to get where you want to go.</p>
<p>Five-ten years ago UCLA and Berkeley (etc.) were great schools. Now, they are likely “good” schools, on a downward slope (even as selectivity becomes greater). If you are SURE you want to be a doctor, USD (about which I know little) is likely to be a very good choice. If you are not sure…</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, medical school admissions practices encourage pre-meds to take the least challenging course options, since they give no benefit for taking harder or more advanced courses over the introductory courses in the pre-med course list. The use of GPA without regard to one’s major or school grade inflation also encourages this type of thinking.</p>
<p>^^ While I agree that it seems to be true, it’s unfortunate - like a great race to mediocrity.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>It is really up to you which college you choose.</p>
<p>If choose UCLA and your grades suffer in your first year, do you have another major that you could pursue at UCLA? </p>
<p>You could get “weeded out” early or late in the premed game. Just make sure you have an alternative major or career path and the college you choose will allow you some choices.</p>
<p>UCLA, UCD, both are rigorous and competitive. There are lots of kids at both pursuing premed, medicine, pharm, optometry, vet. at both.</p>
<p>^^ It was ‘USD’ (University of San Diego) - not UCD.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for your replies, and and to answer what many of you had asked about my parents choosing my career: pre med is what I have decided on, not my parents. The only thing is though that I have never looked at careers other than pre med. I followed my pre med since my dad is a pediatrician and I have been interested in what he does. Besides, I thought there was a lot more to medical school admissions than just scores and grades (ex. being more well-rounded, involved in extracurriculars)</p>
<p>Check the pre-med forums with your pre-med questions.</p>
<p>Note that more competitive schools usually have more [grade</a> inflation<a href=“see%20bottom%20of%20page%20for%20school%20listings”>/url</a> (more [url=<a href=“http://www.aim.ucla.edu/aprs/apbaprs.asp]UCLA”>http://www.aim.ucla.edu/aprs/apbaprs.asp]UCLA</a> information here](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com%5Dgrade”>http://www.gradeinflation.com)). There are some exceptions, like Western Michigan, Western Washington, Wisconsin Green Bay, and Wisconsin LaCrosse. But there does not seem to be data for USD on this subject.</p>
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<p>If extracurriculars are medically or research related, maybe…</p>
<p>It’s extremely hard to figure acceptances to med school by undergrad institution because there are some u’s that will highly discourage some applicants from applying because they lack the grades, MCATs, and other things needed to become viable candidates for acceptance to med school. So by doing this, the school can artifically pump up its acceptance rates.</p>
<p>UCLA doesn’t discourage applicants from applying to med school, so the school reports a 53% acceptance rate of ~ 160 students from 2009 that applied to med school, some with really low grades. This 160 number is low because not all students released their aamc application info to UCLA.</p>
<p>In 2009, UCLA had 767 total applicants to med school. In 2010, it had [url=<a href=“https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/86042/table2.html”>https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/86042/table2.html</a>] 727 applicants <a href=“click%20on%20Asian%20applicants,%20which%20orders%20the%20UC’s%20the%20best%20as%20far%20as%20pure%20nos.”>/url</a>. 727 is a combination of reapplicants (about 1/4 of the total), and probably some who deferred to improve their CV’s before applying, post-bac degrees, etc. Consequently, let’s assume taht ~ 500 were recent grads of the 727in 2010. (Dead end, I’m not going to do anything with the 500 figure, other than to say that the UCLA website with the 160 figure isn’t complete. Cal has the same thing with its limited numbers and reports ~ 55% acceptance.)</p>
<p>Acceptance rate for these total 727? Who knows… There are things that can push the rates up, and some that can push them down. One of the former is that UCLA has info primarily of those who were UC-med-school-application intensive. We know most UCLA grads would be attending med school oos, and oos med schools are easier to gain entry to as a group than the seven or so of UC med schools. I’ve heard numbers of > 400 of, say, ~ 750 on average per year.</p>
<p>Wrt USD, there isn’t sufficient data on the numbers that it would provide for the application process. Pure numbers wise, the school is too small to register on the list I provided. I don’t think USD is a prime pre-med school either; it’s probably known more for bus, etc, and its grads are probably settle more for bac degrees, whereas UCLA undergrad is more grad preparatory (~ 65% of its grads go for post-bac, post-grad degrees).</p>
<p>With this said, USD if it has a viable pre-med program in whatever life sciences it offers … may offer you the nurturing that your parents desire, and may set you up for med school just fine.</p>
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<p>I don’t think there are fewer research opportunities. The grad students still need the manpower to help them get jobs done in labs, and that funding isn’t really coming from the state anyway.</p>
<p>I agree that the weed-out factor at UCLA is extremely high. I’ve known a number of students who were at the top of their science classes in high school, thought they wanted to major in science or go pre-med and were weeded out freshman year at UCLA. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go there though. It’s a very different environment than USD and it will be much more competitive, but it is one of the top universities in the world and the opportunities for pre-med medical opportunities should weigh in to your decision. I’ve known a number of kids who have had amazing research opportunities there. My own son is pre-med at a top LAC (which he chose over UCLA) and had an amazing opportunity working with a doctor at UCLA last summer and will do so again this summer. You need that kind of experience if you are pre-med and it’s easier to get it during the school year if you go to school at UCLA because of their medical facilities. If you go to a smaller school, you have to go out of your way to gain medical experience.</p>
<p>Excellent link to AIM UCLA.</p>
<p>Does Cal and all UCs have a similar link? Do other colleges and universities?</p>
<p>For the moment, forget about curves, and weed-outs, and which school has more “prestige”. The reason to go to college is so that you can learn and succeed. You will learn and succeed best at the college where you feel most comfortable (but not too comfortable), most challenged (but not too challenged), happiest, stimulated. So decide which college that is, and go there.</p>
<p>The other UCs may have some of their own information, but not identical to what is provided by UCLA (e.g. average GPA by major or course subject). Berkeley has, for example, historical enrollments by major and the like, but not average GPA by major or course subject, somewhere on its public web sites.</p>
<p>This should be required reporting by all UCs.</p>
<p>UC prides itself on being wholly transparent, and this would be another step towards this.</p>