Hi, im one of the billion undergrads planning to go to medical school eventually and leaning towards a microbiology or biology major. Are their any alumnis that can give me advice or share their experience with these routes? I was accepted into bio/pre-bio for these schools, but from what i understood on some other forum posts, school brand is nowhere near important as overall GPA. UCR and UCSB from their unofficial financial offer are almost exactly in the same for net cost, but i hear UCR is much, much easier. And knowing each school has a different “vibe”, if i could summarize myself it would be the shy guy that ironically loves outdoors (especially the beach).
Most of these other posts only go over biology, so if you have any experience with microbiology and immunology at these schools it would be nice to hear from you.
Learn what it takes to get into med school by reading thru the very informative pages at https://www.rhodes.edu/content/health-professions-advising-hpa on the “PreMed Essentials” link. There is also a good handbook at https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/act/gradstudy/health/guide and no doubt many other websites, as well as books.
Any of these 3 is going to be fine. If believe UCR is going to be much easier you’re probably kidding yourself, but there likely is some truth that the highest performing kids in CA tend to pick what they think of as the more prestigious campuses. On the other hand I don’t think this really helps you unless you’re holding an admit letter from Cal or UCLA in your pocket.
As those links above show, most of what it takes to get into med school is on your shoulders. Whether you work work for good grades, get to know some profs so you get strong recs, take part in appropriate ECs, and develop compelling essays is up to you.
The real question to address at this point is not what college, but why an M.D? When you start college it will seem like every 5th kid you meet is “premed” but far fewer make it more than a year or two. Have you looked into the medical field and considered the alternatives? From the day you start college it will be 11-15 years before you are a practicing doctor. Its almost a reflex action among HS kids, they think of a career in medicine and its “I’m pre-med!” Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, to name but just a few. Unless you’ve considered the alternatives and have spent time actually working in a health care setting/u its better to think of yourself as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision. In fact with a few months before college starts why not start volunteering now?
If you like the beach your choices would be Irvine (a lot of kids live in Balboa Island) or SB. SB has more of the college town feel. Also while you may have been shy up until now, part of that is social expectations from the kids around you; that’s how they know you and treat you. Plenty of kids go off to college looking forward to a fresh start. And colleges usually have groups and counseling that can help if you want to change. For example Irvine has this group https://■■■■■■/zXyDRl and I bet the other UCs have something similar. And lets be honest; if you have trouble relating to people as friends how are you going to work with them (patients, fellow doctors, nurses, etc) as a doctor?
First of all, thank you for all the insight. You’ve answered questions that I haven’t even asked/thought of and on top of that provided resources that will be of use for me later on. This is more or less just as helpful as an hour with teachers or counselors at my school.
I don’t really mind the 11 or more years because I believe that those years will without a doubt be beneficial for my development and experience. If that is what it takes to be able to take responsibility of another person’s well-being and have the ability to aid them then that’s fine with me. I suppose my only real concern is majoring in something I’m not passionate about or not overly applicable to my career in medicine, like possibly biology.
And now that you mentioned it, I will definitely try to find some volunteer work at a clinic or something similar over break.