<p>I want to a neurologist, and I might not be able to attend a UC or the Privates I applied to due to money. I would go to cal state long beach, and I'm wondering what kind of environment and support you would be able to get from Lb instead of taking loans out for a UC. Thanks!</p>
<p>Generally, to get into med school you need a good undergrad GPA and good MCATs. Prestige of undergrad school is not all that important in most cases. In fact, it can actually benefit you to be a big fish in a small pond, because you’ll be at the top of your class and get the better recommendations from professors and other faculty. Having those things will be more beneficial when applying to med school than going to a UC by a longshot.</p>
<p>As for the school you are specifically speaking about, I don’t know much about it in terms of med school acceptance rates. You can find that information online, and as long as they have a pretty good record for getting kids in, that would likely be the better option in this situation. If not, then look up med school acceptance rates for your other schools and whichever have good med school acceptance rates and won’t cost you a lot of $ would likely be the schools you should consider. Med school is expensive and rarely funded. It is usually best to save any money and loans to spend on med school rather than undergrad.</p>
<p>Every US MD school in the US is very good. There aren’t any that aren’t “good”. There aren’t any “sub-par” ones. Every single one is very good.</p>
<p>did you apply to any of the lower UCs that might give you some merit scholarships? Which ones did you apply to?</p>
<p>I applied to UCD, UCI and UCSD… And so far haven’t heard back. But ive been accepted to LMU and CSULB and if I go to lb then it would cost almost nothing,</p>
<p>It is certainly possible to get into a fine US medical school having graduated from CSULB. You won’t get any “prestige brownie points”, but as long as the other parts of your application are solid you should be set.</p>
<p>In addition, I saw an interviewee at both a top twenty school medical school as well as at USC who graduated from CSULB.</p>
<p>You will either take loans or get funancial support of your family. Med. Schools have very few Merit awards and they are expansive everywhere. There is no such thing as need based support at Med. School.</p>
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<p>There are need-based aid and school-specific scholarships available, but very little. The very large majority of students take federal graduate loans to get through medical school. And unfortunately, congress just did away with the subsidized loans, so they can accrue quite a bit of interest.</p>
<p>DS is lucky enough to receive a little bit of need based support (not a merit based one – I actually do not think there is any merit based one at his school, with the exception of MSTP students who do more “work” for the school.) He still needs to get a lot of federal or institution loans though. So he will be heavy in debt before he earns any real money.</p>
<p>Staffold loans are all non-subsidized now. Hmmm…how about Perkin’s loan? (Well…I am not sure whether DS received this one at his school though, but I vaguely remember at least one school would give him that one if he went there.)</p>
<p>Concentrate on your college GPA, MCAT, clinical shadowing, and volunteering activities. Take a look at the list of colleges for med schools you may be interested in- I’m sure you will find plenty of students with educational backgrounds comparable to the CSUs.</p>
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I am assuming that you meant too much money because you will not save a penny by going to a CSU instead of a UC if you lack money.</p>
<p>How so, sunfish? And yeah, my parents won’t be able to afford 30 grand plus, but if I wnt to CSULB i would live at home.</p>
<p>This is completely anecdotal but my friend is a senior at Cal State LA and is interviewing at medical schools such as Stanford for MD/PhD programs. It seems that the prestige or name recognition of your undergrad does NOT matter in terms of admission to medical school. In fact, if I had to choose an undergrad all over again I would have chosen a much lower ranked, cheaper, and possibly “easier” school than the one I am currently attending.</p>
<p>Every school has some students who really stand out and become competitive applicants. For most premeds, the bigger issue is: whether they are among those students who really stand out at their school, no matter what school they attend.</p>
<p>Regarding the case of a CSU student being interviewed at Stanford med school, yes, it could happen. The bigger issue is whether YOU would be that student when you go to the same CSU. I even suspect that some med schools (hello, ucsf, you may be one, USC may be another) may purposely (but unofficially) set aside some limited slots for students from CSU, because they may not want too many of their students from the similar growing-up background (i.e., the relatively wealthy suburban neighborhood.)</p>
<p>Some students could excel at a more competitive school, while some may excel at an “easier” school. It depends on the individual, and, to a certain extent, depends on his/her academic preparation before college.</p>
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<p>There is no need. Each UC campus, by definition, are comprised of 33% Pell Grantees. There are plenty of poor kids to apply to professional schools. (Not sure that 'SC cares.)</p>
<p>UCSF is comprised of ~33% Cal and Stanford undergrads. That’s a third of the class, just from two colleges. Add in the OOS’ers, and applicants from other top undergrads in the state (USC, Caltech, etc.) and California residents who attend premed school across the nation (Ivies, Northwestern, Duke et al), and there ain’t many spots left for a Cal-Stater (or anyone else, for that matter).</p>
<p>The plus factor is that Cal States have a lot more URM’s than the UC’s. And Cal States have a lot more non-traditional applicants. (UC loves both categories of individuals who have overcome adversity in life.)</p>
<p>OP: there is no answer, but only anecdotes to your question (as 10ninja reports above).</p>
<p>Mcat is arguably more important than gpa in scoring an interview for med school. (Ya’ gotta interview before you receive an offer of admissions.) And the fact is that the vast majority of Cal State premeds do not have the testing ability to score high on the mcat. Thus, the vast majority of Cal State premeds have little chance at med school, not because they are at Cal State but just because they are poor test takers. (Not to diss Cal State, bcos the vast majority of matriculating Frosh to a UC have no chance of med school either. Their test scores will be too low, as will their gpa’s.)</p>
<p>Add in the fact, that three of the public med schools in the state are in the top 15 (now 16) nationally, and they have admission numbers to match their lofty rankings. Thus, absent awesome mcat scores, or other compelling story, those three med schools are out of reach for even somewhat average-to-strong UC undergrads.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to ask the premed office at LB, for example, where there premeds got accepted to med school. (Also ask if they had any hooks, such as URM, D1 athlete, etc…)</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>"There are need-based aid and school-specific scholarships available, but very little. The very large majority of students take federal graduate loans to get through medical school. And unfortunately, congress just did away with the subsidized loans, so they can accrue quite a bit of interest. "</p>
<p>-Yes, student loans are not cheap and just got more expansive. Home Equity is much cheaper. I heard that about 25% Med. Students are financially supported by parents. I wonder how many of them went to UG for free. Free UG certainly make parents be more willing to pay for Med. School.</p>
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Maybe what you said is true in California, as you know the situation in California better than I do.</p>
<p>Down in the south where I live, in-state med schools likely need to have a wider net to catch these students. To fill the diversity slots, a student at some border town (stilll a UT, but arguably a third-tiered UT) could beat a student at the flagship UT with the same stats. In the year DS applied, if we believe what was posted on SDN (this is a big if), a kid with a 32 MCAT from a border town got into a prestigious med school in NYC, with some (need based or diversity based) scholarship, while a white kid with a 40 MCAT from a private college in TX got wait-listed at the same med school (and they have the same GPA, and the one with the higher MCAT was from the harder school) This proves that the stats are not everything in med school admission. In this case, it is likely that EC rules as the kid from the border town school apparently had better ECs. Or, another reason may be that, med schools will not be convinced that a med school student from a suburban of a major city will ever serve in these “dinky” towns after they graduate, despite the fact that many med school applicants claim so in their applications.</p>
<p>There is even a special admission program here; for this special program, if you go to a better school (e.g., the two flagship state universities), you are automatically not qualified to join this “special-admission-route” program. In one year, a top IS med school here admitted a student with a 24 MCAT or something and the average MCAT for the admitted students at this school is likely 36 or even 37; and the med school found the need to “explain” what was going on here – I think basically they said their hands were bound and could not do anything here as some state law set up by the congressmen enables these students to get in as long as they fulfill the requirements of this special program. The congressmen can set up any criteria they want of course. (maybe >3.2 GPA at any of these lower tiered schools?)</p>
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<p>CSU and UC use the same financial aid formula:</p>
<p>Cost of Attendance = EFC + $5,000 subsidized loan + $3,500 workstudy/unsub loan + grants (pell, cal grant, university grants)
Note: this formula does not hold for high EFC
The higher the cost, the more free money you’ll receive.</p>
<p>CSU tuition/fees are much less than UC tuition/fees.</p>
<p>CSULB allows OP to live at home avoiding Room and Board charges.</p>
<p>The short answer to your question is that all is possible but reality and probability are a different matter. Admission to medical school is marked by geographic preference. Most public medical schools have in state preferences, and most applicants have strong preferences as to where they want to attend medical school. This generally means that most medical students come from the strongest undergraduate schools in their region or attended top level colleges elsewhere.
Bluebayou is right on the money for UCSF as his/her numbers are in line with my experience and nothing seems to have changed recently as I just went back for a visit a few years ago.
UCLA is similar except it is UCLA and Stanford for about a third of the medical students. Both schools draw heavily from the top UC’s and top national Universities to the tune of about 80% of the student body. Throw in another 5 to 10% from the top LAC’s and second tier national Universities and there is little room left for anyone else. Many URM’s come from the CSU’s and other lower ranked schools.<br>
Think about how many pre meds there are at UCB, Stanford, UCD, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, and UCI and you will understand the competition. This does not even include those who go to USC, Pomona, the Ivy’s, top LAC’s and other prominent Universities.
Most students who enter college with the idea of medicine do not make it for a variety of reasons. Attending a CSU will reduce your chances. Saving money for medical school if you do not get in may not be your wisest choice.</p>
<p>I got accepted to UCSD, and pending on Irvine. Would SD be the wiser choice to go the premed route? Despite it’s much higher cost?</p>