<p>I heard that pre med at UCLA is very competitive and cut throat. Are the science classes really hard? Is it hard to maintain a good GPA? Thanks!!(:</p>
<p>I’m wondering the same thing!
If someone could also compare it to Pre Med at UCB, that’d be swell!</p>
<p>Pre med anywhere is going to be hard; however, at UCLA and UCB your going to find a ton of outrageously smart people ready to do whatever it takes to get into medical school. In addition, the UC’s all use a curve system for determining grades. There will always be a lot of C’s, a lot of B’s, and 17% A’s. (I think it is 17%, but don’t quote me on that). So what ends up happening is that very qualified people who would otherwise excel at other mid-tier universities, end up getting mediocre grades, and unfortunately mediocre grades generally don’t cut it for medical schools. I don’t mean to scare anyone off but if you do go pre-med at these universities, be ready to study.</p>
<p>What about University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)? Is that also hard to maintain a good GPA?</p>
<p>Easier than UCB and UCLA, but it does not have as many medical affiliations as UCB and UCLA have. UCLA has the David Geffen school of medicine and a kick-ass hospital, and UCB has UCSF medical school and the UCSF hospital. Both med schools are unbelievably hard to get into, and both are highly ranked. If you were granted admission into these universities, I’d suggest you go. Succeeding in UCB and UCLA is more than attainable if you just put the time in.</p>
<p>Not gonna lie, pre-med here at UCLA is tough! Give you a quick background: I transferred from a CC (nontraditional student but not an old fart yet 20’s). I would consider myself of average intelligence. I got straight "A"s in all of the chem I took and set curves here and there (finished all gchem&ochem, biochem major). I am at UCLA now… Most people in the classes here (especially premed) are on their game!! To give you an idea of the difference, a few weeks ago a friend who’s going to UCR told me she was annoyed by some of the people in her upper div sciences. She’d say, “they’re obnoxious, cracking jokes, and complaining about how long the class length is aloud during lecture.” I have never once in my time here at UCLA EVER heard anyone complain or even make a pin drop of a noise during lecture. All students enter the classroom like stepford wife robots and actively engage in the subject matter. In a class of 250-500 there are always at least 2-3 perfect scores or very close. You’re dealing with a higher caliber of students to contend with at UCLA.</p>
<p>I love UCLA though even if I am taking a GPA hit. I feel that the experience I have gained doing clinical research and interning at Ronald Reagan are invaluable (how many people can say they’ve worked at a hospital that’s ranked 5th in the nation?). LA is a great place to enjoy as well, lots of cool people out here and tremendous opportunity.</p>
<p>Pre-med at both schools is tough. I took a few bio classes at Cal before graduating and was surprised at the intense motivation and focus of many of the students. </p>
<p>You will have extremely intelligent people to compete against. Not only will there be people intent on becoming a doctor, but some classes even have professionals who have been working for years. Both top UCs have a lot of non-traditional students who are reseachers and just need to re-learn the material. </p>
<p>Bio is noticably tougher than business.</p>
<p>That being said, when I took some classes at other UCs, they were noticably easier, with a palpably relaxed atmosphere. I’d almost reckon that some may find a lower UC to be an easier path to med school. Indeed, the Bio class for non-science majors at Berkeley is harder than the Bio pre-reqs at many other universities.</p>