Hi everyone,
I recently got accepted to JHU and UCLA for Neuroscience, and I am beyond grateful. I intend to go to med school in the future, and while I know that both institutions are excellent, JHU is clearly better for pre meds. Nevertheless I received more aid from UCLA and my total cost of attendance would be about 15K more if I decide to go to JHU. I would like to know if the opportunities at JHU for pre meds are worth the price.
I am also taking into consideration other factors, such as location, workload, etc. I’ve heard JHU is extremely challenging, and I would like to keep my GPA high for med school, to volunteer, and continue with some extracurriculars. It is probably going to be hard to focus on these goals of mine in JHU’s challenging environment. Also, I love LA and the beach, and I would perhaps be more comfortable in California. I also intend to go to med school in California, particularly UCLA.
So I basically want to know how much does JHU increases my chances to get into med school, and if it’s worth the stress, the price, and the location (as I would be giving up LA, my dream city, over Baltimore).
Thanks for any advice you might provide!
You were lamenting how competitive and challenging is JH. I guess you are presuming that UCLA pre-med would be a piece of cake for you. But in case you end up in UCLA, beware of the competition!
If JHU only costs 3,750 per year than UCLA in total I would definitely choose it over UCLA as it’s one of the most reputable pre-med programs in the country with a reported 79% success rate last cycle. Additionally, I’ve heard premed at UCLA can also be intense with weeder classes and also since it’s a public school it’s individual advising may not be as good and you may be lost in the large . As for research both are connected to amazing health networks (I worked in a UCLA Lab for two summers) but the total amount of UCLA students that are pre-health may make securing a covetable position in a lab much harder whereas at JHU the positions are virtually endless.
I’m a person who left LA and went to Baltimore and will be returning to LA but am glad for my experience on the east coast :p. P.M. any questions! 
I completely agree with the above post. It’s public vs. private. UCLA will be hard to secure necessary classes and lab experience as a private institution will (obviously not hold your hand but) be more accessible in terms of things needed for med school. Both schools are competitive, but they’re also both great for getting into med school. Any decision you make will be great. Best of luck to you and your medical endeavors! x
Thanks! I think your arguments are pretty strong regarding the size of a private school vs a public school. However @jsteez JHU would cost 15K more per year, that is about 60K more in total. I keep thinking if JHU’s prestige over UCLA is worth that amount (and the weather, city, etc, as I mentioned). Did you study at JHU?
Yea I’m graduating from JHU this sem. Ehhhh 60k is a pretty big amount and really depends on your family circumstances. For me that was roughly the difference per year as well and I chose JHU but I’m graduating a year early to save that difference exactly. If your parents are leaning towards UCLA I’d probably agree with them since they’re the ones paying lol (and they’ll probably be the ones fronting you some cash for med school later down the line). In addition, you’re more likely to succeed wherever you feel the most comfortable so if you’re in love with LA go there. One of my family members went to UCLA for premed and attended a top 15 med school right out of ugrad so I’d say it’s a pretty dang fine program as well. Beware though UCLA for premed is also by no means any easier though for the above reasons I’ve stated in my first comment.
Ugrad prestige only really matters if you’re trying to work right out of college and lowers the bars for employers to get you into the interview. At the end of the day for premed at both schools you’re competing against roughly the top quarter of students at your own school as well as students at other programs so you want to maximize the conditions where you’re more likely to come out on top. I delve further into the statistics of it all but with a little googling you can probably piece it all together.
@Jsteez thank you for all the advice. I think that what’s keeping me from enrolling in Hopkins are trivial factors such as the weather, the city, the social life, or how far the university is from home. Moving to LA is really tempting, and since UCLA is the most applied school in the country I can infer mostly everyone there is happy. But are most people happy at Hopkins? Do you regret your decision?
No I love it here and wouldn’t have traded it for anywhere else in except for maybe one or two other schools. I’ve truly enjoyed the small private atmosphere and have made many friends including professors who are at the forefront of their fields and it’s opened so many doors for me. I’d say most people are happy here you’ll just be trading the big school experience for something a little more difficult but I didn’t really want the big school experience to begin with.