<p>I live in San Diego so I’m fairly close to the majority of the UC’s.</p>
<p>?
That is an odd statement. You live at the bottom of Calif, therefore most of the UC’s are NOT fairly close to you. You live near UCSD. UCI, UCR, & UCLA are 2-3 hours away. The rest are even further.</p>
<p>Anyway…Unless you get your test scores up significantly, you really should not be blowing off UCR or Merced. Your best hopes right now, academically and financially, are UCR and Merced. UCR now has a med school, and Merced is new and very “private-school-like” because it’s small and personal. </p>
<p>What “atmosphere” do you dislike at UCR?</p>
<p>There are CSU’s that will accept you, but CSU’s don’t give as much aid as UC’s, so that’s why you really do need to include UCR and UCM. If you only apply to higher tier UC’s and get rejected by all of them, then a CSU or CC may be your only choices.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, your testing issues will make it difficult for you to score well on the MCAT. There is a correlation between ACT scores and MCAT scores. You need to uncover and correct whatever it is that is hindering your testing abilities, otherwise you’ll end up with a MCAT score that med schools won’t accept.</p>