Please help me choose which UC to attend.

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi all I am new here and I am in desperate need of some advice. </p>

<p>So I’m actually in my fourth year at community college (smh) and just finished my A.A. in Business. The reason it has taken me this long is because I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do and I thought that business was probably the best all around degree. I also worked part-time/on-call during most of these four years; sometimes I had no work at all and sometimes up to 40 hours a week (average of 25-30, most ever was 60), because the pay was Great and I just couldn’t refuse. I also moved out for a year and half and that definitely distracted me from my work. Basically, I didn’t know what I wanted and even though I knew I needed a degree, I was not even serious during school (I remember even going high and hung over in the first couple of years). I still ended up getting about a 2.8 gpa around this time.</p>

<p>I knew I loved school though and I was going to want more than a bachelor’s degree and that made start thinking that if I’m going to do that much schooling, I might as well be a doctor. I found a girlfriend, stopped smoking, rarely ever drink now, and moved back into my mom’s house. I now I want to major in Biochem – Molecular Biology, and I have raised my GPA to 3.1. Now I need to do 2 more years at cc before I can transfer and but I’m done with all my pre-reqs and I’m starting my first year of Chem, Calc and Bio this semester. It’s really hard for me to raise my GPA because I have 94 credits already but if I get straight As I can have just under a 3.3 by the end of this school year. I know it’s going to be hard but I’ve never gave it my all in school and this past semester I tried the most I Ever have in school and I managed to pull of a 3.6 taking trig, business calc, managerial accounting and music; I still think I only gave about 75% effort. </p>

<p>So would really like to hear some advice. Counselors at my school are useless for advice and I cant even talk to my girlfriend about his because she doesn’t want to hear anything about me moving. I really wanted to go to UCSD but that is now out of the question since they raised their TAG requirements to 3.5 this year. I can still TAG to UCSB, UCI or UCD with a min 3.2 by the end of this year, which I know I can achieve, and if don’t, then I know I’m just not cut out to be a doctor. I don’t think it’s too early to be looking at schools and I’m already stressing about where I want to go. So I have been doing a lot of research recently and I’ve heard most of the pros and cons from each of these colleges. </p>

<p>UCSB:
Pros – Good location, nice campus, good social environment, so cal, most diverse of the three
Cons – Too much partying, no med school on campus (less opportunities for volunteer work?)</p>

<p>UCI –
Pros - Good research opportunities, med school on campus (volunteer work), best for molecular biology?, I could Possibly commute or at least not have to move far away from San Diego.
Cons – Older campus (I really don’t care what the campus looks like though), less diverse</p>

<p>UCD:
Pros – Best research of the three?, med school on campus, college town, good biology program
Cons – Very far from home, </p>

<p>So would really like to hear some advice. Counselors at my school are useless for advice and I cant even talk to my girlfriend about his because she doesn’t want to hear anything about me moving. </p>

<p>I’ve read that “prestige” doesn’t really matter, and they are all ranked about the same anyways. I don’t care to party at all, I’ve been partying since high school and that’s why I am where I am now. I want to spend my most of time studying and making sure I get As so that by the time I am through I will have about a 3.5 gpa with a big upwards trend, which I think will get into a good med school, If I do well on the MCATs of course. I really want to focus on which school will best help me get into med school. Is there any advice anyone can give me? Is there anything I am missing? Has anyone gone/ is going through a similar decision? I think this is going to be one of the hardest decisions of my life, maybe until I have to decide which med school I go to. Anyways I thanks for reading this super long post, I hope someone can guide me in the right direction </p>

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<p>Couple of nits: Davis is older than Irvine. Irvine does not have a med school “on campus”. (UCI Irvine Med Center is Orange.) Commuting would be brutal and tough on grades, so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have to bcos of costs.</p>

<p>The three are pretty equal with regards to premed class offerings. Personally, I prefer Davis bcos it has less partying than SB but has more of a college-town feel than Irvine.</p>

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<p>I would go to UCSB, while everybody parties, you study and be ahead of the curve.</p>

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<p>bluebayou - I just looked it up and I guess it’s a 20 min car ride. I guess I would have to consider that.</p>

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<p>DrGoogle - That’s what I was thinking. But all those people partying would be my peers in the classroom; I don’t know if this could end up affecting me in any way.</p>

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<p>The work/experience you need to have for med school is in a medical setting; they won’t admit students they don’t think know what they’re getting into. Research experience is a plus factor, but you can do that in any science lab at the U; it doesn’t need to be in the med school. </p>

<p>My advice is to think of this as a “satisfice” situation. Instead of looking for “best”, look for ones that satisfies all you need to do in order to be a good applicant to a med school. And all 3 do, IMHO. See also <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I also suggest you spend some time before school starts this fall reading thru info on study skills. The sciences are going to step it up a whole `nother notch over what you’ve seen so far in business and music; a good rule of thumb is to expect to spend 3 hours outside of class studying for every hour in class. And its cumulative; if you don’t do so well in History 121, you get a fresh start in History 122. Math, Bio, Chem, Physics, etc. don’t work that way. So if you fall behind it or don’t learn a topic well it becomes more and more difficult to get back on top.</p>

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<p>For that matter neither does Davis. UC Davis Medical Center is in Sacramento. However, in both cases there is a medical school (classrooms, professors, and research labs) located right there on campus, but the affiliated medical center (hospital) is about a 20-30 drive away from campus.</p>

<p>Maybe you should look at UC Riverside. Their medical school is just getting started, this year or next, but might still fit your circumstances and qualifications better.</p>

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<p>mikemac - I actually started started with my first chem class this year (besides the intro to chem prereq). I ended up dropping about 1/3 of the way through when I had a C and the professor told me I was probably not going to be able to make the A. I figured a withdrawal was better that hurting my gpa at this point and that was the same semester as the other classes I listed so I was taking 19 units at the time. I know what you mean though; I was spending most of the time studying for my chem class compared to my other classes and I had the worst grade in that class. I know its going to be tough. But I figure if I can’t do this now, I can’t expect to do much better in med school. </p>

<p>I totally agree with you on finding a school that satisfies all I need to be a good applicant. That’s why it’s so tough for me right because I think they all their pros and cons.</p>

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<p>If you’re focused purely on academics I would suggest UC Davis. I grew up 40 minutes from Davis and it was ‘the school’ to go to, but I’m actually going to Ucla. UCSB had a setback in that it’s pre-med route is not the best. Uci is extremely competitive, and like it was mentioned earlier, the med school is not on campus. When I visited the school for the first time I actually got lost and ended up at the medical school. Davis is competitive as well, I may a bit biased because I grew up in the area, but I think you should choose that. However if you don’t want to be far from home go with Irvine. But a little change is good anyway.</p>

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<p>I heard on NPR that UCR’s new Med school could be on jeopardy due to the budget cuts. UC was supposed to provide seed money that may now not materialize.</p>

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<p>Why worry which school to choose now? Just apply to all of them and you will have more time to decide later. Furthermore, you should consider how to afford college.</p>

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<p>no med school on campus (less opportunities for volunteer work?)</p>

<p>You don’t need a med school on campus to have opportunities to shadow doctors, do research, etc.</p>

<p>Your bigger problem is getting your GPA (both science and cumulative) up to med school levels.</p>

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<p>All schools will require me to move so there will be a little change regardless; One school will be a lot closer to where I am now though. </p>

<p>UCBChemEGrad - Yea, the cuts are supposedly why more UCs are raising their TAG minimum gpa requirements and the reason I now can’t go to UCSD in the first place :/</p>

<p>coolweather - I can only do the Transfer Admission Guarantee to one school. I will apply to the others but based on my major and the competitiveness of the UC schools I won’t count on getting in. I also won’t be able to afford any college on my own, and I will trying to get any financial aid and/or school loans. I’m kind of looking it the other way around, I’m going to worry about getting in now and how I’m going to pay afterwards. </p>

<p>mom2collegekids - I know there doesn’t need to be med school nearby, but I think it would certainly help. I also have 2 more years at cc in San Diego (lots of place to volunteer nearby) so I plan on doing some volunteer work here for sure.</p>

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<p>Oh and my gpa is definitely my biggest problem right now. But I figure if I can raise it by at least .1 each school year, I’ll have at 3.5 by the time I graduate. I know when I start applying I’ll only have about a 3.4, but If I make it that far, that means it’s because I got mostly As for the past three years, which would look good I believe.</p>

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There’s a saying that if what you’re doing isn’t working, do something different! Or, a more cynical version, one definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. If you retake the class and do the same thing as before, perhaps somehow finding a bit more time to spend doing it, well …</p>

<p>You’ve got a rare second chance here; many kids that are premed start taking Chem, don’t do so well, then the 2nd class builds on the 1st and they do even worse. A poor and downward-trending set of science grades doesn’t get you into med school. But by withdrawing you now have a chance to do it right.</p>

<p>There are a number of websites with profs that have given hints on how to study; google “how to study chemistry in college” to find some of them. One website with a a pair of articles I can recommend about studying technical subjects is [On</a> Becoming a Math Whiz: My Advice to a New MIT Student](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/04/28/on-becoming-a-math-whiz-my-advice-to-a-new-mit-student]On”>On Becoming a Math Whiz: My Advice to a New MIT Student - Cal Newport) & [The</a> Art of Doing Well in Technical Courses](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/11/14/how-to-ace-calculus-the-art-of-doing-well-in-technical-courses]The”>How to Ace Calculus: The Art of Doing Well in Technical Courses - Cal Newport) A website with lots of good links is [University</a> of St. Thomas : Academic Support Center](<a href=“http://www.stthomas.edu/academicsupport/studyLinks/default.html]University”>http://www.stthomas.edu/academicsupport/studyLinks/default.html) </p>

<p>Also I really strongly recommend getting one of the “Problem Solver Books” for each of your science & math classes; they have them for Calculus, Chem, Bio, pretty much any technical subject. Its like a SAT review book but all the problems are on the topic at hand; you flip to the chapter matching what you’re covering in class and start working, checking your steps against the worked-out solutions. </p>

<p>All in all, maybe you spend a lot of hours that 1st year getting to the top of your game in the science classes because your background and motivation in earlier years to learn the stuff weren’t there and you don’t start with the same background others might. If you really want it, though, you can do it. Getting good grades doesn’t take exceptional intelligence, it takes reasonable intelligence (which I’m sure you have) and the willingness to put in the work to learn.</p>

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<p>I agree with some of the others when they say to eliminate UCSB if you’re premed. As much as some of us here like UCSB A lot, I’d say that your choices should be between Irvine and Davis. I and D are on a much higher level for premed than SB: I and D probably send ~ 150-200 to med school every year; SB probably wouldn’t come close to 100, maybe 50 at best. Not that SB isn’t good in some of the sciences; it’s just not a good MD factory.</p>

<p>Between the two I and D, I’d probably say D, dependent on how you feel for fit. D is highly underappreciated – it’s kind of the SLO of the UC’s with unique science/ag offerings and majors; whereas Irv would offer more of the same premed tracks and majors.</p>

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<p>IMO, that is a great reason to choose SB. Less competition. Less gunners. Everybody partying in Isla Vista starting on Wednesday night. Win-Win.</p>

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<p>I’d think it’d be pretty hard not to ‘conform’ to the rest of the student body. If everyone else at SB is out in IV partying it up – and not all SB students are this way, it’d be pretty hard not to want to join in.</p>

<p>I think of it this way for the specifics of an intense pre-prof track: If someone were to enter the premed study vortex of a school that has excellent premed even if this student didn’t have teh quals, say, from hs or cc, he/she is brought up to speed, or opts out, takes a different major. </p>

<p>I think the action of being around those who study much harder, maybe study all the time, will bring those who are not as inclined to do similarly. I think there’s actually a pulling up action of being around those who are more competitive.</p>

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<p>For the sheltered 18 year-old who’s breaking free of their parents grip for the first time, UCSB offers a lot of distractions. If a student is mature, disciplined and focused, UCSB is fantastic with many great opportunities. For a focused pre-med, non-joiner type, UCSB would be fine…if a social student isn’t sure about what he/she wants to major, etc. I’d think a little bit before sending that kid to UCSB.</p>

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<p>^^Exactly. The OP is already older than most transfers…presumably, s/he is now a more “settled” and mature student.</p>