I have heard many people warn against coming to Berkeley for pre-med and although I understand many of the points made, I was wondering if anyone had anything to say regarding the positives of doing pre-med at Berkeley? Is there anything that Berkeley provides its pre-meds students that other lesser known state schools may not provide?
Bump
A more rigorous education?
Research opportunities with numerous Nobel Prize winners would certainly look good on one’s application
I think you’ll be better prepared for medical school just because the classes are more rigorous, meaning that you learn more and you learn how to study better. There are also more extracurricular activities to pursue at Berkeley: more academic clubs, more volunteering and research opportunities, etc that could potentially improve your “resume” or whatever you call it for medical school applications.
Also-- I think it’s important to note that Berkeley gives you better options in case you decide that medical school is not for you. It’s hard enough to get a job with a biology-related major with a Berkeley degree, imagine what it’s like for someone that graduates from a CSU.
Because UCB is known (at least among the UC’s and other CA colleges) to be very competitive and harsh in grading, , I believe you can have a little lesser GPA at Cal and still get into medical school. This is assuming your MCAT and other activities/requirements are up to par.
Because UCB is known (at least among the UC’s and other CA colleges) to be very competitive and harsh in grading, I believe you can have a little lesser GPA at Cal than from somewhere else and still get into medical school. This is assuming your MCAT and other activities/requirements are up to par.
I know of someone, with a 3.6 GPA at Cal, who about 1 year ago got into 4 medical schools, including UC Davis’ Medical School.
There are no advantages for pre-meds at UCB. All I can think of are just disadvantages in terms of GPA. There is a rumor that med schools adjust Cal students GPA (by 0.1-0.2), but who knows if that’s true. The sad thing is that a student with 3.8-4.0 from a Cal State University is probably at a higher rank than UCB student with 3.4-3.5GPA. On the other hand, Cal students score better on the MCAT, but I think it’s a self-study/self-review exam so it depends on the student.
I laugh sometimes when some universities want a 3.5 GPA to get to their PhD programs, while a 3.5 at Cal (MCB for example) is considered an honors student.
Cal Students score better on the MCAT because, in general, Cal admits smarter students than that of CSU.