<p>abdallah makes a great point. and almost has the same point as my counselor’s say “a full ride at UC Riverside is better than a half ride at USC, UCLA, UCB” because medical schools dont care about prestige just gpa and mcat. he also added that i will have as easier time getting good grades there too.</p>
<p>“because kids at USC are smarter than normal kids.”
I agree with that statement, that’s absolutely correct…and students attend USC because USC is a great university!</p>
<p>^
The counselors mentioned above are probably right in their assessment of the pre-med situation, but IMO there are still plenty of reasons to choose USC over a smaller school. I’m a senior at SC right now, and I think USC provides its students with not just great academics, but also an awesome chance to improve as individuals. You’ll have opportunities to make great friends, explore different career paths, network, etc. that you won’t have at many other places, and you’ll probably change a lot as a person in the process.</p>
<p>My first day in Freshmen Science Honors, the Bio professor asked how many of the ~60 students in the class were pre-med or some sort of pre-health. About 75% of the students in the class raised their hands. He then said that by the time we were through with college, 90% of us will no longer be pre-meds. The point that he was trying to make is that a good proportion of us coming into college as pre-meds will probably change our paths because we realize there are other things we want to do in life. I think USC does a great job of giving students the freedom to find out what they really want to do in life and then giving them the freedom to pursue that choice.</p>
<p>BTW many pre-meds in that class did eventually end up switching out of pre-med, for different reasons. I switched to Engineering myself, only to decide to pick up the pre-med track a few years later.</p>
<p>If you’re a high school senior on this thread, congrats on getting into SC and best of luck in choosing the right school for you. Every school is unique, so if nothing else make sure to go somewhere where you will feel comfortable. I’m sure you’ll do well regardless of where you go, and Fight On!</p>
<p>To answer the question about class size & curve, here are my experiences with it:</p>
<p>FSH Bio, 2 semesters (60 students): seems like 50% got A’s and 50% got B’s, with few C’s if the student is lazy.</p>
<p>FSH Chem, 2 semesters (80 students): same as FSH Bio.</p>
<p>OChem A: starts out with ~400 students in 2 separate lectures, so about 200 students per lecture, but many drop by the end of the semester. The class is curved to a low B/high C, although it seems like the professors having been trying to slowly raise the curve for the past few years.</p>
<p>OChem B: has 2 separate lectures, with a little less student than OChem A. Similar curve.</p>
<p>Molecular Biology: 2 separate lectures, ~350 students total. Curved to somewhere in the B range, my impression is that there’s more B+ given out than B-.</p>
<p>Biochemistry: same as Molecular Biology.</p>
<p>I took engineering physics, so I don’t know what they are like for most pre-meds. I also don’t know much about non-FSH bio and chem, but I heard the curves are a lot worse that those in FSH.</p>
<p>BTW Petruska in Biochem is truly an awful professor. I thought I’ve had some bad professors at USC, but I think he beats them all. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t be surprised if he stops teaching Biochem in a few more years, and most of the other pre-med professors I have had are at least decent.</p>