<p>I have the option of attending either UC Davis or NYU honors for pre-med, biology major.
What would your input be, if all extraneous factors were of no consideration (money, location, etc)?
UC Davis vs. NYU (honors program)
I am torn between these two options....</p>
<p>If you can afford it, NYU has a lot going on with Manhattan as its backdrop. </p>
<p>Could be a distraction too…which is bad for pre-med grades. </p>
<p>Choose the place you’ll be most comfortable and can focus.
Cost would be the biggest factor to me. Med school is expensive.</p>
<p>The problem is that, for med school, your best option is almost always the cheapest. Indeed, med schools do NOT care about where you went to school, only about your GPA, MCAT scores, and letters of recommendation. In addition, med school is very expensive and offers no financial aid so if you have a college fund, it’s likely some of it will go into your med school fees. Therefore, the place where you pay the least and can do well is the best choice.</p>
<p>As UCBChemEGrad said, choose 1° cheapest 2° best focus and most comfortable (for GPA).</p>
<p>If you’re from CA, UCD is likely the best choice, especially since it’s well-known for being super strong in the life sciences. NYU would be interesting if you were to take a tack like “premed/philosophy major” but other than that, I don’t see an academic advantage over UCD. NYU isn’t especially strong in the sciences.</p>
<p>No matter what, for premed, the cheapest option is the best.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can separate the location from NYU as it is extremely integrated in the city, while UCD has a very distinct (albeit somewhat ugly) campus in a college town. NYU is still pretty darn strong in the bio sciences and the generally smaller biology classes there may facilitate better professor student interaction which could in turn possibly lead to a higher GPA. </p>
<p>Personally I’d choose UC Davis even if my parents were multi billionaires but that’s precisely because of the nonacademic factors you said to ignore. </p>
<p>UC Davis is one of the only universities with its own college for Biological Sciences. Although NYU is in the city, I think business majors will find NY the most advantageous. NYU also isn’t very known for life sciences. </p>