<p>Hey guys, like many high school seniors right now I’m indecisive of where I’d want to go. Could you guys give me some pros and cons about the pre-med track at UCLA and UC Berkeley? Like the rigor of classes, competition, availability of research, and things of that nature. I’d greatly appreciate it, thanks!</p>
<p>I heard that UCLA has one of the top medical facilities in the country and there’s a lot of research opportunities and connections in LA. 
So excited for the fall now! lol</p>
<p>Don’t confuse “pre-med” course requirements with degree programs offered at UCLA/UCB. UCLA/UCB do have pre-med clubs to motivate and challenge each other.</p>
<p>The pre-med course requirements are to ensure all med-school applicants have the basic foundation to do well in med-school. As such, those courses can be taken anywhere.</p>
<p>Med-school is also a numbers game: overall GPA, pre-med course GPA, MCATs, and ECs. The “prestige” of the university you graduate from will have marginal benefit if you are lacking in one of the above categories when compared to a stronger applicant from a “lower” school.</p>
<p>UCLA medical center is one of the world’s premier hospital. Accordingly, if there are any internships or research positions available, you can rest assure the competition is going to be fierce among graduate students, research fellows, and undergrad Honors students to land one of these billets.</p>
<p>Have you been accepted to UCLA or UCB?</p>
<p>@SFS Rule, Yes I’ve been accepted to both UCB and UCLA, and thanks for your input. This may or may not be necessarily true but I’ve heard that Berkeley is more of a “GPA killer” and if that’s so, would it be more feasible to go to UCLA if my main goal is med school admission? And do you mean that it’s going to be hard for me to get research positions as a UCLA undergrad not in the honors program?</p>
<p>First of all, congrats on getting in UCB and UCLA. </p>
<p>UCB is definitely a tough school to earn good grades in. However, I would not discount attending Cal based on that. You may do well there, you may not… same goes for UCLA. Choose a school which you feel you will be most comfortable with, academically and socially. </p>
<p>As for med-school preparation (ie GPA, MCATs, and ECs), it will work itself out regardless of where you go.</p>
<p>In regards to research positions at UCLA, I was stating you will be competing with a lot of very qualified students for a few positions at the medical center (if that’s where you want to gain experience).</p>
<p>Thanks man gonna visit UCLA on bruin day but I don’t know if its a worthy investment to fly to berkeley (it’s an 8 hour drive from where I live LOL). And I know berkely is known for engineering and less for pre-med, could I still gain research/medical experience at Cal? I believe they don’t have a medical center</p>
<p>If you have the time and means, and if you haven’t visited Cal, I highly recommend you do to see if you can “see” yourself there for the next 4-years. I’ve visited both campuses and I perferred the UCLA environment, both on and off campus.</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with Cal’s medical center, don’t know if there’s univeristy hospital (non-clinic type), but there are plenty of other medical opportunities/internships/work experience out there - you have San Fran and Oakland within a few miles. Don’t limit yourself to just university medical centers/hospitals. If you’re looking for research work, they can also be found at the university department labs!</p>