Pre-Med, UCSD vs UW vs Umich

Hi, everyone, I’m a prospective freshman who’s currently attending school outside of the U.S. I’m hoping to major in biology related subjects, and go onto a pre-med track. I’m having trouble deciding between UCSD, UW, and Umich, and would be really grateful for advice. Thanks!

Are you a US citizen? Do you have a home state?

I was born in California, so, yes I am a US citizen…Didn’t study in the US though

I was born in California, so, yes I am a US citizen…Didn’t study in the US though

Idk much about the other schools but I do know UMich has a great medical campus and is a good school for pre med. Also it has a stronger reputation in the north than your other choices.

Although your medical school is more important than your undergrad so just choose the one you like the best and the one you feel confident enough at that you can get a high GPA.

Those are all good schools. For medical school, you want to have a strong undergraduate GPA and preferably at a school with lower cost as you have a long way to go. UMich would be around $62k per year (~$250k for 4 years).

Thanks everyone
I am lucky enough to be awarded a $18k grant and work-study for Umich, but the Federal student loans aren’t enough to cover the rest of the tuition minus my EFC. I got the purple and gold scholarship for UW, and Federal student loans for the rest. I got only loans and work study at UCSD…at least that’s what is says on the finacial aid estimate.

Net price of each after subtracting scholarships and grants (not loans or work-study) from the list price?

$52663 for Umich, $46182 for UW, and $59450 for UCSD

If you are set on going to medical school, you should minimize your undergrad cost as much as possible. Medical school has little to no fin aid for students and because of that, lots of medical students gets huge amount of loans.

Two very important things you have to know about med schools:

  1. They don’t care what major you study. You can study English and still get into medical schools as long as your GPA is great(at least 3.8+). On the same line, just because you study more difficult majors(engineering for instance) doesn’t mean medical schools will be lenient on your GPA.

  2. They don’t care which undergrad you come from. In fact, it would be beneficial for you to go to school with less grade deflation/more inflation.

How would you pay for these schools?

Why would you want to go to UW as a premed? You won’t get into their med school.

And it’s a bad idea to go to a Calif undergrad as an OOS premed.

Were you accepted anywhere else? What are your stats?

All three have been among the leading schools in the biological sciences for decades:

http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#RANKBYAREA

http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldLIFE2016.html

http://www.shanghairanking.com/Shanghairanking-Subject-Rankings/biological-sciences.html

http://nturanking.lis.ntu.edu.tw/DataPage/countries.aspx?query=LifeSciences&country=USA&y=2017

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/biological-sciences-rankings

Washington is particularly strong in areas such as genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and biostatistics:

http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area13

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/genetics-rankings

http://www.amstat.org/asa/files/pdfs/OGRP-USNews_BioStatisticsRankings.pdf

Washington has recently made large capital investments in biology:

https://artsci.washington.edu/campaign/life-sciences-complex

https://artsci.washington.edu/campaign/life-sciences-complex/documents

Virtual tour:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vuBkJErPY

For pre-meds (even those who are not residents of the “WWAMI” states that are served by the UW School of Medicine), it is helpful to have facilities like the UW Medical Center and the UW School of Medicine right on campus:

http://www.uwmedicine.org/uw-medical-center/observership

http://www.uwmedicine.org/education/md-program/admissions/applicants/shadowing

https://globalhealth.washington.edu/connect/internships-and-volunteering

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/primary-care-rankings

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings

Additional info:

https://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/at-the-uw/pre-health-advising/fields/medicine/

Lots of undergraduate research opportunities to enhance your medical school application, too:

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/students/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/about/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/symposium/

Congratulations and good luck wherever you choose to enroll!

http://umaec.umich.edu/projects/major-projects/biological-science-building/

Looks great, @rjkofnovi. Michigan has always been one of my favorites and would be an excellent choice. Maybe OP should just flip a coin or go with personal fit (says the UW fan who lives around the corner from UCSD). B-)

Cross out UCSD.
UW sounds like the best value but it’s super expensive nevertheless. Did you get into any other colleges?
Which among UMich and UW would you like best if you weren’t pre-med?
Can you afford UW or UMich?

Thanks everyone
What if I am considering an MD-phD degree?

Between UW and Umich, which would be better? Thanks…
Sorry to have so much questions…

Both… for an MDPHD you need a lot of research (conference presentation, auhorship) so you need a college where an undergraduate can join a lab. You may have an edge through the honors college, check with them.

Okay, Thanks!

As mentioned, you’ll need quite the research resume for that path. Any major univ with research would suffice. It can also help if you attend a school that is known to have students win national awards, like Goldwater.

Of course, to be a MD/PhD candidate, you’ll need tippy top grades and MCAT scores…and excellent LORs.

You’re OOS for the uc and they don’t give aid to OOS, except what you received.

How will you cover the remaining costs at any of these schools?

Were you accepted to any other schools? If so, what are the remaining costs there?

How much will your parents pay each year?

Don’t forget that since you live abroad, you’ll also have to add about $4k-5k per year to cover int’l travel and health insurance.