<p>So ask yourself one question: “How badly do you want want to be a doctor?” Have you shadowed? Do you like sciences? Have you done research? How much do you know about the field? If you think you may like to do something else with your life, go to Stanford or MIT. I would say Stanford since it’s really the Harvard of the west. And, if you’re hardworking etc, you will get into A medical school, perhaps not HMS, but in the long run that doesn’t matter very much. But, UCSD medical program is great, you will have little stress, and your life will be set. But make sure that doesn’t become a cause of demotivation.</p>
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<p>Both, and a tiny bit also from the fact that UCSD’s med school isn’t quite as hard to get into as Stanford’s or Harvard’s.</p>
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<p>No–their ECs are irrelevant for med school, I think. They do extracurriculars because they enjoy doing them (and there’s almost 700 different groups to choose from–it’s hard not to want to get involved).</p>
<p>The op is over analyzing and indicisive. The op is also gullible by being swayed easily on anonymous internet board by the ‘advices’ of a bunch of current/former non-premed stanford students. The op seems also lacking critical thinking skill – what is wrong with being ambitious at caltech and aiming at top Mud-Phud program with UCSD as the base? MD/PhD is to become best medical researcher, and caltech trains the best scientific minds where their program is designed just for that. if you are aiming at 3.8–4.0 at stanford why are you so afraid of 3.5 at caltech with comments like ‘not guaranteed’? So in essence you are saying stanford GPA is a second class – way below that of caltech (this was a joke, if you are confused). A kid went from caltech to HMS, not sure if he is in md/phd, but it is doable (his little sister is in the combined program that you were so fortunate enough to get accepted into). it is doable, AND you have a top 15 medschool to lean onto when things do not work out at the end. Your class (entering college this year) is demographically THE most competitive if you learned something from the ‘infinitesimal’ acceptance rates of the top colleges. This means that, when you apply to medical schools the competition the med school entering class will be all time high again. Do what you must, but your indicisive and gullible nature is showing and maybe the schools/programs which you had to decline may feel lucky. [this is a kick at your butt - don’t let the anonymous internet message board to sway your future. Talk to your parents and your trusted friends and mentors.] What IvyStanford says in post#34 are all very good.</p>
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Me either. OP, where did you hear that?</p>
<p>I agree with Toughyear… take the UCSD Med School guarantee at Caltech, and try your hand at applying to other med schools in three years… I assume the Caltech program does not prohibit you from applying elsewhere for med school? I’m guessing your time at Caltech will enable you to do quite well in the quantitative portions of the MCAT, in whatever form it is in three years.</p>
<p>Dear CorpusCallosum…
I am a junior… with a good record (I hope!) (SATI-2350, SAT II(Physics 800, Math 2 800), 4.0GPA and independent research in Hematology and an Alternate in the RSI program. I am also interested in applying to MIT, Stanford and Caltech Med scholar. I assume you applied early to Caltech for the Med-scholar program and perhaps also early to MIT. My question is: should I apply early action to Stanford (which is single choice- which means I cannot apply to MIT and Caltech) or to CalTech and MIT (both not single choice)? Which Univ have you decided to go to?</p>
<p>Easy go to mdapplicants.com and search stanford grads accepted at ucsd.
Of course you can’t 100% trust the info. Posted.</p>