<p>Sorry, I don't know if this is the correct thread.
Currently I am a junior in a small private school within panorama city, CA. Ever since I decided on pursuing the occupation of surgeon, I've been attached to the idea of going to UCLA as a premed major. I've been hearing that it has gotten harder to get in as a premed major and, although I am disheartened by this, I still have my mind set on doing it. My question is, what are the chances? How difficult will it be? Should I apply as undecided? I honestly can't picture myself being anything other than a surgeon in the future. </p>
<p>please judge and give feed back if possible</p>
<p>My stats:
GPA:
freshman: weighted 4.33 non-weighted 4.0
sophomore: weighted 4.76 non-weighted 4.0
junior: weighted 4.5 non-weighted 4.0
class rank: 1 all years
AP:
Junior: APUSH, APENG
Senior: AP calc, AP physics, AP Lit, AP Gov
Extracurricular:
Track and field, Musical productions, stage crew, ASB, (I don't know if self taught pianist counts)
Volunteer work:
lots with the poor
Job:
Tutor for students in the archdioceses success program
SAT:
fluctuates hardcore, one practice test i took was 2200, two days later, took another and scored 1800, then another week later scored 2000. I'm taking the actual one on May 7th.</p>
<p>Pre-med is not a major. It is an advisory program available to any student who is considering pursuing med school after college. In college you pursue another major. Many choose a science but it can be essentially anything; you just need to complete the course requirements for applying for admission to medical schools which include a number of math and science courses. Marking an application pre-med or not marking the pre-med box simply tells the college whether you want to be part of the advisory program but it will not change the odds of admission to the university one iota. In other words, whether you can into UCLA has nothing to do with whether you want to do pre-med. Your grades appear obviously good enough for admission to anything at UCLA but you do not yet have any test scores; also note that two SAT subject tests are recommended.</p>
<p>For someone who seems to be so gifted, how is it you haven’t bothered to go to the admission pages of UCLA to see what majors are offered? To see how choice of major affects your admission chances?</p>
<p>I’ve been going by whatever my current Councillor has been telling me, mikemac. That thought never occurred to me, I’ll make sure to check it out. </p>
<p>Drusba, thank you for clarifying that for me. Again, as my counselor, who i now know doesn’t know what he’s talking about, had me thinking that premed was a major. I think that I’ll choose to major in physics or medicine since they are on this list and flow with my choice [UCLA</a> General Catalog 2010-2011](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/catalog/catalog10-11-2.htm]UCLA”>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/catalog/catalog10-11-2.htm)
I plan on taking the Math 2, biology, and us history SAT 2.</p>
<p>You’ve come to a powerful insight, that your counselor hasn’t a clue. That’s good to know now, because if you read this board you’ll see plenty of stories from kids who were steered wrong by their counselor.</p>
<p>The thing you need to do next is inform yourself about college admissions. Maybe UCLA is the best fit for you, maybe it isn’t. I don’t know, and you’re unlikely to know either unless you spend some time learning about college admissions – how to identify schools that are a fit, how to pick schools (reach, match, safety), and perhaps most important how to ensure you’ve found schools you can afford. A book I recommend is “Admission Matters” which covers all these things.</p>
<p>As for UCLA, the college of Letters & Science (where most majors outside of engineering and performing arts sit) doesn’t care about intended major when they admit. Says so right on the admission website. And secondly, medicine is not an undergrad major. </p>
<p>Given your interest in medicine, you should also read a book about med school admissions so you understand the flow and don’t find out senior year of college there is something you should have been doing since frosh or soph year. While a book is more comprehensive, a good start is this premed guide at Amherst: [Amherst</a> College Guide for Premedical Students](<a href=“http://www3.amherst.edu/~sageorge/guide2.html]Amherst”>Amherst College Guide for Premedical Students)</p>
<p>* I’ve been attached to the idea of going to UCLA as a premed major. I’ve been hearing that it has gotten harder to get in as a premed major *</p>
<p>That is soooo not true. Your counselor is a moron. It’s harder to get into UCLA if you’re an engineering major, so people “cheat” and go in as L&S and then move into Engineering.</p>
<p>Since it’s easier to get into L&S, then that means that it’s easier for someone in a major like bio, chem, math, etc…and be pre-med. There is no “pre-med” major…people major in whatever they want…bio, chem, history, French, etc.</p>
<p>Now that you know that your GC doesn’t know what he/she is talking about, be very wary of anything he/she says…including any info about financial aid at UCs. </p>
<p>LOL…the reason I wrote French as a major for a pre-med student is because I was just reading about a pre-med student at my son’s school who will start med school in a couple months…and she is a French major. I think it’s the first French pre-med major that I’ve ever heard of.</p>
<p>I know of an English major (ped oncology), two electrical engineers (both surgeons) and divinity major (oncology–he was an asst. minister for 8 years before going to med school)</p>
<p>I was looking at the list of majors and I think that majoring in biochemistry would help me out in the long run since I want to get into cancer research after becoming a surgeon.</p>