Hi! I am a high school sophomore and am looking at very competitive schools (UCLA, Stanford, UC Berkley, UCSD, ect…) I have a 4.7 GPA (4.0 unweighted) and am looking to score at least a 33 on the ACT. My issues is that almost every school is extremely competitive in admissions. What are some good, less selective schools that I should apply to in order to consider myself safe?
Are you only considering Ca colleges? Are you a CA resident?
If so, cpslo, USC， Pomona and Santa Clara should be considered.
SLO, Pomona and Santa Clara are not safeties. You might want to look at UC Riverside since they recently opened a Medical school and your stats put in the top percentile. You look like a good Regents candidate for UCR which would give you plenty of perks. There is much to be said for being a big fish in a small pond especially if Pre-Med.
Thank you!
@artloversplus I hope you were just naming other schools that might be of interest to the OP and not trying to name safeties. Pomona is a top 5 LAC.
Any undergraduate college with a medical school affiliated with the school is good. UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC San Diego all have great hospitals affiliated on campus that will help create more opportunities. You also want to consider how many years it will take you to graduate because med school admissions are now questioning students who took more than 4 years to graduate. Small private schools may also be a better route- depending on the person- because of the small class sizes and better letters of rec for med school (i.e. Santa Clara, USD, LMU, Pomona). Some colleges may be more well known for their “pre-med track”, but when it gets down to it, there are doctors and physicians from EVERYWHERE… and unless you care about “prestige” and bragging rights, it doesn’t matter where you go, but rather how hard you are willing to work and the person you are. Don’t get too caught up in attending a school like Stanford where you would be paying $70k a year compared to a school where you may get a huge scholarship to attend. What’s most important is that you explore all your options and pick the school where you see yourself fitting in the best and being the happiest.