@menloparkmom Good to know, thanks!
If you are really and truly fixed on medical school, then UCR might be your best strategic choice among the UCs. Your stats will get you into several of the higher tier UCs but UC Davis is going to be pretty competitive for the biochem major. Not sure I’d call it a solid match. (I don’t recall if UCSD or UCI admit by major but if they do, I would guess that they’re also more competitive than they would be for some other majors.)
UCD also seems to play games when it comes to the higher stat applicants so don’t be surprised by a waitlist …followed by a quick acceptance once you say you really are interested.
I don’t know about that. You seem pretty impressive to me. Anyway, CA has lots of great schools and the weather is great. Best of luck to you:)
@Otterma That definitely makes sense…UCR would be (relatively) easier to maintain a higher GPA in than some other UC’s, and I’ve also heard that it reserves ~50% of its med school seats for its own undergrads. Not sure about UCI, but for UCSD, the biochemistry major is offered in two ‘places’ I guess you could say. The biochemistry/cell biology major is offered as a biological science major, all of which are impacted, while the biochemistry/chemistry major is in the chemistry and biochemistry department which is not impacted. I am planning to apply for the one in the chem division, not only because it is not capped, which makes it probably somewhat easier to get into, but also because I’m more interested in the chemical part of the things than the biological part.
Would you say that my chances at UCSD would be helped by the fact that I’ve interned with a really notable biochemistry professor there? (Not going to say who for privacy’s sake, but he/she is really big in the field.)
Thanks for your response!
@citymama9 Thank you very much!!! 
“Would you say that my chances at UCSD would be helped by the fact that I’ve interned with a really notable biochemistry professor there?”
Yes (at UCSD and all of your other schools). That is the kind of experience that could tip the scales in your favor even at your “reach” schools.
(Correction to my post #26: The OOS merit scholarship at Washington is up to $8,500/year.)
Creighton is Jesuit, which is at the “liberal” end of Catholocism. You will not be subjected to this per se, and many non-Catholics and non-Christians happily attend the school. You will have some ethics classes, which is appropriate for a potential physician, right?
Good luck!
@UWfromCA Thank you. Hoping for the best!!
@ColdinMinny Great to know, thanks!
@wormholes Looking over your stats again, I think you might be undervaluing your chances. I think you can aim little higher and consider a couple of excellent private schools that will give merit to students with excellent stats such as you or that meet full need, or that you can afford outright. (I didn’t see mention of your financial situation, so I won’t take that into consideration.) Getting into any top-20 school is going to be a roll of the dice regardless of your stats (since nearly all applicants will be as good as you), but you are in the ballpark, and so you might as well roll the dice.
You already have the top big state schools there - UCLA, Cal, Mich, UVa, UNC. If you were in Virginia you’d have a good shot at UVa - it’s just that they don’t admit many OOS students (unlike the UCs).
I’d say UC-Davis and UCI would be more safeties than matches for you, and I’d put UCLA as a match, possibly even Cal - particularly because you’re not trying to get into engineering or Hass (business school), which are much more selective.
You have Cornell on there already. Why not add Brown (one of the best pre-meds in the country, plus it has PLME), as well as Duke and Stanford, and Rice (unless it’s too small for your taste–but excellent school). They’re all a reach, but you do have a chance of getting accepted.
@insanedreamer Wow, thank you very much! Money isn’t going to be a huge issue, but obviously, when I have so many excellent in-state public options, I’m hoping to land in one of those.
I also thought Davis and Irvine would be safeties, but I read on here a few months ago that some applicants were surprisingly rejected/waitlisted with very good stats, though this could also have been due to the fact that the schools knew they probably wouldn’t attend anyways with their stats.
ANYWAYS…I am a huge fan of Brown and Duke, as well as Columbia, but I never thought (and still don’t really think) that I really have what it takes for an Ivy. However, since you and a few others have encouraged me to apply, I may as well give it a shot! Same with Stanford I guess…haha
Thanks so much for the detailed response!
Yeah, Stanford, well, that’s really a long shot so only if you really want it, but your chances are better at Cornell, Brown, Duke. Chicago is another if you like its approach (intellectual mecca). My D was waitlisted at Chicago, Cornell and Rice last year (rejected from Cal [SoE], Stanford, Princeton) and your stats are a bit better than hers.
Definitely apply to Brown - you’re actually pretty competitive for PLME and even without PLME it’s a MUCH better environment for premeds than UC’s.
If your goal truly is med school, you need to consider an UG program that is cost effective (so you can take out the loans during med school and not UG) and where you will have a very good chance with doing all the things right during UG to get into med school.
You do need to ‘think ahead’.
@insanedreamer Wow OK, thank you!! Where does your daughter go now?
@MYOS1634 Okay, I’ll definitely look into that!
@SOSConcern Very true, which is why I’m mostly looking at in-state options (better cost-wise). Thanks!
@wormholes RPI (ChemE) on a full-tuition scholarship (if you have high stats and apply to private schools just under the top-20, you have a good chance at scholarships)
Would be a waste of time and money to apply to schools that you will not attend.
No, they are not safeties for an applicant with a 4.07 UC GPA.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary lists the following 2015 admit rates for applicants with 3.80-4.19 UC GPA:
12% UCB
14% UCLA
39% UCSD
49% UCSB
52% UCD
57% UCI
83% UCSC
90% UCR
92% UCM
Note that these do not take into account applying to selective or impacted majors or divisions.
Most of the rejects in question were test score heavy applicants (like you – second tier UC GPA, high test scores), and some were applying to selective or impacted majors like engineering majors. UCs tend to weight GPA heavier than test scores, though the most selective programs (e.g. UCB engineering) tend to need top end in both.
@ucbalumnus : Wouldn’t a 35 ACT change those admission rates substantially?
@insanedreamer That’s great, thank you.
@ucbalumnus Thank you. I understand where you’re coming from, and I definitely don’t consider these schools safeties, but those numbers also don’t take into account course rigor/school difficulty/test scores etc. Additionally, 3.80-4.19 is a big range, and those in the upper half of that range clearly have better chances than those in the lower half. I do not plan to apply for impacted majors in any of the schools.
@merc81 I guess ucbalumnus is saying UCs weigh GPA higher than test scores, so a 35 ACT wouldn’t mean much. However, a lot of our counselors have told us that a slightly lower GPA can be compensated for with higher test scores, and vice versa. Now that doesn’t mean a 36 can compensate for a 3.0 obviously, but within reasonable bounds. This is my view of how it works/I think it works, but ucbalumnus disagrees.