Should I go to a low-ranked school where I can shine, or an elite school?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a California Community College transfer, and I’ve received acceptances from the following schools: UCI, UCSD, SCU, UCR (with Regents), the University of San Francisco (Honors program) and UCSC. I’m expecting/hoping for acceptances from USC, UC Berkeley, UCLA (I participated in TAP for both UCLA and UCB) and Northeastern. I’ve also applied to Vanderbilt, Cornell, Pomona College and CMC (although I know that they’re reaches for any transfer applicant.)

I’m pre-med, so I don’t particularly care about the prestige of my undergrad institution; I’m just looking for the school that is most likely going to get me into medical school. I hear that USC, UCLA, and UCB are cut-throat for pre-meds (I’m sure that the same can be said of Vanderbilt, Cornell, UCSD, PC and CMC), whereas I got the feeling that USF, UCR, and UCSC were much more laid-back. I’m pretty confused as to where I’m going to want to go, so I was wondering if I could get any advice.

Here are the facts:

Money is something of an issue; my parents are willing to pay for either 2 years of undergrad (up to $35000 a year) or my first 2 years of med school (up to $50000 a year). USF might be a problem in this respect (although I received around $35000 a year in grants and scholarships).

I hated the big campus vibe that I got from UCLA and UCB. I loved the middle-sized schools: UCR, UCSC, Cornell, and USF.

I have pretty good study habits, but they probably aren’t strong enough for me to survive at Berkeley, UCLA or Cornell; I dedicate a lot of my time to EC’s and I like hanging out with my friends.

In the event that I don’t get into med school, I need a backup plan; I know that going to a prestigious undergrad might help if I begin looking for internships/jobs right out of college.

My overall favorite schools were USF and USC (go Trojans!), but I think that USF is a tad too expensive for what it is (not a world-class school), and USC is super-difficult for pre-meds (7 of my 8 pre-med friends ended up switching to different fields.) I also really liked UCR and UCSC. My least favorites were UCB and UCLA.

What do you guys think that I should go for; prestige or a school where I’d have a better shot at med school?

2

How serious are you about pre-med? If that is your true focus, then go to the cheap but decent place.

3

You need to go to a school that has Medical school advising, check that at each school, or you may get rejected at all your medical school choices. Many candidates get rejected two years in a row for medical school. What you do in the summers matters a lot and medical school advising, including letter writing, is KEY to getting in. Saving money on undergrad means you may never make it into Med school, although if you earn a perfect MCAT score, you may make it from anywhere. The MCAT covers mathematics, and physics. You will need a lot of hours to study for the MCAT so build that into your schedule.
Pomona, Claremont McKenna, or Cornell will give you an edge if you got into any of those, and you can afford it.
Where did you get in, among the private schools?

4

@happymomof1 I’m very serious about pre-med. I’ve finished most of my med school pre-reqs already, so I think that I’m mostly past the traditional weeder courses.

5

Most every school has premed/prehealth advising. Some is better than others, and some schools may weed out students and thus work with students with a higher chance of med school acceptance.

6

@Coloradomama Cornell, PC and USC had the best pre-med advising, from what I could tell. I’m planning on applying to solely DO schools (because I prefer the holistic approach to medicine), and maybe a few lowly-ranked MD schools.
This summer, I am going to start volunteering at Kaiser, as part of their Junior Summer Program. Once I turn 18, they’ll allow me to volunteer in the Neurology department (the field I want to go into.) In past summers, I traveled back to my home country to work on the charity that I co-founded. Im also planning to volunteer at clinics there (once Im 18.)
As to research opportunities, the Regents Scholarship will be my best bet. UCR’s Regents Scholarship offers 2 summers of paid research internships (8 weeks each.)

I’ve started prepping for the MCAT; CARS and Physics/Chem in particular. I’m planning to take a gap year to gain some more clinical experience, as well as prepare more thoroughly for the MCAT.

So far, I’ve gotten into USF and SCU, the latter of which offered me no financial aid. I should start to hear back from USC and Northeastern pretty soon (maybe early-to-mid May), and Cornell, Vandy and PC in early-June. My favorite school was USC. and I’m (somewhat) expecting to get in, but as aforementioned, they weed out tons of pre-meds.

7

@BBoy99 not trying to crap on your success so far but I wouldn’t say you’ve passed the weeding stages yet. The difference between science classes at a UC vs. the same classes at a CC are a world of difference.

8

MD schools do not like the real heavy premed requisites being taken from CC, such as Orgo. But, since you are applying mostly DO schools, you have a better chance with CC prerequisite credits. DO school will be more lenient in that respect.

It looks like that you are on the way to success, good luck.

9

For students who start at community colleges, it is often suggested that you take more upper division science courses beyond the expected biochemistry course at a four year school to show medical schools that you can handle those courses at a four year school (since many of them look down on community colleges). Of course, if you are a BCPM (biology, chemistry, physics, or math) major, that comes automatically with your major.

10

If you are certain about pre-med, go to UCR and see if you can get into the Haider program.

11

Op is out of luck with the UCR Haider program as it require the student start UCR as freshman.

12

UCSD has one of the strongest science programs between Irvine, Riverside and San Diego. What is your planned major?
Here is the med school support at UCSD, its absolutely the best education for a good price-
http://hmp3.ucsd.edu

Riverside does have some support as well,for transfer students who are premeds, look at Pipeline programs
near bottom of this website-
https://medschool.ucr.edu/admissions/haider_program.html

13

Actually, UCSD has excellent science professors and research facilities, excellent students, and it doesn’t translate into their students getting into med school at above average levels to the point they’re investigating as to why.
Pomona, due to their undergraduate focus and low faculty student ratio would have the best premed advising and they don’t deliberately weed out.
UCR regents and USC would be two other excellent options.
UC Berkeley is another great Orion if you’re not committed to premed.

14

@Coloradomama UCSD definitely has one of the best BioChem programs in California (which is my major). I was astounded by their labs and facilities when I visited. It’s certainly an option for me, so I signed up for their Summer Program for Transfer’s. I’ll be staying in the dorms for a few days, learning about life at the school before I decide to commit.

As for the pipeline program, I think you have to be at UCR for 6 quarters; I’ll probably be a senior by then, so I may have already applied to other med schools. Thanks for the idea though, @Coloradomama and @DiotimaDM

15

@MYOS1634 Yeah, when I asked a UCSD counselor about their med school matriculation rate, they said that it’s at the National average. I was really confused as to why, seeing as they have hospitals, a med school and one of the best Bio programs in the US.

Pomona would be a dream, but they’re super competitive to get into. If I get in to all of the schools that I applied to, it would be very near the top of my list.
USC is also a beautiful school, and it’s much more likely that I get in there.

Honestly, UCB didn’t really resound with me. I didn’t like their cutthroat culture (at least in the science classes), and how big the class sizes are. That’s why I applied to so many smaller private schools.

16

“Medical Scholars” at UCR says its for transfer students like you as well as freshman.

http://msp.ucr.edu
“Faststart” at UC Riverside is the one where you need to be there for six quarters, but Medical Scholars, you may qualify for, it seems.

About 70% of Riverside undergrads commute from home. Does that bother you at all, it may mean less campus life, but I don’t know the atmosphere at Riverside.

Thats a good idea to try a short residential program at UC San Diego, . Will you hear from Vanderbilt and Cornell by the time you will stay at San Diego? The timing seems tricky for a transfer student, but good luck.

17

You liked UCR and you got the Regents and will have summer research opportunities. If med school is the end goal, this seems like the most practical choice. Parental support for the first two years of med school also sounds like a very sweet deal.

18

Considering that 34% of all UCR undergrads live in the dorms, that seems inaccurate if “home” is with their families. Also, many of the students not living in the dorms are non-commuter students living off campus (as is common for upper class students – 68% of frosh live in the dorms).

19

So about 25% of Riverside freshman live at home, probably with parents, but this OP is not a freshman. he will be a junior, I think most upperclass students do not live on campus, there is very little housing on the Riverside campus. To be clear 75% of freshman now live on campus in dorms in Riverside. Its not particularly a residential campus though. Its more of a commuter campus overall.

20

At UCSD, many transfer students live in triple rooms, if they want to live on campus, not sure if that is positive or negative, but UCSD offers two years of guaranteed housing to entering freshman and apparently on campus housing for transfer students like OP. 85% of UCSD freshman live in triple rooms, and 45% of transfer students live in triple rooms at UCSD.
https://hdh.ucsd.edu/housing/incoming/pages/