<p>I had initially planned on transferring from a CC to UCLA, but after speaking with some UCLA graduates who say they wished they had gone to a lower ranking, less competitive school where they could have stood out, I'm beginning to reconsider. I know there's no clear cut answer and that there are a lot of factors that can influence students in both situations but as a general concept, which is better in the eyes of med schools? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance. </p>
<p>Med School cares about your college GPA and an MCAT score.
On the other hand, there is no reason to think that you will NOT get those As at ANY place. Keep in mind that no UG (none!!) will measure up to academics at Med. School. If you are “afraid” now, then you do not have guts and you have to have guts to stay on this track. Whatever you decide, keep in mind that only the ones who adjust to ANY environment will be successfull here. The academic challenging are only one aspect of various challenges ahead. Got to be ready for everything.
But again, after saying all of that, you do not have a choice, you got to graduated form the 4 y college, so you got to transfer. ANY one will be challenging for pre-med, do not get this idea wrong, there is no easy one. The challenge is again in maintaining very high GPA while being engaged in many unrelated activities. So choose the UG that fits your personality and wide range of interest and has a great pre-med advisory. I am not familiar with the UCLA, somebody else may comment on this.</p>
<p>Plenty of UCLA students got into med school and yes they have been challenged. I have no stats for med school success from other UCs and CSUs but I am sure there are. The trick is to have a high Gpa and a high Mcat that is not easy. </p>
<p>It is always better to be a top student at your undergrad. Much easier to get outstanding LORs. </p>
<p>I imagine that the folks you talked to faced issues when getting LORs. At a school like UCLA, when you have hundreds of kids asking the same profs for LORs, then who do you think are going to get the best recs? Certainly not the ones who weren’t stars in their classes.</p>
<p>In another thread, there was a discussion about attending a school with 120 med school applicants per year vs another school (similar size school) that has 400 med school applicants per year (and that school had FEWER premed advisers!). I can’t imagine how those 400 applicants can get decent LORs when so many are hounding the same profs for recs. </p>
<p>my son was a top student at a mid-tier flagship. It was easy for him to get great LORs, since he was always a top student in his classes. And when it came time for his Committee Interview and resulting letter, the Committee easily was able to give a strong rec letter.</p>
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<p>If I had a premed child applying to a UC, I would have him go to Merced or Riverside or similar where he could stand out. Merced is like a private it is so small. </p>
<p>As a CC transfer, you are already going to have LOR problems, so attending a school like Merced would give you a fast opportunity to shine and gather LORs.</p>
<p>Well, D’s Honors college has 100% acceptance to Med. Schools. So, it did not matter really, top or not, all are currently in Med. Schools. </p>
<p>^^^
Likely, if these are students in an Honors College, then by definition they are top students. Don’t know how the weeding goes at Miami-Ohio, but if the HC has a 100% admit rate, then those w/o med-school worthy stats must be weeded out or discouraged at some point.</p>
<p>^Yes, they are weeded out (including good number in Honors) by the first Bio class in the very first sememster of frehsman year. We heard the horror stories about this class floating among ALL majors in Honors dorm on the first move in day. . It is creat to have class like this rignt at the beginning before initial pre-med spent too much time on the path that is not right for student. Even some with the C in this class ended up successfully pursuing Med. School. While Honors may be different from one UG to another, the fact that Miami accepted only 200 made their Honors a very selective program. However, Miami is a state public and by no means is considered to be a top school, although it was an absolutely perfect place for my D. who still think so after 3.5 years.</p>
<p>How big was this honors college class for it to have 100% acceptance?</p>
<p>^I have mentioned it. Top 200 of entering freshman, then some dropped out of pre-med after the first weed out Bio. Not sure if any more dropped out after that. The qualifications fro Honors were top 2% of HS class, ACT=31+. I do not know if all D’s pre-med friends were actually in Honors, but all were accepted with good choices, including some to top 20s and free Med. School.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321458/data/2013factstable2-7.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321458/data/2013factstable2-7.pdf</a></p>
<p>For 2013 they had 145 applicants altogether and I can’t imagine one university having applicants just from their honors college of premeds. </p>
<p>Miami University, Oxford, OH 122 145 0.5</p>
<p>It does not tell me how many were successful but I suspect would be no where close to 100% that you are claiming.</p>
<p>According to this Miami website, their honors college acceptance rate is 86%. Agree it is great acceptance rate and in line with top schools but is NOT 100%. </p>
<p>Could not just believe that any school can claim 100% acceptance. </p>
<p><a href=“Honors College | Miami University”>Honors College | Miami University;
<p>The Miami Honots / Scholars is changing practically every year, unless I am wrong, we do not follow very clsely. When D. started, 200 were accepted to Honors and the next 500 were accepted to Scholars. Somebody who has strated this year, told me that they were told that Honors had a 100%. I do not know any single pre-med around my D. who did not get accepted to few places and I do not think that they all were in Honors. But I tend to believe that out of 200, many of who also dropped out, the rate was 100%. why not if the requirement for Honors was top 2% of HS and ACT=31+, when we talked during some info sessions and later in Honors dorm, they were all valedcitorians. I do not care one way or another, why would I? D. loved it there, but it does not mean that Miami would fit everybody in a world. Got to find the place that fits you. But top vs. average student calculations are all garbage, there is no reason NOT to aim at all As at any place.</p>
<p>The MU Honors program accepted 380 for the 2014 freshman class. </p>
<p>^Looks like they are lowered standards.</p>
<p>^ Or they are getting smarter kids.</p>