<p>Hi
I currently attend the university of Minnesota majoring in biomedical engineering as a pre-med. I am just starting my sophomore year and think the program is decent as well as the campus. However I have always wanted to move out west to California or Oregon but didn't follow this dream out of high school because I had only mediocre grades.
Now after my first year at Minnesota I have a 3.96 GPA in maybe the hardest major offered, I obviously began to study. I also have been working as a lab assistant about 12 hours a week and I am volunteering at the local community hospital and will be shadowing a doctor there soon. So things are going pretty good here I think. I still would like to move out west though. The plan was to attend medical school out west but now I am thinking I can make the move earlier. I have been looking at UCLA or Berkley </p>
<p>Will this move hurt my chances of going to medical school at all?
Do I even have a chance at getting into UCLA or Berkley?
any advice or constructive criticism would be helpful.</p>
<p>Im from Wisconsin so I get reciprocity with Minnesota schools. I was thinking about that also and if I were to go to medical school in California, like I would like to, I think the tuition is about 30 to 40 grand more for out of state. So the plan would be to establish a residency there, if I transfer, as an undergrad. Than pay in-state tuition for senior year as an undergrad and for all four years of medical school.</p>
<p>So, your plan is to invite unnecessary risk into your med school admission process for the privilege of paying out of state tuition to a CA school? Did I get that right? Don’t screw the good thing you got going. The dream (or the itch, depending on ones perspective) to move to sunny California can wait. The move would be a dumb one from a lot of angles. The tone of my post intentionally harsh, because as a parent this kind of thought process really ticks me off.</p>
<p>It boggles my mind that you don’t see the potential for disasters in the process of adjusting to a new environment. Just because you got a 3.96 at your school, it does not mean that you are going to maintain that at your new school. As much as you think the your GPA is a result of just your effort, it may not necessarily be. Who knows, because you are in such a hurry to enjoy all that California offers, you might end up more time on the California beaches than you would on the academics. And I can’t see that helping your GPA. </p>
<p>You got a better shot at maintaining that GPA where you are. Put your efforts into preparing for MCAT, getting some research and other ECs instead of dealing with a new environment.</p>
<p>The idea of my GPA not being a result of my effort pushes my buttons because I worked my ass off for it.<br>
I do appreciate your thought about adjusting to a new atmosphere, I have not given that any thought yet. Perhaps because I did not have any issues in my transition to this school. However there will be more distractions there unquestionably; Beaches, women, world class snowboarding and golf.<br>
I do understand protecting the holy GPA, do you know if my grades would transfer or just the credit from classes, and also how hard it is to maintain a high GPA at a UC vs UMN?</p>
<p>A lot of kids work their asses off and have got nothing to show for it. Grading policies, competition, learning/teaching styles and exam patterns all affect your ability to score As. Thinking otherwise, would be na</p>
<p>As you can see, gaining residency in a state is much more than just moving to a state, otherwise there wouldn’t be any OOS students after their first year. With many states in fiscal crisis, you can be assured that state legislatures are not letting this happen.</p>
<p>These make it look like it is hard to establish residency while a student but definitely not impossible. It might not be doable after one year but surely after graduation and living in state for two years I would be able to be considered a resident for medical school? I was looking and the difference from OOS to IS in undergrad is about 20grand a year. I couldn’t find any numbers from UCLA about OOS for medical school though. if its greater than 20 grand a year making the switch as an undergrad and apply to medical school as a california resident would be cheaper as opposed to paying the first two years of medical school as OOS.</p>
<p>I think you’re better off staying put. It’s not only the environment and distractions that could cause problems. The classes may also be structured slightly differently and expect you have covered certain material that wasn’t part of the class at U of M. There’s also the connections you’ve made that would be tough to lose when you need recommendations, etc. It’s also possible that different major requirements could extend the time you need to finish your degree, further pushing up the costs beyond just the new OOS tuition.</p>
<p>If you really want to go to California, look at that as an option for medical school rather than transferring now. If you keep up what you’re doing now, you’ll have a lot more options open to you to have your time in California, I think.</p>
<p>OP–you do realize that CA produces more med school applicants than any other state and fewer than 16% of CA residents actually matriculate in-state</p>
<p>Most posters here will tell you that CA residents are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to medical school admission. Too many very high stats candidates with too few in-state slots.</p>
<p>No. For UG, if you transfer as an OOS student, you remain an OOS student for the entire time of your degree because you are considered a student who has moved to CA for ‘educational purposes only’ and do not qualify to change to CA residency.</p>
<p>After graduating from UG, you can change to CA residency, but only if you are financially independent for two years:</p>
<p>You won’t be able to establish residency in Calif.</p>
<p>Trying to go to med school in Calif is really nutty. Seriously. I often advise the opposite…if you’re a Calif resident, then go to undergrad OOS so you’ll have a tie with another state’s med schools. Seriously.</p>
<p>So, your plan is to invite unnecessary risk into your med school admission process for the privilege of paying out of state tuition to a CA school? Did I get that right? Don’t screw the good thing you got going</p>
<p>^^^ This ^^^^ Read it again and again and again.</p>
<p>if your goal is to be a physician in california, your best bet is probably to stay put, get into med school, and then shoot for a CA residency program.</p>
<p>okay so that says theres 5600ish (alot) applications from california residents to medical schools, and 841, 16% of them went to school in california as an undergrad? I am a little iffy on the definition of matriculated.</p>
<p>In the case of AMCAS data, it mean that only 16% of ~5600 California resident applicants (841) attend any medical school within California (public or private).</p>
<p>The AMCAS data has nothing to do with where they attended undergrad.</p>
<p>If you want to see how OOS friendly a particular public med school is—you need to subscribe the USNWR ($30 for 1 year access). </p>
<p>Davis, Riverside, Irvine take essentially no OOS applicants. (<10/year)</p>
<p>UCLA accepted 76 out of 2934 OOS applicants; UCLA accepted 203 of 3900 instate applicants. UCSF accepted 94 out of 3580 OOS applicants; UCSF accepted 179 out of 3389 instate applicants.</p>
<p>Stanford, Loma Linda, and USC are private and so don’t take state residency into consideration.</p>
<p>That’s a chart about medical school admissions. Matriculate essentially means enroll. 16% of the medical school applicants who are legal residents of California end up at a California medical school. This is in contrast to somewhere like West Virginia, where 52% of the applicants from that state ended up in West Virginia for medical school.</p>
<p>Now of course, matriculation rates is not the same thing as acceptance rates. There are California applicants who get into a CA schools and choose to not go but there are also matriculants who didn’t get in initially but got in later off the waitlist.</p>
<p>It also appears that this table does not differentiate public and private schools. That 16% is also including kids who are California residents attending USC, not only the California publics.</p>