Hi, I am a freshman at a small lac (top 30 on USNews) looking to transfer to a top school. I began freshman year hoping to major in neuroscience/psychology, however, I havent really enjoyed taking these classes. Instead, I’ve taken a HUGE interest in learning Japanese – by far my favorite course. Sadly, my college only offers a minor in Japanese :(…
Additionally, I am a pre-med, so I plan on attending med school after college. I believe I can complete most, if not all, of my pre-med requirements before I would transfer as a Junior applicant (I am guessing these classes would transfer over b/c they have pretty common names!).
I also think I will probably learn the same amount of material covered in neuroscience as an undergrad as I would in a few weeks (or months… don’t really know for sure) in medical school. So what’s the point of even majoring in it?
I have heard these schools have high-ranking Japanese program:
UC’s only accept Junior Level transfers (60 semester/90 quarter units) and HS grades/test scores not considered only your UC transferable course GPA, EC’s and personal insight essays.
Since Medical School is your goal, how will you be paying for 2 years at the UC’s with costs of $55-60K/year? You will need to save money if you plan to attend Medical school, definitely not a wise financial choice to consider these schools with no financial aid. Also since UC’s have articulation agreements with in-state CCC’s, you are low man on the totem pole when it comes to priority so it is possible but no guarantees.
“Low man on the totem pole” is an expression which means you have the lowest priority when it comes to transferring into a UC from Out of State.
According to UCLA and UCB statistical data for 2015, the Japanese Major at a 26% acceptance rate at UCB and 50% at UCLA. UCSD’s acceptance rate was 34%.
Acceptance rate aside, I was trying to see why you feel you need to spend a huge amount of money that would be better spent on Medical school. Just posting my 2 cents worth as a parent but if your parents are wealthy then go ahead and apply.
Add Earlham to your list.
What’s your college GPA (or what it’s shaping to be as long as you continue doing on finals as you’re doing now?)
For UC’s, your odds are low since the order of selection is 1° CA CC 2° other CA colleges 3° other colleges.
Note:
Since your homestate is NY and you’re premed, going to California makes no sense - California med schools admit Californians (and very few of them, med school in California is even harder than elsewhere.)
Even if your family has saved 250K for your college, it also seems a bit silly to spend them on UC’s considering you won’t be able to use your CA education to go to med school there, and will have to fly all over in order to get into med schools in other states.
I looked up the ‘Profile of Admitted Transfer Students by Major Fall 2016’. For UCLA specifically, Japanese has a 63% admission rate, and a 3.42 GPA is the 25th percentile, while a 3.80 is the 75th percentile. If I maintained a 3.8+ what is the likelihood of being accepted assuming I will have all A’s in the intended major.
Medical school is a totally different subject. I’ve stated clearly that I am aware of the financial costs. I am asking about the likelihood of admittance if applying as a Japanese major.
If you can maintain that GPA (or 3.7+) over 3 semesters, then your odds for Japanese are decent at UCLA.
(Regardless of GPA, you’ll still be picked after students from CA CC’s and CA colleges.)
However wrt med school from a UC or more generally a CA school, it’s not just a matter of costs, but also of value, efficiency (time spent), organization, not having a committee letter…
Do any NY publics have your intended major? Getting to medical school interviews at NY public medical schools may be more convenient if you attend a school in the state, or at least the region. Plus, medical school is expensive, so you may want to keep your undergraduate costs down.
@ClarinetDad16 I have thought about majoring in Japanese for years, so I do not think I will need to switch, as long as I know I can attend medical school (the costs are irrelevant to my question).