UC Berkeley vs. Emory vs. UCLA Pre-med & Chemistry

College Search & Selection
1

Hi,

I got accepted to the 3 schools mentioned above for undergrad and I cannot decide - I am very indecisive. I want to major in CHEMISTRY and possibly do PRE-MED, and was wondering which schools have strong programs in these areas.

This is my impression of the three schools after some research; please correct me if I’m wrong:
-GPA is important in getting into grad school, and Berkeley is notorious for grade deflation. Professors do not like giving out A’s.
-UCLA/emory students are happier than those at berkeley (quality of life)
-Berkeley has better reputation/prestige than emory/ucla - btw, how much do grad schools care about undergrad school reputation?
-“Berkeley is super competitive so you have to “fight” for internship opportunities, etc.” - getting internships will be hard?

My impression is that berkeley is extremely cut-throat and competitive and that you will be overworked and ripped into pieces, AND you will get a lower GPA than you would at another school; all while at other schools (emory & ucla) students are more relaxed, able to actually enjoy college, and feast upon great academics while getting higher GPAs.

Yet, Berkeley has an extremely highly ranked chemistry program. It is extremely highly ranked in a lot of other fields too which I thought would be good if I decide to change my major, bc you never know. It is also near San Francisco which should be good for job opportunities, unless…my last bullet point two paragraphs above?

Somewhere I’ve read that UCLA and Berkeley are almost equally rigorous in academics, but while the rigor incites collaboration at UCLA, it ignites competition at Berkeley. Is this true? How cut-throat and competitive really is berkeley?

At first I was considering the possibility of double majoring in business, so Emory and Berkeley, both with amazing undergrad business programs, stood out to me. Berkeley and Emory are the two main schools I’m considering. I wasn’t really considering UCLA b/c its location in southern california (I’m allergic to the sun (confirmed by doctor) and I really enjoy rainy/cloudy weather) but some ppl say that UCLA is better for pre-med than berkeley; although berkeley has a higher ranked chemistry program.

Which school would be best??? please help!! :-0

p.s. I also got into NYU, University of Washington (Seattle, Washington), and USC. Do these have better programs for chem and pre-med?

btw, cost is not a problem for me.

2

What major did you get into at your other universities ?
Did you get honors /regents anywhere ?
Based on what you said, I’d choose Emory, because premeds need support and good advising more than anything, and you won’t have that at either UC. There are literally thousands of very competitive premeds at either university… And only a couple hundreds places at California med schools. California students are likely to have to attend a med school in another state. So, for a premed, it makes sense to attend a university with a lot of resources and personal advising.
However, the sun problem may make uwash a better choice (plenty of overcast, grey skies, and rain compared to SoCal)…if you got honors college, again, for advising purpose.

3

Thanks for the advice!

-UW Foster (business school) Freshman Direct with $27,000 gift aid (covers 1 full year since I’m in-state)
-USC Viterbi chemical engineering
-UC Berkeley chemistry
-UCLA chemistry
-Emory chemistry
-Brandeis chemistry major, business minor, medicine preprofessional
Justice Brandeis scholar $70,000 gift
Brandeis International Business School (IBS) Scholars Program

Didn’t apply for UW honors, emory scholars, etc. bc i didnt think i was going to go there
I really dont qualify for financial aid so didnt apply

What would be some reasons to choose berkeley over emory then?

4

Don’t list the scholarship, list your net price.

Net price = (tuition+fees+room+board) - ( scholarships + grants)

5

Usc $70,000
Nyu $70,000
Emory $63,000
Berkeley $60,000
Ucla $60,000
Brandeis $49,000
Uw $0

6

Wow… that’s a stark difference. What are your parents saying? What’s their budget range (ie., they said 40-60K is dbale, they said take whatever’s cheapest…?)

Regardless, USC and NYU are not worth the premium. UCLA and UCB are out as OOS UC’s are a recipe for disaster for a premed.
That leaves
Emory 63K
Brandeis 49K
and UW 0

No matter what, it’s hard to get over the 0 at UW!
(Is that UWashington Seattle, UWisconwin?)

Did you get Honors college at UW?

7

Don’t go to a UC OOS as a premed. Don’t go to UWash OOS as a premed. If UWash is instate, go THERE

How much will your parents pay?

<<<
Tough to pass on Berkeley, especially for medicine


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

??? what??? especially for medicine???

no…UCB should be easy to pass on for an OOS premed

8

UCB for premeds, even instate, is a bad choice - they’d have to be Regents and 100% sure they’re in the top 5% and very autonomous (because advising and support are key for premeds, and UCB lacks both). But OOS, it’s a guarantee the student won’t get into med school.

9

Thank you for all the helpful advice! Im in-state for University of Washington in Seattle WA. I didnt apply honors, but i think they allow students to apply After theyre enrolled.
If i majored in just chemistry or chemical engineering, would berkeley be best?

10

And no my parents dont care about money at all, but they really care about the quality of academics and opportunities etc

11

For a premed, it is hard to pass up free undergraduate to save all of that money for expensive medical school.

However, expect a highly competitive environment in premed course anywhere. Also, many majors at UW are competitive admission, so check on how difficult it will be to enter them if you change.

12
  1. Would emory be the best choice if money wasnt a problem? Bc honestly my parents dont care about money AT ALL they only care about the quality of program/opportunities.
  2. If i did chemistry or chemical engineering would berkeley be best?

Kindly let me know!

13

You may want to see comments by @bernie12 in http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/16957615#Comment_16957615 comparing the course content of various science courses at various schools.

However, since you are a pre-med, and Washington is a respectable school, the $196,000 to $280,000 difference versus all of your other schools would go a long way to paying for expensive medical school.

https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/
https://www.aamc.org/download/447254/data/debtfactcard.pdf

Be aware that chemical engineering at Washington has highly competitive admissions, if you choose to go that route:

https://www.engr.washington.edu/current/admissions/admitstats

At Washington, chemistry is also competitive admission, but it is not specified how competitive. Contact the department directly to find out.

https://depts.washington.edu/chem/undergrad/entrance/index.html

Note that no specific major is required to apply to medical school.

14

Don’t go to a UC if you’re premed. You’re OOS

15

Emory or UWashington are the best choices.
Since you’re not into your chosen major at UWash and it’s competitive, Emory would be the best choice if money is no object. It’ll offer the best academic quality for what you want.

16

@MYOS1634 : Depends on if the students have access to honors courses, if so then UCB at introductory and intermediate levels becomes basically equal to Emory’s best instructors, and many advanced courses are better there (seems more instructors actually put time into their advanced courses such that they are actually advanced and not play-time in northern California. Electives at the advanced level at Emory are strong but some of the cores can be head-scratchers, but that may be changing).

@tjdus66 : Berkeley’s reputation primarily comes from its research record and graduate schools’ intensity. For undergrad, it would be just as respected as a place like Emory despite it being a bit more well-known. Those in the know (like admissions officers) aren’t going to be like: “Why didn’t you choose Berkeley?” when they are really different and have similar reputation for undergraduate quality. I think Emory and Berkeley are your academic best choices if into chemistry, however, if you plan to legit get something out of the curriculum at each, you will have to be VERY challenged (and neither will be cut-throat but chemistry and even some biology courses are tough) if you saw the course materials I posted. Also, it turns out that Emory is indeed trying to do “interesting” things with its chemistry curriculum so that may end up looking quite different from the standard pre-med track (you may be forced into a different set of requirements after attending for a year) through a chemistry major. May I ask how many AP’s in STEM (and which) you have so I know where you can start at each of these schools?

In addition, you shouldn’t pay attention to departmental rankings as they reflect the graduate program. At some schools there is a trickle down effect to undergrad. and at most such trickling is non-existent (in fact, there can be an inverse correlation. Note how good LACs are at STEM). May pay attention to the faculty and what their focus is. Emory’s chemistry department clearly has a bias toward organic and biomolecular/chemical biological type of chemists and is EXTREMELY strong in areas relevant to things like drug design or materials chemistry with medically related applications. I know Berkeley is super strong, but I wonder if it is universal or if they have a bias like many schools do (like because of location, could be inorganic/sustainability/green chemistry).

17

If you want to go to medical school, pick the cheapest and save the money for med school.

18

Thanks for all the helpful advice!
@bernie12
AP chem (4) and calc (4). Im taking the physics c test in may this year.

+Would there be any pros for me for choosing berkeley over emory??

19

@tjdus66 : Again, I am a fan of many of the advanced courses taught there. I can only comment on the academics with respect to what you are interested in. Though Emory may improve in this area, the default pathway for top students interested in research (whether they are pre-med or not) or grad. school is to take more than one graduate course in chemistry. When undergraduate electives are offered, they usually end up pretty interesting and rigorous, but a wide array each semester is not Emory’s forte, and even when many are offered, again, they have an organic/chemical biology bias.

I’ll PM you with regards to what you should do with your scores to avoid a too long post.

20

Emory Pre-Med is damn good.