I just got my acceptance letter from UC Davis (yay!) and I realized that may be where I want to go. I was admitted as a psychology major but I am also interested in medical school (I want to be a psychiatrist). I was looking at their pre-med info on the UCD website and I’m not really sure how it works.
So obviously I will have to take all the pre-req classes like bio and Ochem, but it seems like they also have a “Med-Prep” program that includes seminars on things like MCAT prep and interview advice. Basically the only info I have found through their website is about what classes are pre-reqs and how you can attend these seminars. Does UC Davis not have an “official” Pre-Med program? Sorry if this is an ignorant or obvious question but I thought to ask here because everyone seems really knowledgeable about UCs. I have a friend at another university out of state and she had to enroll into a pre-medical program at her school, so is that uncommon or does UCD just not have that?
TL;DR: If I go to UCD and plan on going to med school, what are my options for pre-med/prep?
It is somewhat uncommon. At many colleges they have premed advisor but not an official program.
Some colleges, typically privates, have a premed committee that writes a letter summarizing your classes and recs; they may also interview you. Colleges can use this committee to boost their med school admit rates. Anyone can look up the gpa and MCAT grid vs acceptance rates, then tell anyone below their chosen cutoff their letter will say the college is not recommending them. Given it is pointless to apply with such a letter, and that med schools know which colleges offer letters and assume it would have been bad if a student doesn’t submit it, these colleges have de-facto control over who applies.
lastly, at some colleges to get the committee letter you have to be enrolled in their premed program.
Since large publics like Davis don’t have a committee letter, anyone who wants can apply to med school and there is no required program. However it is a good idea to attend all their seminars to understand what you need to be doing to be a competitive applicant. There are books you can read about the topic, and lots of info online such as https://www.rhodes.edu/sites/default/files/PreMed_Essentials.pdf
When you arrive at Davis you should work with the career center to explore various options. To be a psychiatrist requires medical school, training, and a lot of debt. Maybe it is the right goal for you, but you ought to consider the other paths to work in the mental health field (licensed psychologist, social worker, etc)
Majority of “pre-med” majors will major in any subject of interest as long as they take the required Medical school requirements. “Pre-med” is an intention so as @mikemac mentioned only a few schools actually have a Pre-med major/program. Here is the link to the Pre-Professional advising center and where you can meet with someone to help map out your courses needed to apply to Medical school.
https://hpa.ucdavis.edu/
Also as stated in the above post, please have a plan B in case you end up changing your mind or not accepted into Medical school.
Most medical schools require the following courses:
One year of Biology with lab.
One year of General Chemistry with lab.
One year of Organic Chemistry with lab.
One semester of Biochemistry.
One year of Physics with lab.
One year of English.
If you want more information, you might want to post on the Pre-med discussion: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/
@mikemac @Gumbymom Thank you both so much! Usually I can figure these thing out by myself with the help of google, but the whole idea of “pre-med” comes off as a lot more structured than it really is. I will defiantly work with the advisors at UCD and attend the HPA seminars, but it’s good to know that I’m not missing some UCD pre-med program.