Posting in all three forums
Hey everybody! I’m currently torn between these three UCs. I am a bio major at all of the schools and received Regents at SD and Davis.
I am aware that prestige matters little for Med School admissions and that GPA and MCAT scores are very important for admission. Many times, top students in High School under-perform at higher ranking universities during undergrad, preventing many from getting into medical school. As such, I’m having a very hard time choosing between these three schools.
UCLA
- Viewed as more prestigious
- Great social scene
- Availability of research/volunteer experience
- Harder to get a higher GPA
- Harder to get classes
- Most expensive option (27k)
UCSD
- Slightly easier to get a higher GPA
- Cheaper option (24k)
- Availability of research/volunteer experience
- Easier to get classes thanks to Regents
- Socially Dead?
- Party scene seems to be very small compared to LA and Davis
UCD
- Easier to get a higher GPA
- Cheapest option (20k)
- College town experience
- Easier to get classes thanks to Regents
- Not as prestigious as the other two
- No hospital close to campus
- Harder to get clinical experience
- Cows (lol just kidding)
*All of the above is based off of anecdotal evidence and the many posts, forums, and articles I’ve read about medical school admissions and these three schools.
Correction for “no hospital close to campus”. Sutter Davis Hospital is a few blocks away from campus. You also have many hospitals in the Sacramento area with a 20-30 min drive from campus.
http://www.sutterdavis.org
I suggest you PM @“aunt bea” about getting Clinical experience. Her daughter just graduated from UCD and she has a wealth of knowledge.
Prestige will not get you into Medical School. Look at the acceptance rates for each campus to compare.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321442/data/factstablea1.pdf
I say go for UCLA. It’s an amazing school, and if you decide not to be premed, you can still have a degree from UCLA which is impressive! Don’t be scared. My cousin went to UCLA and he got into UCR Medical School. Yet I have cousins from UCSD and UCI who were premed and could only get into carribean schools. It’s just a matter of how motivated you are.
Re Davis: I think you were misinformed about Davis’s clinical experiences. There are more than enough clinical experiences for Davis students (more on that later).
@RetainerBaby. ^Two of my daughter’s classmates, at UCD, were recently accepted to med schools: UM and UW Madison. These are not Caribbean schools. The class graduation speaker had been accepted into the Geffen School of Medicine (UCLA). Not a Caribbean school.
My dd applied to 7 pharmacy schools and got into all 7. It had a LOT to do with how well she was prepared, academically, and her exposure to patient care. She had lots of lab experiences at UC Davis (and the med school), as well as clinical experiences working in Sacramento (for two years) at a Diabetes Clinic. Although she was a pre pharmacy student, she was extremely well-versed in universal precautions, and in sterilization procedures of medical instruments. She was trained in intake procedures, including vitals and soap notes; these are old hat for her.
Oh and she did live at Tercero, with the dairy cows across the alley from her. There are only a few cows there. She rarely smelled them unless she intentionally walked over to the dairy. Most of the farm animals are on the farms, away from the campus.
@Debateislove, please visit the schools and think about what kind of experience you want from your school. You will be living there for 4 years.
My two nieces at UCSD, as premed, later were both admitted to UCSD medical school!
Thank you all for your responses!
@Gumbymom I recently emailed Davis’s undergraduate health professions advising, and they told me that around 34% of Davis undergraduates get into allopathic medical school annually. I’d say this is comparable to SD’s acceptance rate, but lower than UCLA’s ~50% acceptance rate.
@“aunt bea” It’s good to hear that I shouldn’t be worried about getting clinical experience at Davis! Do you know how your dd felt about Davis’s social scene?
She loved it! (Unfortunately for us-financially!)
Every weekend, she was gone and off somewhere. She volunteered, and met new friends in a pre-pharmacy group. Most of those students were from SoCal. So on the weekends she was out: white-water rafting, trips on the train/ BART to SF, Berkeley. They also traveled to Tahoe, Sequoia and Yosemite. She was always doing something out of cell phone range!
Now, she laments that she missed the snow-pack this year!
Go where you want to go.
UCLA is a wonderful opportunity for you. So, I agree, that you have a tough decision.