<p>I want to pursue a major in Human Biology and a minor in an Anthropology and, hopefully, I would land a place in a good medical school.
I got accepted to UCI, UCLA, UCSD and UCB, but the two I'm looking at are UCSD and UCB. They're both really amazing schools and I'm so honored to be accepted to both... I just don't know what to do!
My parents would rather me go to Berkeley because of its prestige. I am right now leaning towards UCSD because of its environment and proximity to home.
Please help??? Pros and cons for each??? </p>
<p>Great colleges. Congratulations. College is a great safe way to explore a lot of new ideas but also a lot of new parts of the country, cultures, etc. Why not let your college teach you a little bit about a new area and way of thinking?</p>
<p>Good point @jkeil911 
I would like to know though how the schools would match up for my intended major and minor? </p>
<p>I think you should go where you are most comfortable. My nieces/nephews went to undergraduate literally 5 minutes from home because they received Regents. For medical schools they went far away so in the end they do get to spread their wings.</p>
<p>Also a good point :-? The prestige I could get from going to Berkeley though, is it worth it and valuable for getting into a good medical school? </p>
<p>Prestige does not help you gain any advantage in med school admissions.</p>
<p>Prestige for what? I don’t get it.</p>
<p>Apparently UC Berkeley is called one of the “Best in the West” according to my mother. She keeps telling me that if I go to UC Berkeley, I’d have a better shot at a good grad school just because of my studying there.</p>
<p>Agree, UCB is the best public school in CA. However, you need to get good GPA/research in order to get accepted to grad school. Just the name UCB won’t do it. I used to reject interview candidates from UCB with GPA around 3.3, so I guess I was not impressed with UCB at 3.3, maybe 3.7 and above. I think the same with grad school.</p>
<p>That’ll help convince my parents It really is how you make the most of your college’s classes and research facilities and how your grades and research show that. </p>
<p>Another thing you might want to check is the Anthropology at UCSD vs UCB. My daughter best friend also picked UCB over UCSD because she likes UCB Anthropology program, better fit for her major. Research those differences instead of prestige. You might end up picking UCB over UCSD.</p>
<p>OP, you’re absolutely right that if YOU don’t do it the school’s name won’t do it–for grad school or med.</p>
<p>UCB is the better school for premed. Many Berkeley grads get into top med schools, not just any med schools…</p>
<p>RML, source please?</p>
<p>There’s a thread about it here on CC. On that thread, the OP ranked the schools according to number of admits. If memory serves me right, Berkeley in the top 8 at Harvard Med School and Yale Med School. It also was number 2 at Johns Hopkins, number 2 at UCLA Med School, and number 1 at UCSF. UCSD was nowhere near the top 20.</p>
<p>It still depends on the GPA one gets from UCB vs UCSD. I’m sure 3.3 GPA from UCB does not beat 3.7 GPA from UCSD for med schools.</p>
<p>^ I’m inclined to believe that what you said is true. However, I think getting high marks at Berkeley is easier than at UCSD. </p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand the logic, UC Berkeley is prestigious because it’s an easier school then UCSD?</p>
<p>@DrGoogle Actually despite the rumor that UCB has grade deflation. Stats posted in a another thread showed that Berkeley has grade inflation so although its classes may be harder, the inflated GPA will reflect the difficulty. </p>
<p>I’m going to try to find the thread and link it in this post.</p>
<p>I would go with UC Berkeley. One of my problems with SD is that until junior year, most classes will be exceedingly large. According to the US News, almost 35% of classes have more than 50 people in them which is one of the highest figures of any school in the country (I’m not sure if grad level classes are included in this figure. If they are, that percentage will be even higher). In practical terms, such a large percent indicates that you will spend most of your time in larger lecture classes where it’s often much harder to connect with professors unless you’re extremely proactive. </p>