<p>what is the admit rate for ucla's students into top med schools? does ucb and ucla send about the same number of students to top med schools each year? If they do, are the average gpa's about the same?</p>
<p>UCB isn't low. Their admit rate is for everyboday that enters the program. They don't just run stats of the people they feel are good enough. They have no screening process.</p>
<p>I went to berkeley for Cal day and was surprised at how many people are pre-med. Just about everyone I met.</p>
<p>Many people come in saying they are pre-med, but some of those people are not even going to take one class of the pre-med sequence (not that it's officially a sequence, just the usual). You must ask, "How pre-med are you, really?" Granted, many people are really pre-med, but I know some not-really pre-med people, and some will decide to stop after a few classes for various reasons.</p>
<p>Interesting query: why is everyone pre-med?</p>
<p>I told this guy I know who's a doctor about how many premeds I met and he was very surprised at how many people want to be doctors, when the medical field sucks right now. Hospitals are having to cut back, insurance costs are rising. Its not the same as it used to be.</p>
<p>Doctor's don't make that much anymore but its a safe job, and people prefer lower absolutely sure salaries versus risky, higher salaries. The supply of doctors is also curtailed by the AMA which is basically a monpoly so med schools are only producing the same amount of md's as they were 20 years ago. Plus the demographic trend of America means that the demand for doctors will rise in the future.</p>
<p>And everyone is premed because you have a lot of parents for cultural or personal reasons who keep pressuring kids to become doctors. This is especially true in a lot of asian cultures where doctors have a lot of status. The desire to become a doctor is prevalent throughout all the top schools as well.</p>
<p>CantSilence has the right idea, although I would say doctors do pretty well relatively to most other jobs, as in, much better than the average salary for college-educated people. Respectability, job safety (although this is becoming more difficult for more private practices), money, ect. Law is another field where people tend to go into for similar reasons- you'll find plenty of "pre-law" students at top schools as well.</p>
<p>Look, whether you get into medical school is up to you and your abilities, there is no difference between UCB and UCLA. Their medical school placement rates are only determined by the caliber of students there. Go to the school where you'll be happy.</p>
<p>I agree with your advice, funnyman, but the placement rates might be determined by more, and we also don't know if there is a difference because UCLA doesn't post it, or no one has found it</p>
<p>okay, but seriously, UCB and UCLA are the #1 and #2 UCs, there is basically no difference in the caliber of students, hence, in the end it really depends on what the student does in college that will matter. </p>
<p>Anyways, getting into medical school requires more than grades and test scores, and ECs, there is a certain amount of luck involved. The two schools in question can't give you more luck, so just accept it and go where you like. :eek:</p>
<p>Sure, you're right, there is little difference in the caliber of students, and what the student does matter most. GPA and MCAT score seem to be most of the application, or at least hold the most weight, but the rest of application also matters, the letters of rec and ECs. And as to your "luck," it's hard to tell without any data from UCLA. We can guess little difference, but if we're basing it on what I think we are, it has limited evidence. Try and find the LA data.</p>