<p>I frankly am at 50-50 between the two schools. I have mainly been talking to UCLA students, so I thought I’d get advice from UCD students as well :)</p>
<p>-I am a life science major going into pre-health (pharmacy)
-I am receiving the same financial aid from both campuses
-I believe I will be content at either campus
-I don’t really know how much to consider the prestige factor
-I am from the Bay Area, and Davis is therefore more convenient location-wise</p>
<p>What school do you personally think I should choose? Please consider the number of opportunities, quality of life science classes, and pre-health students in general. Thanks! :)</p>
<p>I’m still waiting on 2 colleges ( 3 if UCSD ever gets its **** together and allows me to apply after they lost my app) but UCD is actually really strong for bio/pre-professional especially for pre-med. I’m not sure about pharmacy schools but for med schools you basically must have a 3.6+ regardless of the university you are attending. This, combined with their reluctance to accept a bunch of students from the same university, makes UCD very appealing. Apparently getting the requisite 3.6+ and having time to study for the MCAT is very doable at davis. I think at UCLA you would have more people going to it because it’s in LA ( similar to NYU ) which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Something people on college confidential don’t like to think about: undergrad doesn’t matter if you’re going to grad school and grad schools often only really look at GPA and what you’ve done (research etc.) By going to a less competitive school you’ll get a higher GPA, stand out more to professors ( for LoR and research) and pay 20-120k less. </p>
<p>IMO it only really makes sense to go to higher up schools if they’re liberal artsy/have an emphasis on undergrad teaching. UCLA and UCD are the same in that aspect.</p>
<p>UCLA is definitely much more prestigious. However, its also much more competitive at UCLA. I think UCD for pre-med is a much safer route to go. I’m a premed/pharm at UCD, and I find it very manageable. Whereas where UCLA could be a bit tougher. But UCLA sounds so much better o.O (I did not get into UCLA though, but I don’t think I would’ve even gone there if I got in… for location reasons.)</p>
<p>personally, since your goal is med school, it’s best to stand out.
and if you’re at a school where there is much competition, (not saying that ucd is inferior to ucla) but with ucla’s admission selection being very selective, you won’t be able to stand out much at ucla. </p>
<p>but also remember, you never know if you might do well at ucla,
and you know yourself more than anyone else does. so no one can really decide for you…</p>
<p>maybe i’m just biased toward ucd since i’m going there ; )</p>
<p>Haha I was hoping to get some sides for Davis here, so thanks you guys!!</p>
<p>Loveflies - You are right…no one can really decide for me. D: I guess I’m just hoping enough people will pick one school to sway me to go there hahaha xD Go Aggies! : D</p>
<p>ADHDFTL - where do you think you will be going? And speaking of graduate schools, I’ve got to clear up some things I’ve heard about it XD</p>
<p>hermanliu - Ooo! I’m glad to hear you’re finding things manageable as a pre-pharm Do you happen to know like if I meet 10 students, how many of them will be pre-health/med? xD</p>
<p>I don’t know actual statistics of the school… but from people I have met… If you meet like 10 students, probably about 3 of them would be pre-health/med. Maybe about half of them are studying sciences. Few of them should be engineers. and others… doing other things. Most people I meet are science majors.
There are a lot of people who want to go to medical school. So its a lot of competition. (Much of the campus is asian… if that says anything.) But the thing about that is, A lot of people just say they are pre-med but many of them also have Cs in chemistry or some science… so… to me… I pretty much judge them as not even competition anymore (Oh im so mean). Seeing that you are UCLA tier, I think you should do fine at UCD, assuming you also work hard.
Its nice to see people like you who look more into schools than just the prestigiousness of the University. Most people would just be too carried away w their happiness and just SIR to UCLA lol.
Also, I think being one of the top students at UCD is going to be better than just… a regular student at UCLA. And at UCD, when you are doing well, they somewhat award you… in a way… I think… I’m a 3.95 cumulative student, and last quarter I got invited to a luncheon… got a dean’s letter… and recently got an email to a job opportunity as a tutor… with pretty good pay. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>I tried to help, Good luck with your choice. Definitely one of the hardest decisions you are going to have to make in life.</p>
<p>Haha yeah you definitely did help! Thanks so much. I know this decision is going to be one of the hardest, but I am thankful that I have this decision to make, and it sounds like I won’t go wrong with whatever UC I choose :)</p>
<p>Lol it seems like if the UCs have anything in common, it’s 1) dominating Asian population and 2) science majors. I guess those two things go hand in hand. And I certainly want to consider more than the prestige of the school, but most of my friends are baffled why I am in such a dilemma lol I take it you’re doing very well at Davis–those are some pretty awesome things to hear!</p>
<p>I’ll be visiting Davis in a couple weeks for Picnic Day. If need be, I’ll find some random students to ask questions. Chances are they will be pre-med, right? : D</p>
<p>UCLA and UCB and probably UCSD to a lesser extent (but not by much) all are relatively cutthroat I hear. Since a lot of classes are curved and so many strong students are going to those schools you’re bound to get some general indifference/unwillingness to help at minimum, maybe some sabotage in worst case scenarios. There definitely are more “gunners” at those schools. </p>
<p>That said your admittance to any school after undergrad is going to depend more on GPA and what research/letters of recommendation you have, not on USNWR rankings. Remember that UCD has opportunities for research as well and from what I hear if you’re interested you can jump right in. At UCLA there is a huge amount of competition for these positions because everyone is trying to pump up their apps. It seems to me that UCD offers a more genuine learning environment.</p>
<p>UC Davis is also moving up in the rankings and is increasing selectivity every year too. There is a definite trickle-down effect from UCLA/UCB as those schools reject more and more qualified 4.0 2100+ students. The mid-tier schools are being brought up quite quickly and this year it will probably be an even larger jump.</p>
<p>Rankings do matter but they only matter if you loosely group schools together into tiers. Grad schools don’t weigh an application based on its rank in USNWR. They just have a rough idea if it’s top 50, 50-100, 100-150 etc. UC Davis will compare favorably to other schools for undergrad and what really matters is your GPA and research. </p>
<p>It’s important to visit both colleges and decide yourself above all else. Go where you feel comfortable and will succeed. It’s 4 years of your life, don’t go somewhere you don’t really want to go based on a magazine’s ranking =).</p>
<p>EDIT: I’ve talked to a lot of doctors (being test for any complications with my cold hands and feet) and they have all said that it is important to go where you feel happy. My most recent doctor was disappointed with her undergrad at Berkeley because she had to take a lot of general ed requirements that consumed valuable time. I likely will go to UC davis for pre-med but I’m still waiting on william and mary and I’m on the waiting list for Rice. Oddly enough I am still waiting on UCSD as well since they lost my application and are debating on whether or not to evaluate me >_<. I would want to go to UCSD for a more cognitive science-ish major though, pre-med there is a bit crazy I hear.</p>
Do you happen to know like if I meet 10 students, how many of them will be pre-health/med? xD</p>
I take it you’re doing very well at Davis–those are some pretty awesome things to hear!</p>