<p>Is UCI a good place for a pre-med? What are the pros/cons?</p>
<p>Any UC is good for Pre-Med. You want to attend a school where you will be able to maintain a high GPA, offers good medically related opportunities for volunteering, internships or research and offers the required classes needed to apply to Medical School.</p>
<p>Pros: Proximity to a number of hospitals
Massive amount of biological research
Strong in a variety of subjects should you change your eventual path (as most premeds end up doing)
The entire chemistry sequence is available online allowing for convenient review
Lower cost for CA residents
Chemistry courses require more critical thinking than those at many other schools</p>
<p>Cons:
Poor advising, almost non existent at the freshman level
Massive numbers of premeds which means stiff competition for As
Large classes in biology, chemistry, physics, and sociology</p>
<p>Can I ask where you got this information for the cons?</p>
<p>I worked for two UCI professors, grew up in the area, and have a number of friends who attended/ attend UCI for STEM subjects including biology.</p>
<p>How competitive is it to get a research position at UCI? And are the teacher office hours usually packed?</p>
<p>Are UCI chemistry, biology, orgo, physics, or calculus impacted? Will you be able to finish school in four years? Is it so competitive that you won’t be able to get the research opps, internships, and GPA that you’ll need to get into med school? Are you a wizard at these courses in high school? Will your SAT be in the top 75% at UCI?</p>
<p>BUMP</p>
<p>I think @jkeil911 means to ask…are your stats within the top 25% at UCI. Premeds should be high stats at their univ.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>(don’t just bump when people have asked you questions).</p>
<p>If you are Regents or Honors program you may get research experience.</p>
<p>
It depends on the research position being applied to. Generally if a student shows initiative in a class, regularly goes to a professors office hours, and inquires about research positions, he or she will be able to get one. The first one will likely be a beaker monkey position but as the student’s knowledge base and research skills grow, s/he may be able to climb up the ladder within the lab. I will say that all of my professors’ undergraduate employees were at least juniors. I never met a single freshman or sophomore who worked for them, although that could have been due to the fact that they only taught upper division/ graduate courses. Additionally, UCI does the whole Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program although I’ve yet to meet someone who participated in it. Perhaps if you posted on the UCI subforum here, you could get a more detailed answer to your question from an actual bio major. </p>
<p>
I’m not sure about UCI, since I worked for professors who taught small upper division courses, but at my school professor’s office hours are usually only packed right before major exams. However, since UCI operates on the quarter system, meaning more frequent examinations, the offices of intro courses may be more packed more frequently than at my school. </p>
<p>
Yes, but UCI has a very high (for a state school) four year graduation rate. Rarely will a student be forced to take a fifth year because he or she was shut out of needed classes. </p>
<p>My nephew did do some stem cell research. It did help compensate for the low GPA he had for medical school.</p>