<p>What is UCLA's reputation with regards of pre-med? Is it a good place to pursue it, how strong is the advising system, research opportunities, other resources? What is the academic quality of their program? And how does it all compare to other UCs (e.g., UCB & UCSD) and private schools like Cornell?</p>
<p>Considering tuition for CA students is roughly half of that of Cornell, which college would you pursue as a Californian pre-med student?</p>
<p>Obviously this depends on your family's financial situation, including the aid package Cornell will opt to give you.</p>
<p>No aid, unfortunatelly... I guess what I'm asking is, regardless of one's family financial standing, is Cornell worth the extra $25K/year over UCLA for example? ($50K vs $25K at UC) What is the compelling case for Cornell with regards to their pre-med program, over UCLA, and what can be said about the latter's pre-med "package" as a whole? (academics, faculty, advising system, research, etc.)
Our son - poised to pursue pre-med - was admitted to both (plus UCB, UCSD, and UCSB), and trying to decide which one would give him more "bang for the buck", so to speak...</p>
<p>It's not a question that can be answered "regardless," is the problem. If you're multimillionaires and your son thinks Cornell is the better fit, then by all means go to Cornell. If you're barely not qualifying for aid, then paying for Cornell is kind of a problem.</p>
<p>He's trying to ask which is the better deal.</p>
<p>And again, it depends on what your family can afford. If your son is sitting on a $20B trust fund, then obviously he should ignore the cost and pick whichever school he likes better. If he's going to be incur $160K of debt to go to Cornell, then he should go to UCLA regardless of how much he likes Cornell.</p>
<p>He's asking because most likely he could afford both options. How good a deal is is not determined its affordability. But on the amount of quality per dollar spent. For example, if a 2 story house costs 1 million and a certain 1 story house costs 900k. Then obviously the 2 story house is going to be the better deal ceterus paribus.</p>
<p>My goodness. Fine, let's play with your analogy. What if you have an elderly grandmother who can't walk up stairs? What if a view is really important to you, and your neighbors all have houses that are taller than the one-story version? What if you'd have to take out loans at 10% a year to buy the two story house?</p>
<p>Worth is defined in context of specific benefits as well as affordability. Goodness gracious.</p>
<p>Thats why I said ceterus paribus. The only thing you have to back you up is the elderly grandmother scenario. And even then, not paying a extra thousand for a house thats twice the size is certainly stupid when the grandmother can stay down stairs. After all, down stairs of the 2 story would be the same as the 1 story house( I said ceterus paribus.) </p>
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Worth is defined in context of specific benefits as well as affordability. Goodness gracious.
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<p>Look I not trying to define something as subjective as worth. But I think we can all agree, that in analyzing 2 options. One would provide some better results in certain aspects than others. For example Cornell may cost twice as much as UCLA(For the sake of argument b/c I don't know how much Cornell costs) but if going to Cornell means you are twice as likely to matriculate in med school. Then Cornell is a better deal for getting into medschool. But even if going to cornell means a 20% more likely to go to medschool than UCLA, then it could still be a better deal. Basic risk analysis here. Like, why pay for a airbag if you're chances of using it( actually crashing) are slim to none? Because doing so would be risk adverse, hence making the car with the air bag a better deal. Of course if the car with the airbag can't be afforded, then that can't dispel the fact that one should get a car with a airbag. That simply means he/she can't afford the car with the airbag. Thats all that it means. Really whats so complicated? Goodness gracious.</p>
<p>I'm with BDM on this one. 25k extra a year is worth much less to the wealthy than is to the middle class people who have to take out loans and go into debt...</p>
<p>That said, IMO, Cornell will open slightly more doors than would UCLA wrt getting into certain top tier medical schools...but the differences are marginal, what is really important is where your son would achieve more success in the class room and find meaningful EC experiences. And for that, a pre-med discussion board is not the right place. Try the Cornell and UCLA subforums.</p>
<p>Sorry for stirring such a debate... money's always the "root of all evil", isn't it?
I probably should have left it out as a factor. I guess what I'm trying to gauge is the quality of the overall pre-med program at any of the UCs mentioned above, versus Cornell's. Given that state universities usually do not have the wealth of resources that private colleges do, should we expect poorer advising, research opportunities, ECs, etc? Are academics comparable, but not other components of the program?
I trust that posed this way, the topic is more appropriate for this discussion board, correct?
Thanks in advance for your input.</p>
<p>Well, I've heard(somewhere on this forum) that UCLA doesn't even have an premed advising program. I've also heard that the average student graduates from UCLA in about 5yrs. Most likely due impacted classes such as chem, bio etc. Since Cornell is a private, it should have enough science classes to go around. Difficulty wise, I'm not sure which is harder. But it's something to take into account. Cornells' advising system? I don't know. You're going to have to ask Norcalguy about that.</p>
<p>Maybe I am an idiot but the above post seems highly unlikely...</p>
<p>UCLA not having a premed advising program? I would say that is bullcrap...
UCLA</a> Pre-Professional Advising Services</p>
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We don't have much of an advising system (not one specifically for premed). As far as I know, you would have to get information yourself from the internet, etc
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<p>Taken out of the mouth of a UCLA premed. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/149508-berkeley-good-place-pursue-pre-med-4.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/149508-berkeley-good-place-pursue-pre-med-4.html</a></p>
<p>Not being versed in what premed advising really entails, I can't tell if these services are tailored towards premed, or more generic. To me, it seems they primarily deal with letters of recommendation?</p>
<p>Not having "much of one" and not having one at all are two different things. You're original post stated "UCLA doesn't even have an premed advising program". That would never fly at an institution that produces as many premeds as I'm sure UCLA does</p>
<p>having a 2pennys and having none makes no difference when you want to buy a ipod. Just like having mediocre premed advising is nearly tantamount to having none. I mean come on, if the student in question has to surf the net to find info, then you might as well cut all funding in the advising department. </p>
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Not being versed in what premed advising really entails, I can't tell if these services are tailored towards premed, or more generic.
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<p>Its specific towards premeds. </p>
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To me, it seems they primarily deal with letters of recommendation?
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<p>Oh its much more than that. They tell you which classes to take, which ones looks good for medschools besides the regular o'l BCPM, what they are looking for in ECs(e.g some matters more than other), what they look for in a essay, which professors are likely to write great letters of recommendations, what MCAT scores are needed given the background of the student etc. Basically the "INSIDE DIRT" if you will.</p>
<p>See posts 12, 20, and especially 19:
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The best advisory committees serve as a virtual pipeline to med-school in that they primp and prep all of their candidates to put their best foot forward. It's like hiring a good marketing or PR firm on your behalf to put you in the best possible light.
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