Hi everyone, UCLA, UCSD, UVM, and UConn are the four schools I’m thinking about. I got into all four with a major in biology, and for UVM and UConn I got a scholarship as well as acceptance into their honors colleges. I really would like to attend medical school.
My top choices are UCLA and UCSD. I absolutely loved both of the schools when I visited them, and they both have incredible biology programs. However, UVM would be slightly cheaper, and UConn would be cheapest because I would get in-state tuition. Even though the two UC schools are stronger for biology, would perhaps UConn or UVM be better to go to since they’re cheaper? Which of the two UC schools is better for pre-med? And which of these four schools would I be most likely to get into medical school from? Thanks!
same caliber, either of them will provide the quality of education you are hoping for for pre-med. It’s more about the camous environment in this case.
Congrats on acceptances to UCLA and UCSD. But as med school is crazy expensive and typically paid for by loans which need to be paid back, consideration should be given to trying to graduate with as little college debt as possible. All four schools will offer you the resources and opportunities you need to be a competitive med school applicant. Whether you take advantage of what’s offered and become a competitive med school applicant will be more on your efforts, less on the school you attend. Both UCs have close to 30k UGs, it can feel like you’re a speck of sand at the beach trying to stand out. I don’t know about UConn and UVM, but UCLA and UCSD are blood baths for premed students. Although the two UCs may arguably be “stronger for biology”, you do realize that premed courses are just garden variety courses open to any student with any interest and who has met any course requirements, premed courses are nothing special at any of the 4 colleges you were admitted to. And since most premeds change their minds and of those who actually apply, 60% fail to get in anywhere, premeds should have a Plan B. And so should you change your mind, you should consider in advance what you plan to do with your bio degree and $250K+ in debt if you graduate from a UC. From a cost perspective, UConn seems like the obvious choice.
Congrats on all the acceptances!!
The UC system is very nice and well known. However, knowing that you want to go to medical school, the best option may be the cheapest. Medical school is very expensive!
Also UConn is considered to be a good school so it’s a good option!
How would you be paying for these options? If you want to UCLA or UCSD, would your family be covering the costs or would you have to borrow?
My answer is really the same regardless, but borrowing the total cost of attendance for either of those two is both a really bad idea and probably functionally impossible. You can only borrow a small amount on your own; you have to get a creditworthy adult to co-sign on anything above around $3,500 your first year to $7,500 your last year, which is a spectacularly bad idea.
Med schools don’t care much where you went to undergrad, and all four of these are excellent universities. So I say you minimize your costs and choose UConn.
Great thread and congrats! We are oos ( Hawaii) and my daughter was accepted to UCLA, UCDAVIS, Cal Poly, SD state and UVM as well as Oregon and Colorado…Not premed but UVM has the best offer and a 5 year 3 plus 2 envionmental law program. ( JD plus BS) I’m a single mom so was trying to assess the advantages of the UCLA or UC Davis admission versus UVM. aloha!
