<p>i know this is the 100th thread here about this topic, but I had specific questions. I know UC-B is probably a notch higher in prestige, but is the difference noticable when applying to med. school, or should one go to LA if one feels he may be more comfortable there? Or is LA better and vice versa?</p>
<p>Well, for the 100th time then, what determines whether you get into med school is what YOU do in college. You get good grades, mcat scores, do volunteer work, take part in research, get to know a few profs for strong recs, you're going to med school. There are enough spaces in med school for these kind of students, regardless of where they went to college.</p>
<p>And BTW before you charge ahead making decisions based on some future event 4 years out, how sure are you that you're going to be a doc? It seems like every 3rd person is "pre-med" at the start. Have you spent time volunteering in a medical setting? If you haven't, you should think of yourself as someone interested in learning whether medicine is right for them, rather than already deciding that it is.</p>
<p>And do you have a realistic grasp of just how long the road to becoming a doc is? Interns and residents finish their year in July, so the people that will be finishing up as internal medicine docs in 2 months started college when you started 2nd grade! And they'll be at the bottom rung this July, needing to find a job or get a practice going. And the training is even longer if you want a specialty.</p>
<p>I Know regardless they are both good, but which is better?</p>
<p>which one do you think is better?</p>
<p>after you reach that conclusion, go to that school.</p>
<p>to expand on that, its safe to say that the opinions people give you here will eb based on what THEY think is better, which is bound to contain more than a bit of personalized bias. its important that you learn to make decisions like this for yourself, due to the fact that there won't be much help coming from others if you decide to go the premed route.</p>
<p>If you want to talk more about it, pm me or something (im premed at LA ..heh)</p>
<p>I was thinking about grade inflation/deflation, quality of the teachers, and the wealth of extracirics when I asked this question.</p>
<p>mikemac just destroyed all my hopes at ucla now :(</p>
<p>in my opinion, there is no difference between going to UCLA and Berkeley in terms of an education. Or for pursuing pre-med studies. It's true, UCLA med tends to admit more UCLA undergrads than those from other UCs, but UCSF med tends to admit more UCB undergrads than those from other UCs (UCSF split from Berkeley several decades ago but still have very close ties with the Berkeley campus). In the end, it's a wash...go to the campus that you think you'll enjoy living in for 4 years.</p>
<p>that sounds like great advice, thank you , between those schools it seems equal , but now when i throw hopkins into the mix it becomes more confusing, no</p>
<p>Well, pre-med at UCLA, Berk, and Hopkins will all be cutthroat, however, Hopkins has a board which can recommend you to apply or not whereas UCLA and Berk will allow you to apply no matter what. You might want to take that into consideration.</p>
<p>ya ne other thoughts on ucla vs. hopkins premed</p>
<p>Hopkins has the infamous medical board, and the atmosphere is quite different.</p>
<p>infamous how?!</p>
<p>Ask sakky- he knows about it more than I do.</p>
<p>I definitely do not know as much as sakky, but the board at hopkins essentially picks and chooses who they want to apply to medical school. If they do not give you the recommendation, you still have the option to apply, but it pretty much raises a red flag and you get absolutely no support from the school. All this is to maintain a high medical school placement rate, which is why pre-med at hopkins is extremely cutthroat. Now, you should still read up because I remember reading the hopkins info a while ago, so I might be wrong.</p>
<p>UCLA, again, is also very competitive, but I don't think it is a pre-med factory compared to hopkins. The pre-med classes are typical weeder courses and like MikeMac said, if you just maintain a high GPA, get good MCAT, do research, and volunteer, it won't matter where you go.</p>
<p>yes. pick classes that will boost your gpa. that said, berkeley is probably not the place to go for gpa boosting classes.</p>
<p>those berkeley nerds just memorize memorize memorize and nothing else! frickin memorizing drones.</p>
<p>so remember peeps. gpa is #1. It won't guarantee you ivy league med school, but you'll get in somewhere.
and it doesn't stop there. you still have to gun for residency spots after that.</p>
<p>but think positive. in the end, regardless where you end up, you will make big $$$$$$ as a doc. bling bling.</p>
<p>would it be easier to get a high gpa at la, and what about prestige?</p>
<p>would it be harder at la or sd.. since sd is known for bio</p>
<p>any school with a bunch of asians is gonna be hard for science cuz all they do is memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize memorize </p>
<p>I would think that cal, la, and sd would be equally as hard.
well, SD probably might be a little easier cuz those kids are a little lower ranked. But if you kick ass in SD and score high on the MCAT, you can make the ivy leagues.</p>
<p>Having spent plenty of time on both campuses, I believe UCLA is a superior choice to UCB for pre-med. UCLA has more small classes, encourages thinking over memorization to a greater degree, has cleaner and more extensive laboratory space, and is within walking distance of the UCLA Medical Center, one of the best hospital complexes in the world. Students can do volunteer work there, start research projects, and even do emergency work. </p>
<p>UCB is still a good school, so if you only get in there, you should still be happy. But if you manage to get into UCLA, choose UCLA.</p>