UCLA vs. Dartmouth

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>For pre-med, biology major.</p>

<p>Few things:
Dorms matter, prefer privacy, big dorm, fewer people sharing room and bathroom.
Live in California, prefer to stay close.
Value diversity in student population.
Don't drink/smoke/party much, don't like to be surrounded by drunks either.
Want good opportunities for research, internship, etc. (bio/medical stuff)
Study abroad would be nice.
Class sizes don't matter as long as profs do the teaching and I can get good grades.</p>

<p>Ultimately I want to have a good 4 years and get into a good med school.</p>

2

<p>You mention, that you ‘Live in California, prefer to stay close’ </p>

<p>Then, Dartmouth is clearly not an option. It will cost you $800-900 roundtrip everytime you want to see your family. Besides, for people from the land of the eternal Sunshine, Darmouth is like a cold freezer! </p>

<p>UCLA is a great school, has terrific research faculty. I would select UCLA if I wanted to stay close to home.</p>

3

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062174107-post29.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062174107-post29.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Boy! 50%? That’s horrible!</p>

<p>Gosh! Then Dartmouth it is for you, buddy!</p>

5

<p>But those percentages are kind of misleading. UCLA admits way more people than Dartmouth; part of the ‘screening’ occurs before undergrad. Many of the 50% of UCLA grads who get rejected from med schools probably wouldn’t even have gotten into Dartmouth. Is it that difficult to stay in the top half at LA? As Harvard said in their rejection (lol), it’s more about what you do than where you go. So yeah I think I can achieve “success” at either as long as I do my part and work hard. Correct or not?</p>

6

<p>Percentages are kind of misleading, but the analysis we go through in that discussion is not. There is a gap in student quality, but that’s probably not enough to explain the 35-40% gap in performance.</p>

<p>1.) Plenty of kids at both schools will work hard and not have what it takes, either for interest reasons or for whatever else. Dartmouth isn’t a guarantee, either.
2.) Plenty of kids from both schools do just fine.
3.) The question is, what if you’re not a genius, and you’re not interested in spending all four years in a library? Here’s where I think the advantages from a smaller, better-nurtured program kick in.</p>