<p>Premed.</p>
<p>any thoughts?</p>
<p>If you live in Cali, Ones cheaper tuition, bigger, better football team, warmer climate, harder to find off campus living (expensive from that standpoint), and has smog. UCLA is beautiful though. </p>
<p>NU - colder, smaller, seems like more opportunitys for research (based on our admit day) and to get to know your professors and have them care about your future. The biggest difference I can tell is that UCLA is part of the UC system that is overloaded, underfunded, and continues to be so. You get much more personal treatment at NU than a bigger school like UCLA.</p>
<p>Last I checked, the Bruins finished 4-8 (3-6) last year to NU’s 9-4 (5-3). How is it the Bruins are better? ;)</p>
<p>(Don’t bother with history or complaining about conference parity)</p>
<p>RileyJohn-I am not sure if this applies to you, but my DD was accepted into the honors program at UCLA. She elected to go to NU, instead.</p>
<p>Well, I guess I might have football stat’s wrong. My d is going to NU and said they had a not so successful sports team (except womens lacrosse). But what do I know. I do think NU is a better school from an education standpoint, but colder than <em>!</em>*…))…
My D chose NU over Cal for premed. She was one of 186 students admitted to the chemistry department at Cal, and still chose NU.</p>
<p>SD- to be fair, Cal has a traditionally fairly successful team in football, and overall better athletics in the “revenue” sports (Men’s BBall comes to mind, certainly!). </p>
<p>NU has a uniquely poor history in men’s basketball, and holds several of the NCAA’s records for losing (wrong side of the biggest comeback, consecutive losses). However, since 1995, NU’s football program has been drastically improved, men’s basketball is… well it’s better than it could be. Women’s BBall is still bad. NU’s non-revenue sports are outstanding, however, esp. men’s wrestling, Women’s fencing, baseball and softball, golf, and of course the 5 time national champs the women’s lacrosse team.</p>
<p>But yah, enough with that. NU and Cal are both good. Unless you’re in state, NU is likely cheaper (assuming you qualify for fin. aid), smaller (more personal attention), and overall slightly better reputation.</p>
<p>NU’s weather loses to UCLA’s in a big way though.</p>
<p>As a surgeon that went to Northwestern and grew up 15 miles from UCLA, the answer is: “It Doesn’t Matter.”</p>
<p>Medical school acceptance is determined by performance; not you undergraduate college (except in very disparate circumstances). </p>
<p>If you perform at UCLA or NU, you will get into a medical school somewhere. How much you enjoy it and whether or not you look back fondly on your undergrad days may differ greatly depending on where you go and what kind of person you are. NU and UCLA are light-years apart with respect to demographics, culture, etc.</p>
<p>Personally, I think my NU education was more strenuous (and stressful) in comparison to the education my friends obainted at UCLA, but I am sure there is bias involved. But I can say this: after graduating with a BS in biomedical engineering from NU, my first year of medical school was much easier (we used the same books! [I went to medical school in the UC system…]).</p>
<p>Pick a school where you feel that you are going to excel and thrive. I turned down acceptances to Ivys back in the day because of that. In 2009, a “C” student from Harvard does not have better chances in the world than an “A” student from UCLA. It might have been that way in the '70s and before, but not now. </p>
<p>That’s my two cents…:)</p>
<p>I believe the average class size at NU is smaller than UCLA’s, so that’s a factor to be taken into consideration. No one wants 100+ people in a class.</p>
<p>If you’re in-state California it may be in your best interest to attend UCLA if it’s cheaper and you’re planning on taking out lots of loans for med school. I can agree with OldNUGuy when he says it very likely does not matter which school you attend for undergrad - but an extra $150k of loans probably will.</p>
<p>Keep in mind this is assuming each is an equal “fit”</p>