I was originally going to transfer to UC Davis, but I surprised myself when I got into UCLA for Molecular, Cell, Developmental Biology and UCSD for Molecular Biology. I am currently choosing between UCLA and UCSD, as both have many clinics and hospitals near the college from what I’ve read. I am planning to go to physician assistant school, so I must maintain a high GPA and gain a lot of patient care experience.
I’m reluctant to choose UCLA solely because of the competition and that most of my classes will consist of pre-meds competing against one another, when I am not even on the pre-med path myself. I would have to compete for a lot of opportunities at UCLA and it would be hard to stand out at a university where everyone is quite intelligent and talented. However, UCLA has the prestige as being the top #1 public university in the nation, and has many opportunities and programs for transfers to transition into UCLA. They recently started a new club for those who are pre-health transfers, as well as many other mentor/mentee programs where they pair you up with a transfer from last year who has the same major and path as you. UCLA has seemed to reach out to their transfers more and provide resources for them from what I’m currently experiencing. UCLA gave me more money than UCSD, about $8k.
UCSD is also competitive, but it won’t be as challenging as the rigor of UCLA. I like that there’s many opportunities for research that it is kind of hard NOT to get a position in research. It also has one of the best bio programs, just a very minuscule amount below UCLA. Again, there are many hospital and clinic opportunities but it seems like most positions are full-time, which seems hard to do when I am a full-time student. I feel like it may be slightly easier to maintain a good GPA at UCSD. I plan to stay in California after graduation for PA school, and I’m pretty sure most admission officers and interviewers for PA school know what UCSD is if they are located in California. However, I felt UCLA would give me a competitive edge if I am to do well at the university. The UCSD housing is much cheaper than UCLA. UCSD gave me $0. Is it possible to negotiate this?
UCSD is also not as social as UCLA, so I feel like it would be easier to isolate and focus. At the same time, I love the school spirit aspect of UCLA. I don’t want to attend ANOTHER community college environment where everyone just goes to classes then goes home and studies, occasionally talking to some people.
Has anyone been accepted to BOTH universities and chose UCSD over UCLA? If so, what made you choose? And vise versa?