UConn Honors vs UCLA for Molecular Bio

DD got 10k scholarship at Uconn (in-state) for Honors Molecular Bio and UCLA (out of state). She wants to apply to med school. Assuming we’ll foot the OOS bill, which is a better option in terms of:

  1. medical school acceptance - is it easier to get in from Uconn vs UCLA provided she gets good grades and good MCAT scores?
  2. Is it easier to get better grades at Uconn vs UCLA ? I heard the competition is high in UCLA
  3. Is UCLA better for opportunities like internship/volunteering etc.

Please help us decide. Thank you.

Better to save the UCLA out-of-state money for medical school. Also, staying in-state means easier access to interviews at in-state medical schools, and the higher density of other medical schools in the eastern part of the US. California does not have great medical school capacity even for students from California; an out-of-state pre-med in California for undergraduate will probably be making lots of cross country flights to medical school interviews, since that is where the medical schools mostly will be.

Congrats to D on both acceptances. Both schools will provide D with resources and opportunities she needs to be a successful med school applicant. Whether she becomes a successful med school applicant will depend much more on her efforts than where she attends. As med school is very expensive and typically paid for by loans, the sage advice is to save the money for med school. If money is not an issue, then the school where D feels like she fits in should be considered as if she’s happy she’s more likely to do well GPA wise.

Premed is hard anywhere. Most who start change their minds and of those who actually apply 60% fail to gain an acceptance anywhere.

High, no. Brutal might be a better description. One little tidbit about UCLA that could be overlooked is it operates on a 10 week quarter system, which if not prepared from day one, could be a GPA killer quickly.