This discussion was created from comments split from: Pre-med School Lists Dilemmas: Convince Me To Attend A Harder School.
Reviving this thread . I understand from the posts that going to UCs OOS for pre-med may not be such a great idea. How about pre-med in the top UCs(UCB/UCLA/UCSD) for an in-state student ? DS is still a sophomore but very inclined to pursue a pre-med track. He has good grades until now , keeping fingers crossed that the momentum continues. Would really appreciate the experts thoughts on my question.
For in-state students, attending a UC often makes good sense, due to cost and financial aid. Also, travel logistics to medical school interviews in California are easier to deal with than from an out-of-state school. However, California public medical schools are said to be very competitive for admission even compared to medical schools in general (possibly pushing more California medical students to private or out-of-state medical schools), and their in-state tuition is not as low as the in-state tuition in some other states.
From a cost perspective , it does make perfect sense. But we worry about the med school gpa requirements and if UCs are an enabler to maintain the kind of gpa med schools look for . Where can I find more information about schools and their med school acceptances.
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understand from the posts that going to UCs OOS for pre-med may not be such a great idea.
How about pre-med in the top UCs(UCB/UCLA/UCSD) for an in-state student ? DS is still a sophomore but very inclined to pursue a pre-med track.
He has good grades until now , keeping fingers crossed that the momentum continues. Would really appreciate the experts thoughts on my question.
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There are no clear answers.
On one hand, attending a UC can be cheaper if the student can’t get a similar or cheaper situation at another school that he/she likes.
On the other hand, the state of Calif has way toooooo many premeds, and even after extensive weeding, it is still extremely difficult to get into a Calif med school particularly, but really any med school. I forget the numbers, but the state of Calif is the leading “exporter” of med students. It isn’t unusual for Calif applicants to have to go thru more than one app cycle, which is very costly and frustrating.
Some Calif premeds have sought to create a tie with another state that has med schools that will accept OOS students with a “tie” to that state from going to undergrad in that state. If that state’s undergrads will give merit for stats, it could be the same cost or cheaper than a UC.
Your son is still a sophomore, so still early. If he can do some shadowing now, it may help clarify his career goals. Some young people romanticize the role of a physician, so seeing how a real day goes can help.
Advise him to get the strongest math and science foundation now (not just memorizing for tests). My experience is that those with weaker high school math/science are typically the ones who are weeded first in undergrad.
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Also, travel logistics to medical school interviews in California are easier to deal with than from an out-of-state school. However, California public medical schools are said to be very competitive for admission even compared to medical schools in general (possibly pushing more California medical students to private or out-of-state medical schools), and their in-state tuition is not as low as the in-state tuition in some other states.
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Good points about traveling for Calif interviews (if lucky enough to get any!), but as mentioned, Calif applicants need to also apply to 20+ OOS med schools as well. Therefore, the travel aspect may not be a big deal.
" Calif is the leading “exporter” of med students"
Last cycle just over 60% of all students who got to point of applying failed to get in anywhere. Somewhere I read that of the CA students who actually started med school, the number was like 62% started OOS. There is just not enough room at the inn.
As a Calif freshman premed, it’s almost dismal. (For an OOS student going to a Calif undergrad, it’s probably almost-fatal).
Calif has over 6400* resident students applying to MD med schools each year. These are the “lucky” ones who’ve made it that far…thru all the weeding of Frosh/soph/junior years. Probably safe to estimate that there were roughly 18k - 20k Calif premeds in the state freshman year…maybe more.
And of those 6400 who made it to the application stage, less than 40% (2,560) got into at least one MD med school in the US.
And if that 62% number (above post) holds true, then 1590 of those 2560 successful applicants, matriculated at an OOS med school.
Calif only has about 1000 public and private MD med school seats (not counting the for-profit Northstate).
*this doesn’t count the OOS premed students attending Calif undergrads.
Agree with @mom2collegekids regarding the plethora of premeds from California.
My dd majored in a popular pre med major and graduated with 1000 hopeful med school applicants from UC Davis. That’s just at one UC this past June! Every year a new crop comes out from each UC! Her friends, who are seeking to get into med school, have not been granted interviews in state. They are all very qualified and scored well.
@mom2collegekids - Thanks for weighing in . We don’t know where and how to apply for physician shadowing. Do you have pointers on where we can start? We have conatct from out of the country but I’m guessing those don’t count as much ?