Hey guys!
These are the list of colleges that I have narrowed down to to pursue a pre-med Biology major:
UC Santa Barbara:
-got into the honors program for College of Letters and Sciences
UC Santa Cruz:
-got Regents and admitted into honors program
-$20 K scholarship
Cal Poly Slo
-low tuition
-small class sizes
Please give me your thoughts on which college that I should decide on.
Thank you so much!!! 
My daughter also got Regents scholarship ($20K) and was admitted into the honors program. She intends to study bio-chemistry and then go to medical school. She also got into Cal Poly SLO. I would be interested in hearing the responses to the original question from Lightning17. We’re also considering private liberal arts colleges - including Bryn Mawr and Oberlin - but there are huge cost advantages for staying in California and attending a state school especially when medical school will be expensive. Thank you.
Further to my post above, I think that perhaps a honors program at UCSC might be advantageous over being a regular student at Cal Poly SLO for a pre-med major. The UCSC honors program enables students to develop closer relationships with the top professors and apparently it is important to get good advice, recommendations, etc. to get into medical school.
All of the schools/programs will provide tools (courses, opportunities, etc) to develop a competitive med school. Whether that happens is much more related to student’s efforts than to any particular schools/programs. Choose a college where you think you’ll fit in because if you’re happy you more likely to do well (GPA wise) which is something med schools care a lot about. As med schools are expensive and typically paid for via loans, consideration should be given to graduating from college with little or no debt.
As to major, there really isn’t any such a thing as a “premed major” except at a very few colleges (eg Penn State). Being “premed” describes someone’s intent, hopes…not a major. Any major is fine. Most people end up in bio, maybe out of interest, but also because it kills two birds with one stone (fulfills both premed and major reqs), whereas if you’re an art history major you’re going have to find a way to squeeze in premed reqs. It’s smart to pick a major that you’re interested in because again if you like material you more likely to do well. It’s also smart to have a plan B because lots of premeds drop out along way and of those people who actually get to point of applying, in last cycle, close to 60% failed to get in anywhere. Good luck.
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I’m mostly deciding between UCSB and UCSC. Both have really good biology programs. Any advice with regard to which of the two I should attend?
I got into the honors program for both. I got the scholarship for Santa Cruz but didn’t receive any financial aid for Santa Barbara. However, i liked SB’s campus way more and feel like I’d get more guidance there.