So I’ve recently been admitted off the waitlist at UCSB and I am now torn between it and Cal Poly SLO (the college I am committed to as of right now). I would be pre-med at both of these schools. My major at UCSB is pre-biology and at SLO is public health. Both these schools seem pretty similar to me other than SLO having smaller class sizes so maybe more individualized attention there. Additionally, I’m pretty interested in Public Health as a major and I don’t see something similar at UCSB. Does anyone know if there is? Any advice about being pre-med at both of these schools would be appreciated. I would be happy spending my next 4 years at either of them.
There are few things to consider - at Cal Poly you are accepted directly into major, but in UCSB you are not, you will have to compete with other pre-Bio students and be in the top 30-35% of the class to be admitted into major. That means competing against other strong students, and graded on the curve which often works against you. For example you may get 84% in the class yet end up with the C.
UCSB is highly ranked Nationally and Internationally.
Cal Poly is well recognised in California and less expensive.
Both schools have great school spirit and happy students.
no wrong choice here, both are great schools. It really comes down to which you prefer.
As for declaring the major, I don’t see any UCSB requirement to be in the top 30-35%. Online they say
As I like to add on premed threads since the majority of those starting college premed don’t even apply to medical school, why an M.D? When a lot of HS kids think of a career in medicine it becomes “I’m pre-med!” and happily embark on a track that will take 11+ years of school/training plus enormous debt. Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as you can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org Unless you’ve carefully considered the alternatives and have spent time actually working in a health care setting (which is an unwritten requirement to get into med school and is explicitly required for some other medical fields) its better to think of yourself as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.