UCSB Vs. NYU for Pre-Med

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Okay, so I SIR'd to UCSB with honors for Biochemistry, but I was recently accepted to NYU off of wait-list for Biochem as well. I am a California resident, my end goal is to become a doctor and I would love to study at the Weill Cornell Medical College. So, I have NO FINANCIAL AID at either location, however I do have instant admission to the UCSB honors college which gives me priority registration for some of my classes and slightly smaller class sizes. I am also an avid Cross Country runner, but am not able to make the D1 UCSB team, (And there is no club-level team) but I could run for NYU. I think their science programs are pretty equivalent, but don't know their med school acceptance rates or research opportunities. I'll leave a pros and cons list below, but my question is, based on my situation, which school should I attend?</p>

<p>NYU:</p>

<p>PROS:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Much more exposure to the health industry in NYC than SB; My friend who is a Cornell grad says she can almost guarantee me an internship at Weill Cornell Med School if I am in NYC which will vastly increase my chances at my dream school.</p></li>
<li><p>Vastly prefer the NYC area to that of SB</p></li>
<li><p>Slightly more academic prestige</p></li>
<li><p>Can run for NYU (Honestly, I can't stress how huge this is)</p></li>
<li><p>It's a private school, the the quality of life will be higher (nicer dorms, nicer food, smaller classes)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>CONS: </p>

<ul>
<li><p>Expensive ( ~$63,000/year vs. $37,000 at UCSB)</p></li>
<li><p>I may want an actual campus, but am not sure yet</p></li>
<li><p>Farther from home (I am not really worried about homesickness, but it would cost more to come home.)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>UCSB:</p>

<p>PROS:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Cheaper </p></li>
<li><p>Closer (Easier and cheaper to come home. I live in San Diego)</p></li>
<li><p>Weather, (though NYC is a lot milder than upstate NY, you still can't beat So-Cal)</p></li>
<li><p>Honors college (largely negated by the fact that I would have a smaller class size at NYU anyways)</p></li>
<li><p>The nicest rec-center I have ever seen (Gym, pool, climbing wall, sports fields, etc.) It was honestly a world-class gym</p></li>
</ul>

<p>CONS:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Large party school and I am not a partier, at all.</p></li>
<li><p>While I like the location, I thought the campus was honestly disgusting (very run down, nothing looked clean except the rec-center)</p></li>
<li><p>Cannot run XC</p></li>
<li><p>Known for parties and riots more than academics</p></li>
</ul>

<p>UNKNOWN:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Both school's med school acceptance rate</p></li>
<li><p>Research opportunities and the relative accessibility of these opportunities</p></li>
<li><p>How well ranked each school's pre-med program, specifically, is </p></li>
</ul>

2

<p>UCSB, don’t be silly, you can spend that ~$150K for your medical education. No one ask you to party if you don’t want to. In my mind, NYU and UCSB are rival schools. There are research opportunities in UCSB as well, you can do shadowing and clinical in the summer. Don’t worry if you do well at UCSB and with high MCAT, you can get into Cornell Med.</p>

3

<p>The $104,000 savings by going to UCSB can be usefully put to keeping your medical school debt down.</p>

4

<p>The partying is on Del Playa. If you don’t live there or go there, the parties won’t bother you. UCSB has honors dorms for freshmen. Research at UCSB is quite good; I don’t know about NYU. You can run lots of 5Ks in SB, and the local running community is active and friendly, even if you aren’t on the UCSB CC team. Running in SB year-round has got to be nicer than running in NY.</p>

5

<p>D2’s friend is at UCSB, he pulled all As. While the same academic caliber student at UCLA is struggling. So it’s easy for me to suggest go to UCSB. My kids love NYC, but she didn’t apply to NYC and Columbia because the tuition there are just outrageous,even if you can afford it, it’s still a big chunk of money…</p>

6

<p>It is crazy to pay more to go to NYU. what are your parents saying about the higher cost? how would NYU get paid for? </p>

<p>I’m not sure that NYU would have significantly smaller classes or nicer dorms either.</p>

7

<p>I wouldn’t go to NYU because of its cost. Of all the schools I got into, NYU was by-far my favorite, but the cost just isn’t worth it. </p>

<p>NYU boasts a 92% med-school acceptance rate, but I have an odd-feeling that a LOT of the pre-med prospectives get weeded out quickly in order to keep that number high. The classes aren’t much smaller (they’re pretty large at the intro level), but the dorms are super nice. </p>

<p>Go to UCSB. I know that it may not be the place you necessarily want to be in, but it still has some decent life-science programs. Besides, if you really hate it, you can always transfer into another school after freshman year. </p>

8

<p>Reading between the lines the way you describe UCSB, it seems clear you are going there only reluctantly. Have a talk with your parents about finances. If they can afford it, it sounds like NYU is the school for you.</p>

9

<p>How much can your family pay?</p>

10

<p>I graduated from UCSB and I can tell you that you definitely CAN avoid the ridiculous party culture. Get an apartment away from Del Playa. No big deal. There are plenty of other like-minded, smart, interesting, non-rager students to hang out with. Go hang around the College of Creative Studies in the middle of campus and make friends with those people :)</p>

11

<p>As the UCs have become harder and harder to get into, even the “lower tier” ones are being more populated with more serious students. at nearly all schools, there will be partying…even at NYU, the kids will go to bars/clubs…but you can find like-minded students at your school.</p>

<p>Unless your family has money to burn, paying more for NYU makes no sense.</p>