Thanks @Gumbymom! He emailed UCI and they said Biology is closed to major changes so we might have to wait a full year and take extra classes in summer, etc not sure if it’s worth it as UCSB won’t require this. The BME is also the BME pre-med and is not ABET accredited so we were told that engineering companies won’t accept the degree which causes some worry.
Thanks @4everpraying ! Did your daughter also get into UC Irvine and reject them for UCSB? Also, there are stereotypes of UCSB as a party school, based on your daughter’s experience, is this still true or not anymore?
Well Stanford’s and MIT’s BME program is not accredited and I am sure employers would not have an issue with a graduate from that school. ABET accreditation is important for Civil Engineers if they need their PE license.
ABET accreditation is basically saying a particular program has all of the essential FUNDAMENTAL (traditional) curriculum for an engineering program which UCI does not but it should not be a stumbling block in getting post graduate jobs that are more medical science related vs. engineering related.
As a Biology major, the job market is not that rosy either so it is a difficult choice. Best of luck to your son.
@Gumbymom Wow, I did not know that MIT’s program is not accredited either! Thanks for the info! If UCI has only a 27% acceptance rate to medical schools while UCSB and UCSD have close to 42% (national average is 40%) should we be concerned? My son finds it a bit worrisome that it is lower than national average. Also, for BME pre-med students only 8 people applied which is worrisome but at the same time 4 out of those 8 got in.
@ac1234567: My understanding in regards to posted acceptance rates for Medical school is that the numbers can be manipulated. They do not state how many start off as Pre-Med and end up not applying or the # of students not given a committee recommendation so they are eligible to apply so I would take any numbers with a grain of salt. @WayOutWestMom on the Pre-Med forum is the CC resident expert on Medical school questions. Again, your son needs to be make the best decision for himself and realize that around 60% of the Pre-meds never make it to Medical school.
Here is some information posted the Pre-Med Topics discussion:
CA is one of the worst states for a pre-med to be a resident of. Large population; not enough med school seats.
CA produced over 6200 med school applicants in the last cycle. Only 16% of the those 6200+ matriculated at a CA med school (public or private). Another 25% matriculated at an OOS med school, but most CA applicants (59% or 3652) were not accepted into ANY med school.
Nationally, less than 40% of med school applicants are accepted into any medical school in any given year. The odds for MD/PhDs are even poorer–238 applied; 88 matriculated.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321466/data/factstablea5.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/download/321542/data/factstableb7.pdf
@ac1234567 I was worried about UCSB’s reputation as a party school as well. In fact, I didn’t even want my daughter to visit the campus. She didn’t like UCI and did not feel like she fits there. It wasn’t until I visited UCSB with my daughter that I completely changed my mind about it. One of the best campuses in California and one of the most organized undergrad process we’ve seen. And we visited a lot of campuses! The new chancellor at UCSB has apparently done great things for the school. I suggest you visit if you haven’t done so. We live very close to UCI. We made it to UCSB and back in the same day
Hey guys. I was accepted to Purdue for engineering and am still waitlisted at UCSD, UCB, Cal Poly SLO, and UMich. I committed to Purdue yesterday. However, if I receive an offer from either of these waitlist schools, is it worth it to choose them over Purdue?
Not for engineering, Purdue is prolly better for that
I had asked the same question on another forum between Cal Poly Pomona ( In state) and Purdue and was advised that both the programs are good, so Cal Poly for Undergrad is not a bad option at all. Also, if a student wishes to work in California, then in state would be a better.
Though this waiting period from all these in state schools is taking its toll on families! Just release waitlists and help us move on with life!
@ac1234567 UCSD is a great school in a beautiful area. For BME, I prefer it to UCI. Do you know whether the pre-bio status confers a guarantee that your son will be accepted into the major? This is very important to me: I do not want to go through another application process for my major only to discover that I may need to choose another major or transfer to another school to study the major I want.
@MickleTheNickel9 You said you just committed to Purdue yesterday, did you recently get off the waitlist for it? If so, if another waitlist school gives you an acceptance in next few weeks are you allowed to leave Purdue for it? I know if you commit before May 1 to one school, after May 1 you can commit to another school. I wasn’t sure if you could do it again. I am asking as I’m in UCI, may commit to UCSB, but if UCSD comes out after UCSB deadline, I want UCSD. Is this possible/allowed? Anyone who might know the answer, please let me know! Thanks!
got off the waitlist on May 7, as undeclared and my preferred major was Computer Science. Just declined today because I don’t wanna take my chances with trying to switch into an impacted major later on, as I told it is difficult 
@ac1234567: You can accept any number of schools if you are admitted off the waitlist but you need to withdraw first from the original school, accept the waitlisted schools admission and you will lose your enrollment deposit. If you get accepted yet to another waitlisted school, then you go through the process again and you will lose your enrollment deposit again.
@AccurateTime @ac1234567 My daughter’s intended major is BME. There is no BME at UCSD, the closest is BioEngineering. We came to find out it is a very small program, USC plans to admit about 40, Northeastern 50, WashU 28, and I can’t recall the # at UCI, but it is also very small. My daughter got in as regent to UCI but declined. She didn’t connect with the staff there. She’s also premed track, we will see how she feels about med school in 2 years.
A word of caution on those med school stat: Don’t trust those acceptance statistics from UC for their pre-med students, especially in recent years. 1/3 of the non-engineering STEM students start out with med school ambition, but by end of 1st year, only 1/3 of those original remaining pre-med. The rate is likely less than 10% – the bigger the school (esp. public schools), the less reliable the statistics. My friend has 2 girls who graduated from UCSB in biochem with 3.8+ GPA, neither got into a medical school after 2 tries. If you want to go to medical school, stick to a small LAC or LMU/USC type private schools.
Yes! I completely agree with @GWPP SLO - those admission stats are skewed! I looked into the admission statistics as well. Look at the absolute number of applicants from each of those schools on the AMCAS website - the number is SHOCKINGLY low when you look at the total number of undergrads at the schools, and then further think about the number of smarties who are attending there, so many with aspirations of entering med school. I don’t know what LAC is, but the UC’s are a tough row to hoe when it comes to med schools. Truth be told - med school in general is a tough row to hoe…not easy to get accepted. This is unfortunate, especially given our incredible need for quality trained applicants to residency training programs, leaving many programs accepting foreign grads in large numbers. Food for thought.
So do you guys think there’ll be another wave tomorrow?
The last wave came out on a Tuesday so hopefully tomorrow will bring good news?
@destes I feel like the next wave will be out by next week.
Anyone heard anything today?