Hi everyone! I’m trying to decide between the 3 colleges above and could really use some input from current or ex students at these colleges
I’m from California and am trying to figure out whether it is worth going to Dartmouth because it is so far and isolated. Will the Ivy name significantly increase my chances of going to a good med school and will I get significantly more attention and research opportunities from faculty at Dartmouth than USC? I also threw UCLA into the mix because it supposedly has a good pre-med reputation?
Go to Dartmouth. It will be a good experience for you. UCLA and USC are very good schools but UCLA pre med like Berkeley is intense. If you do well, you can go just about anywhere for medical school but the competition will weed out the majority of applicants. Dartmouth from what I hear has more grade inflation and a more relaxed atmosphere.There is also a definite Northeastern prejudice towards the rest of the country. UCLA and UCSF medical school classes are mostly from UCB, UCLA, Stanford and the Ivys. Since most California residents end up out of state for medical school, many in privates, it is an advantage to come from a prestigious undergraduate institution.
Consider other factors also. If you are born Californian, you need adjustment and if not comfortable to go too far.
Also USC gives almost free tuition, did you get? Then it is worth to consider USC.
It’s possible to return to the west coast for med school, but CA probably has the most difficult in-state admission in the country. (Too many applicants; too few seats) Most CA residents go to med school OOS. (15% go in-state vs 26% go OOS.)
If you want to practice and live long term in California you do not have to attend medical school in California. It would be helpful to do your residency and or fellowship in California but even that is not necessary. California medical schools are extremely competitive due to a the large number of applicants/in state medical schools and a lot of highly competitive in state undergraduate Universities (UCB/Stanford/UCLA/Cal Tech/Pomona/UCSD/USCD etc)full of a lot of students who want to stay in California. Moreover about half of these California medical student positions are in some of the top medical schools in the country (UCSF/UCLA/Stanford/UCSD). Stanford and UCLA also do not give in state preference. Medical school admissions is also somewhat capricious. One of my current techs is applying to medical school with a 3.8 from a top UC and has had interviews at Stanford/UCLA and Pittsburgh etc. but no love from such schools as UCI/USC/UCSD etc. Thankfully she does have an admission. I will say that with everything being equal that your chances of admission to medical school in California are better coming out of Dartmouth than USC or UCLA as medical schools like diversity and there will be more than a 1000 applicants from UCLA/USC applying to California medical schools and a much smaller number from Dartmouth. Most medical schools want to limit to a certain extent the number of students they take from their own school. Do visit your choices to see how each environment agrees with you. Each of your choices is rather different, especially Dartmouth in size and culture. You do not want to go somewhere where you will not be happy.