<p>i'm planning on pursuing a career in medicine, so I'm just wondering which school would best prepare me for medical school and residency...</p>
<p>i heard that pre-med at UCLA is super competitive since everything is graded on a curve and that many people don't graduate in four years...is this true? what makes pre-med at Vandy better/worse than pre-med at UCLA?</p>
<p>Also, which college do you prefer in general? I'm kind of introverted and I heard that the social scene at Vandy is huge, so I'm scared I won't make friends :(</p>
<p>and is it hard to make friends if you're Asian? i heard there aren't that many Asians at Vandy, so I'm scared that people will ostracize me or something...i'm pretty sure the kids at Vandy are nice though, so hopefully race won't be an issue</p>
<p>Looks like UCLA greek life is at about 15% if that is not your bag. You can’t really go wrong…two great schools but you should be looking at their post grad MCAT scores and placements as one factor.<br>
Despite the higher numbers of Greek participants at Vanderbilt, the majority of students are independent, as was my Vandy son. Spring breaks…my son always did Alternative Spring Break and they make sure to mix up each team so that you will made new friends on each service project. The city of Nashville has plenty of venues for weekend outings, festivals and good places to go including a fab art movie house within a stroll away. Nashville is not NYC but it is enough/plenty re destinations.<br>
My view is that a lot of America’s fine colleges have Greek Rows and Greek life. Foolish to eliminate a school on that factor alone. But unlike at say…Dartmouth or Washington and Lee or schools in smaller bergs, you have a lively town and good venues for independent students.<br>
Good luck making your decision. Start comparing other factors like class sizes, reputation of the department you may major in, weather, adventure. Vanderbilt is a truly national student body of equals in proven ability…which does distinguish it from UCLA which has obligations to Californians (89%). You will have some small classes at Vandy that will be intimate.
Test scores are higher at Vandy. Doesn’t mean you wouldn’t ace UCLA and do great from there! Four seasons in Middle Tennessee…like snow and rain in the winter? The Asian American population is higher at UCLA. But take a look at where premeds end up hanging out together. There is a society on campus for medical pre professionals and let’s face it…if they are in lab sciences they will get to know each other. (they aren’t all in sciences…med schools don’t really care what you major in as long as you ace the MCAT and take the pre-requisites.)<br>
Vandy has a friendly vibe…so does Nashville. The premed advisor is right on the website. I am sure his office gets requests for accepted students who wish to correspond with successful premeds who are pretty far along at Vandy—ask. If you attend an accepted student day, there will be an hour lecture for premeds by the head advisor and by students who have applied to medical school from Vandy. Good luck! You will be fine if you come. The freshman year experience is particularly friendly and supportive.<br>
You should play the game till the End, when you are ready to decide. Don’t worry about disappointing Vandy or UCLA> Don’t give it up now out of anxiety. Go get more information and more access to Vandy students. Consider asking the admissions office if they will locate say… a Chancellor’s Scholar who is premed to chat you up. Information is power and no time like the present to get busy pulling in final information to consider. Our son was a WASP Chancellor’s Scholar and I would say that at least half his friends were Asian American or second generation from Poland, Pakistan and other countries. </p>
<p>@sosxana: Uhmmm. Most selective colleges grade science courses on a curve (it’s a controversial tactic because we know that instructors at selective schools are intentionally making the exams more challenging and then forcing grades to a curve). In fact, I find that places like Vanderbilt, Emory, Duke, etc have the same curve as UCLA so don’t let that deter you (for pre-med courses, they typically let the mean/median sit a C+/B-/B. Integrated lab classes will let lecture grades sit at C+, when they are separate, grades are curved up to B- if the mean is low). Go look at the coursework for each and see which may be more friendly for you. I don’t usually vouch for Vandy science course work, but I think it’s better than UCLA (at least the courses that most pre-meds take). I find that UCLA suffers because of its size. While it is relatively rigorous for a UC, the best course I’ve seen from UCLA is its biochemistry course (it’s better than the one at a lot of top 20s), but organic chemistry (this is taught well and is fun if you take someone like Neil Garg who has gotten lots of attention for making orgo. fun using his extra credit assignment, but overall his course lacks rigor. Hardinger is another good instructor who has more rigor but maybe not the right kind. Lots of his test is multiple choice for example, and it appears it’s more like conceptual memorization than anything else. Vanderbilt has instructors like that, but you can choose someone who will give you better training whereas UCLA basically gives you only Garg or Hardinger depending on the quarter), biology (life sciences), and gen. chem (okay, this class is essentially dumb everywhere, not going to lie) leave stuff to be desired. The introductory biology series at Vanderbilt is excellent depending on who you take it with. Both use short answer which is a start to critical thinking (necessary for the MCAT), but I saw some of UCLA’s course material in the life sciences and while it is short answer, it’s the “memorize the details from the slide” sort of short answer, whereas Vanderbilt has more instructors that pose more problem solving sort of questions. I’m sure both are fine and both have great outcomes for med. school placement, but I just prefer Vanderbilt’s science courses overall (in terms of the pre-med core). Also, it’s better and not so hard that you can’t do well (compared to UCLA, it’s harder in a good way). Also, networking at a place like Vandy will be easier because it’s smaller. Making that connection to science and non-science instructors is nowhere near as difficult. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t look at MCAT scores, because sometimes that just reflects the socioeconomic status of the student body and how well they already are at testing, so of course Vandy will be significantly higher (however, UCLA does make up plenty of ground so it is an effective program I think). I just think the science courses at Vandy for pre-meds are better on the whole (if you were talking Berkeley, that’s a different story. I believe Berkeley is better than several top 20s in terms of level of science education. However, the competition comes with it. Berkeley courses are quite tough, and courses are huge! Makes already difficult coursework harder, and perhaps less beneficial, especially if pre-health where GPA, MCAT, and rec. letters really matter). The two also have similar atmospheres (except that Vanderbilt is smaller, which I believe is a plus when you are pre-prof. or pre-grad) I guess, so you wouldn’t really be missing much other than LA. </p>
<p>Speaking of selectivity, Vanderbilt is more selective (mean ACT 34 vs 30 for admitted students), therefore the competition will be tougher in your courses, but also perhaps more engaged. But I would consider more than that when choosing between them. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt has hospitals right on campus where you could volunteer. I don’t know where the UCLA med center is relative to the main campus. Are they together also?</p>
<p>The issue of making new friends is a concern for all students and can be more challenging for introverted students. Make it a priority to step out of your comfort zone to meet students on your hall. Study, eat, and go out together. Join clubs and put yourself out there and you will meet friends. Remember strong interpersonal skills are important for physicians when working with patients, staff and other physicians and this should be part of your “college learning experience”.
Sometimes this is easier to do at a private school where no one has many friends when they walk on campus as a freshman. At large state schools many students walk on campus with a peer group already in place.</p>