I am a to be junior in high school and I would like to know what I can do to increase my chances of getting into not only UCLA but also it’s Med School. Thank you.
High GPA, High test scores, great essays and EC’s to get into UCLA. For Med school, again you want a High GPA 3.5+, high MCAT scores and some medically related EC’s (research, shadowing, internships). If you are aiming for UCLA as an undergrad hoping you would get preference for their Medical school, you will probably be disappointed. California is super competitive for Med schools, so target schools for undergrad where you have the best chance for a stellar GPA and expect to go OOS for Med school.
Thank You! This matters a lot.
Build a strong foundation of study skills and knowledge. Do well enough to get merit aid so you can go to a quality UG for free.
3.8+ GPA in college, 32+ MCAT (converted to new scale) and some decent EC’s for a white male. I would err on underachieving rather than overachieving on admission to an undergraduate school. In other words, if you want to be eaten alive, wait until med school.
Don’t worry too much about it now. Med schools generally only care about what you achieve while in college and beyond, nothing from high school and before. However, the name of your undergrad institution may have some influence on admissions, so you want to make sure you attend a reputable undergrad institution.
Just because it was easy to achieve the stellar 3.8+ in high school doesn’t mean that it will be in college…trust me.
Also, the rumor that graduate/professional programs of your undergrad institution will favor you as an applicant is false. Whether or not you attended the same institution for undergrad will have very little if any effect on the admissions decision. For example, if you attend UCLA as an undergraduate, you cannot assume that you will have a greater chance at getting admission into UCLA med school than those who did not.
I think we all assumed you’re a CA resident given the UCLA fixation. If that’s not the case, definitely kiss the dream of UCLA med school goodbye (I don’t know much about UCLA undergrad OOS admissions) because at this point it’s a near certainty you wouldn’t get in.
I think you are getting ahead of yourself. Concentrate on getting into a University first and consider medical school later. UCLA is an excellent undergraduate university but extremely competitive. If you have the numbers and other factors to make you competitive for UCLA you might very well be admitted with financial aid to quite a few private institutions so the cost may be similar or even less than UCLA. I also think you should understand that getting admitted to any allopathic medical school in the US is very difficult and that attending a prestigious medical school is generally not necessary for most future career prospects. Going to UCLA undergraduate might be either a slight positive or sometimes even a slight negative when it comes to UCLA Medical school admissions. On one hand the admissions committee will likely have a familiarity with the people who will write you your LOR’s which might be helpful if your letters are excellent. On the other hand the medical school does not want to take more than a certain number of UCLA students so if you are not at the top of the heap this may work against you. I’m not sure why you want to attend UCLA for medical school but admission would be helped not only by the usual high grades, MCAT scores etc but coming from the right undergraduate school also helps as more than 60% of last years entering class attended UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford or one of the Ivy’s. State residence is not a factor.
There’s really not much you can do right now for medical school. Try doing some medical experiences to see if you really want to become a doctor. If you know that, maybe look into what kind of doctor you want to be?
To be a successful premed, you need, most of all, an ability to work consistently hard. You’ll need to pick a college where you rank in the top 25% but where the resources are strong enough that, should you fail getting admission to even one med school, as is the case for half or mor applicants, and way more in California - you’d still have professional choices after graduation.
You also need, - as much as possible, to take a calculus class and AP chemistry in high school (or the equivalent through dual enrollment). Most premeds will have done so and not having them will put you at a disadvantage. You also need to know how to balance your college schedule with about 2 “hard” classe, 3 max, per semester - this isn’t high school, course rigor is assumed, so what is appreciated is your ability to estimate ahead of time how much work you’ll have for your classes. A “good” first semester schedule would probably include a 1-credit first year seminar, calculus 1, biology 1, Freshman composition, and a class that’s be easy for you in any subject (art, foreign language, economics…; whatever you feel you’re strong in).That gives you time to adjust to college and if you hit the ground running the very first week you should be able todo well. A lousy first semester may doom your plan so focus right away and don’t take A’s for granted because you got A’s in HS. Other premeds also did. Only 20% of you will this time around. As long as you remember that partying is for the weekend, office hours are your once-a -week obligation, and there’s no shame in working with a tutor, you’ll come out ahead. Second semester you’d add chemistry to biology (so, chem1, bio2), either calc 2 (if required by your university) or stats/biostats, sociology or psychology, either foreign language or art or whatever comes easy to you. You may also start with chem1 in the first semester, and start with bio1 in the Spring (so: Fall chem1/Spring chem2+bio1), but some univesities don’t allow that. Also, at many universities, general chem+ lab tends to be a killer even if you took AP chem, and not having AP chem will mean <drowning, help=""> most of the semester. Keep in mind that while med schools will expect 2 semesters of biology, they’ll expect 2 semesters of inorganic chem, 2 semesters of organic chem, and one semeser of biochemistry. Better tackle chemistry when you’re ready, and settle for the long haul with a very solid foundation.
Attending UCLA is probably not the best way to attend med school at UCLA later on - rather, look for universities with smaller class size where you have good odds of participating in research and where ther’ll be less of a competition for everything.
Make sure to include Case Western, Creighton, and UMiami, since they have a med school and it does make a difference there if you attended undergrad there. </drowning,>