<p>Thank you, that makes perfect sense to me. Okay, phew, that’s a sigh of relief! </p>
<p>Thanks man, I really appreciate it. Sorry for sounding ambiguous and everything.</p>
<p>If you’re thinking of doing pre-med at berkeley as a transfer student, you’re really going to have to work your butt off, especially since they only give transfer students 2 years to graduate. Not to mention Berkeley or any of the other UCs are notorious for being bad for Pre-med because of the jacked up curves and horrible grade deflation. Getting into those classes themselves could be pretty tough. I’d look into a post-baccalaureate pre-med program if you’re SERIOUSLY considering med school. They have a good number of them in california like in SF State.</p>
<p>Thanks ixr, and I’m sorry for sounding so ignorant, but what’s a post-baccalaureate pre-med program? I’ve just never heard of it. Could you describe it for me? I can see that you do it after you receive your Bachelors, but what exactly does it entail?</p>
<p>I really want to go to Berkeley for undergrad, so that may be a smarter option. What do you think? Btw, for the record, I’m not so great at physics/calculus/and have no clue about O chem…but I’m assuming the same.</p>
<p>[UCSF</a> School of Medicine - Post Bacculaureate Programs](<a href=“http://medschool.ucsf.edu/postbac/index.aspx]UCSF”>http://medschool.ucsf.edu/postbac/index.aspx)</p>
<p>I just read through it seems interesting 0.0 although this quote…</p>
<p>"The program begins in June 2009 and is 11 months in duration. It will be limited to 17 individuals in 2009-2010. "</p>
<p>^oops wrong college thats UCSF not SFSU sorry hehe. </p>
<p>[Formal</a> PB Application & Admissions - Health Professions at SFSU](<a href=“http://online.sfsu.edu/~brothman/formal_program/admission_applications.html]Formal”>http://online.sfsu.edu/~brothman/formal_program/admission_applications.html)</p>
<p>don’t know what to tell you i would say pre-med might not be for you. </p>
<p>iirc for pre-med the very minimum requirement is </p>
<p>At least one year of general biology
At least one year of calculus (Calculus I and II)
At least one year of general (inorganic) chemistry with lab
At least one year of organic chemistry with lab
At least one year of physics with lab
English composition</p>
<p>so basically 4 out of the 5 requirements. </p>
<p>3.5 gpa is a must basically and finding a school with a pre-med advising would really help. </p>
<p>Honestly UCSD might be better for med school than Cal. The biology program at UCSD is renowned and have a good plan on getting you into med school with advising.</p>
<p>Again, just to clarify, that post-bacc program states that you need to have your undergrad premed requirements under your belt before you can be admitted to that program, right?</p>
<p>Judging by ixr’s response, I was under the impression that you could do most of your premed courses in this program if, in fact, you had not so during the pursuit of your Bachelor’s. </p>
<p>So to be brief, does this program (in general) provide many classes that I would need to get into med school if I didn’t take them in undergrad? For example, if for whatever reason, I decided to not take Calc and Physics during my last 2 years at UCB or UCD, I could still or cannot enroll in this post-bacc program?</p>
<p>@andrewexd UCSF is also one of the best medical program and extremely selective. So i don’t know what to say .</p>
<p>Strange fact UCSF used to be a part of Cal and if they were combined i believe CAL would be rank 1 in US</p>
<p>Post-bacc programs are for non-traditional (didn’t apply straight from undergrad) pre-meds who want to take the required classes to apply to med school. The people who enroll for these programs are usually career changers who decided they want to pursue medicine or any other health related field (pharmacy, dentistry, etc). </p>
<p>The good thing about these programs is that they’re entire focused on preparing you for med school. The class sizes are usually smaller (40-50) and most of your classmates and professors are really supportive/driven. You take all the required pre-med courses along with some upper divisions like biochem and anatomy/physio. Some even have MCAT preparation classes. It also gives you more time to get in some extracurriculars on your application.</p>
<p>Definitely find out if you want to go into medicine though by volunteering or shadowing a doctor. My friend who got accepted to UCLA med school last year didn’t even consider becoming a doctor until the end of her freshman year when she worked in a hospital in Europe over the summer.</p>
<p>I never knew UC’s want you out in 2 years 
because technically you could be a super senior and get your pre-med reqs in right ?</p>
<p>Okay, I didn’t see the SFSU option until just now. That seems perfect. If Berkeley truly is as competitive in the premed track with its infamous grade deflation, then I should probably only take a few of those premed prereqs during undergrad (if I stick with this post-bacc plan that is). </p>
<p>I really thank you for this info ixr and andrewexd! Major help and a huge relief. I know med schools are incredibly competitive to get into. Real quick, how come the post-bacc option isn’t as well known? It seems alot easier to get into (at least for SFSU) than for med school in general. Why is this?</p>
<p>I want to become a child psychiatrist. Would doing a post-bacc program like the SFSU one hinder this?</p>
<p>Btw ixr, you perfectly described my situation. I’m starting my junior year in the fall with no premed reqs done, and I only recently decided to take this path. I’m also considering a PhD in Organizational Development. I think the best plan of action for me would be to go to UCB (if I get in) and take mostly major course reqs, but also some premed requirements. Then, hopefully I would go into a post-bacc premed program afterward.</p>
<p>Also, I would like to volunteer at a hospital. However, I’d also like to shadow a doctor…How does one begin shadowing a doctor lol?</p>
<p>Sorry for the absurd amount of questions guys, and thank you to everyone and anyone who can help me out.</p>
<p>@ jnewaz, don’t tell him/her to ignore me, he/she asked for a “premed” good gpa. 4.0 (or close) is my answer</p>
<p>There are hundreds of premeds from every other university out there, I don’t think suggesting the OP a 3.2 cc gpa to transfer to merced is good premed advice. If anything, the OP should ignore you since my advice was less misleading.</p>
<p>@emilsinclair9 - It’s also possible to take 95% (if not all) of your pre-reqs for pharmacy school at a community college. Almost all school will accept CC credits and very few look down on it (USC does look down on CC). Santa monica college is one of the better ones. A lot of people who have degrees do this because they can’t get financial aid anymore (except loans) so it’s cheaper and if you pick the right professors you can often find ones who teach both at universities and community colleges, or have a PHD, etc. California community colleges are really good because professors spill out from univ. to CC and they teach the exact same course.</p>
<p>There are options to go abroad and attend medical school outside of US. But, you will have to take the USMLE to become licensed in the US to practice.</p>
<p>@peter86
You must be kidding with that junction thing right?</p>
<p>@emilsinclar9
PhD MD will mean you will stay in school til you’re 33+ (you have no premed requirements done)</p>
<p>I don’t know the exact history of the U.C’s but according to a wikipedia reading last year </p>
<p>i quote “he University of California’s second president, Daniel Coit Gilman, opened the Berkeley campus in September 1873. Earlier that year, Toland Medical College in San Francisco had agreed to become the University’s “Medical Department”; it later evolved into UCSF.”</p>
<p>[University</a> of California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California]University”>University of California - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>If you also notice UC Berkley has no medical program which is what really hurts it in national . rankings along with endowments being a public school</p>
<p>[Colleges</a> & schools - UC Berkeley](<a href=“http://berkeley.edu/academics/school.shtml]Colleges”>Schools & colleges - University of California, Berkeley)</p>
<p>If you combined UCB and UCSF which are basically two doors down from each other then it would easily be number one ranked if i recall correctly. Just look at the two schools mascots “Bears and Golden Bears”</p>
<p>@ andrewexd: Would you then recommend that I go through my two years of undergrad without most of the premed requirements and then going back to community college for those classes and then apply to med school/pharmacy school? </p>
<p>Or would it be a better decision to go through my final two years of undergrad the same way, but then enter into a post-bacc program? </p>
<p>Also, sorry for again sounding ignorant, but would it matter at all if I went to pharmacy school instead of med school in order to become a child psychiatrist? Or are they the same thing and I’m just sounding foolish?</p>
<p>Thank you again for the help.</p>
<p>@ edmfanatiq: I’m not planning on getting my MD and PhD lol! Well at least not yet. I’m debating between going for either a MD or a PhD in Org. Behavior. </p>
<p>However, one thing I know for sure, is that I’m not finishing my schooling in two years.</p>
<p>Pharmacy school and medical school are two different schools focusing on different disciplines.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you’re getting that number one ranking thing. Cal undergrad can never be ranked number 1. Why? Because it’s a public school. Maybe for graduate school Cal can be safely ranked among the top 5. There are schools that are joining together like BCM and Rice, but they’re rankings won’t skyrocket, they’ll move up a few spots…</p>
<p>@ edmfanatiq: So if I want to become a child psychiatrist, which school would focus on that? Pharmacy or med school? I would imagine that both would be acceptable though.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the any of the previous posts, so someone might have already said this.</p>
<p>But…</p>
<p>“Premed” is such a pretentious d*uchebag pseudo-title. Cut the crap, you’re either a medical student or you’re not. </p>
<p>However, if you are a _______ major who is considering medical school, I would emphasize your grades earned in med school prereq courses, MCAT score, and professional profile more than what you majored in and what your graduation gpa is/was. I’ve talked a lot with academic advisors and science professors, and multiple times I have been told that the most popular undergrad degree among medical students is philosophy. Although, I have yet to find concrete evidence this is true. But… Think about all you “premed-ers”</p>