<p>Hello there! I'm a senior who has been accepted into UCDavis, UCIrvine, and the Univ. of Colorado Boulder. My GPA was not perfect in high school because I tended to slack off (3.6) and I'm surprised I got accepted into the UC schools. I had a score of 27 on my ACT and never took the SAT. I am an out of state student for all three, which makes the prices costy but am moving to Colorado in June.</p>
<p>So my question is would it be better to go to a UC school with the student loans, go to Boulder, or go to a community college for at least the first year and then transfer as a resident. </p>
<p>From what I've read, medical schools judge you hard based on your GPA and MCAT score. Due to this, I was thinking Boulder would probably be the best bet after a year to help achieve this. I'm very hardpressed on getting into any medical school, even if it's not the best. I would really like some advice on this.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html</a></p>
<p>Transfer where as a resident? It isn’t clear from your post.</p>
<p>Before you plan on that route, you need to be aware that simply attending school in a state will not give you in-state residency status. Generally speaking, as dependent undergrad, your legal state residency will always be that of your parents. You need to carefully check in-state residency requirements for every college you’re considering transferring to. Not only do residency requirements vary from state to state, they vary from school to school.</p>
<p>Where you go is so secondary to the fact that you will have to improve your working habits. Slacking off will not work no matter where you go. You will not get college GPA = 3.6 while slacking off, and 3.6 is a bare minimum for Med. School. MCAT is no ACT either. You will have to work very hard to get a decent score. So, go where you want, it really does not matter…and start working much harder there.</p>
<p>Transfer in to Univ. of CO Boulder. My mother is moving there and residency takes about 6months to a year, which is what I believe I read when I went to there website. So I was thinking about just doing that because it would lower the price a lot more than what I would be paying otherwise. I would stay in-state, but I hate it here and from you linked, it’s important not to. I’ve been to Boulder before and I love that atmosphere.</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP, I realize this, thank you. I wasn’t planning on slacking off at all in college and my working habits have improved very much this year. I have a 4.0 so far this semester and last I ended up with a 3.9, when I know senior year doesn’t matter as much as the others. I’m taking 3 AP classes, so it’s not as if I’m just keeping a 4.0 with easy classes. I only slacked off so much because I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do and I admit that it was a mistake. I truly wish I could have done a lot more those other 3 years. </p>
<p>Boulder is a fun college town. Have friends whose kids graduated from CU. CU is fine a school. You should be able to get all your pre-med coursework there. Since med school is expensive and COA at CU SOM even instate is high (tuition & fees ~$40k/year), you should attend an undergrad where you can minimize your debt.</p>
<p>Residency for CU requires a full 12 months of CO permanent residency. If you start as freshman you’ll need to petition the registrar for change in residency status once your parent has lived there for a year. If costs are an issue (and CU is lousy with OOS FA), then starting a CO CC might e a better option for you. OOS tuition fees are higher, but not as high as CU’s. Red Rocks CC (in JeffCo) has an especially good reputation in the sciences.</p>
<p>BTW, CU’s med school isn’t in Boulder–it’s in Aurora, east of Denver so there isn’t a lot of cross-over between CU-main campus and the Health Sciences campus. </p>
<p>One suggestion if you do decide to attend college in CO-- start doing some clinical volunteering as soon as you relocate to CO. CU SOM had (at least until this spring) a minimum of 400 hours of clinical experience as a requirement for admission. CU SOM has a new dean this year and that “requirement” no longer appears on the school website, but from what I’ve heard, the expectation for a large amount of clinical volunteering in applicants remains.</p>
<p>I</p>
<p>I was planning on volunteering immediately. I’m going to try to get in at least 10-12 hours a week if I can. My mother’s friend works at a hospital and I’m going to talk to her about that, see if I can do anything with her or if there’s any position open or anything.</p>
<p>But thank you for this info! I think I’ll aim for going there my 2nd year then so I don’t have to pay the 40k a year as a OOS student. </p>
<p>Well now seriously thinking about it, if I find an apartment outside of Davis and not reside in their halls, my loans will be put down to $17k a year which isn’t as terrible for what they offer. I read they have a pre-med surgical internship which I think would be amazing to get into. I’m not concerned with research options because most universities have a lot. </p>
<p>Plus I talked to some older friends and they said it would be better to get right into the University feel especially for premed because CC doesn’t prepare you for that. All of my options are OOS and the only one I would get residency in if I attended CC is Colorado. That’s because my mother is moving there and based off that list, I wouldn’t exactly be very independent which seems like an important factor for pre-med students. </p>
<p>Right now CO Boulder is giving me a $46k in estimated fees and for some reason my financial aid isn’t going in. Davis doesn’t have it and I guess Boulder doesn’t. Boulder hasn’t offered me anything either though, waiting for responses to scholarships. Both their deadlines are May 1 though, so this is kind of nervewracking. </p>