Hi,
I currently live in South Carolina, recently moved from Connecticut. I’ll be a freshman in fall 2016, majoring in biology. I got accepted to CSU Northridge, UC Denver, Coastal Carolina, FGCU, and FAU. I’ve always wanted to go to California so naturally CSUN is my top choice. But I’ve read online that it’s really hard to get into the UCs for med school coming from a CSU. CSUN has a research program with UCLA so i was thinking that would help with admissions to a UC for med school. Otherwise, if I didn’t get accepted to a UC med school I’d have to go out of state again for med school. If I got to UCD, they have a medical campus. If I go to FGCU, then I was going to apply to FSU for med school, and if i go FAU, then I could stay there for med school. The realistic answer would be to stay somewhere where i can stay in state for med school, I just don’t know what to pick.
Is money a consideration? You will want to keep your undergraduate costs as low as possible and try to avoid loans because medical school is expensive.
Anywhere I go for undergrad is going to be average, I don’t think I qualify for Coastal’s in-state tuition because I just moved to South Carolina and haven’t lived here for a year yet. So each school is going to be around average based on out of state costs but the top expensive ones would be UC Denver, FAU, and FGCU.
Medical schools care about GPA and MCAT scores. Unless you are in an undergrad. program that will admit you to their med. school by maintaining set GPA and MCAT scores, it does not matter where you attend undergrad. Some things that matter are: the undergrad school gives letter recommendations by committee, and cost of attending undergrad. You will have a large amount of student loans from medical school and you can get a wonderful preparatory education at most undergrad. universities and colleges. Don’t even consider the question of where to attend undergrad in relationship to where you may apply to future medical schools. May I suggest that you look at @MiamiDAP posts regarding your concerns and questions.
You could take a gap year so you would qualify for in-state at Coastal Carolina.
@ECmotherx2 So basically, it wouldn’t really matter where I went for undergrad when applying to medical schools because they mainly base their applications off of GPA and MCAT scores and of course everything you’ve done such as volunteer work, internships and so on right? So it’d be smarter to keep my undergrad costs as low as possible to balance out the medical school loans
@“Erin’s Dad”, Don’t colleges look down upon gap years? unless I fill it with an internship and/or volunteering experiences.
Three California kids and prospective doctors in my family: not one stayed in California for med school! Med schools admissions don’t work like undergrad programs, so just because you want to stay in CA doesn’t mean you will get to.
About UCD: the med school/research facility isn’t on the Denver campus. It’s actually in another city, Aurora, located about 10 miles away. That said, the med school is highly ranked, as is the University of Colorado Hospital. You might want to research how many UCD grads get into the CU med school before making your decision.
I would also base my choice on where you believe you will have the best chance of SUCCEEDING ACADEMICALLY, and by that I mean, where you think you can get those very high grades (and very high MCATs) required for med school.
@katliamom wow thanks. That actually widened my perspective a lot. I just don’t want to end up choosing a school and regretting it because I could have gone somewhere else and received the same type of education.
Even if you go to college in CA, you’ll still be out-of-state for med school admissions, which makes it nearly impossible to get into a UC med school.
Pre-med education is pretty much the same everywhere, if you choose the standard biology/chemistry pre-med track. So what you need to be looking at is where can you do interesting medically related volunteer/work/research, in addition to where you’re likely to succeed academically. Also - finances. Med school is expensive, it’s always preferable not to have additional debt from your undergrad. So keep the financials very much in mind when making the decision.
@goldenbear2020 But I’d pretty much be considered out of state for any med school admissions. If it’s nearly impossible to get into a UC med school just because i’ll be out of state, wouldn’t that rule apply to all of the medical schools out there?
@katliamom Colorado offers a lot of internships but like you said its medical school is highly ranked. I just would have to compare which location would give me more experiences to prepare for med school. Clinical internships, I was thinking of doing a study abroad during one of my years in undergrad but I heard that adcoms look down on those?
It varies a lot by state. Less desirable and rural states may accept a substantial percentage of their class from OOS. CA, as you might imagine, has no shortage of both residents who want to stay and OOS applicants who want to move there.
For example, among UC med schools:
UCLA is 14% OOS, UCSD is 8% OOS, UCD is 4% OOS, UCI has NO OOS students!
https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/act/gradstudy/health/guide/part2/appendix
Depends what kind of study abroad. Some popular programs are looked down upon (like the notorious Semester at Sea) others show maturity, risk taking and real hands-on experience and can be a valuable addition to your resume.
Just keep in mind that a study abroad program won’t make – or break – your application. For med schools it’s all about your grades, MCATs and ECs. Plenty medical students have never been out of the country and they still got into great med schools.
Colleges do NOT look down on gap years. It’s becoming fairly common.
The type of schools that you’re applying to don’t care what you did during a gap year. You’re not applying to ivies.
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Otherwise, if I didn’t get accepted to a UC med school I’d have to go out of state again for med school
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No OOS student should go to a Calif public for premed. And yes, you’d also be OOS for med school at a Calif med school.
You don’t seem to understand the unique Calif problem with premed/med school. Calif has WAY TOO MANY premeds…and not enough med school seats. So, not only is the competition brutal for Calif med school seats, most Calif premeds end up having to go OOS.
You would NOT be considered OOS if you applied to a South Carolina med school because your aprents live in that state.
Were you thinking that after you went to CSUN for a year you would get instate tuition? NO.
How are you paying for undergrad? What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay each year?
Find out about becoming an instate resident of Coastal Carolina since your parents did move there. Find out if you’d get instate tuition THERE after one year. Either way, you should do a gap year so that you don’t have to pay out of state tuition at any SC school.
What are your stats?
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pretty much be considered out of state for any med school admissions. If it’s nearly impossible to get into a UC med school just because i’ll be out of state, wouldn’t that rule apply to all of the medical schools out there?
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No, you’d be instate for a South Carolina public med…even if you go to an OOS undergrad.
And for all the private med schools across the US, residency doesn’t matter.
And, there are “some” public med schools that accept more OOS students. But, the truth is, most public SOMs mostly only accept instate students because their mission is to educate future doctors for the state.
Did you apply to any Alabama publics? I ask because OOS students who attended an Alabama undergrad to get a preference when applying to Alabama med schools.
All US med schools are excellent. Picking a med school because it’s in a certain state (like Calif) is short sighted because you’d have no idea where you’d end up doing your residency. My son is working on his list of residencies to apply to, and often med students are applying to 50+ different residencies all over the country. Who knows where he’ll get matched during his Match Day one year from now.
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If I got to UCD, they have a medical campus. If I go to FGCU, then I was going to apply to FSU for med school, and if i go FAU, then I could stay there for med school. The realistic answer would be to stay somewhere where i can stay in state for med school, I just don’t know what to pick.
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The med school process can be counter intuitive. What you’re thinking is the “realistic answer” really is not. Most med students are not attending the med school where their undergrad was. And since you’d be OOS for FAU and FGCU, it’s doubtful that you’d get into FAU’s med school…or FSU’s med school. Florida also has enough instate premeds to easily fill their public med school seats.
Also 75% of freshmen premeds NEVER end up applying to med school. Weeding is tough at all schools. How strong a student are you? What are your stats? If they’re not high, the chances that you will make it thru the weeding process will be lowish.
When did you move to SC? Would you be considered instate if you applied for Spring admission next year?
@mom2collegekids thanks.