I plan to major in psychology as a pre-med student. I was wondering which school would be best at helping me get in medical school. I know that medical schools mainly look at gpa, research experience, recommendation letters, mcat score, and my grade in the required classes.
I have also taken into consideration the cost. It is wiser to minimize student debt as much as possible since medical school is already expensive. However, I’m not a fan of public schools and my admitted major at UCR is Neuroscience B.A. So that is a big minus for me since I want to major in psychology. It is very hard to switch to a psychology major at UCR. I really liked USD and Pepperdine because of their campus, culture, small class sizes, and chill environment. The cons of both private schools are the cost and lack of diversity.
Taking all of this into consideration, what do you think would be the best school for me to attend?
@Transpiration . . . a bonus for UCR would be that they are accepting a portion of their med school entering classes from their undergraduate. I’m not sure if it would be difficult to opt out of neuroscience to psych, but you did state it as if you did inquire concerning it. But the two are interrelated fields of study.
If you want to do medical school, then you REALLY need to keep the debt down for your undergraduate. Assuming UCR is in-state, that’s the best place to be going to. Medical school is hideously expensive. If you’re out of state…then you need to scrap everything re-think your options.
By the way, medical schools don’t give a rats butt about undergraduate research. Most undergraduate schools don’t even offer it, so generally they don’t take it into account to be fair to all the applicants. It’s all about top grades and high MCAT scores.
All those schools will send plenty of students to medical school-and keep in mind, all pre-meds are goal oriented, dedicated, and competitive, so it’s tough to be a pre-med everywhere.
Medical school is incredibly expensive with little or no scholarships; it’s mostly loans, so keep UG debt to a minimum.
Most undergrad schools do offer research to students…those who are motivated can often have their choice of opportunities. Agree with the above that research can help distinguish an applicant after they make the GPA/MCAT cut…but patient facing experience is more important than research.
research is not critical to being a successful med school applicant. ECs that show leadership, clinical volunteering, community service will carry much more weight. And even after med schools review your application and you are offered an interview, screw up the interview, and your chances will evaporate.
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I know that medical schools mainly look at gpa, research experience, recommendation letters, mcat score, and my grade in the required classes. /quote
This is still a common belief, but it hasn’t been true for a generation. And you didn’t mention exposure to patient care, but in fact many med schools will not admit applicants without it. As Rhodes writes in its excellent premed guide
It sounds like you are just starting to explore a medical career but haven’t looked into it very deeply yet. So you need to ask yourself why an M.D? When a lot of HS kids think of a career in medicine it becomes “I’m pre-med!” and happily embark on a track that will take 11+ years of school/training plus enormous debt. Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as you can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org
Until you’ve carefully considered the alternatives and have spent time actually working in a health care setting to see if it’s a fit, it’s better to think of yourself as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.
Nobody suggested that research be used as a substitute for the other required components of a medical school application, and in fact there’s a link to AMCAS regarding this issue, as well as leadership, patient contact, etc etc.
But research can be a plus to any medical school application.
Thank you all for the information you have provided me. However, I was already aware that EC, medical exposure, clinical volunteering, and community service are important. I apologize for not being thorough in what I knew, but thank you.
Aside from that, “what do you think would be the best school for me to attend?”
What do you know about these schools?
How may I benefit from either school?
It doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to change into psychology at UCR, especially since you are already in the department’s other major (neuroscience), and you need to maintain a very high GPA anyway for pre-med purposes. https://chassstudentaffairs.ucr.edu/dept/psyc.html
How do net prices compare to you?
What do you think of religion?
UCR = public, non-religious
USD = Catholic
Pepperdine = Churches of Christ, has convocation/chapel attendance requirement