Which university should I choose for my undergrad major in biochemistry?

College Search & Selection
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Hi. Recently I’ve been accepted to UCSD, Pepperdine, Northeastern, Stony Brook U, and a 7 year program at NYIT (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine). I’m split between which school I should choose to attend. Money isn’t that much of an issue (parents make 500k pre-tax combined, but we do live in an area with high taxes and I have siblings who will have to go to college in a couple years too). Here are some general pros and cons.

UCSD: It’s my dream school and I’m aware of all of the access to top-notch research and volunteer opportunities there. It’s also in La Jolla, which is, to me, an ideal place to live out my next four years. However, I’m aware that there is a lot of competition there and getting the close-to-4.0 GPA that is required for medical school be really difficult. Also, though, I was accepted out of state, so maybe that means that I’m above the typical UCSD student? (As in, while the average there is a 3.2, that average includes in-state students and CC transfers). Tuition is about 60K for me OOS including room and board, and books; I didn’t get aid.

Pepperdine: it’s in Malibu. They have very high med school acceptance, though to get research and volunteer opportunities, I would have to go to LA probably, which is a bit far from Malibu and would put me up against the USC and UCLA students for spots. I think it would be easier to get a 4.0 GPA here though. Tuition is 53K for me here including 10K scholarship and room-and-board.

Northeastern: Proximity to top-notch hospitals and the like, though because of all of the top schools in Boston, Northeastern, maybe, would be viewed as a bit sub-par. Also, I got accepted NUin, which means I’d have to take a semester abroad before starting at NEU for Spring 2019. Tuition is also about 60K here for me.

Stony Brook: pretty decent opportunities, with hospital on campus and the Brookhaven lab about 10 mins away. I also got 12K total scholarship, which makes my tuition about 5K per year since I’m in-state.

NYIT BS/DO 7-yr: My dad is really intent on me going here. The cool thing is that I don’t have to worry about getting accepted to med school. The only reason I really don’t want to go here is because of the DO degree instead of MD. I think that if I do well at my other schools, I’ll have the chance of getting into med school whereas here I’m stuck with a DO degree. I know that DOs are treated similar to MDs, but I would really prefer to get an MD over a DO if I could. This is my “no risk option”. Tuition is about 50K, though they said I qualify for some scholarship money.

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Edit: when I said biochem, my accepted major at UCSD, SBU, and Northeastern is biochem, at Pepperdine it is Bio, and at NYIT it is Life Sciences. Thanks for the help!

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Bump

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BUMP!!!

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Chill on the bumping especially just 2 hours after post.

Putting aside the 7 year program, all the schools on your list will provide you with the resources and opportunities you need to be a competitive med school applicant. Whether you become one such applicant will be more about your efforts, less about the school attended. Med schools do not require a 4.0 GPA. They do require a college degree in any area of your choosing (eg biochem, Spanish, religion, etc). They will require completion of premed reqs. A competitive app has competitive GPAs and MCAT, ECs which demonstrate you have the attributes med schools expect (eg, leadership, altruism, compassion, etc), strong LoRs, PS (explains why you choose medicine). You can have all that and a 4.0 GPA, then be rude at your interview, and you can say adios to your chances at that school. Med school is crazy expensive and typically paid for with loans that require repayment. Consideration should be given to graduating from college with as little debt as possible which makes Stony Brook a strong contender. As premed is hard everywhere, you should have a Plan B as most who start premed change their minds, and of those that apply 60% fail to start anywhere.
If you go to one of these schools, have bank of mom and dad save $$ for med school.

GPAs
https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstablea16.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

Unlike other schools on list one overlooked quirk with most UCs, including UCSD, is they operate on a 10 week quarter system. If not prepared from onset, the speed and demands of a quarter can wreak havoc on a GPA quickly.

I would ignore any schools indicating high med school acceptance rates as these numbers are easily toyed with. Doesn’t Pepperdine have religious bent about it, not necessarily a bad. Although most MD applicants probably have research as EC, it’s not a requirement especially if your only plan is to treat patients.

Although with getting an acceptance you’re probably a strong student, but according to school’s website, you have some reqs you have to meet or face automatic dismissal. So I wouldn’t say you don’t have to worry,or no risk option, I’d guess some students who get admitted get dismissed.
https://www.nyit.edu/arts_and_sciences/osteopathic_medicine_bsdo_admissions

Although some residencies might have bias in favor of MD, patients will still call you doctor.

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thanks for the input.

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…am interested in what other people have to say on this matter though. BUMP!

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https://www.nyit.edu/arts_and_sciences/osteopathic_medicine_bsdo_admissions describes NYIT’s BS-DO program. Note the requirement to maintain a 3.5 college GPA, which is harder for most students than maintaining a 3.5 HS GPA. You also need to score high enough on the MCAT. However, if you do meet the requirements, you will not have to go through the stressful and expensive application process for MD or DO schools.

For the non-BS-DO schools, Stony Brook looks like the best option. The others are much more expensive; you may want to save the money for medical school. Also, Pepperdine is a religious school with conservative rules; are you ok with those rules?

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I don’t see the the benefit of the BS-DO program. Please someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the program requires you to maintain a 3.5 GPA which is the average GPA for DO matriculants overall. It also requires you to achieve an MCAT score that aligns with the average MCAT for matriculants. In other words, I don’t see that the program benefits you much, if at all.

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Do you want to be a doctor? Definitely? then do the BS/DO program.
Even if you got a good GPA and good MCAT scores that doesn’t mean you will get admittted to med school.

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Thanks for the replies. A teacher and club advisor I’m pretty close to is advising that I go choose the BS/DO program if I want to become a doctor. I do want to go into plastic surgery though and open up private practice, and I feel that maybe taking a chance and getting into med school after one of the four year undergrads might be better. What do u guys think?

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Please be aware plastic surgery is very difficult to be matched into even for a Md school graduate. For a DO school graduate it’s even harder or almost impossible.

You cannot even imagine of medical specialty before the completion of medical school. So let’s do one thing at a time, get in to a program first and not fantasizing the outcome from 16 years into the future.

To answer the question about gpa to get into a DO school. Since the MD and DO matching process is combined, the bar of accepted DO student average GPA has been raised to around 3.6. So the NYIT requirements is not unreasonable.

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@UCSDfan1007 nice username chief. I’m not a fan of most DO curricula, so I’m going to ignore that option and focus on the rest. If you decide to go with that, you decide to go with that.

I understand why UCSD is your dream school and in this situation, I also think it’s your best option. The research opportunities cannot be touched and having access to top-notch internships, recruitment, professors and labs cannot be understated. You can volunteer or research at any of the four major hospitals within two miles of campus, or work at world-renowned labs like the Salk Institute, Scripps Research Institute, SBPMDI, Sanford Consortium, or, of course, UCSD. There’s also a school of medicine which is a great place to network with actual medical students or just hang around the medical library. Did I mention the research funding? $1.1 billion in research trickles down to create a lot of jobs for undergrads. But I understand your concern, because…

It’s hard. UCSD is hella hard. I’ve compared my classes to my friends’ at UCSB and UC Berkeley, and it’s anecdotal evidence but the workload and grading at UCSD seemed a lot harsher. And I get why that would concern someone applying for medical school. But I’ve rationalized to a lot of people by saying that yes, it’s a challenge, but if you’re a premed you don’t want to start your college career by shying away from a challenge. Medical school won’t be easy, practicing medicine won’t be easy, and if you can’t cut it as a premed why would anyone want you as their doctor? A lot of people are up to the challenge. Many aren’t. And I’d hesitate to say that you’re smarter than anyone here until you get here and see what kind of geniuses you’re competing with. But it sounds like you’re game for the challenge, and if you are then you should always pick the place with the highest ceiling for you to flourish.

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Bumping for some more opinions as this is a pretty tough decision for me. Thanks to everyone who already answered.