I haven’t read this entire thread but do your parents a favor and go to UMICH, honestly. Ace your GPA, ace the MCAT, get good clinical and non-clinical volunteering in 4 years and get into med school.
Your perspective will be a lot different when you are paying the bill.
Fate didn’t get our Pitt grad off the Ivy waitlists but he ended up Pitt and it was absolutely the best thing to happen to him. Pittsburgh is his home town but that made no difference in literally anything, he lived on campus. Being closer to home was only a positive.
My son actually crossed UW off his list because it seemed much too stressful and competitive, after he talked to a lot of students in his major and in the clubs he was intrerested in. Multiple UW students advised my son that if you had to take any lower level math and science classes, it was better to take them through concurrent enrollment at a local community college, to avoid tough “weed out” grading. Cal seems much less stressful and competitive to my son than what he heard about at UW
Neither of these schools are relevant to the OP, of course. The OP is not looking at going to UCLA either. The OP is comparing UMich to UC Davis (a school that is NOT known for a cutthroat atmosphere, at least among students we know…) and UC Irvine (a school that I don’t personally know at all). I’m not sure that generalizations about the UCs as a whole are going to help OP.
I disagree. It is not like a school where NO ONE lives on or near campus, but just a school where there aren’t a lot of dorms so students have to live in the community. Many flagships have this too, where only freshmen live on campus and it doesn’t mean everyone else is a commuter. The students are full time, and there are activities on campus (although not a lot of athletics). It is a great school.
I’d still go to Michigan and vacation in California with all the money I’d save.
(and there is the most wonderful international grocery close by, where bread comes out of a pizza oven type oven and is so delicious that I’d wait in line for it - and often did)
This discussion has veered far away from the OP’s question. Please focus on the OP, who might I remind is a MI resident considering these three schools for undergrad. Further off-topic posts will be deleted. Thanks for your understanding.
ETA: A reminder that this is not the forum to discuss race in admissions, particularly med school admissions, which are completely off-topic.
In terms of competitive atmosphere, expect to find it greatest in pre-med / biology major courses at most colleges. (Highly competitive secondary admission majors may be local exceptions.)
@cueless am I correct that you are considering just these three colleges, and don’t want to apply to any others?
There are pluses and minuses to all three of these colleges…but applying to medical school from any of them is not an issue. You have a few weeks to make a decision. I’m looking forward to hearing your choice.
wasn’t there also a CA resident preference at the Cal med schools?
There isn’t any instate preference at any of the UC med schools except for UCR SOM (Inland Empire residents) and the San Joachim Prime Program (UCMerced/UCSF Fresno/UCSF SOM) for residents of the San Joachim Valley. OOS and instate applicants are considered on the same footing.
More CA med school applicants attend OOS med schools than in-state med schools. 18% of CA med school applicants matriculated instate and 25.2% matriculated OOS last year. (The rest didn’t get accepted anywhere,)
BTW, the competition for CA medical residency training slots is even more fierce. with 1/3 of all MD grads each year expressing a desire to Match to a CA program.
I don’t know anything about UC-Irvine, but I do know a couple of people who went to UC-Davis from OOS. They had a great time there and got to do all kinds of interesting things. Both went to med school. Both were accepted to UC-Davis SOM, but only 1 chose to attend it. (The other went to med school in her home state because it was 1/3 the price of UCD SOM.) Davis has–or used to have-- a program that sent premeds to do medically- related experiential learning in Mexico. One young woman even met her future husband while assisting medical workers in Oaxaca.) Lots of volunteer possibilities, esp if you have some Spanish language skills.
UMich has lots of wonderful opportunities too. D2 lived in AA for 2 years post college while working at UM Hospital. UMich has a structured shadowing program for premeds thru it health profession advising office.
UMich does favor its own students. (Partly this is because of how UMich SOM is funded. The MI legislature gives funds the SOM and in return requires at 40% of each entering class must be MI residents. The rest of the funding from the med school comes from private endowments, research funding, donations and other non-state sources so the adcomm can take whoever they choose with that for the rest of the slots.)
However, I will note that D2 got really tired of living in AA and wanted to go to med school in the West–which she did. Although she interviewed all over the US for residency, she ranked all her Western options at the top of her list She matched to a program Rocky Mountain region, finished her residency there, did fellowship there and now is an attending in private practice in the same western city.
My understanding is that the advantage is based on state residency not the state where the undergrad college is located.
However it would mean leaving CA after college since at age 24 residency is no longer tied to parents?
It’s based on being a MI resident, not on attending UMich.
However it would mean leaving CA after college since at age 24 residency is no longer tied to parents?
Not exactly. Age has nothing to do with it.
Once an individual is no longer a full time college student their residency is no longer tied to their parents’ residence so long as they establish an independent domicile. (Renting an apartment in their own name, getting a driver’s license & registering to vote in the new state, working and paying state income taxes as a resident, etc )
However, residency for admission purposes and residency for tuition purposes are not the same thing. One can be considered a resident of a state for admission purposes and still not qualify for instate tuition. Every medical school has its own rules for both. An applicant can list any state that want to as their home state on AMCAS, but each med school makes its own determination of residency status based on its own criteria.
