Georgetown vs UCLA vs UC Berkeley vs UNC - premed

ucbalumnus
Sat, 17 Apr 2021 23:25:50 +0000

waitingforivys:

If I’m planning to study Psychology on a pre-med track, which of the above schools would be the best option (disregarding cost as a factor)?

Since cost should be a factor for a pre-med student, in that money saved during undergraduate can be applied to medical school to reduce the debt at the end of medical school ($400,000+ cost for four years of medical school), it makes sense to choose your in-state UNC for undergraduate. It will also give you easier travel to interviews at the lower cost NC medical schools if you make it to the point of applying.

Since most frosh pre-meds never do apply to medical school, and most who do apply get shut out, it makes sense to evaluate undergraduate colleges for desirability for you in the case you do not go to medical school (i.e. which would you prefer to attend and graduate from without medical school in the picture?). But then you can add the additional pre-med criteria of lower cost and access to pre-med extracurriculars and medical school interviews to your college choice formula.

Now, if $700,000+ for your undergraduate + medical school is pocket change for your parents, you may be able to disregard cost as a factor. But that is not the case for most aspiring pre-meds.