Pre-med at Cal... Really that awful?

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
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<p>I got into UCLA for Fall Quarter and Cal for Spring Semester (planning on participating in FPF if I do end up going to Cal). I’m planning on going to medical school, and I’ve already heard so many bad things about choosing Cal over UCLA though the prestige is somewhat higher…</p>

<p>For example, Cal doesn’t have a medical school, so it’s harder to get internships and etc. … Professors are more interested in research than spending time on undergrads, so recommendations are even harder to get at Cal than at UCLA… Grade deflation… etc.
I’m going to major in the sciences so these kinds of stuff really scared me.</p>

<p>I even read this on another forum:
“In addition, because of the competitive nature of the premeds at Cal, there is a lot of cheating at Cal. I remember one incident, where a student actually stole a professor’s computer right after class because he thought the exam was on it, and afterwards, the professor gave bogus threats to the class about how he had confidential NIH and CDC info on it. Check out the webcast of his threats: [Movie</a> Reviews & TV Show Reviews | Screen Junkies](<a href=“ifilm.com”>ifilm.com), it is not unusually for students to try to hurt other students either by giving them wrong information, messing up their experiments, and etc.”
(found here [UCLA</a>, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSD for undergrad | Pre-Medical Allopathic [ MD ] | Student Doctor Network](<a href=“UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSD for undergrad | Student Doctor Network”>UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSD for undergrad | Student Doctor Network))</p>

<p>Though I am swayed to UCLA by all this information, I still feel pretty ambivalent and would like to hear some feedback on here, in my own topic.</p>

<p>As for financial/personal concerns about my decision… I’d really just like to disregard tuition in this topic and see where it goes. I like SoCal/NoCal as well as Westwood/Bay Area equally, really, and I acknowledge both their pros and cons but really still love both so both are pretty good personal fits, I guess.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help :)</p>

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<p>First of all, congrats in getting to both schools! It’s great to be in a position to choose between them. Premeds don’t intentionally sabotage each other or anything but you got to realize it’s not easy getting that A. Sometimes even if you work hard, it does not pay off because there are so many other smart, hardworking individuals here. However, I think the learning environment of Cal and UCLA should not be too different because both are large schools with hard classes. You really need to seek out opportunities for yourself in both schools. Honestly, there is really no “wrong” choice you can make here. Both are great schools and if Cal is too hard or intense for someone, UCLA will be too.</p>

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<p>Are you trying to say there’s no cheating at UCLA or that it won’t be as competitive there?</p>

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<p>starmia - Yeah, I think you’re correct…My parents are leaning toward Berkeley since it’s supposedly more well-known than UCLA, but I really would not like to just agree with them and go to Berkeley for the name…</p>

<p>Batman17 - Not at all. I just hear horror stories about the grade deflation at Berkeley and how UCLA is more suited to pre-med given that it has a medical center. Just wanted to hear what other people thought so I could wrap my head around my decision more.</p>

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<p>While a lot of the stuff doesn’t really differ between Berkeley and UCLA, I do have to say that UCLA is so much better in terms of permed just in terms of what’s available and the interests of the professors.</p>

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<p>I agree with excelblue. </p>

<p>I mean, the only good thing about doing pre-med at Cal is that Cal prepares you for med school really well (or so I’ve heard). Also, nomenclature should not be such a heavy factor in your choice. Both schools are excellent, but in terms of pre-med, I would choose UCLA (think, A- at UCB vs A- at UCLA).</p>

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<p>Even though UCLA have their medical school, we still have UCSF across the bay…
It’s really hard to compare because not many people studied premed at both schools. Pretty much everything you hear is from one side’s experience only.</p>

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<p>very interestning…anyone else??</p>

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<p>If you are wondering about grade inflation, look here: [National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com%5DNational”>http://www.gradeinflation.com)</p>

<p>At the bottom are average grades by school and year.</p>

<p>Some stats on medical school applications and admissions: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/MedStats.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/MedStats.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I am pretty involved in the premed community at Cal and there are many people who succeed and many more along the way who drop out of premed and switch to other paths (and there is nothing wrong with that, premed is not for everyone). It is really hard to predict how well you do in Berkeley before you come here because there are so many variables. One thing I noticed is that competitive high schools really prepare you well for Berkeley and many premeds that are succeeding in Berkeley have great study skills and solid academic background coming into Berkeley.</p>

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<p>From what I have heard from my pre-med friends, the low GPA is really due to people not knowing what they are getting themselves into. People go into college either pressured by their parents or think that the medical route is easy money and declare a pre-med major without actually being good at, or even being passionate, about medicine. </p>

<p>Bottom line, if you know what you are doing, and you are good at science subjects like Bio and Chem, then you should be fine. (always nice to add an extra dose of hard work as well).</p>

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<p>Pre-med courses can be done alongside any major.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the majority of pre-med students.</p>