Hi im a Junior in Taft High School and wanted to know what is best I do. I have 4 main school choices; UC Berkely, UCLA, JHU, and University of Pennyslvania Perelman. I’m striving to be an interventional radiologist and wanted to go to JHU because of its amazing medical school. I wanted to see which University I have the best shot of getting into? If I should transfer from a CC, Cal-State, or an easier UC? Overall general advice and guidance. Thank you.
You need a bachelor’s degree to enter medical school. You to not transfer into one. If you cannot get into a competitive UC as a freshman you likely will not be admitted to any of those medical schools.
So even if I manage to transfer into one of these universities, getting into medical school will be difficult?
Getting into top medical schools is extremely difficult. What are your stats? if your high school stats are mediocre what do you plan to do in community college or at a CSU that would show better results?
@TomSrOfBoston Firm disagree with needing to go to a top school for a top medical school. My older sister went to a bottom tier CSU from cc no less bc her high school record was bad and got accepted into Harvard Med, among others. You need strong LORs, research experience, and other stuff.
To transfer to a UC, you should go to community college. It’s like 100x easier to go to UCLA from CCC vs a CSU or other UC.
See if you get in as a freshman first, otherwise CCC is a great option.
My stats are not mediocre in high school they are just not enough to get me into these schools because I have only taken a couple AP’s so far. Im sure that in CSU or CC I will be able to maintain almost straight A’s, thats not my issue. I need help on what is better to transfer from into one of my choices.
Community college is the way to go to get into your choices, no question
Are there other factors that go into looking at my freshmen application?
You should be concerned about what it takes to get into medical school, not what it takes to transfer into a highly ranked university for undergrad.
For undergrad, you should be looking to attend a university that is affordable, and where you will be able to maintain a strong GPA. Premed classes will be difficult at any of the top 200 universities in the US. Also, there are a LOT of universities in the US with very strong premed programs.
Getting into any US medical school is going to be significantly more difficult than going from high school to a university with a very good premed program. As such I tend to agree with @TomSrOfBoston.
Do you have the grades to get into a “middle” UC, such as Irvine or Davis? These are very good universities.
Are you simply mi-using the term “transfer”? For medical school, you first get a Bachelor’s degree. Then you go to medical school. Typically, you are likely to attend medical school at a different university than were you did your Bachelors. When you start in medical school, this is not a transfer. It is just starting a new degree at a new university.
I heard that going into CC then transfering into a UC or likewise is a big mistake and takes years if they even accept you. However, I have also heard that the TAP program puts the CC kids at a priority for UCs and I can start taking CC classes while in high school to shorten my time there. So I am very confused. My counselors do not provide much help either.
I know that med school and undergrad school are different. I just thought that if I went to UCLA then the med school at JHU would be more likely to accept me due to where I received my bachelor’s.
Medical school admission is almost entirely numbers based. Your GPA matters. Your MCAT matters. Your hours of job-shadowing and/or medical volunteer work matter. Getting good grades in the pre-med coursework matters. The name of the college or university on your diploma barely registers. Your undergraduate major doesn’t matter at all. Not to mention that where you attend med school in the US barely matters either. All of them are excellent. For your specific career goal, the only thing that really will matter will be where you complete your eventual residency/residencies. Check out the Pre-Med & Med School forum for more details.
Med school is hideously expensive and there is almost no aid other than loans. The standard advice is to look for places that you can graduate from with a good GPA, and debt free. If you have the stats for JHU, there are other places that could be free or nearly free. Read through the thread on Automatic Scholarships at the top of the Financial Aid forum for ideas.
I mean 4 years of undergrad school. 4 years of med school. The MCAT exam. 4 years of residency. Then HOPEFULLY find a job somewhere. I dont know if im prepared for that. Originally I picked radiology for my career choice for the pay and then started to look into it and realized that it was not that hard ( I heavily underestimated it). Now im thinking of another career path. Thank you everyone for your help I appreciate it. I will look into this more and come back again if I have any further questions.
In general, no- your GPA and MCAT will matter much more than where you did your undergrad (see @OhWhatsHerName’s post above). Priorities of undergrad should be: financial (least/no debt), academic (can you excel), opportunities for research, etc. Brand name isn’t a priority.