We can start with what makes a ‘good’ premed program. I had some thoughts about doing premed before coming to college, but went into a different area of study in MechE, so hopefully other folks who’ve done premed can provide much better insights. I can talk about each campuses, but not much on premed. Here’s what I think anyway:
- Variety of courses/programs to decide which branch of medical you would be interested in - usually this is directly proportional to the number of professors as more professors should mean more variety of classes and interests. This is one of the best aspects of a public university.
- Well-rounded education - as far as I know, med schools also take a close look at diversity in your courses. Berkeley easily takes the cake on this one; just about every department, each major is highly ranked and solid. In case pre-med doesn't work out for whatever reason, the fact there are other majors with good reputation to choose is somewhat comforting.
- Research opportunities - there are tons of research opportunities in Berkeley, but there are also many students so it could be a wash. I always advise figure out what motives you before joining a research group, especially considering undergrads are more or less free labor so you might as well as do something you like.
- 'Track record' - I don't know if there is data on percentage of pre-med students getting into med school. I'm guessing this is where Berkeley shows its cracks if you also consider those who were forced to major something else than pre-med after receiving their grade in organic chemistry in 2nd/3rd semester.
- School advising - virtually non-existent in Berkeley at least during my time. I know there are advisers and I attempted to utilize for my major whether it's guiding through coursework, relevant clinical experience/internship, and the med school application itself, but you really are on your own. Thankfully we're at an age of Google so we can easily look those up.
- Nearby hospital - I think it's critical to have a 'real-life' experience to make a better decision on what you want to pursue within medical. The nearby Alta Bates hospital in Berkeley is nowhere compared to UNC Medical or Cleveland Clinic. In fact, this is probably the best case to make for Case Western as it is one of the best medical institutions with so many branches of medicine. The fact that there is no medical school in Berkeley hurts a lot, even though there are plenty of positives.