UCLA or UCB question pre-med

[i5tioneyes]

<p>i was wondering which school had a higher chance of pre-med students getting into med school? thanks to whoever sheds some light</p>

<p>i also posted this same question on the ucb threads but i was wondering if i would get a diffrent answer here…</p>

[BoelterHall]

<p>There is a three dimensional correlation between your grades, what you’ve learned, and chances at med school.</p>

<p>Speaking strictly from an isolation of 2 dimensions, UCB has a more competitive environment.</p>

<p>You deduce the rest. :)</p>

[bruinboy]

<p>both will give you around the same opportunities for making it into med school (so i hear). go to Cal if you need cutthroat competition to keep you on your feet. LA hasn’t been to cutthroat so far, but id say they are probably equal in difficulty (in terms of prereq classes).</p>

[iceboxx]

<p>Not really related to the topic, but I’ve heard that the school you go to for undergraduate doesn’t matter when it comes to applying to med school. Would I have a better chance of getting into med school if I went to an easier UC, like UCI?</p>

[Peppers]

<p>Yup, especially for good public ones like UCSF. I just prefer a school like UCLA because, should I not get into med school, I have a nice cushion of an undergraduate degree.</p>

[Lovelyday]

<p>I think fit is more important in this case. If you really feel that UCI is an “easy” UC, then you might not be compelled to work as hard…which might not be so good =P</p>

<p>I agree with Peppers…cushion is always nice :)</p>

[bruinboy]

<p>UCI is not an easy UC. premed is hard everywhere.</p>

[TonyLTH12]

<p>Haven’t you kids done your homework?
UCSF is known for dividing undergraduate univeristies in to three tiers (for scoring purposes): UCLA, Cal (UCB for all those that are annoyed by calling it Cal), & elite Private Univiersities; follow by UC Davis, UCI, etc…, and finally the CSUs lol</p>

<p>With that said, go with which ever place you feel you’ll thrive in. Your gonna run into your fair share of pre med jerks wherever you’ll go. That’s just the way it works whether you like it or not. Look for other deciding factors (i.e. social life, weather, ladies (boys if you’re a girl), the surrounding area, etc…)</p>

[bruinboy]

<p>^are u serious? if you are, where’d u get that info??</p>

[jyancy]

<p>^^ :rolleyes:</p>

[funnyman]

<p>getting into a med school depends on the individual and how hard he/she is willing to work. :)</p>

[TonyLTH12]

<p>google it (or find someone who’s familiar with UCSF’s admiissions). Dude, Bruinboy, you are already bruin anyway. So no need to worry :).
UCLA nabs you 3 points, UCD dos puntos, and CSUs 1 point. Out of a possible score of 18, 3 points is pretty significant if you ask me.
Funyman puts it best though: it depends on the individual. Just go to where you’ll thrive the most and everything will fall into place.
For top publics like UCB and UCLA, there’s grade deflation rather than inflation (i.e the Ivies). In terms of how much slack medical school gives you, that’s debateable. For graduate school (i.e. PhD programs in the sceinces), some programs understand and take that factor into account.</p>

[rushrules1]

<p>Doesn’t matter where you go for undergrad because uGPA isn’t as good an indicator of medical school and medical board exam performance as the MCAT. Med-school admissions committees realized long ago that uGPA can be affected by grade inflation, socioeconomic factors curricula rigor etc. etc. etc. If you’re interested in finding out exact admissions requirements and statistics for individual U.S. medical schools, and a few in Canada, buy the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirement) guide book.</p>

<p>I personally know several people that got into med-school with less than stellar uGPAs but did fantastically well on the MCATs. One person had an overall 2.7 uGPA from UCLA and got accepted into Stanford med-school. Now I’m not saying MCATs hold greater weight with med-school admissions committees. They scrutinize all aspects of a med-school applicant’s file very carefully so that any issues with uGPAs, MCATs, extracurriculars, research, volunteer activities, awards, scholarships, publications, letters of recommendations etc. are brought up and questioned during the med-school interview process.</p>

<p>

<a href=“http://www.aamc.org%5B/url%5D”>http://www.aamc.org</a>
Not only is MCAT a good predictor of USMLE scores in general, but ~1/2 of the variance (via correlation=.69) in USMLE I (science) scores is predictable by MCAT score alone. And combining undergrad gpa to MCAT adds nearly nothing for predicting any of the USMLE scores.

</p>

<p>

1: Acad Med. 2005 Oct;80(10):910-7.
Validity of the Medical College Admission Test for predicting medical school performance.</p>

<p>Julian ER.
Medical College Admission Test, Association of American Medical Colleges, 2450 N Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20037-1127, USA.</p>

<p>PURPOSE: Since the introduction of the revised Medical College Admission Test (MCAT(R)) in 1991, the Association of American Medical Colleges has been investigating the extent to which MCAT scores supplement the power of undergraduate grade point averages (uGPAs) to predict success in medical school. This report is a comprehensive summary of the relationships between MCAT scores and (1) medical school grades, (2) United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step scores, and (3) academic distinction or difficulty. METHOD: This study followed two cohorts from entrance to medical school through residency. Students from 14 medical schools’ 1992 and 1993 entering classes provided data for predicting medical school grades and academic difficulty/distinction, while their peers from all of the U.S. medical schools were used to predict performance on USMLE Steps 1, 2, and 3. Regression analyses assessed the predictive power of combinations of uGPAs, MCAT scores, and undergraduate-institution selectivity. RESULTS: Grades were best predicted by a combination of MCAT scores and uGPAs, with MCAT scores providing a substantial increment over uGPAs. MCAT scores were better predictors of USMLE Step scores than were uGPAs, and the combination did little better than MCAT scores alone. The probability of experiencing academic difficulty or distinction tended to vary with MCAT scores. MCAT scores were strong predictors of scores for all three Step examinations, particularly Step 1. CONCLUSIONS: MCAT scores almost double the proportion of variance in medical school grades explained by uGPAs, and essentially replace the need for uGPAs in their impressive prediction of Step scores. The MCAT performs well as an indicator of academic preparation for medical school, independent of the school-specific handicaps of uGPAs.</p>

<p>PMID: 16186610 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

</p>

<p>TonyLTH12 speaketh the truth. UCLA is on a similar point system.</p>

[bruinboy]

<p>wow ive never heard of a point system for med school admissions. thanks for the heads up, ill look into it.</p>