@AeroDE . . .
True, I wouldn’t go on some of the other sites and mention UCLA as one of your options, as the vibe there is certainly against it. UCLA gets targeted by students from other colleges for whatever underlying reasons, especially the first one you mentioned which I will not state.
It sounds like you’ve done extraordinarily well in keeping cost down. I don’t know if cc was an active plan of yours when you graduated high school or whether it was primarily your only option with your finding your ability to study and get good grades in that environment, but in either case, congrats to you for doing extremely well.
And don’t worry about placement into an SOM as a cc graduate or attendee, because I’ve seen doctor CVs which state, e.g., Santa Monica College, UCLA, and UCLA SOM for their college educations, and there are doubtlessly Irvine Valley College, UCI, UCI SOM. (Sorry to have only matched colleges wrt geography.)
Good that you’re keeping your options open besides med school. UCLA does place the highest numbers perhaps in the country with > 500 (an adjusted number) being accepted in med school this year from the University, but it has ~ 50% acceptance rate. The other UCs have about that rate or a bit lower, but they’re over the national average of 40%.
The reason why UCLA and the other UCs don’t have higher rates of acceptances is probably because many are seeking admission to med school in the same year they graduate. If you’re in a hurry, then make sure that you practice your interview skills and make sure you don’t neglect the reading-comprehension section of your MCAT test, because as a biochem major, you’ll undoubtedly do well in the other three parts. The failure for UCLA and other UC students to gain admission is perhaps mainly attributable to their neglect of the comprehension part of the test, but I don’t think it’s a bad strategy to apply in the same year, though there will be others who say diametrically the opposite. Also, cast a wide net to all the SOMs across the nation as UCLA students do, or in your case as a UCI student.
There isn’t grade inflation at UCLA, but neither is it grade deflation. The curve at Berk and UCLA is not that bad. Just be sure to invoke due diligence in planning your courses because there will be some gpa-killer professors. Get feedback from your fellow biochem majors on who these are and look at the Bruinwalk site if you attend UCLA.
With respect to your college choice, if you can purchase that apartment near UCI, that’d be a good thing, and it might tip the scales to the zot crowd.
Best of luck!