Ah, that makes sense. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about UCI’s premed programs or medical school, but I can tell you that UCSD is going to be hard to beat in terms of med school preparation. The following is completely conjecture and should not be intended as medical school advice. My impression (edit: confirmed at https://www.aamc.org/students/aspiring/basics/284756/application1.html wooh) is that in order to maximize your chances of medical school acceptance, you should to choose an undergraduate education that helps you stand out in the following categories:
- GPA/Academics
UCSD gets a ridiculously slight edge by the numbers: the average UCI student in 2013 had a 2.98, whereas at UCSD the average was 3.09. Keep in mind that this is represents all students, not just premeds or eventual medical school applicants. In terms of academics in general, the programs are ranked pretty highly and professors tend to be accessible and helpful. - MCAT
Again, this is probably a wash. UCSD does have a Kaplan on campus, though, as well as premed advisers to guide you. It’s pretty much impossible to gauge which school will better prepare you for the exam, but SD’s bio department is usually ranked higher if that means anything. The average MCAT score for UCSD undergrads was 28.4; at UCI it was 28.9. - research/internships
This is one where I figure it’ll be hard to beat UCSD. There’s a huge emphasis on undergraduate research here–all kinds of research, really, because UCSD has the fifth largest university research budget in the nation. If you’d rather head off-campus, there are loads of research institutes in the area that I detail at the bottom of this post I wrote:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18393364/#Comment_18393364
Ton of internship opportunities in the area, too. If names like “Genentech” and “Pfizer” are too intimidating, La Jolla is a startup hub. - clinical experience (volunteering/shadowing)
See above linked post. Hella hospitals, hella opportunities. Pretty hard to beat.
(Seriously, read that post) (READ IT) - leadership experience/extracurriculars
Again, probably a wash. But UCSD has so many pre-meds on campus (and around 200 more/30% total medical applicants per year) that that translates to a lot of big and small pre-health organizations. It’s easy to get involved.
Overall, UCSD has 6 percentage points more students accepted to medical school, which really isn’t enough to sway you either way. However, I feel like it’s an awesome environment to learn in, and an amazing place (possibly even THE place) to be.