Chances Increase for a UC Med School?

[medbound13]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I currently am a resident and enrolled in a Cal State University but, am thinking of transferring to a UC for my undergraduate after I have completed 60 units. Would this increase my chances of getting into a UC medical school as I heard that those med schools are usually not so accepting of Cal State med applicants. Thanks for any help!

 

[DoctaFuture]

I would assume it's better to go to a UC over a Cal State. But regardless of institution, you want to get the highest GPA possible and a good MCAT score.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Yes, it should increase your chances. Transfer is a good idea.

 

[dragon529]

I second the transfer idea. 🙂

 

[Carbon inc]

I considered doing this during my second year but keep this in mind: it is very difficult to transfer from a Cal State to a UC. The UC's reserve most of their transfer spots for community college students, many of whom are in guaranteed admittance programs. Also, transferring units can be tricky since the CSU's are on a semester system and most of the UC's are on a quarter system. You'd need to make sure that you complete course sequences (ie. Bio I & II, GChem I & II) before transferring or else you may need to retake courses.

I ultimately decided to stay at my CSU because transferring to a UC seemed to be more trouble than it was worth and the chances of admittance are very low for students coming from 4-year universities. For state funding reasons, they give priority to those who aren't already enrolled in a 4-year institution.
However, I know several CSU alumni who attended or are currently attending medical school at UC's including UCSF, UCSD and UCLA, so it is possible to get into one of these med schools from a CSU...you'll just have to do better on the MCAT and have a higher GPA to "prove" yourself since CSU's reputation generally puts you at somewhat of a disadvantage.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Carbon, I have heard about this CSU to UC difficulty stories before, but I have yet to see someone from state have difficulty making it into a UC if their GPA is 3.0 or above. I think it's simply one of the myths they keep telling students so they won't try to transfer.

 

[Propylene]

I know a couple of med students at UC Davis that went to Sac State and other state schools for undergrad. It's definitely doable!

 

[Potatoman1800]

Good luck on the transferring issue, but UCs don't really care to pick from their own undergrad bunch. Many, many people get screened out from a secondary or rejected from their own alma mater. I could see how they would like UC students in their classes, but in the end you do need a strong application to be considered.

 

[Humanz]

Good luck on the transferring issue, but UCs don't really care to pick from their own undergrad bunch. Many, many people get screened out from a secondary or rejected from their own alma mater. I could see how they would like UC students in their classes, but in the end you do need a strong application to be considered.

Vice-Versa, some UC's reserve a large portion of their incoming spots -for- people of their alma mater. My UC reserves 24 spots for the incoming medical school class from the graduating class.
Regardless, like ^^ previous poster said, you do need a strong application to be considered.

On a side note, I really believe the degree of difficulty in some, not all, Cal-State's are strikingly different than at UC's, not to mention the caliber of students whom, on average, you are competing against in the science core to be "atop of the curve of the grade" so to speak. My advice, is to take advantage of the possibility of an easier science core at your Cal-State and really nail the MCAT to show you truly understand the material. Best of luck!