CSU Long Beach. How is the Pre-Med program?

[poshdoctor]

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I currently go to UC Merced and I was just accepted into CSU Long Beach for next semester.

How is the pre-med program there? Does the advisor send a lot of students to Med School?

 

[frescoengano]

i don't think that advisors send students to med-school, its more about the individual.

csulb is not known for churning out med students.

 

[Musclemass]

If you don't like UC Merced, how about a different UC? Even the ones of lesser repute (like Irvine, Riverside or Santa Cruz) are still good schools and are MUCH more highly regarded than any CSU.

 

[gravitywave]

i don't think that advisors send students to med-school, its more about the individual.

csulb is not known for churning out med students.

and yet... i have at least one guy from there as a classmate

not trying to start ***t, and i don't know anything about csulb, but i thought it was funny.

 

[poshdoctor]

i don't think that advisors send students to med-school, its more about the individual.

csulb is not known for churning out med students.

I know advisors don't students to medical school, it's just that better advisors tend to see more applicants gain admssion

 

[Pons Asinorum]

...it's just that better advisors tend to see more applicants gain admssion

I would say that that isn't true at all and would be interested in what evidence you have to support the claim. Most people on here will be quick to say that MSAR + SDN >>> Better Advisor.

 

[Carbon inc]

As a Cal State applicant myself, I think you would be at a serious disadvantage when you apply to med school. If I could do it all over, I would certainly try to stay in a UC. At my interview today, I was up against applicants from Duke, UCLA, NYU, Hopkins, Michigan, etc. I felt so inadequate when everyone naming their schools and I was from some little, old Cal State.

 

[Thornwalker]

Thought I'd chime my 2 cents in here.

I grew up down the street from CSULB and a lot of my friends from high school ended up going there. A few of them started as pre-meds but eventually changed majors (but I think that was mainly because they changed there minds about medicine).I also worked in a doctors office for a number of years in long beach and we had several CSULB students. So although it may be second hand knowledge I've heard several things about it over and over again:

-Most people will not graduate from CSULB in 4 years. This is because it is impossible to get classes that you need. From what I hear, you basically need to accumulate enough credit hours (junior/senior) in order to get the classes that you need. This may mean that you end up taking your pre-reqs over the course of 3 years which makes the courses themselves more difficult as well as studying for the MCAT. I know UCs are probably similar but i had friends at UCI/UCSB and it was never on the same level that I heard from my friends from CSULB.

Considering I went to a private school in LA i had several classes with <12 people in them (my physics II had 4 , upper division chem had 3!!) . I even got an entire course moved on the schedule after taking with the dean.

-Also, although I haven't lived in california for over a year I still hear that it's going down the drain. The UCs and CSUs are strapped for cash which means less classes and higher tuition.

-Parking is also a nightmare.

That's all I got for you. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[frescoengano]

Thought I'd chime my 2 cents in here.

I grew up down the street from CSULB and a lot of my friends from high school ended up going there. A few of them started as pre-meds but eventually changed majors (but I think that was mainly because they changed there minds about medicine).I also worked in a doctors office for a number of years in long beach and we had several CSULB students. So although it may be second hand knowledge I've heard several things about it over and over again:

-Most people will not graduate from CSULB in 4 years. This is because it is impossible to get classes that you need. From what I hear, you basically need to accumulate enough credit hours (junior/senior) in order to get the classes that you need. This may mean that you end up taking your pre-reqs over the course of 3 years which makes the courses themselves more difficult as well as studying for the MCAT. I know UCs are probably similar but i had friends at UCI/UCSB and it was never on the same level that I heard from my friends from CSULB.

Considering I went to a private school in LA i had several classes with <12 people in them (my physics II had 4 , upper division chem had 3!!) . I even got an entire course moved on the schedule after taking with the dean.

-Also, although I haven't lived in california for over a year I still hear that it's going down the drain. The UCs and CSUs are strapped for cash which means less classes and higher tuition.

-Parking is also a nightmare.

That's all I got for you. Good luck with whatever you decide!

So true. It's really hard to get all of your classes @ CSU's because they have way too many students. There are problems at the UC's too, but not to the extent of the CSU's.

UC Merced is pretty new, so I don't know about their science department. But what I do know is that CSULB is a lot more fun than UC Merced!