CSU or UC? for MD (little different of a situation)

[Joba]

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Hey guys its application time for school. Here's the situation.

Currently at community college.

Currently: 3.18gpa
Could prob get into CSU's

After winter session (Also after application process this round): 3.66-3.8gpa
(retaking 2 classes which i got C's which are high credit and easy)
Good shot at UC's

UC's only accept applications for fall quarter each year. I will not make it this year. Is it worth it to wait the extra year (get some EC's done, bump up gpa in preparation of UC classes, complete honors program at my CC). I also have a sibling who's graduating from UCLA (which would be the target school).

I'm not really sure what to do. Both options have their pros and cons.

/UCLA and CSUN are closest/target campuses

Edit: I am in my 3rd semester at Los Angeles Pierce College

 

[jvesco22]

If you have a shot at the UCs and money isn't an issue, then go for the UCs.

 

[JJMrK]

It doesn't matter either way. Go to whichever you like better.

 

[CoolWhipp]

It doesn't matter either way. Go to whichever you like better.

It matters.

 

[MexicanDr]

Go to whichever you like better, but coming from a CSU student if I would have done things correctly, I would have gone to a UC.

If I could go back, I would have used that year and do some EC's while completing those retakes at the CC. Does your CC have a Guaranteed admissions program with UCLA? if so, go for it!

Remember, you make of your education what you want of it wherever you go, BUT UCs are known for their research worldwide, unlike CSUs whom dont are very research oriented.

A UC is going to offer you way more than a CSU. Not only in terms of research, but also volunteer opportunities, getting to know and work with great professors and in general better opportunities.

Go with the UC, I mean, that year wont be a loss year, you will retake classes plus do some cool ECs..

 

[JJMrK]

It matters.

Eh, not in my experience.

 

[Joba]

Hmm. The application process says

[FONT=arial,helvetica]"All transferable undergraduate college work: GPA =".

i also checked the little "?" question box and it doesn't specify. It says all of the units you will have complete before transfering.

How is one supposed to calculate this if they do not know how they will do in the Winter/Spring/Summer semesters leading up to entry?

 

[CoolWhipp]

Eh, not in my experience.

That's great for you. Unfortunately however, for most CSU pre-meds they are essentially not in good competitive standing for allopathic schools. Walk on water or be a URM or get a masters, its the only way to do it if you go to CSU.

 

[JJMrK]

That's great for you. Unfortunately however, for most CSU pre-meds they are essentially not in good competitive standing for allopathic schools. Walk on water or be a URM or get a masters, its the only way to do it if you go to CSU.

That's not true at all. It's completely doable and a much cheaper option. No undergrad loans is pretty nice.

 

[CoolWhipp]

That's not true at all. It's completely doable and a much cheaper option. No undergrad loans is pretty nice.

Okay, can you tell me how many CSU non-URM (and non-graduate degree) applicants were accepted into a CA allo medical school?

Drinks on me if you can get more than 5 in the entire state.

Edit: Accepted in a single application year.

 

[JJMrK]

Okay, can you tell me how many CSU non-URM (and non-graduate degree) applicants were accepted into a CA allo medical school?

Drinks on me if you can get more than 5 in the entire state.

Edit: Accepted in a single application year.

Last year, you mean?

 

[CoolWhipp]

Last year, you mean?

Any year.

 

[Joba]

Guys i had a question pls don't hijack my thread with this argument I would appreciate it.

When asked gpa before entering in Applications how does one calculate it?
Is it current gpa (before the winter/summer/spring semesters before entering)?

 

[JJMrK]

Guys i had a question pls don't hijack my thread with this argument I would appreciate it.

When asked gpa before entering in Applications how does one calculate it?
Is it current gpa (before the winter/summer/spring semesters before entering)?

Sorry OP. Do you mean GPA for transfer applications?

 

[CoolWhipp]

Guys i had a question pls don't hijack my thread with this argument I would appreciate it.

When asked gpa before entering in Applications how does one calculate it?
Is it current gpa (before the winter/summer/spring semesters before entering)?

Do you not see the relevance of our discussion pertaining almost exclusively to your original post?

 

[Joba]

I have no problem between either attending a CSU or a UC. I know of friends/relatives who have gone to both and are in/have finished medical school. The thing is i'm asking peoples opinions whether waiting an extra year to get into a UC is worth it. I'm sorry if i worded my question poorly.

The gpa question is merely me trying to find a loophole to get into UCLA early or something. I want to list it as 3.8 but i'm pretty sure the application means for me to put 3.18 as my gpa, even though it doesn't explicitely say current gpa (it says gpa from transferrable courses). Its really confusing me as to whether it wants my 3.18 or hypothetical 3.6-3.8.

I appreciate what has been said so far but from some of the posts I just imagined the thread going way off topic, so the last post was my attempt at halting that.

 

[Joba]

Sorry OP. Do you mean GPA for transfer applications?

Yes

 

[AlexisN09]

Originally Posted by CoolWhipp
Unfortunately however, for most CSU pre-meds they are essentially not in good competitive standing for allopathic schools.



Well,this is somewhat depressing information,considering the fact that i currently attend a csu 🙁

 

[CoolWhipp]

Originally Posted by CoolWhipp
Unfortunately however, for most CSU pre-meds they are essentially not in good competitive standing for allopathic schools.



Well,this is somewhat depressing information,considering the fact that i currently attend a csu 🙁

I didn't say it can't be done. I'm sorry I can't tell you what most adcoms and advisors will tell you. You are going to have to look as perfect as an applicant can be. You can do it, but you are going to have to work hard and it's absolutely not going to be a joy ride. You are racing uphill against your competition that happens to be more or less on flat ground.

 

[sleepy12]

You are forgetting a very important factor.

A CSU is not going to be nearly as difficult as a UC, especially UCLA. If you are now with a 3.18 at a CC, you might want to seriously think about how good your g.p.a. will be at UCLA. Honestly if you had that same gpa at UCLA it would be highly unlikely that you would get into medical school. If you think that you would have a significantly higher gpa at a CSU, I would go there. Also, i am a little confused as to how your gpa would jump up to 3.66-3.8 after one more session...

 

[echidna]

I agree with the general concensus: go to a UC if you can get into one. And there are some that take Winter transfers- I transferred to UCSC in January, I'm sure there are others that do this. That was almost 5 years ago but I doubt it's changed.

Any idea why you have a 3.18? Any reason to think that this could change?

 

[jvesco22]

I agree with the general concensus: go to a UC if you can get into one. And there are some that take Winter transfers- I transferred to UCSC in January, I'm sure there are others that do this. That was almost 5 years ago but I doubt it's changed.

Any idea why you have a 3.18? Any reason to think that this could change?

Actually it has changed man lol. Most UCs did stopped accepting Winter Transfers this year, peeps have to wait till the spring/fall, sucks for them.

 

[rHinO1]

The bottom line is that the UC's are generally better schools with better opportunities. Going to a UC can only help, an extra semester is nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you want to go to a CSU to have an "easier" road, then go ahead. If you want to go to the school that will best prepare you for medical school, then the UC's are the better option. Don't be afraid because it is "hard." I transfered to a UC from the community college and my grades have been the same, A's across the board. A good cc student is a good student period. Work hard and you will be fine. Good luck.

 

[drareg]

The bottom line is that the UC's are generally better schools with better opportunities. Going to a UC can only help, an extra semester is nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you want to go to a CSU to have an "easier" road, then go ahead. If you want to go to the school that will best prepare you for medical school, then the UC's are the better option. Don't be afraid because it is "hard." I transfered to a UC from the community college and my grades have been the same, A's across the board. A good cc student is a good student period. Work hard and you will be fine. Good luck.

x2

 

[silverhorse84]

I'm by far not a perfect applicant and I came from a CSU. I did fine in the application cycle, and did get into a CA medical school.

I really think adcom members (at least in my experience) look at who you are not where you came from. Maybe if you want to get into a top 10 school, you'll need a UC diploma, but for all the schools I interviewed for they didn't seem to give a crap about what school I came from. Most had never heard of my school, and it didn't seem to affect things.

That being said, I'd really advise going to the school you'll be happier at, even if that means waiting a year. If you're happier, you're likely to get better grades, which will help your GPA. Just my $0.02

 

[JJMrK]

Yes

You're gonna have to call the school or whoever runs the application service to figure this out. I really doubt you'll be able to put a "projected" GPA down though. In theory you would just be able to write whatever you felt like writing.

The bottom line is that the UC's are generally better schools with better opportunities. Going to a UC can only help, an extra semester is nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you want to go to a CSU to have an "easier" road, then go ahead. If you want to go to the school that will best prepare you for medical school, then the UC's are the better option. Don't be afraid because it is "hard." I transfered to a UC from the community college and my grades have been the same, A's across the board. A good cc student is a good student period. Work hard and you will be fine. Good luck.

If you have the grades and MCAT score to be competitive, you are prepared for and can do the work in med school no matter your undergraduate institution.

 

[rHinO1]

You're gonna have to call the school or whoever runs the application service to figure this out. I really doubt you'll be able to put a "projected" GPA down though. In theory you would just be able to write whatever you felt like writing.



If you have the grades and MCAT score to be competitive, you are prepared for and can do the work in med school no matter your undergraduate institution.

Your statement above is true. However the quality of the students around you, the quality of your profs, the availability to do research, affiliations with hospitals/biotech companies, and pre-med programs at the UC's will only better prepare you for med school. Those things are not critical to your success but the do help more than a little bit. I do not think the CSU's are bad schools or that it isn't possible for someone at a csu to be succesful in med school, but they are not as good as the UC's.

However, like someone said above going where you will be happiest is extremely important.

 

[alibai3ah]

You're gonna have to call the school or whoever runs the application service to figure this out. I really doubt you'll be able to put a "projected" GPA down though. In theory you would just be able to write whatever you felt like writing.



If you have the grades and MCAT score to be competitive, you are prepared for and can do the work in med school no matter your undergraduate institution.

JimmerJammerMrK, I think what he is trying to say is that while it is possible to go from a CSU. It's rarer. And it requires solid numbers. I remember you have a fairly decent MCAT score, so obviously there are no questions about you. However, for vast majority of CSU applicants, they don't always get 33+ plus scores, let alone 30+.

This is why it's better to go to a UC. Not necessarily b/c they are better schools, but because if you have average stats at a UC, you are much more likely to get into med school than an average CSU applicant.

Also I just want to say not all CSU's are the same. I believe Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is well in the UC range, if not in the middle tier UC range with UC Davis, UCSB, and Irvine.

 

[JJMrK]

JimmerJammerMrK, I think what he is trying to say is that while it is possible to go from a CSU. It's rarer. And it requires solid numbers. I remember you have a fairly decent MCAT score, so obviously there are no questions about you. However, for vast majority of CSU applicants, they don't always get 33+ plus scores, let alone 30+.

This is why it's better to go to a UC. Not necessarily b/c they are better schools, but because if you have average stats at a UC, you are much more likely to get into med school than an average CSU applicant.

Also I just want to say not all CSU's are the same. I believe Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is well in the UC range, if not in the middle tier UC range with UC Davis, UCSB, and Irvine.

Yep, it does take solid numbers.

Bottom line: It's possible and not uncommon (unless you mean as a percentage of total CA pre-med students) to get in somewhere from a CSU. There are more med students from CA coming out of UCs for sure, but a lot of that has to do with self selection. If any CSU students feel like PMing me I can tell you how I've seen it done.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

UCs are tougher than CSUs from what I understand, but UCs offer more support and opportunities to pre-meds.

Go to a UC and work your butt off, and still don't expect to get into a CA med school

Good luck... it's tough out there man

 

[dshnay]

Umm as a UC grad I think UC's are easier. Remember your classes are graded on ther curve. If you get a 65% on the test and the class average was 45% with SD = 9 and average usually being B-/C+, you aced the test. I don't think you can say the same thing about CSU's where 90% is an A 80 is a B etc.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

I'm a UC grad also.

Grading on a curve doesn't always mean it's easier, but I agree it can benefit you depending on the makeup of your class and your understanding of the material.

I've never taken a course at a CSU, but I have taken community college classes graded on a standard scale, and realized the difficulty of overcoming that.

But in general, I don't know if a harder test with a curve or an easier test with no curve would be better.

Meh

 

[alibai3ah]

Umm as a UC grad I think UC's are easier. Remember your classes are graded on ther curve. If you get a 65% on the test and the class average was 45% with SD = 9 and average usually being B-/C+, you aced the test. I don't think you can say the same thing about CSU's where 90% is an A 80 is a B etc.

Ummm not true.... Curve does not mean easier, that's just how crazy hard it is.

I went to a UC for undergrad; however, I am taking CSU courses in the mean time. And there is a clear difference in the level of difficulty in terms of how the material is tested. So while an endocrinology class at a UC and CSU will have the same material. The way UC tests is much more difficult and requires a lot of reasoning/critical thinking rather than memorization.

Classes at a CSU aren't curved, because in terms of the test breakdown, it comes out to be a natural bell curve with 75 being the average. In contrast, my UC classes averages in the 50/60's and many were in the 30s/40s out of a 100.....

I am not putting down CSU in any way. I love some of the classes I have taken there and I am impressed by how much interaction you have with the professor (as compared to a UC). However, I just want to let you know a UC is by no means "easy"

 

[Contrarian]

JimmerJammerMrK, I think what he is trying to say is that while it is possible to go from a CSU. It's rarer. And it requires solid numbers. I remember you have a fairly decent MCAT score, so obviously there are no questions about you. However, for vast majority of CSU applicants, they don't always get 33+ plus scores, let alone 30+.

This is why it's better to go to a UC. Not necessarily b/c they are better schools, but because if you have average stats at a UC, you are much more likely to get into med school than an average CSU applicant.

Also I just want to say not all CSU's are the same. I believe Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is well in the UC range, if not in the middle tier UC range with UC Davis, UCSB, and Irvine.

And it doesn't require solid numbers from a UC? Bottom line: you need solid numbers regardless of where you come from. Coming from a UC won't offset a sub-30 MCAT score. That said, if you're capable of hitting 35+ on the MCAT, you'll likely do so wherever your undergrad education is from.

 

[rHinO1]

OP you should go to the best possible school you can get into.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

I graduated as a psychology major from CSU and if I could go back and do it over, I would have chosen a UC (Santa Cruz cause I looove the outdoors feel. 😀) and majored in neuroscience and psychology. Choose UC if you can and choose one that has a good program that you like. Some schools will have more classes in the area of your interest than others. Be sure to check out the schools' course listings and majors. Also, you mentioned that UCs only accept in the fall. Well, CSU is now only accepting in the fall due to budget cuts. Be on the lookout for changes in admissions 👍

 

[ILikeDrugs]

However, for vast majority of CSU applicants, they don't always get 33+ plus scores, let alone 30+.

Oh really? And how do you know this? Because you're a pre-med with supreme and absolute knowledge? Did you ask every pre-med at CSUs about what their MCAT scores were? Get over yourself. You pulled those numbers out of your arse to make yourself seem knowledgeable. Yet, everyone knows you don't have any proof to back up your "statistics". Don't make us laugh. Oh wait! You already are you clown.

 

[Joba]

You are forgetting a very important factor.

A CSU is not going to be nearly as difficult as a UC, especially UCLA. If you are now with a 3.18 at a CC, you might want to seriously think about how good your g.p.a. will be at UCLA. Honestly if you had that same gpa at UCLA it would be highly unlikely that you would get into medical school. If you think that you would have a significantly higher gpa at a CSU, I would go there. Also, i am a little confused as to how your gpa would jump up to 3.66-3.8 after one more session...

Let me elaborate a little bit.

fall 08: 17 units
spring 09: 11 units
summer 09: 6 units
fall 09: 12 units (current semester)

So the 3.18 is for the 33 semesters currently completed. Of those 33, 9 were C's. I was sick and the teachers were less than sympathetic to say the least for those 2 classes. 9/33 C->A for 2 easy classes is what bumps it up into that range.

That combined with the hypothetical grades that i will get this semester will be anywhere from 3.6 (straight B's) to 3.8 (straight A's).

Now I understand that theres the possibility that i could fail a class or get a C or something, but im thinking the most possible outcomes.

So I think I'm going to go to a UC. There might be a little less interaction with the teachers (which i do like), but I will have interaction with other students and people I will hopefully be researching with. I will also have time to build up EC's and maybe take some easy classes or pre-reqs.

Thanks for the advice every1.

A couple more questions that popped up in my head (forgive me).

Since I have the option to control which prereqs I will take before going into a UC, does anyone have any advice to which ones I should take and which ones to wait on? I will search for this as soon as i get back home, but i'm on my iphone right now.

Does anyone know if the fact that my sister is graduating from UCLA will have any benefit towards my chances of getting in? (legacy system or something)

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate it!