In defense of UCR

[NNguyenMD]

This one is for all of you high school seniors headed to UCR next year as undergraduate freshmen.

For all of you who are from the CA inland empire (Riverside, Moreno Valley, San Bernardino, etc) bravo! You already know that you have made an excellent choice in the institution you've chosen to pursue your premed years.

For those who are coming in from much further out of town...well best of luck on making the transition. Riverside, although a great community that I've grown to love and enjoy, is certainly an acquired taste, and one you may find difficulty adjusting to at first, ESPECIALLY if you're from the following areas: Los Angeles, Bay Area, Orange County, Out-of-State. However don't be fooled, after a little while, with a positive out look and a willingness to leave your apartment/dormroom, you'll do just fine.

Like all undergraduate institutions, each one has their own unique personality and aura. UCR carries with it a very distinctive commuter feel to it as a good majority of the students are locals, and a noticeable portion of the students are transfers from the local community colleges. For the most part, they are not the silver spooned, spoiled, hooked to mommy and daddy by the umbilical cord (like I am) types you typically run into in college. Many of them hold steady jobs and work very hard to do well in school while financially putting themselves through college as best they can. Most of the friends I've made work at least 20 hours a week to cover living costs at least, if not their tuition.

The assumption by many CA applicants the UCR is UC-Rejects, or the back seat UC of the CA education system is misconstrued and simply wrong. Yes, you do find rejects who went to UCR b/c they did not get into their first, second or even third choices. But as I remember from being a senior in High School, most people I knew going to UCLA and Berkeley couldn't get into campuses they would have rather gone to like Stanford, Wash U, or any of the Ivy Leagues. Isn't viable to say that there are as many "rejects", so to speak, at those places as there are at UCR. I know one friend who turned down Harvard so she could go to UCR on a full ride to save herself and parents (who were local) the burden of the high costs and loans they would incur if she had gone to school in Cambridge. Not everyone goes to UCR just b/c they got rejected from their first choice. The reason why someone chooses a University isn't always that cut and dry. Most of the students at UCR are middle class locals who don't want to loan themselves to death, and want to save money for themselves and their parents in pursuing their dream of becoming a doctor.

In the four years I spent as an undergrad at UCR, I can say without a doubt that as long as you work hard, are sincere to your peers, and are not obsessively competitive, the sky's the limit and you can go whereever you want to go to for medical school. Keep a positively outlook, an open mind, and you'll enjoy being a UCR undergraduate immensely.

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[UCLAstudent]

I agree. I am from that area, and, while I don't go to UCR, I can say that it is a good, solid school. I took a calculus class there last summer, and I was impressed with how well it was taught and how much I enjoyed it. My friend got into UCLA this year but is going to UCR on a full ride to save money. A good school, overall.

 

[Moskeeto]

yeah, i don't get the trash talking, its a UC--->its a good school. I mean if UCLA has a bacc/md agreement with them, that should say enough. (even tho, i heard they were getting rid of it). I'm sure they have some specialties there that other UCs aren't as good at either. my theory, as long as you make it to college and do your damnest, be proud of yourself.

 

[poloace]

actually- ucr is pushing for the development of a medical school... hence its close ties with UCLA.

p

 

[Moskeeto]

Originally posted by Slickness
They're not getting rid of it. They are modifying it.

thats cool they're modifying it. everyone that I talked to that was in it, said it was impossibly hard and pretty unfair to some people.

 

[UCLAMAN]

Originally posted by poloace
actually- ucr is pushing for the development of a medical school... hence its close ties with UCLA.

p

poloace is right...ucr is trying to get its own medical school. they only use ucla for the clinical years because ucr has no teaching hospital of their own. all ucr basically needs is a teaching hospital(or affiliate with a local hospital). They already have a curriculum in place(since the biomed kids get their first 2 years of medical school at ucr and not at ucla). Its just a matter of time before it happens IMO.

Oh yeah...the Chancellor's plans for the medical school have gotten quite a bit of press in the local newspapers.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I think it would be great if UCR got its own medical school.

 

[Moskeeto]

Originally posted by UCLAstudent
I think it would be great if UCR got its own medical school.

hell yeah it would be, one more UC to get rejected from.

 

[tgan]

say u are lucky enough to make the ucla cut, you still need to spend the next 2 years with the same 24 cut-throat students in Riverside...interaction with the other ucla students are very limited. Hmmm....2 more years at riverside...

for those who are not from cali...riverside is barren and destitute and I really don't even see a river anywhere in riverside.

 

[TheKoman]

well, I got into Berkeley and LA, and went to Riverside for the Biomed program....what a mistake! Don't get me wrong. I think the school is great and I had fun. However, I wouldn't recommend the Riverside/UCLA program to you HS seniors. Its pretty competitive and even ppl that made it through kinda regret it. Obviously I didn't. I have some friends in my class that got through and they are just graduating now from UCLA. Although they made it, some of them say its not for everyone. If your motivated and willing to work hard, then go for it. I think I was overwelmed by my new sense of freedom that I didn't do I well as I should have. Oh and if your wondering, I made it through mid-way of the 3rd year (they end up with like 50ppl and choose 24 at the end) so I made it pretty far.

However, I have to say that the school has come a long way since I graduated. New buildings etc. There are those ppl who don't study but there are also those who do. Most of my friends went on to Law-UCLA (he was a 4.0 thou), Berkeley - Optometry, Illinois-Opt, Physical Therapy-BU, Irvine - med etc. I think its all up to you. If you worked hard in HS on your own (without your parents nagging you) then maybe go for it. It all depends on your own motivation. I didn't feel like I got any support from the biomed admin, in fact, I barely even saw my advisor. If you need that push and support, then don't go there. (not like other UC are better). I would say go to like UCLA or Berkeley, do decently well, mature, get your own motivation and then apply to med school when the time comes... well, good luck

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

Originally posted by tgan
say u are lucky enough to make the ucla cut, you still need to spend the next 2 years with the same 24 cut-throat students in Riverside...interaction with the other ucla students are very limited. Hmmm....2 more years at riverside...

How many do they start off with before narrowing down to 24? It sounds really cut throat. Do those 24 get alot of personal attention from professors? Do they rank those 24, and what is the min mcat? I've heard that they just have to score above the average on the mcat, is this true?

 

[Moskeeto]

most people drop out of it voluntarily because they can't keep up the GPA. i know 2 people that transfered to UCD after they dropped out of the program. Also, they interview those that do make it all the way for the 24 spots. I talked to a girl that made it to the interview level and there were only 33 of them left. she didn't make it past the interview tho. i can't imagine going thru all that and still not making it. She was super nice too.

 

[NNguyenMD]

Its true, the traditional Biomed program was announced to be scrapped by 2005 or 2006 in order to increase the racial diversity of students entering the medical school phase of the program.

Now before the bigotted, bitter, insecure, uptight, upset, inadequate nimrods being to rail on me for supporting a more racially diverse class and under represented minorities, please keep in mind that Riverside has a substantially large African American and Hispanic population that recieves grossly inadequate medical care. Whats the point of having a medical school serve the community of Riverside if all of its Asian and White alumni keep skipping town and opening clinics elsewhere. Plus, I know from my own experience working at a hispanic medical clinic that medical treatment is delivered exponentially better to spanish speaking hispanic patients by hispanic spanish speakin doctors. Also...

There have been only two African American students I've heard of who were recently accepted into the medical school phase of the program, thats out of a history of 28 years the program has existed and over 700 doctors it has produced roughly. Thats shameful even by Jim Crow standards. I'm not saying that they did it intentionally, but they are not serving the Riverside Community if they ignore it and let it continue.

In any event. The program will be opened up to the entire UCR campus. No longer do you need to apply into the Biomed program from HS to compete for the 24 spots, you just simply need to be a UCR student who has enrolled for at least 6 quarters/4semesters. This new policy goes into effect in 2005 I believe. Of course you also need the basic prerequisites for medical school as well, such as the usual prerequisite classes (BIO, GCHEM, PHYS, OCHEM) and an MCAT score.

I think the Biomed administration is realizing that a great portion of the top students of the UCR campus, to their chagrin no doubt, are not in the Biomed program. For example, the Biochemistry program is a curricula not too different from the Biomed program, and students from that major often occupy the highest GPAs and exam scores, and many of them where never in the Biomed program. I'm sure the realization that they are no longer attracting, or being able to retain, the best and the brightest of the undergrad campus did affect their decision. So the solution is to open the program up to the general campus and see whats out there.

The program is not cutthroat, or even that particularly difficult. I lasted through the program for its first two years, didn't do too bad but I know that I could have done much much better had I worked harder. Its true, 4.0 people have gotten rejected. But you know what? I know two guys who got a C and a D respectively and they got in. And they're not minorties, they're ASIAN!!! You hear that 4.0 story all the time, "He/She got a 4.0 and a 40+ on the MCAT and he/she couldn't get into med school." Does that mean that NO ONE can get into med school? NO it means that there is something else that is seriously wrong with that person that they're not telling you. I've heard of plenty of weirdo stories of who has gotten in and who hasn't. The rule of thumb stands, even in the Biomed program, that in your application to medical school you should always be able to demonstrate at least two things 1)competency that you will not fail out, 2)a commitment to the compassionate practice of medicine.

Looking back in retrospect, it wasn't really a tough program. It did test my will to do well in school, a lesson that I didn't learn until after I checked out of the program. Its not really cutthroat either. Yeah sure you get your occassional paranoid schizo who wants to know everyone's test scores and GPAs. What premed program DOESN'T have that guy in there? You encounter some eccentric people, but most of everyone is you average premed Joe. Besides, whats so terrifying about going to class with people who want to do really well? God forbid that anyone besides you have any life ambition! Doing that program is not dramatically different than going to college elsewhere, the lack of freedom in choosing classes is the only real complaint I can see in it.

The year I was in the program, the one finishing up their MS1 year as we speak, did have record low MCAT scores and GPAs, not really bad though, a 28-29 avg and 3.6-3.75 GPA. But no one has flunked out, a year ago the previous two MS1 classes each flunked 6/24 students in 2 consequetive years. And they had much better GPA and MCAT averages than my class. My point is, the process of admitting people to med school whom you know will not flunk out is not a perfect science.

Just to wrap things up, the Biomed program is a GOOD program. Its not for everyone, I absolutely agree. I think its more suited for local commuter students and students who like Riverside and rightfully so. If you don't mind being there, and you want to get into med school, then it is certainly something that you should strongly consider doing.

 

[TTSD]

One thing though, don't get caught with your pants down. Many people, myself included, came in with scholarships, the works and thought UCR (I mean, it's UCR.. right?) would be a snap and a shoe-in for the biomed program. If you don't have good study habits, you better get them fast. If you don't, you'll be left behind and maybe left behind for good. A lot of my friends ended up in the same boat as me. We were all the 4.0 students from HS and turned down big colleges to go to UCR. Then we promptly were handed our hides until we got it right.

The problem with UCR's program is it's structure. First of all, it IS hard. Compared to our counterparts in the other UC systems (and hahaha, La Sierra), our curriculum and strength of classes I believe was much tougher upon comparison. It leaves no time to adjust and they don't care. And let's face it.. you screw up in as many classes as the biomed program throws at you in such a short period of time, you're going to have problems. So a lot of my "I gave up a full-ride scholarship to X school to try for the biomed program" friends have completely given up their dreams of medical school entirely.

But don't let this deter you. Regardless, when I got my act together (a wee bit too late for the program, but no matter), I believe I have gotten a WONDERFUL education with WONDERFUL opportunities that I would never have gotten anywhere else. If anything, UCR's impersonal and hardcore science classes will teach you:

a) To be self-reliant
b) HOW to effectively study and understand science.

Just previewing the medical books for next year.. there is NOTHING new except details that UCR hasn't taught me. Neuro, anatomy, physiology, embryology.. all the concepts you will have down cold by the time you leave Riverside should you choose a challenging schedule of courses.

 

[dupp]

As a graduating senior from UCR, I will tell anyone it's an ok school. Don't know about the biomed though, I never was in that. The biochemistry program is really, really good.

As far as the city of Riveside goes, well, it sucks. They dont call it RiverCIDE for nothing.

(did the OP get paid to write that? sheesh, i felt like i was reading a ucr brochure or something...)