Need HELP deciding between SJSU or Cal Poly SLO for premed as a biology student

[DavolaDevito]

Pros for SJSU: close to home (can commute ~15 mins away), slightly cheaper tuition, in the center of various hospitals and medical centers (might be too competitive to get a spot)
Cons for SJSU: not highly competitive for premed, ranked slightly lower (big fish in small pond?), will have to get a minor in chemistry, maybe too close to home?

Pros for SLO: according to their website, "the percentage of Cal Poly students who were accepted to medical school for the entering classes of 2013-2017 was 46%", strong program for microbiology, known for good research experience
Cons for SLO: 2 hours away from home, ~10k more expensive (but not really a problem), not primarily known for premed-- more of an engineering/technical school

I've heard that GPA and MCAT are most important but am really narrowing down my list to the clinical and shadowing experience offered (perhaps EMT or scribing experience?). In terms of potential research experience, I've been working with 2 research labs already so I'm not necessarily worried about that. Do you have any suggestions as to which school I should choose?

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[deleted1136042]

SLO

 

[DavolaDevito]

SLO

What's your reasoning?

 

[DO2015CA]

Cheaper/closer one. Especially in this era of student debt

 

[DO2015CA]

What's your reasoning?

Regarding taking SJSU, they’re both similar tier. It’s not like you are comparing Berkeley and SJSU. They have similar opportunities for research/extracurriculars to build a med school app. The California med schools will not differentiate them as applicants as they’re both CSU and not UC (at least when I was in UG, they were both CSU). Last but the most important is cost. You need to save money where you can. It’s an expensive road and med school debt is bloating and paying off the student loans at the end of the road sucks

 

[DavolaDevito]

Regarding taking SJSU, they’re both similar tier. It’s not like you are comparing Berkeley and SJSU. They have similar opportunities for research/extracurriculars to build a med school app. The California med schools will not differentiate them as applicants as they’re both CSU and not UC (at least when I was in UG, they were both CSU). Last but the most important is cost. You need to save money where you can. It’s an expensive road and med school debt is bloating and paying off the student loans at the end of the road sucks

Thank you for your comment! I was also accepted to UC Santa Cruz (~45 mins away) but didn't want to go there considering that there weren't too many clinical opportunities there and there weren't too many premed students either. Should I be seriously considering it?

On a side note, I was also accepted to UPitt but don't plan on going there considering it's ~30k more in tuition than SJSU and many, many miles away from home.

 

[DO2015CA]

Thank you for your comment! I was also accepted to UC Santa Cruz (~45 mins away) but didn't want to go there considering that there weren't too many clinical opportunities there and there weren't too many premed students either. Should I be seriously considering it?

I don’t necessarily think so. It is a UC which will put you at a “tougher” school when applying to California med schools but that’s only 1 aspect. And the only ones that care UC vs CSU are California med schools. No other states will know the difference. People from the CSU system still get in to UC med schools every year. It’s about stats and building the best application. Like you said, if SJ has a lot better resources for building an application then I would go with that. What you will need is research, clinics volunteering, non-clinical volunteering on top of your stats.

 

[DO2015CA]

The big benefits of the UCs that are attached to med schools is they have a thriving premed club with people that know what it takes to get into medschool (as they have one on campus). There is also an affiliated hospital so your volunteering and exposures through the premed club are easier to obtain. SC doesn’t have that so imo negates being a UC with the increased price tag.

 

[DavolaDevito]

The big benefits of the UCs that are attached to med schools is they have a thriving premed club with people that know what it takes to get into medschool (as they have one on campus). There is also an affiliated hospital so your volunteering and exposures through the premed club are easier to obtain. SC doesn’t have that so imo negates being a UC with the increased price tag.

Awesome! That helps me a lot

 

[lacrossegirl420]

I wouldn’t call having a premed club a pro lol

 

[Angler]

am really narrowing down my list to the clinical and shadowing experience offered (perhaps EMT or scribing experience?)

Do you really think that there are a lot of opportunities for these in SLO? I'm asking in a genuine way; there may well be, but SLO is not a metropolis, like SJ. Of course, there may be less competition in SLO (than the Bay Area) for those opportunities.

 

[DavolaDevito]

This is what the SLO website says. There are definitely opportunities but as I've asked more people there's isn't a lot of support for premed students at SLO. Also, I'm leaning towards SJ because of that metropolis factor.

 

[DO2015CA]

I wouldn’t call having a premed club a pro lol

Lol fair. It just presents the opportunities. I went to one of the smallest CSUs with a tiny premed club so I had to find my volunteering/shadowing/etc all on my own by web search or cold calling. My friends in medschool that went to bigger established premed clubs said they were announcing the opportunities all the time.

 

[DO2015CA]

I wouldn’t call having a premed club a pro lol

To choose something no. UC have the higher curriculum. They come with more resources, more robust research with productive labs, and better mentorship in medicine. Since almost all UCs have that, my comment was delineating SC from the other UCs that have medschool attached. Apologies if that wasn’t spelled out.

 

[bopper]

Keep in mind: What does 46% getting into medical school mean?

It is not the number of pre-med freshman that get into medical school.

It's the ones who do well in Biology and Chemistry and then OChem...the ones who do well in science and keep up their GPA...and are able to medically volunteer and do community service and maybe research... and do well on the MCAT and get a recommendation from a Health Committee (if that is a thing at your college)... 45% of those people.