pre-business to pre-med (Berkeley) - help!

[lostnconfused]

i am currently a sophomore and thinking about switching from pre-business to pre-med. but i have some very basic questions that i desperately need help with:

1. what's the difference between Molecular Cell Biology/Integrated Biology/Public Health (at UCB more specifically)? - specifically how medical schools differentiate/judge them

2. what are the chances of getting into medical schools if you go to cal for an undergrad? i heard its really really hard and medical schools would rather take someone from a less rigorous school with a higher gpa than a lower gpa from cal

3. along with that, what's the average gpa for the above majors & the average gpa needed for medical schools? (i know gpa isn't everything but i would still like an estimate)

I was also thinking if i need to switch, i'll have to take a semester off to go to community college because i wont have scholarship for extra semester(s). id get my calculus (took 16A&16B already but they don't count for MCB) and physics out of the way perhaps? Do you think that could possibly be a legitimate excuse or it wouldn't really make a difference? What if I took a rigorous course load at a CC (i.e. 3 chemistry and 1 physics class all in one semester)? Would this also cause me to fall behind in the upper div courses if I decided to major in MCB or IB or PH?

Or if I majored in business like I had planned but did all the pre-requisites, would it not look as good as taking more science focused courses? I know that for law schools, they like for you to stand out in your major but I'm assuming it's different for medical schools?

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[TriagePreMed]

The MCB is just the harder version of the IB. Personally, I'd recommend MEB (Molecular Environmental Biology) in the College of Natural Resources. The major isn't as intensively packed with premeds and the department is pretty nice. PH is simply non-science. No major is "preferred" for medical school.

Don't go to a CC if you can help it.

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

2. California medical schools are difficult to get into. On the other hand, they're very cheap.

3a. Roughly a 3.5, depending on your MCAT score, clinical experience, research experience and volunteering experience.

3b. Can you find a reasonably cheap 4 year college instead of a community college to do this at? Like Triage said, don't take the prerequisite classes at a CC if there is any possible way to avoid it.

3c. Medical schools aren't fussy about your major. Choose something that you find interesting, that you can do well in, and that will be a good backup plan in case you change your mind about med school.

4. Developing the habit of using proper capitalization and grammar will only help you in life.