UCLA vs USC vs UCSD for Pre-Med

[zeama]

Hello all,
I will be transferring this next semester and am having a tough time differentiating these 3 universities.
A major point that matters to me is academic rigor / competition as I need to keep my GPA as high as possible for med school. Does anyone have any experience / knowledge on the differences in rigor for these universities?
Thanks in advance.

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[gyngyn]

They are all fine.

 

[benjamin94559]

Honestly they're all probably going to be fairly comperable in rigor despite the whole spoiled children trope.

Pick the one thats the cheapest/the one you like the best if money isnt an issue. All three you're probably gonna have to do some hustleing for research and what not though but USC is kind of a double edged sword in that Keck is located a ways away from main campus but its a bit smaller and you might not have to hustle as hard. Is that worth say a 20k per year tuition difference? IMHO prob not

 

[Toutie]

Honestly they're all probably going to be fairly comperable in rigor despite the whole spoiled children trope.

Pick the one thats the cheapest/the one you like the best if money isnt an issue. All three you're probably gonna have to do some hustleing for research and what not though but USC is kind of a double edged sword in that Keck is located a ways away from main campus but its a bit smaller and you might not have to hustle as hard. Is that worth say a 20k per year tuition difference? IMHO prob not

.

COA USC is probably closer to $30K per year more than UCLA and UCSD if you are instate. Obviously dependent on any aid you may get.

 

[Domepiece]

Purely in terms of competition, UCLA produces the most medical school applicants of any school in the country, accounting for over 1.9% of all applications.

 

[AlteredScale]

Hello all,
I will be transferring this next semester and am having a tough time differentiating these 3 universities.
A major point that matters to me is academic rigor / competition as I need to keep my GPA as high as possible for med school. Does anyone have any experience / knowledge on the differences in rigor for these universities?
Thanks in advance.

I went to UCSD.

UCSD and UCLA are both very competitive in terms of being pre-medical with UCLA I think taking the lead slightly. You will get a strong education no matter what. UCLA and UCSD both are good in the neuroscience. UCSD has more research affiliates because of its location in a research area of San Diego (Scripps Research, Salk Research, SBP, Scripps Institute of Oceanography).

I found the lower division biology courses to be more intense that the upper division beyond a few exceptions (pharmacology, endocrine, immunology). The labs can be intense as well.

@SynapticDoctah went to UCLA. Can chime in on that side.

 

[JustAPhD]

Seems easy to me.

 

[zeama]

Thanks for the responses do any of these med schools prefer their own undergrads?

 

[AlteredScale]

Thanks for the responses do any of these med schools prefer their own undergrads?

Not the UCs. Though they are state schools they are extremeley competitive. URM focused programs like PRIME is a "way in" however.


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[LoveBeingHuman:)]

In terms of academic competition, they are about the same. What I think it is better for you to do is focus on the EC opportunities. Does the school predominate in the area of research you wanna do, if any? Do near-by hospitals have programs for pre-meds? That kind of stuff.

 

[FeinMS]

Keep in mind that USC campus is more dangerous than UCLA

 

[Domepiece]

Keep in mind that USC campus is more dangerous than UCLA

The USC campus has 24/7 security patrolling the entirety of its campus and a majority of the surrounding off campus neighborhood areas, many of which are afforded full LAPD capabilities. If you have a shred of common sense and avoid particular areas of south-central Los Angeles located far off campus, you'll be fine. Additionally, USC is positioned in an underserved area, allowing exposure to true metropolitan poverty and realities of inner city urban lifestyles which may be beneficial for development as a service professional that a school say overlooked by Bel Air does not.

Additionally, those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, as according to the FBI, UCLA ranks second and third for violent and property crimes out of all public universities in the entire country, respectively (FBI Statistics).

 

[Jalby]

I went to UCLA undergrad and USC med school.

USC favors it's own students. UCLA and UCSD doesn't really.
I don't think goign to USC is worth the extra you would pay for the UCs. And as mentioned above, the medical school campus is about 8 miles away from undergrad, making kissing ass much harder.
Really, there is no wrong choice.

 

[cactusman]

Private colleges have, on average, an average GPA at graduation about 0.2 higher in comparison to public universities with the same average SAT and HS GPA. Given that, USC may be grade-inflated by comparison, but that's not certain.

 

[Toutie]

Additionally, those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, as according to the FBI, UCLA ranks second and third for violent and property crimes out of all public universities in the entire country, respectively (FBI Statistics).

That's primarily because UCLA is one of the most upfront and open schools in the country when it comes reporting crimes and making those figures available. They don't try to sweep things under the rug like many schools.

 

[Ejm1]

Go to the school with the best undergrad opportunities (i.e research, volunteer EMS, clinical exposure)

 

[wb100]

I would go to UCLA because of the area and culture of LA. For me personally La Jolla seems boring.


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[Geo16]

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/th...la-usc-cal-for-pre-med.1217265/#post-18047728
Yeah, I was waiting to do all UCs. Since this question popped up, I should update this to all UCs now.

Are you transferring 2017 Fall? I'd assume you are finished with all pre-reqs.
If you haven't completed the pre-reqs for med schools, going to UCLA is a trip to hell.
25 courses and 99 quarter units.
Good luck!

 

[RainbowGolf93]

You are right on the money to look at academic rigor. Go to the school that is the least academically competitive. I'm from New York so I don't have all the details, but I learned the hard way that obtaining the highest grades possible is the most important thing and just wanted to say your 'major point' is spot on. I wanted to be a doctor but wanted to study engineering as an undergrad while completing pre-med requirements. I went to Cornell's school of Engineering and wow, major mistake. Loved the experience and had a world class education but it definitely made my path to medical school WAY harder. In each class only X number of students (typically anyone 1-1.5 standard dev's above the mean) can get an A and when all of the kids in the class scored 780 or above on SAT math, there's a lot of really bright kids getting low B's to C's and even D's. Some of those classes brought my GPA down significantly and that eliminated me from some medical schools while some of my peers at SUNY schools were getting interview invites because they could cruise to easy A's in their math and physics courses without much effort because ... it's just infinitely easier to get an A at a SUNY school. I thought med school adcoms would realize that my program difficulty/rigor would compensate for a comparatively lower GPA than someone who came from a state-school-or-similar school, but this was not the case. I was viewed as having a lower GPA, and that's that.

I don't mean this to come off as some sort of snob, and if it does, I sincerely apologize. That's not my intent. My point is that if your goal is to go to medical school, ask current students or alums and figure out which school will allow for you to obtain the highest grades. All the other stuff is nice... EC's, groups, opportunities, research, etc... but those are secondary and I'm sure all of them are stellar in those regards. Med school admissions has become increasingly 'holistic,' sure, but don't be mistaken... your grades and MCAT are by and large the most important factors you have control over.

 

[wb100]

You are right on the money to look at academic rigor. Go to the school that is the least academically competitive.

This is what counselors don't tell you when you're transferring or applying to college. I went to UCD and I'm so glad with my decision (FWIW I got into UCLA and UCSD too). I ended up choosing Davis because it had a medical school, abundant research opportunities, friendly students, and lots of clinical related EC's to get involved in. While getting straight As are hard even here, I do believe that it is much more doable. If you got into Davis and Irvine I would recommend considering either one of those schools. Where you go to undergrad doesn't matter. Having good grades is more important and by going to an easier school you can at least have a social life and not be at risk of not getting into med school because of your GPA. Davis takes around ~22% of their undergrad students into their med school every year. This is more likely due to students being a better fit with their mission (working with underserved which there are many opportunities in Sac area).

If I were to do it all again I would have went to an easy cal state and got a 4.0 or gone to Davis.



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[zeama]

Thanks a lot everyone! Thanks for that thread @Geo16 it was really helpful, and I agree 100% @RainbowGolf93 and @wb100 I have heard the competition and grading curves are brutal at UCLA from some friends.

 

[MareNostrummm]

If you're transferring then I'm assuming you already finished all of your prereqs (except maybe Ochem?).. in that case it probably will not matter which school you go to. All of them have medical schools attached and will have research opportunities available to you. Its up to you to make the most of it. That being said UCLA is very competitive from what I've heard and many bright students only end up with 3.3-3.4 gpas which probably would have been much higher at a lower tier school.