California Schools

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

I’ve been considering applying to a few schools in California:


Stanford, UC San Fran, UC Irvine, UC San Diego


But I keep hearing about how competitive CA schools are. Does anyone have any insight as to why that is? I know that schools like Stanford and USC have wonderful reputations, but is it as hard to get into the CA schools that don’t have such big names?


Just wondering.

2

Getting into medical school anywhere is hard, MD schools more so than DO schools but no one should be under the assumption that any medical school is easy to get into. There are multiple applicants for any given seat at a med school, even those considered the lowest ranked.


I’m not from California, but my suspicion is that the number of applications to these schools may be higher given the number of in-staters applying as well as the number of out-of-staters who are applying for various reasons.

3

The building of California medical schools and the expanding of California medical school class sizes haven’t kept pace with the exploding population of California over the years (although, recently, the California population has been decreasing because of the grim post-housing bubble economy).


The past California Medical Association president wrote about this in this article (in the fifth paragraph):


http://www.cmanet.org/publicdoc.cfm?article_id=375…


And this is another thread with exact same question:


http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…


I still believe that residents of North Dakota and Puerto Rico have the best odds of getting into their state/commonwealth medical schools. California residents have the worst odds.

4

as was said previously, its hard to get into any medical school. So you prepare the best you can and apply to the schools you want. If you decide something is not possible before you try, you have have already failed

5

Thanks for the advice! And the link.


I’m certainly not giving up before I start, just trying to make some informed application decisions this fall. I want to stretch those dollars as far as possible.

6
  • nebula Said:
I've been considering applying to a few schools in California:

Stanford, UC San Fran, UC Irvine, UC San Diego

But I keep hearing about how competitive CA schools are. Does anyone have any insight as to why that is? I know that schools like Stanford and USC have wonderful reputations, but is it as hard to get into the CA schools that don't have such big names?

Just wondering.



Stanford, UCSF and UCSD are extremely competitive as they are considered to be outstanding academic research institutions and are generally (but not totally) looking to admit potential physician-scientists.

That said, all of the California schools are very difficult to get into no matter how you cut it.

Cheers,

Judy
7

Thanks to gonnif- I really locked in on your comment “If you decide something is not possible before you try, you have already failed.” I am new to this forum and am just starting my journey towards med school. It is amazing how many ways one’s own mind can build you up or tear you down. I know I will be reminding myself of what you have written many times in the future.

8

I thought I would for sure get into a UC, at least UC Irvine or UC Davis, the two lowest ranked UCs. I ended up getting only one UC interview, which ended in a waitlist. But then I got into a couple top ten schools and a couple Ivies. This, along with reports from fellow CA non-trads, tells me that UCs are a total crap shoot and enigma. Apply to all of them (as well as USC and Stanford) as reach schools, but apply to at least 20 other well-chosen schools to be on the safe side. And hopefully you are not waiting until the Fall to apply. Your app should be in on June 1. Good luck to you!

9

Thanks gang!


I think of everything in semesters these days, so when I say fall I’m talking July-August at the latest. There’s probably already a thread about this but does it “look better” if your app is in on June 1 rather than say Mid July?


I’m shooting to send applications to about 15 schools. Possibly as high as 17. I’m going to break the bank just affording the secondary application fees.


I’m an Indiana resident, but I would like to be on the West Coast for school, so I guess I’ll roll the dice!

10

Based on the statistical data I read, its challenging to get into. Yet, each school is looking for something special beyond numbers. I met a first year medical student who just started August of this year. She is 39 years old and goes to Keck School of Medicine at USC. She told me that she absolutely LOVES this school. Although I am not competitive enough, she still encouraged me to apply. She mentioned Keck and other medical schools are seeing the value in having older students enrolled in their program. They do very well in the program and patients are comfortable communicating with someone older whom they can relate to. If your ok with DO schools, I went to an open house at Western University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Pomona, Ca and thought it was wonderful. I got a great feeling about the school from the staff, faculty, and student panel;it felt like they had a great relationship. That school is on the top of my list. I just want to be a physician, DO or MD. As long as I can be a major contributor to healthcare, I’m happy.

11
  • nebula Said:


I'm an Indiana resident, but I would like to be on the West Coast for school, so I guess I'll roll the dice!



Interestingly, I wrote a post about Indiana vs California:

http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?po...