Uc Berkeley Pre Med Acceptance Rate

So, what, go to office hours? You’ll often find 20 other pre-meds, all trying to get to know the same professor. Many professors have policies to filter the flood of letter of recommendation requests they receive: get an A in two or more classes and work in my lab, or no letter for you.

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3 Reasons Many UC Pre-meds Regret Their College Choice

By: Rob Humbracht

We at Passport Admissions have helped 250 pre-meds (and counting) apply and get into medical school over the past nine years. Approximately half of those students attended one of the UC schools. We’ve seen what the applications of UC students look like, from grades to extracurriculars to letters of recommendation.

Every year, I have asked our pre-meds the following question:

“If you had to choose your college all over again for your pre-med career, would you still choose a UC?”

Roughly 80% say no. The other 20% say, “well. ” and then give an extended list of the pros and cons of going to a UC. This isn’t to say that the UCs are terrible places to be pre-med, but merely that they aren’t a good fit for a lot of students who want to be pre-med.

Surprised? The conventional wisdom holds otherwise. Aren’t the UCs prestigious? The UC system is a veritable pre-med factory, churning out hundreds of applicants to medical school each year. Furthermore, most campuses are connected to awfully good medical centers, so why wouldn’t a UC be an amazing place to spend your pre-med years?

Here’s what these students say:

PRE-MED REASON #1. GRADES

You have to work your tail off to get good grades in science classes at the UCs, which are often graded on a curve. A curve means you’re directly competing against the other students in the class. 10% of the class will get A’s, 20% B’s, and so on. No matter how well you perform, if you don’t beat enough of your fellow students, you won’t get an A.

As a result, many pre-meds come out of a UC with mediocre grades, which put them at a tremendous disadvantage when applying to medical school. These very same students–had they gone to an easier undergrad–would potentially have gotten much better grades (the students we ask believe they would).

Hundreds more students at UCs start out as pre-med and switch because of these bad grades. Perhaps it’s better that they learn their lesson early on instead of waiting until medical school to realize they don’t have what it takes to compete, but many of these students compare themselves to a false peer group of hyper-competitive pre-meds, assume they don’t have what it takes, and drop out.

The counterargument might be that since the courses are so rigorous, medical schools would look favorably on the applicants. Perhaps medical schools would give these students a GPA boost when compared to students from other colleges to help offset the difference in difficulty between a UC and another school.

In that case, we would expect the acceptance rate at a UC to be significantly better than the national average. Since it’s so hard to get into a UC, we would expect these pre-meds to be able to perform at a high level in the classroom and on the MCAT, and as a result, they should get into medical school at an excellent clip.

They don’t. Let’s look at the numbers for 2015.

Unfortunately, many colleges make this information hard to find. In a perfect world, these colleges would release this information publicly so that we can compare apples to apples. Sadly, though, we can’t.

As a proxy, we turn to two schools that should be praised for putting their numbers online: Berkeley and UCSD.

UC BERKELEY: 51% ACCEPTANCE RATE

Berkeley’s average acceptance rate to medical school is 51%, or about 9% higher than the national average of 42%. On first glance, this might look pretty good. But keep in mind several statistics:

• Berkeley’s percentage only includes the acceptance rate for first-time applicants, while the national rate includes both first-time and repeat applicants. In our experience (and in that of a medical school admissions committee’s) re-applicants get in at a lower rate.
• Not included in the application statistics are the hundreds of students who enter UC Berkeley as pre-med but never end up applying to med school. Although true of many pre-med factories, introductory science courses at Berkeley serve as weed-out classes, forcing many prospective pre-meds to change their majors and career paths.
• Even taking Berkeley’s numbers at face-value, what are we to make of them? Given the high standards of admissions for UC Berkeley, wouldn’t we expect their students to get in at a relatively higher clip to medical school? Given that Berkeley’s median SAT score is a 2055 (or a 95th percentile score nationally), wouldn’t we expect those students to do significantly better than average on the MCAT?

None of this is meant to rip on Berkeley specifically; instead, it’s merely meant to show that there is more than meets the eye when choosing which college is the best place to be pre-med.

UC SAN DIEGO: 35% ACCEPTANCE RATE

That’s right. The acceptance rate for this “excellent pre-med school” is below the national average. Clearly, medical schools aren’t giving much (if any) credit for the demanding coursework, since UCSD students have relatively paltry success in getting in.

For UCSD’s school-specific admissions numbers, click here:

Unfortunately, grades aren’t the only problems that UC pre-meds face when applying to medical school.

PRE-MED REASON #2. LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

As a pre-med at a UC, your science classes will have hundreds of students. To accommodate the increasing enrollment in recent years, the UCs have started to book not just one lecture hall but two: if you show up early enough, you can get into the lecture hall with the professor, but if you show up on time or late, then you get a seat in the lecture hall with a video screen broadcasting the professor from next door.

So, what, go to office hours? You’ll often find 20 other pre-meds, all trying to get to know the same professor. Many professors have policies to filter the flood of letter of recommendation requests they receive: get an A in two or more classes and work in my lab, or no letter for you.

To apply to medical school, students must seek letters of recommendation from three or more professors, and the best letters are from professors who know students well both inside and outside of the classroom.

Many pre-meds at the UCs only get to know one professor on a personal level (or, sometimes, they don’t get to know any), and as a result, they get a generic letter of recommendation to fill in. The problem, of course, is that their compatriots at smaller schools have a much better chance to get to know professors well, and as a result, have more people vouching for them when time comes to apply. It may seem like a small disadvantage, but it isn’t: letters of recommendation are the only aspect of the application where others vouch for you. The saying, “damned by faint praise” certainly applies to many pre-meds, and as a result, their chances of getting in are diminished.

Pre-Med Reason #3. Pre-med Advising

Here’s where we at Passport Admissions are biased: we think good advising is crucial to getting into medical school. At a basic level, good advising consists of:

1. Help with figuring out the best courses for you to take to get good grades, do well on the MCAT, and get into medical school.
2. Help with figuring out which schools are appropriate for you, based on your application profile.
3. Help with the pages and pages of essays that it takes to apply to medical school.
4. Help with polishing your interview skills.

The advisors at the UCs do the best they can, but they’re facing an uphill battle in providing personalized advising: the pre-meds vastly outnumber the advisors on campus.

Number of medical school applications per year

Dedicated pre-medical advisors

These numbers only reflect the people who are actually applying to medical school. These dedicated pre-med advisors are also responsible for another 2,000 or so future pre-meds who may need guidance about their courses, how to prepare for the MCAT and what they should be doing to become a competitive candidate.

The UC’s try to provide resources – small-group sessions and peer advising, to name a few – but it’s impossible for them to provide the dedicated guidance that students at smaller schools get.

There are other drawbacks to being pre-med at the UCs as well: it can be hard to get your introductory science courses (so it takes longer to graduate); there’s no pre-med committee letter of recommendation (which medical schools typically prefer); and every opportunity to do research or volunteer has dozens of applicants.

There are advantages too. For one, you get to go toe-to-toe with some very smart people. Survive at the UCs and you should be ready for the rigors of medical school. Second, the UC education is affordable, and with the amount of debt you’ll take on in medical school, it’s good to keep your college costs under control. And finally, opportunities abound at the UCs to get involved, do research, and be whoever it is you want to be.

The bottom line is this: don’t just assume that because a school has a good reputation that it’s a good place to be pre-med. Carefully weigh the pros and cons before picking the best college for you.

How to Succeed as a UC Berkeley Premed

Everything you need to know about UC Berkeley premed, including premed requirements, the best premed extracurriculars, and the UC Berkeley premed acceptance rate

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: UC Berkeley premed requirements

Part 3: UC Berkeley premed extracurriculars

Part 4: Getting into medical school from UC Berkeley

Part 1: Introduction

If you’re a premed at UC Berkeley, you’re certainly not alone—nearly 1,000 Berkeley grads apply to medical school each year, making it one of the largest producers of medical school applicants in the U.S.

It’s no secret why—UC Berkeley excels in cutting-edge biomedical research and is consistently ranked among the most prestigious public universities in the country, not to mention one of the best premed schools in California. Plus, it’s next-door neighbors with UC San Francisco, one of the nation’s top medical schools, which provides Berkeley premeds with an additional wealth of both clinical and research opportunities.

While its incredible array of resources and intellectual climate make Berkeley an exciting place to prepare for medical school, choosing this path isn’t without its challenges. With over 30,000 undergraduates on campus, many of whom begin college as premeds, class sizes are large and the competition to stand out can be intimidating. Not only will you need to excel in difficult coursework in the sciences, you’ll also need to navigate the plethora of additional expectations that come with being a premed, such as the need to get involved with volunteering, research, shadowing, and more.

Putting it all together can be overwhelming, but we’ve created this guide to help steer you towards success. Combining our many years of experience with insight from successful alums of UC Berkeley premed, we’ll go over everything from choosing the right courses to obtaining ideal extracurricular experiences to assembling your medical school applications—all with the goal of helping you thrive and stand out along the way.

Part 2: UC Berkeley premed requirements

Let’s first review what classes you need to complete as a UC Berkeley premed. Below, we’ve provided a list of the most common courses taken on the Berkeley premed path, based on the Career Center’s recommended course of study.

Medical schools can vary somewhat in terms of their exact academic requirements, but the recommendations below should leave you well-positioned to apply to nearly any school.

On first glance, creating a schedule may seem overwhelming! It can feel challenging to fit in all the required courses in the right order, not to mention the fact that some requirements provide you with multiple course options from which you can choose.

As you can see above, most premeds take the same biology and chemistry sequences and diverge when it comes to math and physics. Keep in mind that any of these sequences are fine from a medical school admissions perspective, and your eventual course selection will likely be dictated by your choice of major.

For example, if you decide to major in molecular and cell biology (MCB), you can take either the Math 10 series or Math 1 series, but the 16 series is not accepted by the MCB major. If you decide to major in nutritional sciences–physiology and metabolism (NS-PM) in the College of Natural Resources, you can take the Math 10 or Math 16 series, but the 16 series must be accompanied by a statistics course, such as Stats 2.

Therefore, when planning out your future courses, keep the following factors in mind:

• The required courses for your major. Depending on whether or not you are in the sciences, these courses may or may not overlap with your premed requirements. We’ll discuss majors more shortly.
• Breadth requirements.
• Prerequisites for certain premed courses, which can be found in the course catalog.
• MCAT timing. If you’re planning on taking a gap year, you can take the MCAT later in your college career and therefore take more time fulfilling necessary classes. More on this later down.
• Spacing out difficult courses in order to create a balanced, manageable schedule.

Sample UC Berkeley premed two-year course plan

Different majors and departments at UC Berkeley have a number of sample four-year course plans that you can use to help plan your schedule. Generally, these can be found on department websites. Here are a few links to sample plans for some common premed majors:

In addition, we’ve provide an example of one way you could potentially arrange your required premed classes during freshman and sophomore years. Since this plan ensures that you’re ready to take the MCAT by junior year, it is suitable for those who aim to apply to med school straight out of Berkeley without taking a gap year.

Other interesting courses offered at UC Berkeley

In addition to the premed requirement listed above, there are several unique types of courses offered at UC Berkeley that may help you explore new topics or assist you on the premed path.

• Freshman and sophomore seminar courses (typically designated by course number 24) are small-group, one-unit courses taught by prominent faculty members in their fields of study. These are low-commitment ways to explore a new interesting topic and get to know faculty members and classmates.
• DeCal courses are 1–2-unit courses designed and taught entirely by students at Berkeley. Topics range from Harry Potter to A Primer on Molecular Biology to Premed 101. Teaching a DeCal as an upperclassman is an amazing way to gain leadership experience!
• Studying abroad as a premed is challenging but certainly possible! If you need to fulfill major requirements while abroad, certain majors will have a list of pre-approved courses you can take. Here is an example for MCB majors. If you take summer courses to fulfill requirements, or decide to study abroad over the summer, you may have more flexibility in where you can travel as you won’t need to fulfill requirements while abroad. Additionally, there are special courses that may fulfill requirements or count as research credit for students in certain majors, such as the Biology and Geomorphology of Tropical Islands course on the island of Mo’orea, French Polynesia.

How to maintain a high GPA as a UC Berkeley premed

UC Berkeley academics are tough. As a Berkeley premed, you’ll quickly find that the competition to earn As is stiff due to curved grading and that your large introductory sciences courses are given the moniker of “weeders” because they typically shrink in size from a couple thousand students to just a few hundred by the end of the term.

It’s no wonder that Berkeley premeds commonly bemoan these difficult courses, which can easily sink your GPA and therefore shatter your dreams of getting into med school. Because a low GPA can be very challenging to recover from, it’s important to stay focused and make use of the study resources available to you at Berkeley.

Here is some advice to help you find academic success at UC Berkeley:

• Attend office hours and study sessions with your instructors. It’s always a good idea to connect with your professors and TAs, but this is especially true if you’re having trouble with the material or even if you simply have questions. You can prevent falling behind by proactively seeking out help. Plus, this is also the best way to get to know your professors for recommendation letters!
• Join a study group or adjunct course through the Student Learning Center (SLC).The SLC has study groups and “adjunct” classes for the main biology and chemistry series classes (including Chem 1A, Chem 3A/B, Bio 1A/B, and MCB 102), as well as exam review sessions and free drop-in tutoring. This is a great way to get in extra practice and find tutors or other students to study with!
• Create your own study group. If an informal study group is more your speed, take the initiative and form a group with a few peers.
• Map out your course schedule ahead of time. Planning ahead will ensure that you’re completing all of your requirements on time and giving yourself a manageable work load. Review sample four-year plans for your major (linked above) and use the Berkeley Academic Guide to search for specific courses and professors. Berkeley Time is also an amazing student-created resource for planning out your schedule! (Pro tip: you can sort classes by average grade so you don’t take on too many difficult courses in the same semester.)
• On that note. Don’t take on a needlessly difficult course load. Some premeds, especially those who are used to achieving academically, feel that they must enroll in only the toughest courses in order to stand out. Instead, seek out balance and resist the urge to compare yourself to others. From a medical school admissions perspective, the strength of your GPA is more important than exactly which courses you took.
• Consider taking summer classes. Taking a course or two over the summer is another strategy that can help spread out your work load and add flexibility to your academic-year schedule.
• Employ test banks and practice problems in your studying.Tau Beta Pi has a free bank of syllabi, midterms, and finals for certain courses. Even if you don’t join an SLC study group or adjunct course, you can still print out the practice problem sets or take the mock midterms and finals (offered most semesters).
• Study hard! Excelling as a Berkeley premed won’t be easy, even if you were a standout student in high school. However, by devoting substantial effort and approaching your studies strategically, it is certainly achievable.

What’s the best premed major at UC Berkeley?

As is the case at most colleges and universities, there is no “premed” major at UC Berkeley. Instead, Berkeley premeds major in everything from philosophy to chemical engineering, and they have found success applying to medical school with a wide variety of academic backgrounds. Nationally and at Berkeley, there isn’t one consistent best major for premeds.

That said, many Berkeley premeds stick with majors in the biological sciences for the advantage that is bestowed by the considerable overlap between these majors’ required courses and the premed prerequisites we discussed above.

Here are some of the most popular premed majors at UC Berkeley:

In the College of Letters and Sciences:

• Molecular and cell biology (MCB)
• Integrative biology
• Public health

In the College of Natural Resources:

• Nutritional sciences–physiology and metabolism
• Molecular environmental biology
• Genetics and plant biology
• Microbial biology

As noted earlier, it is possible to do well and achieve a great GPA in any major you choose. However, if you would like to understand how students in certain majors tend to fare, Berkeley publishes the average GPA of every major.

Beyond protecting your GPA, it’s also important to select a major that genuinely interests you! Even if you are bound for medicine, you can still follow your intellectual passions and choose a field that you will be happy to devote your time to, whether that’s inside or outside of the sciences.

When should you take the MCAT?

When planning out which courses you’ll take which semester, don’t overlook a crucial piece of the scheduling puzzle: the MCAT. The best time to take the MCAT will vary for each student, but the most important factors to take into account are:

• How far along you are in terms of completing your premed prerequisites
• When you are planning on applying to medical school

For those who plan to attend medical school straight after college, an ideal time frame for taking the MCAT is typically junior fall. While you can take the MCAT during sophomore year, this timeframe provides less flexibility in the event that you do not get into medical school and must reapply the following year, since scores do expire! On the other hand, if you push the MCAT back much beyond junior fall, you may not have enough time to retake the test in the event that you don’t achieve your target score.

If you plan to take a gap year after Berkeley, you can wait until senior fall to take the MCAT, which will give you more time to complete necessary premed classes.

Whatever your plans, it’s highly important to have completed the following courses before attempting the MCAT, as they will serve as invaluable prep:

• Biology 1A
• Physics 8A and 8B
• Chemistry 1A, 3A, and 3B
• Molecular and Cell Biology 102 (or an equivalent biochemistry course)

While you might occasionally hear that you can delay taking biochemistry until after the MCAT, we strongly recommend against this. Biochemistry makes up about 25 percent of the C/P and B/B sections, so it is a crucial prerequisite.

Depending on your background and comfort level in physics, you may be okay to take Physics 8B after the MCAT. This is because the physics courses at Berkeley are significantly more challenging and in-depth than what you’ll encounter on the MCAT, and the physics subject matter on the MCAT overlaps much more with Physics 8A than Physics 8B. That being said, you’ll need to take Physics 8B as a medical school prerequisite anyways, so it’s best to take before the MCAT to ensure the best possible preparation.

Psychology 1 or 2 and Sociology 1 or 3 can also be useful additions to your MCAT preparation, as these subjects appear on the exam as well. However, it is more doable to self-teach the material, so taking these courses is not always a “must.”