A lot of high school seniors who got admitted to UC Berkeley asked me about whether they should or should not choose to come to Berkeley when they're premed, prepharm, predental, or any pre-health track. The one thing that everyone seems to be worried about is academics. YES, berkeley is a hard school, especially for premeds. BUT, that just means you're going to rise to the challenge. If you shy away from a school just because you think it's going to be hard, how are you going to survive med school, residency, etc.? Trust me on this one- I had panic attacks at the thought of coming to berkeley and failing my classes and not getting into any med school. I was torn between cal and UCLA because UCLA was a bit easier than berkeley: better gpa = better chance at med school right? However, I realized that UCLA wasn't the school for me, and today, I can say that I've made the right choice. I was scared coming into berkeley- absolutely terrified. I bombed my first tests, cried for a week, and then had to motivate myself to keep going. If I can do it, then you can too. It won't be easy, but you'll grow so much in the process. Berkeley teaches its students to really work for what they want. No easy rides here. But the teachers are amazing (for the most part) and they're so passionate about their subjects. Don't be afraid of a challenge. Rise up to it.
Another thing that future college students are worried about when thinking about coming to cal is the balance between social life, academics, and extra currics. If you're smart enough to make it into cal, then you're smart enough to manage your time wisely. People here go to frats, clubs, etc, while researching in labs, and still manage to pull off a decent gpa.
So when you're making your final decisions about a college, don't think about the difficulty because no matter where you go, it's going to be difficult (although not thinking about it might be hard since pre-health students are always looking for higher gpas). Think about where you're going to be the happiest at for the next 4 years. Think about the possible opportunities each college has and what you can make out of it.
Best of luck, and please leave a comment if you have any questions!
-K
