u/Educational-Wing1340

I'm an incoming freshman at UC Berkeley for Neuroscience but just got into USC through appeals for Computational Neuroscience starting in the spring. I'm a premed student thats really interested in Neurotech/AI + Entrepreneurship. I'm have trouble deciding whether to stay at Berkeley or recommit to USC. Any advice would be helpful.

Some background info:

• from a competitive bay area high school
• ultimate goal is to get into Stanford MD/PhD program
• lots of previous research experience in high school (poster presentations at conferences like SfN, RECOMB, SDDS, etc. and 2nd place at ISEF for comp bio)
• goal GPA range in undergrad: 3.9-4.0
• don't want to take any gap years
• want to do advanced compneuro research first two years to create startup; main thing in application hopefully

UC Berkeley Pros:

• access to advanced AI research at berkeley
• research opportunities at UCSF
• startup culture + proximity to SF
• 30 min drive from home, in-state tuition
• get to room with two of my bsfs from high school
• can start doing research as early as this summer since I'm in the bay
• Robinson's LSBE program; double at HAAS (not guaranteed)
• already created a lot of plans relating to internships, research, etc. since im local and have had time to create connections since committing
• gives me flexibility in the off chance that I mess up my gpa or realize med school is out of the cards for me to easily get a successful biotech job
• has prestige (even though its not important)
• overall; really like the research opportunities and party/work culture at berkeley since its what im used to

UC Berkeley Cons:

• "grade deflation"
• no attached med school or hospital
• know too many people from bay area
• toxic culture and very cutthroat
• HATED berkeley before i committed (i like it more now)
• terrible student to faculty ratio
• hard to get good LORs
• high competition for opportunities (but im used to this)
• startups very saturated; might not stand out
• honestly think ill get depressed and burnt out and realize ill never achieve my dream

USC Pros:

• has lots of clubs and clinical opportunities for pre-med students
• slight grade inflation (much easier to get 4.0)
• really like my major of Computational Neuroscience
• can double major in Bus Admin at Marshall
• Keck med school opportunities
• lots of advanced research and funding even if not as good as berkeley
• has been a dream school for past few years
• also has work hard party hard culture but would definitely be less stressed here
• gives me a chance to grow and be independent since i wont be close to home or know that many people
• a lot more handholding/ pre-med advising to help me stay focused and get opportunities
• i would likely be a more competitive applicant
• trojan network helps a lot later on
• third highest matriculation rate in the country

USC Cons:

• tuition is more expensive (but still affordable)
• spring start is my biggest reason for being hesitant; just feels kinda dumb and scared i lose a lot of opportunity because of it
• biggest thing about committing to USC is the fact that I lose berkeley, most people are calling me dumb for even considering USC
• probably wouldn't be as succesful in the biotech sphere if I shifted away from premed unlike berkeley (but honestly don't think I'll stop being premed)
• just doesn't have the same level of work hard culture; i feel like i might get too relaxed here even though thats not who I am

I'm just trying to understand where I can achieve everything that I'm passionate about and make sure I get into a T5 MD/PhD program.