Any advice for possibly pre-med majors?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
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<p>Hi, I’ll be an incoming freshman this fall 2008 and my orientation is in about 2 weeks (orientation 103) so I would really appreciate some advice on majors, classes, and professors. Right now, I’m undeclared in life and sciences, but I’ve narrowed down my choices to biology, MIMG, MCDB, and possibly bioengineering. I’m somewhat leaning away from med school but I’m still open to it. Nevertheless, I do want to go to some type of grad school and get a higher degree. </p>

<p>I heard that most of the majors I’ve listed above are full of pre-med students… I’m assuming that’s a bad thing because of the competition and the large class size? I also heard that it is slightly easier to do well when you have biology as your major? MIMG sounds very interesting but I heard that people with this major have the lowest GPA. I’m considering MCDB and bioengineering to see whether or not I’m interested in biotech. Does anyone have advice on each of these majors (the level of difficultly, grades, competition, professors, etc.)? Is it possible for me to minor in art too?</p>

<p>Also, are there any helpful websites or links for additional advice on what schedule of classes are recommended for particular majors, which professor is more preferable, etc.?</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post… I’m obviously new to all of this and I’m kind of stressed out. But thank you for taking your time to read this :]</p>

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<p>well since you are considering only life science majors, for the first 2 years, you'll be taking the same classes with all the bio/mimg/mcdb/psychobio/marine bio/etc people. until you finish the life science core classes, you can easily switch between any of the life science majors. so you don't have to make a decision yet.
and it's definitely possible to have a minor on the side, although i don't know if we have a minor in art.</p>

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<p>im on exactly the same boat as you.. cant decide..
my orientation is 104 though =/</p>

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<p>[url=<a href="http://www.bruinwalk.com%5Dbruinwalk%5B/url"&gt;http://www.bruinwalk.com]bruinwalk[/url&lt;/a&gt;] is good for professor reviews. </p>

<p>Chem 14A & 14B - Scerri is a decent professor for both, but I think you learn more from a good TA for those classes.</p>

<p>Chem 14C & D - Hardinger is the de facto teacher, and you DO learn a lot from him. However, his exams can be difficult. Chanmugathas is easy as heck, but he uses Hardinger's slides.</p>

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<p>Doesn't Lavelle do 14A & B if you're in series?</p>

<p>Scerri does it out of series</p>

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<p>really? i took him in series (winter and spring, i believe)</p>

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<p>In series would be fall/winter.</p>

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<p>ah, so thats what you meant. oops.</p>

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<p>Large class sizes and competition will be present regardless of your major.</p>

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<p>Oh wow, thank you everyone for your advice ^^!</p>

<p>As of now I'll keep my options open then, but I'll research more on MIMG and MCDB because they seem to be more interesting even though I know my GPA might be lower if I do go with those majors. Is there anyone with those majors who can describe their experience in them for me?</p>

<p>Also, I found out that for MIMG and MCDB majors, they have exactly the same preparation requirements (which is pretty much the same for some of the other LS majors):</p>

<p>Required:
Life Sciences 1, 2, 3, 4;
Chemistry and Biochemistry 14A, 14B, 14BL, 14C, 14CL, and 14D, or 20A, 20B, 20L, 30A, 30AL, 30B, and 30BL;
Mathematics 3A, 3B, and 3C, or 31A, 31B, and 32A;
Physics 1A, 1B, 1C, 4AL, and 4BL, or 6A, 6B, and 6C.</p>

<p>Is there any particluar order in which I should take them in? Since there are two options for some of the subjects, how do I know which one is better? How should I fit in my other classes (G.E.'s, English, foreign language, etc.)? I heard that it is also recommended for freshman to take 3 classes because that's equivalent to 6 high school classes...</p>

<p>My last and finally question for now (sorry): If I'm planning on also majoring in Design and Media Arts, should I wait until later (for example, next year) to get started on taking the required classes? (Getting a science major is my first priority; getting an art major is my second priority.) The preparation for it consists of:</p>

<p>Required:
Design | Media Arts 10, 11A, 11B, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28. </p>

<p>Thank you so much.</p>

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<p>prep for DESMA major: 9 classes
DESMA major: 9 classes</p>

<p>prep for life science major: 16-19 classes
MIMG: 13 classes
MCDB: 12ish classes</p>

<p>all in all, that's roughly 46 to 50 classes to double major in DESMA and a life science. added to that are your GEs and language requirements that your majors don't take care of. so you could be looking at 50-55 classes now. in four years, that's 12-13 classes a year. which is a full load of 4 classes every single quarter, plus summer school to offset that. </p>

<p>if you seriously want to do this, you need a counselor. now. first step is your OC. second step is asking yourself what you want out of college- to be educated in life science or art? you mentioned grad school. if your main interest is in the life sciences, find some other way to get your art fix, whether through GEs or through some other minor or student programs. if art is your main interest, however, reconsider your motives for the life science major.</p>

<p>you don't have to make any decisions at this point, i'm just trying to be realistic about what you're setting out to achieve. take a mix of classes for both desma and life science to get a sense of what you really want to pursue. if you decide to double major, you're gonna need a lot of planning, so make sure it's worth it before you try.</p>

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<p>Here's one caveat: getting into DESMA is really fricking hard, so I've heard. You need to have a great portfoilo to present to them, and most likely you'll be focusing on DESMA first than the bio classes. </p>

<p>I wouldn't double major in DESMA and MIMG/MCDB, as they both require a lot of effort to take. In the end, they're meant for different careers. If you really like DESMA, you could always major in that and just take the required pre-med school classes a bit at a time. Heck, I know some anesthesiology residents who took Music Composition (harp specialty) as their major. </p>

<p>Plan out what you really want to do.</p>

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<p>To liyana179:</p>

<p>WHOA. Thank you sooo much for spending your time to do all those calculations for me (it must have taken a while)! It is very, very helpful! In that case, I will probably just major in a life science =.= ... The reasons why I wanted to double major in DESMA was because art is one of my hobbies and something that I enjoy doing, but I'm fine with having MIMG and MCDB as a possible major for now I guess. But anyway, since UCLA doesn't offer any other art minors or specializations that I'm interested in, is it possible for me to take some DESMA classes to fill up my electives then?</p>

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<p>AFAIK, most DESMA classes are restricted to DESMA majors, but you can ask the professor on the first day to take the class if all the other art/DESMA majors are enrolled and there's still room in it. My GF is a bio major, and she really likes graphic design, so she checked it out. Classes are much more restricted for non-DESMA majors, but it's still possible. </p>

<p>UCLA Extension also has art classes you can take, as those should be easier to get into.</p>

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<p>To Jinobi:</p>

<p>Thank you for all your advice too! Your idea of majoring in DESMA and taking the required pre-med school classes a bit at a time seems like an ok option also. Mmmm, I recently started making an online portfoilo, but I'm still working on it cause there's still a lot of scanning and picture-taking to do; it most likely won't be as good as the students who already got into DESMA but I guess it's worth a try maybe... </p>

<p>Oh, wow. I just realized that you posted again. Thank you! I'll go talk to my OC and the DESMA professor then ^^!</p>

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<p>Wait.. for chem series.. scerri doesn't teach winter/spring series.. he teaches it out of series??? ugh. great. so now I have to take lavelle, which I heard is really hard. :[</p>

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<p>^lavelle is not hard. if you can't make it past lavelle you will likely suffer in your ochem and biochem classes. people find lavelle hard because they don't study (and thus get weeded out of premed)</p>

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<p>Required for MIMG and MCDB (and probably a lot of the other pre-med majors):
Life Sciences 1, 2, 3, 4;
Chemistry and Biochemistry 14A, 14B, 14BL, 14C, 14CL, and 14D, or 20A, 20B, 20L, 30A, 30AL, 30B, and 30BL;
Mathematics 3A, 3B, and 3C, or 31A, 31B, and 32A;
Physics 1A, 1B, 1C, 4AL, and 4BL, or 6A, 6B, and 6C.</p>

<p>(Sorry if I'm being redundant, but this question got lost along the way.) Is there any particluar order in which I should take them in? Since there are two options for some of the subjects, how do I know which one is better? How should I fit in my other classes (G.E.'s, English, foreign language, etc.)? I heard that it is also recommended for freshman to take 3 classes because that's equivalent to 6 high school classes...</p>

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<p>math 3 series, chem 14 series, and physics 6 series are for pre-meds (easier than the normal ones). physics and some chem require math 3 series as prereqs.</p>

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<p>Scerri DOES teach winter/spring, in series is just a term for the main group who will take 14a/14b in fall/winter.</p>

<p>I would wait for Scerri, I find Lavelle to be a boring, uninspiring, overly confusing teacher, who does not present the material in the best manner possible. Scerri isn't perfect, but he's better.</p>

<p>Taking Scerri will not hurt you later on, each class is an entity unto itself, and the grade you get is largely dependent on how much you study for THAT class. Why take the possible hit to your GPA with Lavelle, when there really is no benefit.</p>

<p>Also there is the competition aspect, all the uber-premeds who eat, breathe, and sleep studying will be taking it in series, avoiding them just helps your curves.</p>