Ask a Recent UCD Biochemistry Grad

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Davis
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>This forum was such a great resource for me when I needed help in deciding which undergrad to attend 4 years ago that I want to return the favor. I just graduated last quarter with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and will be attending medical school next fall. I was quite active in research and participated in many of the clinical opportunities available at Davis.</p>

<p>So if there are any future biology/chemistry majors or those wanting to attend medical school that want to ask me any questions about the coursework/clinical/research opportunities/life at Davis, I will try my best to help out!</p>

2

<p>Hi! I was wondering when is a good time to start finding internships and how to do that?</p>

3

<p>What classes would you recommend taking first and which ones are best to save for later in your studies?</p>

4

<p>Hi!
Though I am still a sophomore in high school, UC Davis is my dream school right now, and I plan to go to med school after!
Are there good pre-med advisors at UC Davis? How is the competition between pre-meds like? Were you able to participate in research and find volunteer and shadowing opportunities easily? How tough is a science major at Davis? (I’ve been told to stay away from science majors if I plan to go to med school because the major is competitive and does not necessarily prepare someone for med school)</p>

<p>And also, have you met any Lowell students at UC Davis? :D</p>

5

<p>Hi!
Yesterday, I was admitted (as a freshman) to the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology college at UC Davis!!! Like you, I wish to attend medical school. I was wondering when I should start looking for and getting involved in clinical/research work at Davis. Also, is the coursework pre-determined or do you have to manage the courses you take?</p>

6

<p>@ lovefliesx3</p>

<p>You can start finding internships during Winter Quarter of your freshmen year. There is a lottery system where once you sign up, they will assign you a time slot in which you can register for the various internships at the UC Davis Medical Center or the Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento. There are various departments you can work in (Oncology, Emergency, Pharmacy, etc). To do so, check out the UC Davis Internship and Career Center website and there you can get more instructions.</p>

<p>As for the best time to start finding one, I think it depends on how you assess your free time and study habits. Some people adjust really well to their workload and start early their freshmen year and some wait a bit longer. I personally think that if you have a goal of being a physician/pharmacist/physical therapist, you should start to experience that early on so that you have time to adjust your major and career goals as soon as possible.</p>

<p>@Skylines</p>

<p>From what I’ve experienced, the typical Biological Science/Chemistry majors start with General Chemistry (CHE2 series) and Calculus (MAT17 series) with 1-2 general education courses. I feel spacing out the GEs to about 1-2 a quarter makes it so you won’t have the life sucked out of you by all the hard science courses later on. For the typical pre-professional/pre-med students, Chem/Math your first year with General Bio (BIS 2A) your spring quarter will help you keep on track with finishing in 4 years. Your second year will consist of Ochem (CHE118 series), Physics (PHY7 series), and General Bio (BIS series). I’ve seen many people try to do all 3 classes in each quarter their second year so depending on how you balance your time (with research and ECs) it can be rough. You could always opt to lighten the load by taking some of these during the summer between your 1st and 2nd year.</p>

7

<p>@ Ahnette</p>

<p>A lot of my friends are actually from Lowell and there were a bunch of people from Lowell were on my floor in the dorms back in the day. You’ll fit right in if you come to Davis!</p>

<p>Depending on who you talk to, the pre-med advisors at Davis can range from being horrible to great. A couple of my friends at other UCs told me that their pre-med advisors were usually very busy and have little to no time for you. That is not the case at Davis however. We have (I beleive) 3 pre-med advisors and it is very easy to sign up for a 20minute time slot to talk to them. The head advisor, Linda Scott, has been at Davis for a really long time and has a lot of connections with various medical school admissions officers. However, she is very honest about your chances for medical school/professional schools and will not try to sugar coat things. This usually irks a lot of people, but for me, I’d rather have someone tell me straight up how my chances are. She’s extremely knowledgeable and will offer the best advice on what you need to do to bolster your chances. </p>

<p>As for the competition between pre-meds, it is cut-throat at all and tend to be on the more friendly side. Most people here tend to fall in the pre-vet, pre-pharm, pre-med camps and everyone is really laid back and friendly. You will never find anyone mixing other reagents in your experiments in lab or give you the wrong answers (which I heard are more common at other UCs). </p>

<p>@ Ahnette and jpy0817</p>

<p>I figured I can answer both your questions about the curriculum/opportunities together. Congrats jpy0817 on your acceptances btw. </p>

<p>The curriculum at Davis is not pre-determined for you in that you absolutely HAVE to take a certain course in a certain quarter. However, there is a general sequence of classes you have to take and I find that it is usually uniform everywhere you go. You start with your General Chemistry and Calculus your first year, then Ochem/Physics/General Bio your 2nd year. This is the general pre-reqs for medical school so you can ideally finish these your first 2 years. In your 3rd-4th year, you have to knockout the 4 general upper division College of BioSci requirements (Genetics/Biochem/Metabolism/Cell Bio) and these will prepare you well for the MCAT. In your 3rd/4th year, this is where the courses start to deviate between the BioSci majors and this is where you start taking Biochem course etc etc. The best thing about BioSci majors are that there very little required upper division courses you need to take and LOTS of electives that you can take. This is great because you can take courses like Physiology, Microbiology, Anatomy as electives which will help immensely wiht the MCAT. You can begin sprinkling in these course your 3rd year. </p>

<p>If you truly want to go to medical school or any of the health science schools, it is easier in terms of time, to major in a science field. However, it is absolutely NOT required that you have to major in a science field. You can major in art history/anthropology and take all the necessary pre-reqs for medical school, do well on the MCAT, and you will have an equal shot at medical school as the science major. But majoring in a science major will allow you to do the pre-reqs and have it count towards your major so that you won’t have to jump all over the place trying to finish things on time. As for the competition in science majors, it’s a good litmus test on how you will do in graduate school anyways. If you shy away from difficult science courses, it will be a rude awakening later on in graduate school when you meet these people again. However, do what ever you like to do and not do something that you absolutely hate because life will suck when its 4am and you’re sitting there memorizing metabolic pathways and you have no idea why you’re doing it.</p>

8

<p>In terms of research and clinical opportunities, I feel Davis has generally more opportunities that many other UCs. As a mentioned earlier, there’s a lottery system for you to do internships at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. You can sign up for different departments and you’ll mostly doing clerical work for these departments. It may seem boring, but it’s an excellent way for you to see how an academic medical center works and you can build contacts with the attendings in different departments. The drawback of internships at the UC Davis Medical Center is that it is in Sacramento and you would need to take a shuttle to Sacramento (which takes 30-45min). However, the shuttle runs every 30min-1hr so that’s not too bad. </p>

<p>As you get more experience under your belt, this is where Davis really shines in terms of clinical research and opportunities. There is lots of research being done at the Medical Center and a lot of principal investigators (PIs) looking for interns to help them out (because you’re free labor to them). If there is a particularly area you are interested in, go to the Davis medical center website and find the PIs doing research and email them. Many are going to be interested in taking you on. As for pure bench research, there are lots of professors in the College of Biological Sciences that would welcome in new interns so you should check out their websites and email them. There are very few to none malignant professors in BioSci and most of them will be interested in taking you in. Also there’s a page on the Internship and Career Center that advertises jobs/internships in labs and if you’re are diligent enough to sift through them, many professors advertise openings on there as well. Truth be told, it is definitely very easy to get position in a lab and you can start your search generally your spring quarter of your freshmen year granted that you have picked up some basic skills and knowledge from your general chemistry classes. Half of the protocols you will do in labs are not very difficult and most labs will train you on how to do them. They usually like lower classmen because then you would stay longer and they won’t have to train another undergrad.</p>

9

<p>so, what you’re saying is that by taking Chem and Calculus(1st year) and OChem/Physics/General Bio(2nd year), I free up time during my 3rd and 4th years to sprinkle in elective courses such as Anatomy, Physiology, etc. that will further help me succeed on the MCAT?</p>

10

<p>In terms of clinical research, there are a couple of opportunities that are unique to Davis. There is a program called Emergency Medicine Research Associate Program that runs out of the UC Davis Medical Center Emergency Room. This program is difficult to get into (you would need to have had some clinical experience prior to this) and is generally populated by juniors/seniors and some sophomores (very little). Here, you get to screen for patients who come into the ER for possible inclusion into research studies currently being conducted by faculty members. Different from the other boring clinical internships, you get to don a white coat and talk to patients and get them to participate in clinical trials and studies. Most of the time, you are working with residents and attendings to find patients so this is an excellent way to get to know physicians and see what the life of a doctor is like. The only 2 UCs that have this program are Davis and Irvine so this is a pretty unique opportunity. Plus, if you work late, you get to see all the trauma cases that comes in!</p>

<p>Another unique program which just started (i did not get a chance to participate in it) is the Pre-medical surgical internship program. From what my friends told me, you get round with surgical residents and see patients pre and post-op. And this is pretty unique to the Davis as well.</p>

<p>As for clinical hands-on opportunities, Davis has a lot of free clinics staffed by medical students at UC Davis. There are free clinics for almost every community represented in Sacramento/Davis (Chinese/Hispanic/Vietnamese etc). You get to take blood pressure and interview patients prior to the medical students/attendings do their thing. You can fill roles of health educators or interpreters and this really allows you to see how a clinic operates and allows you to shadow physicians.</p>

11

<p>@jpy0817</p>

<p>Sorry if I wasn’t clear. The general sequence of classes usually happens that way for the science majors at Davis. It’s also a pretty standard coursework sequence if you plan to apply to medical schools the summer of your junior year. However, it is by no means set in stone and most people take a year off and then apply to medical school (apply to medical school the summer after their senior year). Electives are usually taken 3rd and 4th year because by then you have knocked off the pre-reqs for those classes. Physiology (NPB101), microbiology (MIC101), and anatomy (CHA101) are pretty good electives to take. I would say that Physiology/Genetics BIS101/Biochem BIS102 (in addition to the lower division pre-reqs) will help prepare you for the MCAT well, so plan on taking those before taking the MCAT. Microbiology and anatomy are interesting and good classes to take as electives, but won’t help you as much as the to other 3 classes. 3rd and 4th year are pretty flexible as a Biological science major (and even more so for a Biochem major) so you graduating in 4 years should not be a problem at all.</p>

12

<p>What was the most convenient way you found to take notes? Would it be easier to take notes with a laptop or would handwritten notes be quicker? & Which professors for the beginning classes would you recommend the most?</p>

<p>Also, thanks a bunch for answering questions(:</p>

13

<p>could you give us a 4-year rough draft breakdown of the coursework involved? </p>

<p>ie. freshman year = these courses
sophomore year = these courses
etc.</p>

14

<p>What types of medical schools do some grads get into?</p>

15

<p>@Jpy0817 I can give you my tentative list for my first two years at Davis (currently a freshman).</p>

<p>Fall Quarter Freshman Year: Gen Chem 2A, Calc for Bio Sci 17A, GE
Winter Quarter Freshman Year: Gen Chem 2B, Calc for Bio Sci 17B, Physics 7A
Spring Quarter Freshman Year: Gen Chem 2C, Calc for Bio Sci 17C, Physics 7B (if I decide to attend the first DL) or BIS 2A (which I’m registered for), GE
Summer I Freshman Year: If I go the Bis 2A route for Spring, I’ll take Physics 7B
Summer II Freshman Year: Physics 7C
Fall Quarter Sophomore Year: Chem 118A, Bis 2B, GE (Maybe another class)
Winter Quarter Sophomore Year: Chem 118B, Bis 2C, Stats 100
Spring Quarter Sophomore Year: Chem 118C, NPB 101, something else</p>

16

<p>@Skylines</p>

<p>I’m more of a pen and paper sort of person so I tend to jot down notes in a notebook. Most professors at Davis now are shifting towards powerpoint presentations and they usually post them up beforehand so I found printing them out and jotting notes on them are extremely helpful. There are lots of other people who type notes on their laptop/netbooks as well. It all comes down to what you are most comfortable with. For me, writing things down help me remember it better. </p>

<p>As for the beginning classes, by the time you register at summer orientation, they would probably not have professors assigned quite yet. So you would probably see “The Staff” in the box where the professors name would usually be. This is true for your first Math and Chemistry classes.</p>

17

<p>@Razi</p>

<p>UC Davis grads tend to do pretty well in terms of medical school admissions. Your undergraduate institution may or may not play a role in medical school admissions and from what I have experienced this cycle, I tend to believe it does not play a significant role. Davis is known for its grade deflation, so getting a high GPA here is significant to admissions committee. From talking to premed advisors here, we have done quite well in CA medical schools and for private schools on the East Coast. For instance, at VCU Medical College this year, UC Davis was the most represented out of state undergraduate school of the first year class. In my class this year, I know a couple of Biochem majors who got into Harvard, UCSF, and UCLA. If you’re choosing between UCs right now, I would say go where you are most comfortable and where you think you would do the best in. It’s four years of your life and it would suck a lot if you went to some place where you absolutely hate. Getting a high GPA always outweighs going to a super prestigious school with a low GPA. Davis is known to the admissions committee and doing well here will get you in the door at any place.</p>

18

<p>@jpy0817</p>

<p>Indianjatt’s schedule looks pretty good in terms of what you would expect. I can give you a rough breakdown of a typical Biochemistry major would be like.</p>

<p>1st year- General Chemistry (CHE2ABC), Calculus for BioSci (MAT17ABC), start Physics (PHY7A) or Bio (BIS2A)</p>

<p>Summer- Continue with BIS2 or PHY7</p>

<p>2nd year- Bio (BIS2ABC), Physics (PHY7ABC), Organic Chemistry (CHE118ABC), Genetics (BIS101) or Biochemistry (BIS102)</p>

<p>Summer- Genetics (BIS101) or Biochemistry (BIS102)</p>

<p>3rd Year- Metabolism (BIS 103), Cell Biology (BIS 104), Physiology (NPB101), Microbiology (MIC101), Eukaryotic Molecular Bio (MCB121), Biochemistry Lab (the big one, 6units, MCB120L)</p>

<p>Summer- MCATs/DAT/PCAT</p>

<p>4th Year- Enzymes and Receptors (MCB123), Physical Chemistry (CHE107AB), Macromolecules and sturcture (MCB124), and any other classes you didn’t do from your 3rd year</p>

<p>You should be able to finish in 4 years or less</p>

19

<p>Would the course schedule for someone majoring in Plant Sciences or Food Science be similar to the schedule you just listed? Also, are there academic counselors who will help guide students when choosing classes?</p>

<p>This may not apply to this tread, but can you explain how a student goes about applying for jobs (specifically researchers, interns, lab assistants, etc)?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

20

<p>@Nell33</p>

<p>The course schedule for Plant Science or Food Science major would be different. However, I am pretty sure Food Science majors will start their first quarter taking General Chemistry and Calculus. I am not sure about what classes Plant Science majors need to take first. You will get some starting advice about what classes to take from your orientation counselor on your summer orientation date. As for a 4 year course plan, there are peer advisors and your major advisers at your major’s office that will help you out. They are very simple to schedule and they will go over what you need to take and when to take it in more detail.</p>

<p>As for internships/research/lab assistant positions (outside of the health professions field), I know quite a bit about that. You have a variety of ways to go about finding them and they are very abundant and easy to do. Your first option is to check out the Internship and Career Center website and look under “Jobs.” Professors and labs usually put open positions on here (paid or internship) and you can email them about it. I would say that most listings are out at the end of each quarter when labs have positions they need to fill for the next quarter. Another option is to go to your major’s website and check out the professors and their research. You could try emailing them to see if they’re interested on taking you on and most are very friendly about it. If you’re looking for a solid research assistantship or internship to start out, the Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology department are always looking for undergrads and the professors here are very friendly and willing to teach undergrads lab techniques.</p>