<p>I notice you don’t mention what courses are considered GE. could you please explain to me what classes are included as GE. and can these classes be knocked out by the end of sophomore year? (because I notice a significant increase in courseload starting junior year).</p>
<p>What’s the difference between Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and just plain, old Biochemistry?
I want to go to UC Davis, but the thing that kind of bothers me is the Molecular Biology part.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! You helped a bunch.</p>
<p>also, what is orientation like? are parents allowed to join the student in the course-selection process? do you have to make your course decisions right there and then or are you given time to think about your decisions? Do you advise I stay away from any specific professors?</p>
<p>Thanks for answering my questions! They were really helpful. :)</p>
<p>Also, how was the workload like at UC Davis for majoring in biochemistry? What was your average day like (first two years of college)?</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>Im just got admitted as freshman in Biochem and Molecular Biology! but I want to switch to the College of Engineering…is that possible?</p>
<p>btw, thank you for being so helpful in answering my questions. I really appreciate it! :D</p>
<p>@jpy0817</p>
<p>The GE requirements at Davis are being changed for the incoming 2011 class so I’m not too familiar with it now. I heard it’s still similar to the old requirements. GEs are quite fun/interesting and you’ll finish a lot of them your freshmen year. You can definitely finish the requirements by the end of 2nd year if you want to.</p>
<p>As for orientation, I believe its a 2-3 day sort of thing (it’s been 4 years so I don’t remember much of the details. Your parents are welcome to come. You’ll also take the math and chemistry placement exam during orientation. This determines if you need to take remedial math/chemistry to start off or you can jump right into General Chemistry and Calculus. Everyone in your 10-15 people orientation group comes together at the end of orientation and the orientation leader helps you register for classes. Registration is done online and you have a 2-3 hr window to do it. If you aren’t satisfied, you can log back in at 10pm that night and fix it up more. After that you have to wait until your 2nd pass time (2nd time that you can change classes) and here, you can see what classes open up and register for them or get yourself on waitlist for classes. 2nd pass time is usually a month or two after your original registration date. So technically, you would have choices that you would have to make during the 3 day orientation, but besides chem and calculus, all you’re really deciding at that point is what 1-2 GE classes to take. As for professors, I’d hate to say this being that it is a hit or miss sometimes, but use ratemyprofessors.com to see what other people have to say about professors. As for General Chemistry, Dr. Bryan Enderle or Dr. Andreas Toupadakis (if he’s still teaching) are excellent. </p>
<p>I guess your parents could be there with you to help you out, but I feel that it won’t be that useful for you. You would know what works best for you and how you want to do things because ultimately your parents won’t be the ones waking up at 8am biking to chemistry in the rain. </p>
<p>@Tantrum</p>
<p>Biochemistry and Biochemistry&Molecular Biology is just a distinction/naming thing that different universities used and it has little differentiation. I found that a lot of incoming freshmen have no idea what biochemistry is and just put it down as their major because it has both biology and chemistry and that’s understandable. If you’re looking for pure chemistry (synthetic chemistry and analytical chemistry), a pure chemistry major would suffice. Biochemistry usually involves more of the chemistry involved in life (as its name suggest) and you can’t really learn this without delving into the world of molecular biology and understanding the process involved in cells. It entails a lot of the chemical process and pathways in cells and you will have to learn this as well as the chemical structure of the many different enzymes and molecules. So biochemistry usually a more in depth version of molecular biology, but Davis saw it fit to use it in the naming as well.</p>
<p>@arun704</p>
<p>Yes it is possible to switch from Biochem to the College of Engineering. Switching majors usually can occur for freshmen beginning in Winter quarter. There are usually some GPA cutoff that you would need to switch but they’re usually achievable. Switching majors within the same college is not difficult, but switching between different colleges entails a bit of more work (especially engineering). The reason being is that Engineering majors usually require a very strict number of classes you have to take and all their classes usually take up the full 180units minimum you need to graduate (not to mention that engineering is difficult, but that’s just my biochem bias talking =). Usually bio majors and science majors have less required courses they need to take and more “electives” (a flexible list of classes you can choose to take) then engineering majors. You should tell your orientation leader that you want to switch to engineering and they can give you a more in depth answer then I can. But what I just wrote above is what you should expect though. </p>
<p>@Ahnette</p>
<p>The great thing about Biochemistry at Davis is that there’s not a lot of required courses you need to take. The coursework however, is very dependent on the person. Your first year is pretty relaxing because you’re just taking 2 science classes a quarter and throwing in a couple of GEs as well. I think your first year is where you should begin to discover what study methods work for you and what doesn’t because it will start to get rough your second year. Second year, you’ll begin to do 3 science classes a quarter (Ochem/Physics/Bio) and you will usually have lectures to attend and labs for each of these classes (3 labs, 2-3 hours each a week). Ochem is a notorious weeder course and pretty difficult. 2nd year is the most difficult year because the courses are difficult and very general and aren’t very pertinent to your major at all. Your 3rd and 4 year is where you will take the bulk of your upperdivision bio courses and these will definitely be more interesting. </p>
<p>As for my personal schedule my first/second year, I averaged 15-17 units (4 classes) a quarter. I had about 3 hours of lecture a day (with a 2-3 hours of lab classes). I started research at a lab the winter of my freshmen year and averaged about 2-3 hours of time in the lab a week. As I got into my 2nd year, I began to do clinical internships and those are usually 4 hours a week, so once a week, I would drive over to the Med Center in Sacramento and put in my 4 hours. So I would say you would be on campus for about 6-8 hours a day minimum. If you can’t study at home, Davis has a 24 hour room that you can study at at all hours of the day. If you want to start hitting A’s, you would put in about an average of 4-6 hours a day studying (but this is very dependent on the person). However, this allows you to free up your weekends to do other things…;)</p>
<p>I was accepted as a Neurobiology, physiology and behavior major. Do you think it is possible to be Pre-med, have a good, GPA, good MCAT scores, ECS and study abroad?? I’ve always wanted to study abroad but it seems that not many people who go want to go to med school do it.
Also, Do you remember what the chemistry placement test was like? I took chemistry my sophomore year and I dont remember much :/.
Thank you!</p>
<p>First of all, thanks so much for this helpful thread.</p>
<p>I’m hoping to be an incoming transfer student this fall, majoring in pharmaceutical chemistry. How similar to biochemistry is the curriculum for this major (not including the first 2 years). </p>
<p>Also, is there any internship programs geared for students who are interested in pharmaceuticals or pharmacy school?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>For a Biochem major… If I don’t like/completely hate gen chem, should I go with a different major with an easier ochem req, like microbio with 8a and 8b?</p>
<p>I’m trying to decide right now between uc davis and uc santa cruz in hopes of going to a medical school after. I love both campuses but I’m wondering if the competition will be less vigorous at santa cruz… you said previously that davis is known for its grade deflation and I really want to make sure that I have a great shot of getting into med school (high GPA) so the decision is difficult for me. What is your advice / opinion on this? This is really a hard decision for me!</p>
<p>@marix123</p>
<p>As a neruobiology, physiology, and behavior (NPB) major, you would have time to do of all that and more if you manage your time well. NPB is the de facto “pre-med” major since a lot of its classes have to do with physiology. As for study abroad, people who go to med school do it, but I think the reason many people don’t because they’re busy with clinical work and schoolwork/MCATs. However, a lot of people go on trips abroad to do clinical work in underserved areas at Davis. We have programs in place like the Medical Brigades which does these clinical volunteer abroads. </p>
<p>Chemistry placement test is extremely easy. It just tests basic chemistry knowledge like atomic number, molarity/molality, and basic conversion of units. </p>
<p>@Swig707
I knew some pharm chem people in some classes. There are some overlap of classes between the biochemistry and the pharm chemistry major. For pharm chem, you can choose to either take the chemistry version of pchem or the biochemistry version of pchem. Pchem also have some required biological science classes that they need to take as well. I think they were Biochemistry (BIS102) and a cell biology class (BIS104). </p>
<p>If you’re interested in internships in the pharmaceutical industry, there are career fairs every quarter with drug companies that recruit new interns. As for pharmacy internships, you can sign up for a lottery slot in the internship and career center’s website under the internship section. They have quite a internships at the pharmacy at Sutter Medical Center and the UC Davis Medical Center.</p>
<p>@Shoyon</p>
<p>General Chemistry is pretty broad and it tries to encompass a large swath of chemistry in 3 quarters. Depending on your professor, you could really hate/like chemistry. So it’s difficult to judge whether or not you would want to pursue biochemistry just from general chemistry. However, it’s important to come to the realization in biochemistry, you will learn molecular biology as well as the chemical structure and formula of the molecules important in cells. So if you can’t imagine yourself memorizing chemical structures and the chemical pathways, biochemistry is not for you.</p>
<p>Taking the CHE8A-B series of organic chemistry is a double edge sword. It is significantly easier then the Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences (CHE 118ABC). However, professional schools usually require a full year of organic chemistry WITH lab. Therefore, only CHE118 series will satisfy the professional school’s organic chemistry requirement. So if you take the CHE8 series and decide that you want to go to professional school, you will need to retake organic chemistry (CHE118 series). So this is something you should consider. </p>
<p>@spikeisfat</p>
<p>I would say go to the school which you see yourself doing the best at. I want to explain what I said earlier about the grade deflation comment I made earlier. I think I put it in a way that might have scared you off. I meant to say that it is not like some of the ivy’s over on the East Coast where the lots of people end up with A’s and B’s in their classes. At Davis, you pretty much earn your grade and it is very possible to have a 3.6+ (the average GPA for matriculants to medical school) with hard work and dedication. As for the competition difference between Santa Cruz and Davis, I can’t really comment on the Santa Cruz part because I don’t go there. I don’t know much about the clinical internships available at Santa Cruz, but there are many at Davis and Davis has its own medical center. I commented on this and wrote in great detail about this in a couple of posts above. I think that at either UCs, you will be academically challenged and will be able to get into medical school. However, when I went on the medical school interview trail this year (I interviewed at 12 schools), the CA undergrads that I saw the most of were from UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, UC Davis, and UCI so that’s a bit of food for thought. </p>
<p>My personal opinion as to which school to choose is to choose the one that gives you ample opportunity to do well academically as well as allow you to grow as a person. Don’t go to a higher ranked school that you will end up hating because when your overall emotional state deteriorates, so does your academic health. Four years is a long time to be miserable so go where you absolutely cannot imagine yourself anywhere else.</p>
<p>this is a fantastic thread.</p>
<p>thanks mypinkfriday!</p>
<p>hello, even though i want to go to vet grad school, some of the courses i heard are similar to pre-med courses. Are the chem courses really hard? I’m not strong in chem but strong in bio and math, though i’m scared that i might not do well in all of the chem courses.</p>
<p>also, i know that ap grades can substitute for some courses but what if majority of the courses can’t be substituted? can we still get credit for the ap exams?</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>
<p>For pre-vet, most major in animal science or animal biology. Starting their first 2 years, they will take really similar classes to the Biological Science majors. One of my best friends was an animal science major and she took General Chemistry, Calculus, General Biology, General Physics, and Organic Chemistry. When it got to the upper division science courses, that’s where we started to deviate in terms of classes.</p>
<p>General Chemistry at Davis (and I’m sure at most universities) is a very broad overview of things. First quarter, you’ll mostly review the basic concepts of general chemistry like solutions. It is not exactly difficult, but there is a lot of problem solving and really broad. It’s a good example of a typical lower division science course in that you will be in a giant lecture hall with about 200 or so people trying to understand concepts that you might already know but now need to know in a bit more detail. If you feel like you just aren’t getting the materials, you can go to the teaching assistant’s office hours or the professor’s office hours so they can explain it more in depth for you. Or you can go to the Learning Skills Center, which actually has student tutors that can help you (I know for a fact that they have tutors dedicated to helping General Chemistry). These tutors are free to you. </p>
<p>The AP credit thing is somewhat tricky to navigate. The good thing about those are that they can add to your total units that you completed (you need a total of 180 units to graduate). This is good because registration times are determined by total units completed so you can possibly register for classes earlier then your friends. Some of the classes that I know you can skip out of for sure is the A part of General Chem and A and B part of Calculus. The bad thing about this is sometimes, you might actually want to take these courses. The reason being is that if you want to attend say a med school, vet school, pharm school, etc, they require you to complete every part of the series of classes at a university. Some will allow for AP credit substitution, but others won’t. It would be best to speak to one of the professional school counselors about this as I am not quite sure what the requirements are for vet school. So AP credit is somewhat tricky. Either way (whether you use the AP credit to get out of a class or not), the AP credit will still add to your total unit count, so it won’t be wasted at all.</p>
<p>What are the most popular majors in the Biological Sciencse. Or more specifically, is the BS in Exercise Biology a highly selective major?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>