<p>@ Chiburger: Take it during a quarter where you don’t have too many classes. It is super intensive and since it meets everyday, you WILL fall behind easily if you don’t keep up with the material everyday. When I took NPB 101 last quarter, my professor stressed that it would be a BAD idea to take more than 14 units while taking the class (unless you’re naturally good at science. I knew people who were taking Physics, O-Chem, and NPB 101 and still managed to do well in NPB 101, whereas I struggled in the class).</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I have a quick question. I’m a transfer student who was recently admitted to UCD as a microbiology major. Unfortunately I’m missing a few of of the lower division prereqs required for my major. I’m missing the organic chemistry classes and the first part of bio. At my community college, Pasadena City College, the biology courses are articulated backwards. Basically I completed the last two bio courses for UCD but I’m missing the first part. I’m wondering if UCD will make me retake the whole series again or only the first part. And will these missing courses put me behind graduation? Is it possible to cram these courses in along with upper division courses? </p>
<p>Help would be much appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>@chiburger</p>
<p>I agree with sopranokitty’s advice. NPB101 has lecture everyday and it’s pretty easy to fall when you’re worrying about other difficult classes that you’re taking in the same quarter. As you alluded too, there are a lot of required classes that you have to take your first two years as a Biochem major (can be applied to all majors in CBS actually). That is why NPB101 is usually taken 3rd year when your class requirements free up a bit. If you look at a previous post I made about when people are taking the MCAT and applying to med school, I mention how a lot of people are delaying applying to med school so that they can comfortably take all their classes and do well in them rather than try to cram them into a couple of years and end up doing horribly in them. </p>
<p>Without making any assumptions about your skill level or study habits, I would say that the average undergrad would have enough time to do well in NPB101 if they take NPB101, another science class, a GE class and some sort of random filler 1-2unit elective in that one quarter. </p>
<p>As for internships and research, first thing you need to do is create your CV. As you have not had any working laboratory experience so far, it’s good to emphasize your laboratory skill set that you have. These things include all the techniques you learned in General Chemistry (which is a lot of things) as well as your knowledge of certain aspects of molecular biology. Even if you’ve never had hands-on laboratory experience with these techniques, putting down that you know them will make you stand out a bit more to the PIs. In general, PIs don’t expect much experience from their undergrads and they usually train you once you get there.</p>
<p>@Eric03
You can retake the parts that you took at your community college to complete the whole BIS series. To be honest, BIS2B and BIS2C are not terribly important and I have never used that knowledge ever again (nor did I remember any of it). You can take retake it if you want, but I think it would not be terribly useful.</p>
<p>If all your missing is the 3 parts of the ochem series, I don’t think you’ll be behind for graduation. You can easily make up any of these parts of the ochem series during summer school OR you can try to squeeze it into the 6 quarters that you have remaining at UCD. Either of these two options are doable. However, I recommend the summer option because it makes it so you’re not stressed out by cramming 4 science classes in one quarter in order to make graduation in 2 years.</p>
<p>Hello!
I don’t know how much you would know about this, but what is the NPB major like? I really want to go into Neuroscience and I was wondering if UC Davis was the right place for me. There is no major that’s specifically tailored towards neuroscience, and I heard that the NPB major focuses on physiology.
Thanks in advance!!!</p>
<p>bmb2011–I’m transferring to UCD this fall as a biochem major. Do you have any advice for making my 3rd and 4th years go as smoothly as possible, (like what classes to avoid grouping together, etc)?! I’m planning on applying to med schools the summer before my 4th year if that makes a difference…Also, when did you take the MCAT?</p>
<p>@goldincarnation</p>
<p>You’re pretty much correct in your assumption. NPB at UCD focuses quite a bit on physiology and it is basically the de facto physiology major. There are a couple of neuroscience courses that are offered and that you can take, but a lot of the required courses are physiology classes. The brain is involved in a lot of human physiology so most of the courses are either straight physiology or neurophysiology. There is not many classes in the way of cognitive science and neuroanatomy. You can see more here:</p>
<p>[UC</a> Davis General Catalog: NPB requirements](<a href=“http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/UCDWebCatalog02_04/programs/BIS/NPBreqt.html]UC”>http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/UCDWebCatalog02_04/programs/BIS/NPBreqt.html)</p>
<p>@premedwannabe</p>
<p>If you check back on a couple of previous pages, I posted up what my schedule is like and how I grouped the classes. I thought the way I grouped things went pretty smoothly. I would say as a general rule, not to take more than 2 upper division bio/biochem classes in one quarter. </p>
<p>I took my MCAT in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year.</p>
<p>Ryboy1
Junior Member
*
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 41
I’m a biomedical engineering major and would love to know some good (and easy) ge classes to take. Since my major is hard and I’m pre-med too so I’ll have to take extra courses to get into med school, I don’t want my ge classes to be hard as well. It would also help if they are writing experience classes since engineering students have to take 3 of those. Good teacher recommendations would be helpful too!</p>
<p>I’ve read all of your posts and from them i’ve gleaned that Davis is definitely a good school for those considering a career in medicine. However, i’m also considering santa barbara as one of my top choices. I’ve been undecided between the two schools for the last month now and now that theres only two days left to decide i need as much help as i can get to make a decision. Is there any real negative in terms of classes, prestige, chances of grad school acceptance, research opportunities, satisfaction, of going to sb over davis? In short, i just want to know if theres anything to convince me that going to sb over davis would be a mistake.</p>
<p>@ryboy1</p>
<p>How easy a certain class is all depends on the professor teaching the class during that specific quarter. However, there are a couple of gems that are easy at all times that would also meet the BME GE requirements. Some of the top of my head: the CLA10- Mythology. Might be sort of hard to get because every knows this is pretty easy. MUS10 is pretty easy in my opinion and it has a writing credit as well. NUT10, FST10 are also easy filler classes. I’ll keep you posted once I remember some more of the easy classes.</p>
<p>@doanallan</p>
<p>You can tell from gleaning some of the stuff I wrote before that it really doesn’t matter where you go to undergrad in terms of getting into grad or medical school. I think it’s always important to go where you feel the most comfortable and that you think you can succeed at. I don’t know much about UCSB, but I had friends that went there who got into really competitive medical schools. I also know a couple of people in my class right now who went to UCSB, so going to UCSB will not hinder your chances at all. In terms of prestige, I think they are both comparable if you’re into the whole US News Rankings. </p>
<p>The only thing that puts UCSB at a disadvantage though, is there lack of a medical school and lack of a university hospital. That makes it a bit more difficult for you to get an internship or volunteer at a hospital, although I am sure there are hospitals in the area that you can do these things as. </p>
<p>I hope that helps. As always, feel free to PM me if you’d like to ask more personal questions and I’ll try to answer promptly due to the time-sensitive nature of your decision.</p>
<p>@bmb2011: I got accepted to Davis as a transfer student and Davis is the only school that offers Applied Chemistry in 4 concentrations. Do you have any advice about going into Applied Chemistry ( I’m thinking between Environmental Chemistry or Pharmaceutical Chemistry) vs. just pure Chemistry? How’s the chemistry program at UCD? Thank you so much for taking your time. I really appreciate it. Reading all your posts has been super helpful to me, I’m really nervous about starting a new college life that isn’t at a community college!</p>
<p>Hi! I want to know how much time in advance should we start preparing for the MCATs. For example, if I plan to take it in April, when is a good time to start preparing. Also, besides, NPB 101, Bis 101 and Bis 102, are there any classes that you recommend we take before taking the MCATs? Lastly, what do you think of prep classes? I heard about Kaplan, Princeton Review and berkeleyreview in Davis. Do you know which one is good to take? </p>
<p>It is a lot of questions but thank you for answering them! I appreciate it.</p>
<p>@praewa</p>
<p>I made a post a couple of pages back talking a bit about what I know about the chemistry program at UCD. It’s not much, but I hope it’s helpful. The chemistry program is good owing to the fact that it has several prominent biochemistry researchers. If you are very interested in the aspect of biochemistry and physical chemistry, a couple of names to look up are Oliver Fiehn and Andrew Fisher, both of who do pretty good research. Neil Schore is a professor still at UCD and he’s the guy who wrote the organic chemistry textbook that is used in all the UCs and a lot of other universities in the world. Irwin Segel, who retired but still hangs around, is the leading expert on enzyme kinetics and his book on enzyme kinetics is basically the bible of the field. Word on the street back in my day was that saying you studied under Irwin Segel gives you a leg up in any interview at any major pharmaceutical company. </p>
<p>@iamnicolle
If you’re going to take it in April, I’d say start studying a bit during your winter break (since it’s hard for you to study during the quarter). Ramp up the study around Feb and start doing practice exams 2-3weeks before the actual thing. Those classes I mentioned are the most high yield in my opinion. </p>
<p>I took Princeton review and I thought it was pretty decent to keep me on schedule. Princeton review practice exams are harder, but it prepares you well for the real thing. Kaplan practice exams are a bit easier and some say that it lulls you into a false sense of security. However, the quality of the course really just depends on who is teaching the class. Berkeley Review is supposed to be the best. However, that is just popular sentiment among those who have taken the class, so take that with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>How do you feel about pursuing Physics or possibly Engineering with the pre med route. I’m mainly interested in physics but heard it is highly difficult to maintain decent grades.</p>
<p>Assuming I get off waitlist for Davis, which would you advise for premed, ucsd or Davis? I sired to SD but am just not feeling it after visiting it, and feel that Davis is the better fit for me.</p>
<p>@CSB111
If Physics is something that you find very fascinating, I’m pretty sure you’ll make it out with some pretty decent grades. Having a major that’s not one of the traditional pre-med majors could possibly give you a slight edge (do to you being a more interesting candidate) and it would be something that could make you standout among the thousands of bio majors. I’d say to give it a try and see how it goes.</p>
<p>@Edreed20
Both schools are excellent with excellent clinical and research opportunities. If you feel like Davis is a better fit, then it quite possibly benefit you to go. If you’re hung up on the fact that UCSD is ranked slightly higher, I would say not to worry about that at all. The UCs are well regarded among medical schools and going to either of them and doing well will make you a strong candidate everywhere. Just go where you find would be the best fit for you and everything will work out.</p>
<p>@CSB111</p>
<p>I was a engineering student (chemical) who was premed all five years, until I decided not too go that route. It’s definitely tough, you take a lot of the “harder” classes/more classes. The work load is tough. I will say though, I had the opportunity to take Physics 9 series, which I learned quite a lot from. A lot of my Biosci/NPB/MIC/BIO Chem friends only took 7 series. I keep hearing how the 7 series was a joke. No idea. And we also need way more math as well. But if you like it, do it. I came to a realization that I didn’t want to go to Med School by the end of my 5th year (I was accepted to a few), but I had a nice degree to fall back on.</p>
<p>Sorry BMB2011 for going somewhat OT in your thread. I did take a lot of MCB classes though: 120L, 124 (yuck), and the enzyme kinectics one (forgot), and my roommate/good friend was a biochem major and took a lot of similar classes with him.</p>
<p>I will have to ask maybe a science professor or two for a LOR soon. I have attended their office hours about once every week. I am still quite nervous. Can you provide any tips on how to approach them and what to provide them with? Thanks</p>
<p>@luckyrx</p>
<p>I think I addressed this somewhere on this thread but I can repeat it again. There is a couple of documents you have to give your letter writers. Your personal statement, your CV, and your cover letter (which in this situation serves to remind your writer what they are writing for and the qualities in which you would like them to express about you). In the cover letter you would subtly hint at what you want them to write about without being very explicit (which I find turns off a lot of professors). In the cover letter, you would also outline the steps they need to take to turn your LOR in and your contact information. Not necessary, but I usually include a stamped envelope to make it easier for them. All this should be placed in a nice manilla envelope (or any color of your choice =) with your name stated on the outside.</p>
<p>To approach the professor, be honest and concise. Tell them that you have been a nice relationship and rapport with them and you feel that they can write about your qualities effectively. If the professor knows you well, they will agree to write the letter without hesitation. Also state clearly on your cover letter and verbally comment when you expect the LOR to be in by. Usually 1-2 months time is good, but make sure you get them to commit because one of the biggest pitfalls is to have a letter writer forget and you having to chase it down later on. Again, make sure that they know they can contact you at any time during the process.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Hello. I haven’t looked through the whole thread, as I don’t have time at the moment, but do you know of any professors taking freshmen undergraduates for research? On the open campus day, I talked with a biology graduate student at UCD and he said something about some professors taking only freshmen students and others taking students that have met a course requirement or something of that sort. If there are other nice professors willing to take on new assistants, please let me know too, as well as any requirements they may or may not have. And lastly, how is the GPA competition at UCD in terms of working hard enough to get to the top? If any of these questions were mentioned, feel free to say so and I’ll file through those earlier posts!</p>