<p>edelynly - Campus life is a lot of fun. The adjustment was pretty easy, I lived in the dorms this year with two freshmen roommates, they are cool but I have other closer friends in different groups. As long as you involve yourself with social activities you will have a great time. Join a club, play a sport, go greek, theres heaps of opportunities to meet like minded people and develop good social ties.</p>
<p>emilsinclair9 - No problem, I remember the anxious wait and the joys of talking to those real UCLA students who would come on the website every so often! Research opportunities present themselves in a few different ways, there are 4 different classes that may be used for research. Psych 100b, LAB, 196A and 199. </p>
<p>-100b is just to let you try out research in a very structured environment with a TA, they pretty much make you follow their guidelines though.</p>
<p>-LAB is designed for senior psych students who have done most of their other classes and they do research with groups on the field of their choice (Each field has their own lab variation)</p>
<p>196 - Independent Study 1 - This basically gives you alot more freedom than the other 2, it counts as an upper division class but not as an elective so it DOESN’T count towards the psych degree but instead just your unit total. This is still a fantastic foot in the door however and it may lead to getting published. Basically its P/NP grading and they make you write a paper on the area you researched. </p>
<p>199 is a fully independent research study, you have to propose your own thesis etc. do your own research in consultation with a professor and then present a paper that would be a of publishable standard. </p>
<p>There is a lot more info in the course catalogue that summarizes it better than I have here. </p>
<p>[UCLA</a> Psychology Department - Undergraduate Program: Research & Fieldwork Listings](<a href=“http://admin.psych.ucla.edu/dynamic/res_fld_listings.php?id=3&title=Psychology+196A%3A+Research+Assistantship+in+Psychology]UCLA”>http://admin.psych.ucla.edu/dynamic/res_fld_listings.php?id=3&title=Psychology+196A%3A+Research+Assistantship+in+Psychology)</p>
<p>This is the website you go to to find professors searching for RAs. Often times however if you approach a prof in their office hours, develop a report with them they will be more open to bringing you into their lab even if they arn’t looking for anyone. </p>
<p>Finally some professors pay RAs, so if you are good enough and they want you in their lab full time you can get paid to be there. Its a pretty good deal if you can get it. </p>
<p>UCLA classes have been great, definitely a lot more challenging and engaging than anything at community college. Plus a lot of them are podcasted so you can listen to the lecture again the next day! I feel extremely prepared for grad school. I’m taking the LSATs over summer, UCLA has numerous student groups that help out with test prep and general organization with regards to grad school so you will for sure find something here to guide you along the way.</p>
<p>SFwarrior25 - Social scene is tight, go greek, do dance marathon, meet people, you will love every single minute of it.</p>
<p>you say you are minoring in polysci how difficult is it to maintain a high gpa in the major at ucla? I like my 4.0 at CC and would not like my ucla gpa to be less than a 3.7</p>
<p>I had a 4.0 at CC and now have a 3.5, its pretty hard to keep it up especially since they have + and - grading. Its important to understand that CCs are ALOT easier than UCLA. The course load is just alot heavier.</p>
<p>how difficult is it to switch from over from psychology to psychobiology?</p>
<p>Changing majors when you are here as a transfer is almost impossible. If you have all the pre reqs done it shouldn’t be that bad but UCLA won’t want you doing them here. They plan to have all transfers out within 2 years.</p>
<p>Hey Simon, thanks for my answering my question! </p>
<p>And I noticed that you recommend taking 100a over the summer - I live up north so attending UCLA for a summer session is near impossible, what are the disadvantages to not completing it over the summer?</p>
<p>Basically if you do it over summer you are 4 units ahead of all the other transfers, this makes getting classes easier, plus it allows you to transition to a UC work load over summer by only taking one class and not being shocked by the much higher level of work expected from the UCs during the regular quarter.</p>
<p>How much math is required of major completion? I love psychology, but typically struggle with the higher math courses without someone who can really teach it.</p>
<p>The only math you require for UCLA Psych is…</p>
<p>At CC: Elementary Algebra, Statistics (these are required for IGETC I think anyway)</p>
<p>At UCLA: </p>
<p>100a - Psych Stats - its not that hard (Mathwise), just listen and follow the textbook, only 5 or 6 major concepts in the entire class. </p>
<p>100b - Research Methods - you learn how to use SPSS, this does all the math you learnt in 100a for you! You need to understand the concepts behind the stats you are doing though. It is also not that hard mathwise…</p>
<p>If you wanna start early you can try and teach yourself ANOVA I guess. Both of these classes are GPA busters and they do throw in some hard stuff however if you transfer into UCLA and got an A in CC Stats you will be fine. </p>
<p>I hope that answers your question</p>
<p>@ SimonPhase: Thank you so much for all the information. Sorry to get back to ya so late, I hadn’t seen your response until this thread was just bumped. The research opportunities, classes, and test prep groups you described have definitely reassured me. </p>
<p>Also, the classes you mentioned on research and statistics are right down my alley, so I’m definitely glad those are included in the upper div. coursework. Podcasted classes also sound great…and very convenient! Initially, I was only looking forward to Cal Psych, but I can see that UCLA’s Psych department is on par. </p>
<p>I look forward to all of these things next year, and thank you again for all of this advice and for coming back here to help out the CC Psych majors. I hope to do the same next year.</p>
<p>Wow Simon, what a relief! I live here by UCSD, which requires multiple Calculus classes. Thank you for all your info!</p>
<p>Really? That seems ridiculous to require calc classes. I think I remember there being a difference between UCLA and UCSD centering around the types of degrees available. UCLA has Psychology, Psychobiology and Neuroscience. There is a greater degree of specificity within each program at UCLA as opposed to the strict BA or BS in psych offered by UCSD at undergrad.</p>
<p>which prof. did you take for 100a?</p>
<p>Mccauliffe</p>
<p>omg this is the most beautiful thread i think ive seen!
what do you think my chances of getting in are and should i do anything:
3.8 w/tap
ec: dance classes, volunteer at an old folk’s home, AGS club member</p>
<p>and what is UCLA like as a transfer student? do you feel like 2yrs is enough time to enjoy it? also i was thinking about rushing and you said you’re a fratboy, so whats it like as a junior rushing. im gonna be 19 when (hopefully) i enroll!</p>
<p>hey simon, do you know anything about “linguistics and psychology” ?</p>
<p>im considering looking into it but i literally have no knowledge about it.
looking it up it seems interesting but i was wondering if you knew how the program was at UCLA for this major</p>
<p>it seems like only UCLA offers it.</p>
<p>Hello, I have a few questions. :)</p>
<p>Sorry if you answered this already, but what exactly makes the workload heavier than it is at a CC? Is it that there’s a lot more reading in a short amount of time or that the content is harder to understand? And does the fact that UCs go by quarter system have an effect on the workload?</p>
<p>Is it common for upper division psych classes to have discussion classes? If the classes show up as only lecture on the schedule, are there ever unofficial discussions held by TAs or anything? For the lecture classes, is the workload basically just reading, tests, and papers?</p>
<p>Thank you for your time!</p>
<p>@ butterflyaway: You’re obviously in with TAP. There’s no way that you would be the 1 in 100 with those stats and TAP that would be rejected.</p>