<p>I can't get into Chem 3bl for Spring 2009 so my options are Bio 1A/L plus Chem 3b (doom?) or Physics 8b with Chem 3b (no big deal). I'm a 2nd year. The only reason why I have this dilemma is because I hear Bio 1A/L in the summer is utter crap, but I think taking Bio 1a/l in the fall of my junior year would set me back in planning my upper division coursework. Would taking it 3rd-year Fall semester be waiting too long?</p>
<p>Just finished a semester of 16 units including math 1b and chem 3a/l and did well, so I'm wondering is Chem 3b + Bio 1a/l is really that bad if I take a reduced courseload. I'm continuing with Pedersen for 3b, so that only makes my plan easier I am assuming.</p>
<p>By the way, I'm hoping for some input from people with firsthand experiences. If you can comment about Bio 1A/L + Chem 3B or Bio 1A/L in the summer, please do :).</p>
<p>I just did Bio1A/1AL and Chem 3B/3BL this fall and I ended up with A's in all of them. If you take a reduced courseload, it is totally doable as long as you stay on top of things. I did 14 units + a decal + research and I found I had a lot of free time as well. </p>
<p>The most stressful class is by far Bio 1AL. This class doesn't change much between fall/spring because Mike Meighan always teaches it. This class involves a LOT of memorization. But according to my GSI, the spring professors for Bio 1A require you to know more details and are generally more difficult than the fall professors with the exception of Firestone, the physiology professor. This might mean that the curves are better, but I'm not sure. I just found Bio 1A's curve not as generous but the tests fairly easy. This class involves mostly memorization.</p>
<p>As for Chem 3B only, you save quite a bit of time not going to lab. 3B requires you to know a lot of reactions (way more than 3A) and their mechanisms. I felt that it was quite different from 3A. In the end, the most difficult part would be putting together all the stuff you know to do a synthesis problem. You don't have to know as much about regioselectivity and stereochemistry in 3B, just more reactions.</p>
<p>Overall, the three courses put together requires you to memorize a LOT. But the two courses together are certainly doable with a light courseload.</p>
<p>Okay, it is once again time for my public service announcement:</p>
<p>MCB is the hardest bio major not including Chemical Biology. Doing MCB does not help at getting into medical school than any other major. Medical schools don't give a flying **** what your major is.</p>
<p>If you genuinely like MCB, major in it.
If you think you need to be MCB to be premed, you are horribly wrong. MCB has a good chance of crushing your GPA. Not good for medical school
If you are doing MCB because you 'just want to be a biology major', reconsider your actions. There are plenty of biology majors and if you just like biology in general, there is not real reason for you to specifically be MCB</p>
<p>Average departmental GPAs from CampusBuddy</p>
<p>IB is 3.34
BioE is 3.51
EPS is 3.50
ESPM is 3.45
ES is 3.39
PMB is 3.28
Public Health is 3.62</p>
<h2>MCB is 2.96</h2>
<p>Taking Bio 1A/L Fall junior year is okay. My Bio 1A GSI crunched all the data from his three section and deduced that Bio 1A was ~75% juniors in F08, meaning many people take Bio 1A/L fall their junior year. Also, MCB lets you declare after the first Bio 1A midterm</p>
<p>stly - Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for.</p>
<p>anon5524485 - Thanks. I didn’t know you could declare that soon. BTW, I’ve considered IB as a major to get out of math, but I ended up just taking the 1 series because MCB seems a lot more focused and applicable. I love it :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>People tell me 8 weeks is not enough time to absorb the info for Bio 1a/L. There is way too much to learn in a small period of time.</p></li>
<li><p>One professor teaches everything during the summer, and the prof apparently comes over from a community college and has pretty bad ratings. Just check him on ratemyprof.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^IB accepts math 1a/b also. MCB isn't necessarily more applicable than IB for medical school, IB has far more health courses than MCB.</p>
<p>Bio 1AL is actually a good idea in summer, because you have 100% of your time to focus on it. Also during summer, bioinformatics is one lab exam 1 instead of lab exam 2</p>
<p>Oh, not for med school. I am MCB- Genetics and I've looked over IB and MCB as options and I find MCB Genetics to be more focused. I don't even know if IB covers human genetics.</p>
<p>I hear the "time" you get to focus isn't much help when you get midterms every 2 weeks. I dunno, whenever the issue of bio 1a/l in the summer comes up during my honor society meetings, they just say it's a bad idea.</p>
<p>leftist, do you think it'll hurt my GPA if i double major in psychology and IB? I'm a premed, so I'm already taking all the low div. classes, but I'll have to pile up the IB upper div classes into 2 semesters - would that be a bad idea? I like how IB relates more to phsyiology than MCB, and actually seems more fitting as a health major. </p>
<p>another q' - what if you take Bio 1A/L and Phsyics 8b with lab? is that easier or worse than Bio 1A/L and Chem 3B/L?</p>
<p>psych is supposed to have a relatively high avg. gpa. You need 6, generally 7, IB UDs totaling 26 units. Fitting them into two semesters might drive you nuts. There are a few IB UDs that are offered in the summer, you should look into them. If you don't want to be here all summer, there are two classes during session A that are health-related, 117/L Medical Ethnobotany and 128 Sports Medicine. </p>
<p>Seven units in six weeks is roughly equal to 18.666... units in a semester, but 117 is known to be very easy.</p>
<p>oh ok, and i forgot to add that 2 of the IB UDs are listed as psych UD's as well, so that'd total up to 19/20 units extra.. and if i take 2 over the summer - that'd leave me 13 units to complete over fall/spring.. that doesn't seem too bad, but i do need to keep a high GPA. so yeah - i guess it'll depend how i do in those low div classes - and thanks for the help!</p>