<p>hi,
I've been accepted into USC as a biochem major, and I've narrowed my choices down to there or UCI(as a biochem major too). I was wondering if anyone is currently in this major at USC, and what are your opinions of it? How competetive is it, do you have a lot of research/volunteer opportunities? I plan on going to pharmacy school after my undergrad, so a 3.5gpa or so is a must. However, I don't want to have to study 24/7 and be deprived of a social life. Would USC or UCI be more fit for pre-pharm?</p>
<p>i’m a freshman biochem major right now. and pre-pharm too! (usc TAP program. if you haven’t heard about TAP/applied yet, well sry cuz i think you missed the deadline already…)</p>
<p>in your first/second year you’ll be taking all the same classes as the other biology majors and prehealth people. in this sense, b.s. biochem is no harder than b.a biology at usc for the first couple of years.</p>
<p>getting A’s in gen bio, gen chem, o-chem, etc. can be difficult though, as science courses grade via distribution, so only the top 20% get >90%. (and competing with classmates who all scored in the SAT top 5 percentile can be difficult…)</p>
<p>and regarding research opportunities, i’m a freshmen and i work at a lab one day a week. All it took was a five sentence email to a random professor. A few of my friends (freshman as well) work/volunteer at labs as well.</p>
<p>pre-pharm is great at usc, though. theres that TAP program, which you can still apply for while at usc if you didnt yet. the pre-pharmacy society organization is really great too. next week we’ll be going to ucsd for a pre-pharm conference with a bunch of other universities.</p>
<p>Thanks! Yeah I missed the deadline. I didn’t have USC at the top of the list of go to colleges (due to thought that I wouldn’t get sufficient financial aid), so I didn’t bother applying for the TAP program. I will apply if I go there next year though. Thanks for the info about research/grading curve. Just out of curiousity, are you paying for USC with scholarships/grants, or are your parents paying. I got quite a generous grant from USC, but after reading about people getting insufficient financial aid and having to transfer, I’m a bit hesitant.</p>
<p>Where was your source for reading that students needed to transfer after their freshmen year due to insufficient financial aid? Do you have a link?</p>
<p>USC actually increased my aid between my soph and jr years. that was the year where the endowment took a huge hit but they still increased the overall finaid budget by 8%.</p>