<p>Hello everyone. I have applied to many colleges with the intent of majoring in Biochemistry. Hopefully someone can help me gauge the strength of the following colleges in this field. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>UCLA
UCSD
UCI
USC
Harvey Mudd</p>
<p>P.S. I plan to get a Pharm.D degree in grad school.</p>
<p>bump...bump</p>
<p>UCSD's strength is in bio, so i would imagine they would be best followed by UCLA. But i havent looked up the rankings.</p>
<p>rank would be: 1st - UCLA, UCSD, UCI ... all these schools have significant numbers of students who major in biological sciences and most of them aim for med schools, or dental and pharm schools</p>
<p>UCLA is larger, has a beautiful campus, housing is kinda expensive though compared to UCSD and UCI - it is also a more energetic and vibrant place than UCI or UCSD</p>
<p>I visited UCI a year ago - one thing that strikes you is that it has like 80% asian population, which is different from all other schools I've been to - it is also smaller and a bit cheaper than UCSD and UCLA</p>
<p>UCSD is very near the ocean (beaches) and The Scripps Reseach Institute (big biotech start-up school for grad students only) - which is kinda nice to have two schools so near each other - housing is a bit cheaper than at UCLA, but it does not have this little urban area with cafes and restaurants within walking distance like UCLA does where you'd see students strolling about ...</p>
<p>all these schools have great biochemistry and organic chemistry programs -- so i do not think you be wrong with choosing either - i believe there are also pharm chem majors specifically made for those aiming at PharmD - so you don't have to major in biochem</p>
<p>i would imagine housing at ucsd (la jolla) to be similarly priced or more expensive than at ucla (westwood), both being extremely expensive for college areas. i could be wrong. im also surprised that you feel ucla has a better biochem program than ucsd, i would imagine it to be visa versa in this area of study. I have heard that scripps research institute works closely with ucsd in many of its projects and research as well. I agree that ucla however does have a more vibrant and energetic campus, as ucsd seems somewhat like a dork or nerd hangout where everyone studies all day.</p>
<p>For undergrad, Harvey Mudd is excellent in almost all the math/science/engineering fields, and biochem is no exception. If you came here you would be very well prepared and have incredible undergrad opportunities. Plus, we have the highest rate of graduates going on for advanced degrees, so if it's a Pharm.D. you want, Mudd would be a good place to go.</p>
<p>Great! I'll definitely look into Harvey Mudd. That is, if I get accepted.</p>
<p>So I guess USC is out of the question? I like the campus, though? :p</p>
<p>usc is a great school, deffiantly check into it. Im not fond of the location of the campus, but the campus itself is very pretty.</p>
<p>Yeah. USC was actually my first-choice. However, I haven't heard anyone on this thread praise its Biochem department, so I'm assuming it ranks much lower than UCSD/UCLA/HMC.</p>