<p>How strong is the Bio program
for undergraduates at Berkeley?
I have heard that even UCSD and UCD
are better than Cal...
Don't know who to believe</p>
<p>The Bio program for undergrad at Cal is absolutely fantastic. Whoever told you that UCSD/UCD have "better" programs do not know what they are talking about (did they take many bio courses at UCSD/UCD AND Cal???).</p>
<p>i don't know about biology but Cal's number one in chemistry</p>
<p>berkeley has excellent biological programs. if i remember correctly, all berkeley biology majors span 3 colleges (L&S, Natural Resource, Chemistry), each with excellent people. since i was a biochem major at cal, i can't speak much for the other bio programs except MCB and Chem bio (offered at College of Chemistry). the courses (including lower division courses) of these majors are always taught by famous professors at their own respect field. sometime they are quite impersonable at first, but if you go to their office hours and distinguish yourself there, you can have excellent experience with them. classes are very comprehensive, and will give you excellent training if your goal is grad school. the research opportunity is absolutely marvellous. for berkeley bio undergrads, you can do research at Lawrence Berkleey National Lab, Children Hospitial at Oakland Research Institute, UCSF, and of course different departments at cal. i have friends working in labs of all above mention institute. Bay Area is a big hub for biotech industry (bigger than SD area). you can find all kinds of internship here. </p>
<p>i was choosing among these programs once. i chose berkeley based on prestige, research opportunity, and faculty strength. i know UCSD and UCD have great bio programs, but the reputation of their programs are yet to be as same as cal. (also, UCLA and UCSC have great bio programs too.)</p>
<p>is it true that the bachelor of science degree is not offered for bio majors at cal? Is there a difference between that of arts vs science degree? What impact will it have in the future?</p>
<p>How much harder are the required math classes for MCB than for Integrative Bio? And is there actually a Biochem major in the College of Letters and Sciences (NOT the Chemical Biology major in the College of Chemistry)? Thanks =)</p>
<p>urd0rkk:</p>
<p>there is no difference between BA and BS. L&S grant BA to all majors in the college including math and physics majors. chemical biology people, and people in the college of natural resource will receive BS. i dont know if that makes any sense. the way i look at it is that people in L&S have to take a lot more humanity, social science classes, so we have a liberal art degree than specialized degree.</p>
<p>38angel:
biochem is an emphasis inside MCB. IB people usually take much easier math MAth16 series comparing to MCB MAth 1 series. but you can opt out if you have ap calculus b/c.</p>
<p>Eastcoastbound:</p>
<p>I jus got accepted to Berkeley as a Bio-chem major. How is the competition? Also, what do you think are the main differences between the Bio-chem and integrative biology major? Is the math way more difficult for Bio-chem? Which major do you think will be better for pre-meds? And BTW, I haven't taken Calculus AP.</p>
<p>I talked to Professor Tim White on Monday. He said if you want to do premed, there is nothing special about MCB. If you do MCB you will end up a lot more specialized towards molecular biology and if you decide you don't want to do med, you will have some problems. IB is very general and you can easily change your emphas(is/es). Plus IB means a lot less math</p>
<p>EastBay, you mean that you are accepted to the college of L&S? i dont think you are accepted to a specific major. well MCB covers a lot of classes that are required by med schools, so it is a popular choice for pre-meds. if you choose IB you probably have to take extra courses than your major courses. there is no best way to be pre-med. it really depends on what you want to do. plus if you want to be pre-med, you should expect competition. thats just the nature of med school admission.</p>
<p>The Univ. of Edinburgh provides an exchange in 3rd yr (for biochem or biology) to many of the CA universities including Berkeley , but I also have the choice of Cal Tech. I have to admit I've heard alot about cal tech for science and engineering, but not alot about the other CA uni's. Cal tech seems smaller and I'd be able to get to know the Profs there better than at a larger institution. Any comments/thoughts/advice?</p>
<p>My D did not enter Berkeley with a major, she thought math or science, but wanted to try classes. She is going with IB because their is more flexibility than MCB and she can still finish in 4 years. She could have skipped all the math with AP scores, but took the math 1 series and has moved beyond to MultiVariable Calc as she was interested to see how she would do.....I do not think she has time for a math double major. Basically IB is much more flexible, but would still give a premed the basics they need plus a chance to explore more options.</p>
<p>IB still requires a year of physics, a year of calc, a year of Ochem and a year of bio, minimum.</p>