<p>Hi guys, I am a senior starting to be stuck with the nice problem of deciding where the heck to go next year. I'm interested in perusing biology with a pre-med intent. </p>
<p>I have gotten into: UCLA, UC-Davis, UCSD, UCSB, UChicago, and Northwestern</p>
<p>the majority of privates reply on 3/29 we'll see what happens then haha</p>
<p>I'm curious to know how hard it is to get classes at UCLA, research positions,etc. I've heard graduating in 5yrs is the norm now because how difficult it is to get your pre-recs. If you have any information about the biology programs at UCLA, or the other mentioned schools, feel free to comment about that too!</p>
<p>I think premed is competitive everywhere. UCSD has a medical scholars program I believe.</p>
<p>Did you get Regents in any of the UCs? That would help with scheduling preference. Dont know about Northwestern or UChicago…it is a lot of money if you don’t get fin aid.</p>
<p>Whoever told you 5 years is the norm is misinformed. The only majors that I can think that applies to is Engineering. The only thing that will keep you from graduating on time is if you take on another major, change majors, or do poorly and have to retake classes. Honestly UCLA hasn’t changed in any noticeable way since I entered two years ago. </p>
<p>UCLA is a great school for pre-meds because one of the best hospitals in the West, the Reagan Center, is right on campus. </p>
<p>As for biology, it’s one of the easier pre-med majors but is also generally not as relavent to what you’ll be studying in med school. The actual major is Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, so a lot of the focus isn’t on the human body. With that said, the core life science classes that all pre-meds take will cover what you need for the MCATs and you can always take electives in other life science departments. Some of the more popular pre-med majors are (in order of what I think is most popular to least): Psychobiology, Physiological Science; Neuroscience; Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Biology, and Microbiology and Immunology.</p>
<p>My S is a 3rd year and will finish before four years. If you have a lot of APs then you can enter as a sophomore and that will help you with registration. He may have had maybe one or two classes that he couldn’t get into. I think it probably does affect Engineering, which I understand is impacted.</p>
<p>I’m a transfer and I’ve always gotten the classes I wanted. People who say it’s hard to get classes probably didn’t register on their date because classes do eventually fill up. But if you register on time you should be fine.</p>
<p>I agree with the other posters, most graduate in four years. UCLA wants you to graduate in four years!</p>
This is true. I definitely had to switch my schedule around almost every quarter for the first 3 years, but that problem existed even before the budget cuts. In any case, I still was able to get an engineering degree in 4 years and know people who finished even earlier.</p>
<p>For North Campus, there usually aren’t any problems in terms of getting classes. The difficulty of getting South Campus classes is completely exaggerated. Either way, you’ll encounter enrollment problems at least once here at UCLA, no matter what major you are. </p>
<p>UCLA is doing a great job considering the budget cuts. I haven’t noticed any “fundamental” aspects that are missing from my college experience, but my main issue is with being taught by T.As and beginning professors pretty frequently in lower division classes. However, even privates have this same problem (even with the heaps of money they throw on their professors). In addition, UCLA graduate students are top-notch anyway so you won’t feel like you’re missing out without an experienced professor, with a few major exceptions (DON’T you EVER take Professor Reiche for anything math/physics related, he belongs back at Harvard with his pretentious Ph. D degree…)</p>
<p>5 years to graduate is a myth. There are plenty of 5th years here but they usually added a major later on, switched majors late, or were just not good at planning out their classes. If you’re smart and plan your classes ahead of time and aren’t extremely picky with class times then you will get all the classes you need in 4 years. Whether you pass them is another story.</p>
<p>For premeds, UCLA is great because we have one of the best hospitals in the nation on campus and I know many premeds who volunteer/research at the hospital.</p>