<p>From what I've read, CoC (College of Chemistry at Cal) is super competitive. Although the chemistry department at Cal is supposed to be well-known/amazing, I've heard that the classes are huge and it's hard to maintain a decent GPA. </p>
<p>Anybody know what it's like for LA? Similar/the same?</p>
<p>I’m a chemistry major, but I don’t really have an idea of the difficulty of classes at Cal so I can’t tell you if it’s harder or easier.</p>
<p>But from my experience, chemistry at UCLA is challenging, at least. It’s difficult to get A’s in many courses because the lectures are so large and full of so many very intelligent people. Classes at UCLA, I believe, are smaller, ranging from 200-350 students, but that’s still a very large lecture. </p>
<p>As for the chemistry department itself, there are many renown and many more excellent instructors in chemistry. Here is an overview of the department: [UCLA</a> Chemistry and Biochemistry](<a href=“http://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/pages/deptOverview]UCLA”>http://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/pages/deptOverview)</p>
<p>Berkeley’s chemistry department overview can be found here : [College</a> of Chemistry Facts](<a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/about/facts.html]College”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/about/facts.html)</p>
<p>It’s difficult to compare the two because they both have very differently structured departments. Berkeley’s chemistry department includes its Chemical Engineering Faculty, for instance, when tabulating the number of awards while UCLA only includes its Chemistry faculty (exclusively, although some faculty members are parts of both the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Department). They are both excellent departments though so I personally would just pick the college which is a better match for you personally, beyond just the scope of your major’s department.</p>
<p>Honestly for Bio UCSD is better than LA or Berkeley.</p>
<p>are you 10000000% sure you will not change your major throughout the course of your undergraduate career?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>that is only true in the realm of BioE. In everything else it goes Cal > UCLA > UCSD or UCLA > Cal > UCSD</p>
<p>Like for paleontology and evolutionary biology, Cal blows LA and SD out of the water.</p>
<p>Make sure you are talking about College of Chemistry or College of Letters & Sciences.</p>
<p>CoC has a B.S. in Chemical Biology and L&S has the Biochemistry MCB B.A. route.</p>