Hello everyone! So I just got into UCLA today (*jumps for joy)and have declared Chemistry/Materials science (Chem/MS) as my major.
I wasn’t able to find out much about the major online and I was wondering if someone here could answer my questions, either through direct or indirect experience.
- Many interdisciplinary majors are said to be wishy washy and impractical. Is this true for Chem/MS?
- How are the research and internship opportunities for the major? Also, how are the job prospects? What sort of work do you do?
- How easily can you transfer out of the major (either into another L&S degree or an engineering degree)?
Thanks for the help!!
Graduate 2014 in Chemistry.
No direct experience with Materials Science. The chem major itself exposes you to a lot of chemistry; I expressed interest in the biological side and instrumentation.
Research and internship opportunities boil down to the student. They are available, but you should put in the effort to find them, and show persistence because there will be competition with other students.
Transferring out of the major depends entirely on the program you want to get into. L&S degrees are usually do-able with some requirements for some majors. Engineering is a lot harder, with specific courses and grade requirements.
Thanks! That was very helpful.
@phospholipase could you tell me a bit more about how employable a chem degree is from UCLA? What are the job opportunities like after graduation?
How competitive are the classes? I hear they are extremely cutthroat because of the pre—med kids.
Thanks
@beerays Personally, I took the research/grad school route. I was very successful obtaining summer research programs and a research job after graduation. I spent a year doing that and will go to grad school next year. Many of my friends went directly to pharmacy school. I know some people who got jobs in biotech companies. However, I think it really depends on how well you do while at UCLA (taking advantage of research opportunities and getting good grades and recommendations), because I also know some people who struggled a year finding a job. In general, a chemistry degree will get you jobs as research technicians at universities or companies. The good about this is that there are many universities/institutes/companies (provided you live in a research hub, or are willing to relocate). The bad is that many people would also be looking at these jobs, including biology majors, chemical engineers. I don’t mean to deter you from chemistry or the school, but this is what the job climate is like regardless of where you go. I felt like a UCLA education prepared me, whether it was knowing how to navigate post-grad plans or what to expect in the job climate. I joined the chem club that had many presentations, seminars, and informal meetings with professors/biotech recruiters/grad students, so I think that prepared me to know what to expect. I also joined a lab that highlighted what grad school is like. Things can be very unpredictable sometimes, though. I have a friend who graduated in biology after starting in biochemistry, but she worked at the Anderson school of management her whole time at UCLA, and now she’s working full time there.
The classes were fine. I had a number of quality professors. The thing about competitiveness is that it depends on how much you’re willing to work, and how much you care relative to your classmates. It’ll be true for any university and any class. I was at the top of my chem classes and I enjoyed them, so I didn’t feel like it was terribly competitive. I imagine you would get a very different answer from someone who didn’t love chemistry, but decided to do it just “because” or took the classes for degree or pre-med requirements. Your first few quarters of chemistry classes will have 300+ students in the lectures, so yes you’re competing with hundred of other students to get the top grades. In your junior/senior year, you’ll be in classes with numbers closer to 40-100. There will always be at least one pre-med kid in your class, but the good thing for you is that they’ll be concentrated in the chemistry for life science majors classes, while you’ll be in the 20 series taking the real chemistry classes. However, the biochemistry majors will be in many of your classes in the first two years, so many pre-meds will be there. The pre-meds will try very hard to get the top grades, but in my experience most people in my classes were very nice. I’ve never heard of cut-throat behavior or sabotage. Most of us wanted to help each other and survive in the classes (particularly the oragnic chem labs).
@phospholipase Once again, thanks a lot for your advice. It will be very useful to me, as well as to others with the same questions.
Best of luck! 