<p>I was accepted into the College of Creative Studies at UCSB and I told them that I am going there, but now I am having second thoughts. They told me that I had lots of flexibility in my curriculum but when I looked closer at their requirements it looks pretty rigid. Does anyone know how this works? Can you substitute classes? I am interested in biophysics but I also like math classes. </p>
<p>You don’t say which major you were accepted into. Each of the programs is rather different so I would advise contacting the program coordinator for the appropriate major. We did just have a student graduate with a double major in Biology and Physics so Biophysics is certainly possible within CCS. In fact two of the graduating class that received faculty awards for their research were in the Biophysics field. Both started in Biology. One added the Physics major very early (her first year I think). The other stayed solely in Biology but worked in a biochemistry lab for 4 years, has several publications (including one in PNAS) and was accepted into all the grad programs she applied to including Stanford, Caltech and MIT.</p>
<p>@ccsfaculty Is there any special advantage of taking CCS rather than regular route if one is interested in pursuing premed? Do they have special opportunities in research or volunteering opportunities?</p>
<p>Got some answers from other threads. CCS seems to be geared towards research so a bit extra load for premed focused students, but may be good for md/phd. Here are links for someone interested:</p>
<p>1) For premed, one has to do additional courses in writing, english literature, psychology, sociology and physiology. </p>
<p><a href=“UCSB College of Creative Studies - #46 by BiomedFather - University of California - Santa Barbara - College Confidential Forums”>UCSB College of Creative Studies - #46 by BiomedFather - University of California - Santa Barbara - College Confidential Forums;
<p>2) on MD/PhD</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17051540/#Comment_17051540”>UCSB College of Creative Studies - #44 by ccsfaculty - University of California - Santa Barbara - College Confidential Forums;
<p>I think you answered your question! No, no special opportunities. The Letters and Science honors program now has a health science honors program so that is probably the best program at UCSB for a pre-med student.</p>
<p>We do accept transfers into CCS Biology and so one possibility for a ‘possible’ pre-med student is to enter as L&S, ideally getting into the honors program, and spend the first year finding out a lot about what excites you, and asking questions about research and about med school. I tend to find students can change a lot in their interests in the first year. If medical research turns out to be what interests you rather than the practice of medicine then CCS may be a better home and a transfer may be possible.</p>
@ccsfaculty is there anyone currently double majoring in literature and biology. I was recently accepted in biology and plan to apply to the literature ccs major next fall. I was wondering if this is being done, or can be done in four years.
No, this would be unusual. We do have students who double major but they tend to be between more synergistic majors (eg math and physics). In Biology we ask students to throw themselves into research and upper division courses to the extent they often end up spending 20+hours per week in a lab. Navigating the requirements of a major that asks you to throw yourself into creative writing to the same extent, and doing so at the same time you are spending 20+ hours a week in a lab, is going to be very hard if not impossible.
Writing is certainly very important in the Sciences and we encourage students to take writing classes - both in the writing program and also in CCS - but that’s rather different to embarking on two demanding majors.