<p>i wanna be a bio major at either of these universities, and when i checked with assist, i interpreted both campuses only needing general chem completed. sooo on my first semester, i didnt freak out too much when i wasnt able to get into the intro chem class that i needed.</p>
<p>today i met up with my counselor, just to make sure that with the classes ive taken and the classes i intend to take, id be ready to go (if i get accepted <em>crosses fingers</em>) in spring. she said that ill probably be spending another year at my cc, because i havent completed the semester of organic chemistry. then i asked if i should bother applying, and she just shrugged and said "its worth a shot", but she didnt sound very convinced....</p>
<p>so with a 3.7 (possible 3.5 by the end of this semester), a meh personal statement, and a lack of organic chemistry.....how slim are my chances of getting into uci or ucsd? =(</p>
<p>Wow she sounds like a horrible counselor. Anyway, UCI doesn’t require Ochem. It’s just recommended. Your GPA is great. I’d say you’re good to go. I’m not so sure about SD though…seems crazy competitive to get into Bio there.</p>
<p>Sure it is not required. But doing the bare minimum doesn’t help when you are applying to one of the most applied major. </p>
<p>Biology is impacted at UCSD. So you might not be able to get in there if all the other applicants have o-chem finished. I am pretty sure all those applying to UCB/UCLA will also be applying to UCSD.</p>
<p>Also it looks like UCI is stepping up its minimum requirements for Fall 2013.</p>
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<p>Fall 2012 = one year of bio and one year of g-chem
Fall 2013 = one year of bio and one year of g-chem and O-CHEM!</p>
<p>Looks like the some of UC’s are starting to require o-chem as a bare minimum. Berkeley already does. UCLA requires a minimum of one semester of o-chem.</p>
<p>Another topic I want to bring up is being able getting into the classes…</p>
<p>It is very hard to to finish the both g-chem and o-chem under a 2 year constraint. A lot of CC require an additional course before you even start the required g-chem series. Also intro to bio and g-chem are very difficult classes to get into especially for a freshman starting at CC. You have super seniors and people who realized the want to go pre-health who fill up the classes before freshmen can even sign up them. Also the classes tend to be weeder classes so many people tend to drop and retake it the next semester. All this make it difficult for an incoming freshman to complete all the required pre-reqs in two years.</p>
<p>With the increase in minimum pre-reqs for biology, I can expect in the future that people will be staying at their CC for 3-4 years before even transferring.</p>
<p>If you are planning to apply to medical school you should be aware that medical schools take a negative view towards applicants who took their medical school prerequisites, which include Organic Chemistry, at community colleges. Some medical schools have made Calculus a medical school prerequisite. You could probably take that at your CC since in my four years in medical school I never came across anything requiring Calculus. You could probably also take General Physics at your CC since Physics is rarely used as well. However, it is imperative that you take the most critical prerequisites, Biology and Chemistry (general and organic), at a four year university to have the best chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>It’s true medical schools preffer you take a class like O-chem at a 4 year, but when you transfer and if you do well in your upper division courses, then it shouldn’t make a big impact when it comes time for med school.</p>