FPF Courses.. which ones?!?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I need help picking my FPF courses and my intended major..
Do you think MCB is better than IB if youre on a premed route?
and because im on a premed route that means i have to take 2 semesters of english.. i cant use a 4 on english language to get me out of R1A and straight to R1B?</p>

<p>If im taking IB should i take math 16A or 1A because im taking AP Calc BC right now, and im pretty confident i'll get a 4 or a 5, would 16A be too far of a drop?</p>

<p>And which breadth courses have you taken that are interesting and not too much writing? So far im interested in psychology 1, anthropology 1 and 3, Asian American studies, and Gender in American culture.. theres others too..
overall which FPF courses do you guys recommend or heard about..? </p>

<p>Also, how many classes should i take.. so far i know im taking an english, a math, am i supposed to take 2 breadth classes?</p>

<p>sorry i know this is alot, but im really confused to which classes i should take!</p>

2

<p>MCB is not better. Its far more centralized and you have no wiggle room. I talked to a professor and was told that IB and MCB make no difference to Med schools.</p>

<p>Just skip out of math 16A and take higher levels of calculus
Also skip out of R1A, there are plenty of other English courses you can take along the way</p>

<p>This is what I am choosing, I'm IB-bound (but I want to do paleo and not med):
Anthro 1, Hist 7B AC, Classics 10A, and Philosophy or Rhetoric R1A</p>

3

<p>No, MCB is not better. In my experience, it's harder and more competitive than IB. But why are you choosing between these two in the first place?</p>

4

<p>not to sound cliche, or stupid. but i really love biology and sciences period. when it comes to biology, i genuinely love it, so i cant imagine spending another four years in any other subject. i really want to expand my knowledge of bio.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
and because im on a premed route that means i have to take 2 semesters of english.. i cant use a 4 on english language to get me out of R1A and straight to R1B?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Check with the med schools in which you are interested, but as a general rule, med schools don't care about your AP credits so if you AP out of R1A and they require 2 semesters of english then after R1B you have to take another English class (or writing class, depending on the med school requirement).</p>

<p>
[quote]
If im taking IB should i take math 16A or 1A because im taking AP Calc BC right now, and im pretty confident i'll get a 4 or a 5, would 16A be too far of a drop?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Like I said, I think most med schools require 2 semesters of calculus, so if you want to skip to Math 1B then you have to take Math 53 later on. If you skip to Math 16B, you can't even take Math 53 because it requires Math 1B.</p>

<p>
[quote]
And which breadth courses have you taken that are interesting and not too much writing? So far im interested in psychology 1, anthropology 1 and 3, Asian American studies, and Gender in American culture.. theres others too..
overall which FPF courses do you guys recommend or heard about..?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>From the courses I've taken, Psych 1 requires no writing and the 2-unit EPS 80 (aka geology) requires no writing. They're pretty easy.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Also, how many classes should i take.. so far i know im taking an english, a math, am i supposed to take 2 breadth classes?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's a good schedule. You chould take 3 classes but then you'll probably be under 13 units and considered a part-time student.</p>

<p>
[quote]
No, MCB is not better. In my experience, it's harder and more competitive than IB. But why are you choosing between these two in the first place?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Those two seem like two choices that make the most sense to me anyway. I believe they fulfill all the pre-med requirements. I hear chembio is pretty hard and biochem seems like an obscure major to me. Bioengineering is definitely hard and not good for pre-med. Chem BS is pretty hard too and Chem BA is like MCB without the bio courses that you have to take anyway but with more Chem courses that you don't need.</p>