<p>Those that are not prereqs like bio, chem, etc etc.
Others that might look good when you apply to med school...</p>
<p>high gpa > everything else</p>
<p>GPA matters most--med schools will look upon an A in Physics 7A much more highly than a B+ in Physics 137B. Sad, but true.</p>
<p>you could take upper division or graduation level science classes. they will be very very impressed, assuming you get good grades.</p>
<p>if your asking for lower division ones, there probably is none. you'll probably have to spend a lot of time trying to beat other premeds anyways.</p>
<p>But, what if you're majoring in a VERY demanding major and your gpa ends up being slightly less than someone whose majoring in something a lot easier...such as a humanities...(cough cough)</p>
<p>Will they take that into consideration?</p>
<p>As I understand it, they pay the most attention to the GPA you earned in the pre-med prerequisites, but GPA is an important factor. Higher is better and I doubt they have an adjustment scale to equalize between different majors.</p>
<p>I also doubt that they would put an engineering major on the same platform as a Humanities or English or even Bio major</p>
<p>I also doubt that they would put an engineering major on the same platform as a Humanities or English or even Bio major</p>
<p>They do. Like rider730 said, they look at your cumulative GPA as well as your BCPM (bio/chem/phys/math) GPA. Like it or not, an American studies major with a 3.1 cumulative has the edge over the chemical engineering major with a 2.9 cumulative (provided that all their other stats and ECs are equal)</p>
<p>Okay so let me ask this
If a ChemE major and an American Studies major have identical gpa's and similar grades in BCPM then who's up-ranked?</p>
<p>neither...its the guy who was a stud and got helllaaaa</p>
<p>"Like it or not, an American studies major with a 3.1 cumulative has the edge over the chemical engineering major with a 2.9 cumulative (provided that all their other stats and ECs are equal)"</p>
<p>This is highly questionable. Here's an excerpt from UCSF's School of Medicine:</p>
<p>"At UCSF, academic performance is evaluated in the context of other factors, such as the difficulty of the course of study selected, the number of units attempted, and an individual’s background."</p>
<p>It clearly states here that academic performance-- GPA is evaluated based on the difficulty of your courses. I think it's safe to assume that most Chemical Engineering courses are more difficult than those in Asian American studies. The point is, med schools will know the difficult of the courses you took and will take that into consideration for admissions.</p>
<p>The American Studies person would probably have more time for ECs or research.</p>
<p>Just take as many easy classes as you can to boost that GPA. Ask students on campus which classes they have taken that are relatively easy. The main thing for you is to make sure you keep that GPA up. With a solid overall GPA and a good science GPA you should be all gravy dude</p>
<p>How exactly does GPA and units work??? How can I best boost my GPA? Take easy courses? What if you get 3 units for a pass/fail class?</p>
<p>What are the easiest classes that you would reccomend?</p>
<p>Look, I understand you want to take as many easy classes as possible (I know because I am a pre-med too), but you will be making a grave mistake if you take random classes for the sake of their easiness. Challenge yourself and take classes that you find interesting. Don't be like a typical grade-whoring pre-med who cares only about GPA. Try to expand your knowledge and everything else will take care of itself.</p>
<p>^^MCB by anychance? Thats where i will be and its difficulty has been warned to us by the many soothsayers of college confidential. A person himself can only realize how difficult a class by taking it my friend, and as I understand the first two years are like experiment years so you can figure out how it fits.</p>
<p>How hard is MCB really? Also, what classes have you guys taken that is not prereq for med or MCB??</p>
<p>I've got the grade details of all the bio departments here:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/473416-some-facts-about-pre-med.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/473416-some-facts-about-pre-med.html</a></p>
<p>Of all the bio departments, MCB has the lowest average GPA. Chembio in CoChem is probably the hardest biology major but it has no department of its own</p>
<p>if you are desperate for a high gpa, here is an easy schedule: german, scandinavian, education, psychology. easy 4.0 wow! good luck with med schools!</p>