<p>You are in luck, some of the best micro departments are in California. Among the very best are Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Caltech and UCSF (which doesn’t offer undergrad). The most important things you will want to consider at this point, is finding an university where you can get quality research experience and interact with lots of professors in your field.</p>
<p>You don’t necessarily need a microbiology department but it might be advantageous. Many schools have umbrella “Biology” programs with specialty tracks eg. Microbiology, since so many of the prereqs are identical. You might also want to consider something more narrow than simply microbiology; I majored in Bacteriology. Another consideration for you, look into public health early. Take the appropriate biostats and epidemiology courses, they will serve you well throughout your career.</p>
<p>The most important thing you can do is to get involved in research as early as possible. Research experience is key to graduate admissions and will bridge your transition from student to professional. </p>
<p>As far as the classes you take as an undergrad go- I wouldn’t worry too much. The micro major requirements will most likely mirror premed requirements and spell out exactly what prereqs will be required. The sequence goes something like this gen chem, organic chem, analytical chem, biology, calc, physics, stats, biochem and genetics. Then you will most likely have prokaryotic genetics, physiology, diversity, pathogen interactions or any number of other advanced classes. </p>
<p>If you want to work in public health (CDC) after graduate school, the best route is a postdoc at the CDC <a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/eis/[/url]”>http://www.cdc.gov/eis/</a> Postdocs tend to run about two years and most people do one to two of them to shore up deficiencies in specific areas before finding their permanent position. It seems like a lot of training (4 years of undergrad, 6 years of grad school, 2-? years of postdoc) but starting with the first semester of grad school, you get a stipend, free tuition and healthcare, so the process isn’t too different than taking an entry level job after undergrad. Also some postdocs, like the CDC pay astronomically well and the permanent positions afterwords, pay even better.</p>
<p>You have chosen a really great area to get into. Only thirty years ago, scientists thought they had defeated infectious disease with vaccines and antibiotics and much of the focus of the field changed to molecular biology/genetics. This left an opening for microbiologists to study emerging pathogens, drug resistant bacteria, recombinant systems (for bioremediation as well as biological production) and bioterrorism, all of which have become important in the intervening years.</p>