I just finished my first semester at Berkeley (psych major). Ask me anything.

[02210223]

<p>@newsoul I’m a psych major hoping to transfer to Berkeley from a California community college! I got really excited when I saw this because I think I’m hoping to do almost exactly what you did. I’m doing the prereqs from UCB and UCLA and am TAGing to UCSB. I am much too obsessed over this whole transferring thing so I have sort of a lot of questions. Feel free to ignore any of the dumb ones! Also, thanks in advance for your time. </p>

<p>1) Extracurriculars/Honors: How many hours of community service did you have? I saw on the application that there’s a place to list any awards or programs you have gotten/participated in. Are those necessary? Also, did you include hours from high school to fill up more space? Or would you recommend simply stating what you have done since the start of community college? Also, did you do extracurriculars that were somehow connected to psychology? I’ve done so much research to try to find volunteer opportunities that would allow me to get involved in something related to psychology but I’ve barely found any. Did you also find this? Did it affect you at all? </p>

<p>2) Personal Statements. Are these really important? I think I read somewhere that there are workshops over the summer at Berkeley where you get tips and advice on how to write your personal statements. Is this true? How good would you say your personal statements were? </p>

<p>3) Social Life. This is pretty much about after transferring. Are there programs to get you meeting people? I’ve been a little stressed out about this. I’m almost definitely going to end up going to a UC and I know they’re big schools and all that but I almost feel like that makes it harder to make friends once you transfer in at a point where others already have friends–it’s much easier to get lost. Have you had any trouble? Also, do transfers usually live on campus or off? </p>

<p>4) Miscellaneous. What would you say I need to focus on the most to get myself into Berkeley? It’s my dream school and I really want to get in. I’ve been trying to do lots of extracurriculars and although all my grades haven’t been posted yet, I think I got a 4.0 for my first semester (which could easily go down in later semesters). Oh, what grades are considered? After you send in your application, do you send in your transcripts from the Fall term of the semester during which you applied? I don’t know if that made sense. Like, you apply in the fall, and then in the spring do you send in your fall grades so they could consider those? </p>

<p>Thank you so much. I really appreciate if you answer just one of my trillion questions. I hope you’re having a very happy new year! Thanks again.</p>

[newsoul]

<p>@02210223: Hello, fellow psych major! :)</p>

<p>I personally did an average of 10 hours a week of volunteering for a few quarters, but I don’t think there’s some ideal number of hours to get, you know? I didn’t have a job, so I had a fair amount of time on my hands. I put Phi Theta Kappa and Dean’s List as my awards, so I didn’t have anything very important there. I didn’t use anything from high school because I was advised not to by a counselor unless it was something I had started then and was still doing at the time, or something I did for many years. I think they prefer to see what you’ve been doing at community college, definitely. I did have extracurriculars related to psychology, actually, my volunteer hours were all done at a center for children with special needs and one of my club officerships was being VP in our psychology club. It really helped me because I wrote my essay about finding my major by 1) focusing on my experience volunteering with kids with special needs and writing about having a brother with special needs and how that all fit and 2) it let me talk about finding leadership roles and helping other psych majors find their way. I would recommend trying centers for children or adults with special needs, perhaps places like LGBT or women’s centers, rehabilitation centers, suicide hotlines or peer counseling (if you’re up for that sort of work, anyway), etc. Also, since psychology master’s and PhD students go through internships at mental health type clinics, those types of places might need volunteers or even undergrad interns. It never hurts to call and ask. It’s really about what interests you, you know? Psychology is so applicable that you could volunteer anywhere and find how to connect it to psych- be it an animal shelter (animal cognition), library (literacy and child development), or soup kitchen (social psychology, compassion). Try to find something that resonates with you and where you come from/want to go and you can probably find a way to tie to psychology for that prompt. I also think leadership in a psychology club is a good idea too (or something similar, like my community college had an anti-bullying club, disability rights club, etc). Leadership is always good. It doesn’t need to presidency, either. If there are roles like representing the club in an interclub council, being treasurer, etc, and you don’t have a lot of time, consider that. It still lets you gain leadership skills and you can quickly mention it in your prompt. There’s one other benefit that I can think of to doing psych-related extra curriculars though- you can start to get an idea, if you’re still unsure, of what you want to do. I loved working with the children at the center, but I do I really want to go into that field for the rest of my life? It gave me some perspective on that. </p>

<p>I don’t know if your personal statements are really as important as they make them out to be. I can tell you I put a lot of effort into mine. I am not surprised that there are workshops, but I never knew about them. It’s all pretty subjective, but I reckon mine were alright. I also come from a unique family so I had a bit of an essay hook, though. As I mentioned, I managed to tie the one about picking my major to my volunteer work, my club officership, and having a brother on the autistic spectrum. For the second one I talked about being an immigrant and thinking of myself as culturally aware until I learned American Sign Language, and, since I have a brother who uses technology rather than ASL to communicate, how that made me realize I wasn’t as culturally aware as I thought. So I know I had something unique… I couldn’t really tell you if it was well written, though. I think my biggest tips are, from what I gathered: Answer the prompts and give goals about what you want. I don’t think they want you to be SURE or anything. They don’t expect you to say, “I want to research ___ and work in the field of ___ specializing in ___” if you don’t know what you want yet, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to say you want to further your education, or contribute to science through research, or make a hands-on contribution, or any other goal, no matter how vague. They want to see a snapshot of you as a person. They want to know who you are, why you want to be there, and how to piece together what they already know about you through your extra curriculars and GPA into one complete picture of you. The essay is what binds all those aspects of your application together. It’s your one chance to put a bit of emotion behind an otherwise fairly straightforward application. I saw a clip on youtube (which was more about freshman UC applicants, but still) where they said they prefer a mundane story that is clear and answers the prompt over a unique story about hardship that doesn’t give them real answers. Of course, what do I know, they may barely skim these essays, but I feel like it’s better to put too much effort than too little effort. What a long answer… but I hope that makes a bit of sense.</p>

<p>I’m sure I’m not the best person to ask about social life since I’m a bit of an introvert and don’t go out as often as others do, but at Cal there are LOADS of clubs and there is a Transfer, Re-entry, and Student Parent Center that I know does things here and there. Plus if you’re living in the dorms (I’m in the transfer apartments, by the way) your RA will plan somethings. Mine does study nights, ice cream socials, etc. We have a facebook group for my transfer year and some events were posted there, too. I haven’t really taken advantage of these things, but the opportunities are there. I had a decently easy time making friends. The closest friend that I have there is actually a transfer as well, but I have a few traditional student friends. I don’t have tons of friends, but I have as many as I personally really need. My apartment-mates all have loads of friends though, and I think their sororities did help them out there. I never wanted to rush myself, but if that’s something you’re interested in doing, people certainly make friends that way. There are lots of transfers at Cal. I remember in my psych stats class (which all transfers are recommended to take asap) the professor asked “who here is sitting in their first class at Cal right now?” and an astounding number of people raised their hands, and when she clarified to ask how many of us were transfers, that number looked to be about the same. There are loads of transfers, so you’ll meet them, and there are loads of cool people who have been there for a while and will still be friendly. Transfers, at least at Berkeley, live anywhere. Many do traditional dorms, but many want Wada or Channing Bowditch, which are both transfer apartments. Aside from that, many people find their own place to live. There are plenty of apartment complexes and the like around campus. Most undergrads live in southside, rather than northside, though. Of course that makes northside a much quieter place to live, but southside is probably the place to meet more people.</p>

<p>GPA and prereqs are super important. The extra curriculars are like the cherry on top, so do NOT sacrifice your grades for them. Take the summer before apps and work on your essays to make them good. UCLA really only cares about GPA and prereqs, from what I understand, but Berkeley is a bit more… well rounded. They will look to see what you wrote and what you did and weigh it in more. The GPA and prereqs are still the most important, though. I came from a weird community college that functions on the quarter system, so my process was a bit different, but initially they will only see your grades up until the spring (or summer) before the fall you apply. Then, after fall grades are posted, you get to update the UC app, and you get to do your myBerkeleyApp, which all Berkeley applicants are invited to fill out with all of their grades. Those fall grades are no less important than any other grades, and it’s basically your last chance to show them how good of a student you are. So basically, they will see the semester you just did, the semester you are about to do, summer, if you do it, and then, when you update, next fall. Then you send in transcripts with grades through your last spring semester. You don’t send in official transcripts until you are conditionally accepted and have sent in your intent to register. For the application and fall update, you enter your grades from your unofficial transcript. They will verify it and make your acceptance formal only after your spring semester ends. I hope that makes sense.</p>

<p>I’m sorry if some of that was unclear, don’t hesitate to ask me to clarify or to ask any other questions!</p>

[goodjobdaveman]

<p>Hey newsoul, I also go to De Anza and I was wondering what classes did you take for the IGETC program (also any recommendations on easy classes to boost GPA?). Any tips for De Anza in general? It is my second quarter. Congrats on getting into UCB! Best of luck!</p>

[newsoul]

<p>@goodjobdaveman: Hey. Sure. I personally took a good number of classes over what I really needed because I wasn’t sure what I was majoring in for a fair while, but here’s what I’ve taken from IGETC, brace yourself, it’s all over the place…
Area 1: EWRT 1A, EWRT 2 (and SPCH 1 - req for CSU only)
Area 2: MATH 10 (and I also took PSYCH 15)
Area 3: PHTG 7, ELIT 22 (also ICS 44, PHIL 2)
Area 4: PSYCH 10G, POLI 1, SOC 1 (also, PSYCH 1, PSYCH 3, PSYCH 4, PSYCH 24)
Area 5: PHYSICS 10, BIOL 11 (also ASTRO 4, BIOL 10, ANTH 1)
Area 6: SIGN 3</p>

<p>Out of that, here are my recommendations:
PHYSICS 10 with Newton. It’s a completely conceptual class and Newton makes it really fun. The class doesn’t have a lab, so make sure to pair it with a life science class with a lab, though. The exams are really, really fair, multiple choice, and based completely on lecture. The final exam is recycled (but slightly rewritten) questions from the midterms, which he lets you review in his office. He’s SUPER helpful in office hours and makes the class funny and engaging. I wouldn’t recommend any other physical science class for IGETC. ASTRO 4 was pretty easy too, but it wasn’t as captivating (if you want to see the planetarium, go for the light shows instead). PHYSICS 10 is easy and Newton will make it interesting. There’s nothing quite like hearing his jokes as a rogue bit of chalk soars across the room (clearly, all chalk is thrown in the name of science/illustrating kinematics). But just a fair warning- I have heard from students (and he himself admitted) that any other class he teaches will be very difficult. PHYSICS 10 is the exception. I can only speak for PHYSICS 10.</p>

<p>SIGN 1, 2, and 3 with Rawson. I have a deaf brother so I’m probably a bit biased, but American Sign Language is fantastic. If you’re not a visual person it can be a bit tough, but Rawson is a wonderful teacher. The class is fair, and if you have an A by the end of the quarter… guess which exam you don’t need to take? q: If you have even the tiniest bit of prior interest, I seriously recommend it. I cannot say enough good things about Rawson. I will admit languages are probably a strong point for me, but I think I’m being objective when I say that he makes this class incredibly fair and strives to help all of his students do well. The assignments are WAY harder than the exams, so don’t be shocked. The signs you learn in class are the signs you get tested on.</p>

<p>Any PHIL class with Biamonte: Not everyone likes his teaching style (I did, personally), but it’s not a lot of work. I certainly never felt like I did much for PHIL 2 and friends of mine who took other classes with him also said they didn’t do as much as they did for other classes. We mostly watched films and his exams were really easy (and I think they were all multiple choice and very short, but I can’t remember for sure). I wrote my final paper on Keebler elves that summer…</p>

<p>I can’t speak for easiness, but I LOVED Hassett, a PSYCH instructor. I took her for PSYCH 24, which is a difficult (yet wonderful) class and not something you take unless you’re a psych major, but she teaches PSYCH 1, 4, and I think 5. She really cares about students and her exams are fair. I took PSYCH 1 with Ramskov, and while I thought he was funny and pretty easy (for PSYCH 1, that is, PSYCH 3 with him is intense), he is one of the tougher PSYCH instructors around. I’ve taken 6 PSYCH classes with 4 different instructors… and let me say, Hassett is, in my opinion, the best you could hope for in the department, and that isn’t meant as an insult to any other instructor, Hassett is just really, really great. Passionate, caring, and fair. I’m sure her PSYCH 1 class is very reasonable.</p>

<p>SOC 1 with Passion. Read, get the key terms… in my class he did some sort of averaging out your lowest score with your other scores on the exam sort of thing. It felt pretty easy. I didn’t enjoy the subject much, personally, but Passion was nice and his exams felt pretty easy to me. The thing about soc is that multiple choice exams are still tricky. You may know the concept, but you need to be able to recognize which similar sounding term is the right one. If you decide it’s too easy and don’t study, it’ll be your downfall. The material isn’t hard. Just don’t let that fact fool you into not getting an A. </p>

<p>ANTH 1 with Cartier. This class was very easy, but in a way I thought was brilliant. The exams are multiple choice and open note, and he’ll toss a few questions your way throughout the quarter if you come on time. It ensures you’re always there, always taking good notes. He brings in a human skeleton to class (at least he did for us) which was awesome. I’ve heard other ANTHRO instructors are much harder. If you want to take this with a lab, however, you sign up for that separately and I can’t speak for how easy it is. I didn’t take it.</p>

<p>BIOL 11 with Schinske: The material is quite easy, and the exams are super fair (sort of a write as much as you know short answer type of thing). Also he brought a HUMAN BRAIN to class for us to examine (optional, no one had to touch it if they didn’t want to), sooo cool. It was all like, basic fight/flight, hormones, genetics, cancer, DNA, the heart… at a very basic level. It comes with a lab.</p>

<p>I would also recommend BIOL 10 with Bram because he was one of the most passionate biology teachers I’ve ever had and I can’t not put in a good word for him, but BIOL 11’s material is easier, if you’re just looking for easy classes. For BIOL 10, you will memorize photosynthesis, cellular respiration, cell division, and lots of taxonomy–at a non-majors level, but he doesn’t go easy on you: it’s the same class he taught at a 4-year school. The rather large study guide is super fair, and matches the mostly multiple choice exams perfectly. The thing is, it’s a loooong study guide. He does give an incredible amount of extra credit at De Anza, however, that he would not give at a 4-year school. So it isn’t what I would call an easy A, but I have to put his name out there. It’s a very doable A and an awesome class. It also comes with a lab.</p>

<p>I hope that was of some use. Also, use ratemyprofessors.com and ask around. You can find loads of great instructors at De Anza that don’t grade too harshly. </p>

<p>Tips for De Anza in general… The counselors are sometimes a bit clueless. Do your own research. This site is a great resource. Get the best GPA you can and finish all your prereqs for UCLA/Berkeley. If you need to go take a class at Foothill or West Valley to do that, I say do it. It really makes a difference. Also if you need calculus, a friend of mine said West Valley has better instructors, but I don’t know if that’s true. ICC Rep is the easiest yet most mind numbing officership position you can have at a De Anza club (good for college apps, bad for your sanity). Clubs are good for apps, but presidency is a LOT of work so don’t do it unless you have the time. If you want good parking, take early morning classes. Never park without your permit–they will give you a ticket sooner rather than later. Read the books you pay so much for. Buy books across the street (or online if you can do it fast enough) because the bookstore is too expensive. You don’t need an AA to transfer, don’t let the counselors talk you into extra classes for an AA if you don’t need them. The little coffee shop underground in the cafeteria building (not the coffee shop next to the cafeteria entrance, go downstairs!) sells scantrons and opens early if you need them before class. The health center is actually a good resource and they have free pain relievers and the like. It’s a commuter campus but you can still make long term friendships… it just takes more effort. Find a study method that works for you. I liked study guides and flashcards. Do all and any extra credit. It will make finals less stressful. Go to class, even if it isn’t “required” so to speak. Instructors DO notice who bothers. Ask for letters of rec if you like an instructor. There are scholarships and the like (for anyone, even just merit based–I applied for a few despite being over the financial aid line and all that).Plus they could be useful for jobs, and it never hurts to ask. That was sort of a stream of consciousness block of text, but I hope it was useful.</p>

<p>Feel free to ask me anything else or PM me in the future. I’ll try to help with whatever I can!</p>

[goodjobdaveman]

<p>Wow thanks for the detailed response man! Appreciate it. Will definitely consider all the classes you listed!</p>

[newsoul]

<p>No problem, I’m still on break so it’s not like I have anything better to do! Good luck!</p>

[dilapidatedmind]

<p>Shouldn’t you be studying over the break to prep for your next term? :P</p>

<p>I didn’t, kind of regretting it already… lol</p>

[Ramfan661]

<p>Hey, newsoul did you take a Foreign language at your CC?? Because I took a 5 unit course and was wondering if that satisfies LOTEi requirement?? Or would that matter if my IGETC is completed??</p>

[ancafeninja]

<p>Were you in the Honors Program at De Anza, or did you take any honors cohorts?
Is Psych an impacted major at Cal?
Also, how did you get into PTK? I would like to join, but you need to be invited?</p>

[newsoul]

<p>@dilapidatedmind: Haha… I know, right? I have 17 weeks of school coming up though, during which I shall be doing more or less nothing but studying… I’m a firm believer in putting some time aside for boredom and wasting time between semesters/quarters to avoid getting burnt out. I probably WILL study a little bit, actually; I’m taking a language class. I’m pretty familiar with it at the level it’s offered at, but the review can’t hurt. What class do you wish you’d studied for? :p</p>

<p>@Ramfan661: I took a LOTE in high school AND CC, actually… I figure I must really like them to have taken something else after four painstaking years of Japanese, but I took three quarters of a American Sign Language at CC, each worth 5 units (so, 15 quarter units, or 10 semester units overall). I believe LOTE is part of IGETC. If you go to assist, you can see exactly which level of your language transfers. I expect you will need it to be second semester level or higher for it to count. Go to assist.org > select your CC from the drop down menu > select a UC campus > from the GE/Breadth drop down menu, select GE/Breadth, and scroll until you see the foreign language section. When I checked this with a semester CC I know of (West Valley College) and UC Berkeley, I see:</p>

<p>“You may also satisfy this requirement with:<br>
A course comparable to the third year of a foreign language in high school or
the second semester of a foreign language as taught at Berkeley.
A score/grade of:<br>
550 on the SAT II Foreign Language Subject Exam, if taken before May 1995;<br>
590 on the SAT II Subject Exam, if taken May 1995 or later;<br>
3 or better on the Foreign Language AP Exam;<br>
C or better on the A-Level or GCSE/O-Level Foreign Language Exam.”</p>

<p>OR: Go to assist.org > select your CC from the drop down menu > click IGETC for UC and CSU > select LOTE from the select an IGETC area drop down menu. If there are intensive language courses offered, for example, they might be listed here and may require only one semester/quarter’s worth of classes. There are discrepancies here sometimes for the quarter system–UC Berkeley wants third quarter, UCSB, for example, wants second quarter, and the general IGETC lists second quarter…so there’s issues there, but if you’re coming from a semester CC, as most people are, I reckon the second semester level class is what you want. Check assist, though, both ways, if I were you–just to see if it all says the same thing. Also, check your CC, they might have an IGETC guide already set up for your campus.</p>

<p>@ancafeninja: I wasn’t in the honors program, but I know a number of people who were and really liked it for registration purposes. Psychology is an impacted major at Cal, yes. It’s not as impossible to get into as Haas though, so don’t take that the wrong way, but yes, it’s impacted. Classes are huge and impossible to get into unless you’re declared. Make sure to finish all your prereqs before getting her for psych. I managed to use the new student priority to get the psych classes I needed last semester, but this semester I only managed because I declared my major the moment I got there and was on that list by the time registration for spring came around. My apartment-mate had one prereq left for psych that she finished in fall, but she had trouble getting into psych classes, including research methods which you really want to take as a junior. She will need to speak to the adviser and all that, and it’s honestly a much better idea to just try to get those prereqs done. Other than that, the fact that it’s impacted won’t affect you much. If your GPA gets you into Cal, it’ll get you into the psych major. I can’t remember what the minimum GPA was, but I mean… from CC, Cal transfers tend to have high GPAs. I think I got an e-mail invite to my CC’s chapter of PTK. I just went to a meeting and gave them money… and that was all. It’s hm, 3.5+ GPA required to join? I forget. Try to see if your school has a chapter. If you weren’t invited and have a GPA that meets their requirements (check what those are for your school), send whoever coordinates it an e-mail or visit their office.</p>

[themadman]

<p>How’s it going newsoul.</p>

<p>Berk hopeful here. Applying as a Phil major but was planning on double majoring in psychology since that was my original major. (I’m only missing one pre-req which is an introductory political science course). My question is how much science you had to complete. Did you have to take a chem course? I’ve taken biology and was going to take chem for UCLA but I found on assist that it was not articulated. Another question, how are the exams and tests like for psychology? I had a friend who was a psych major and told me it was more standardized testing as opposed to writing papers. I’m hoping this is true as I know for Phil I will be writing quite a bit and want to be able to balance it out.</p>

[newsoul]

<p>@themadman: Hey. I hope you have your philosophy prereqs done if that’s what you’re applying for. If you definitely want to double major with psych, try to get that political science class done. It can really slow you down in an impacted major like psychology if you’re not be declared (one of my apartment-mates got into a bit of trouble with that… she had a hard time signing up for classes spring semester, since she didn’t have new student or declared major priority for psychology classes). If I remember correctly, for Berkeley I took two biology classes (I picked human biology and biopsychology) and one physical anthropology class. Assist has all of this listed for you, of course. I can’t know how many courses you’ll need. I had the options of taking quarter-long courses or year-long series, and both counted. Trust assist.</p>

<p>It is confusing with UCLA–I took physics for them, as well as a general (non-majors) biology course, since that’s what transferred from my community college according to assist (I found out later Berkeley would have counted this for one of my bio prereqs, but I’m glad I went the safe way via assist). For Berkeley, the essential goal is two life science classes, one physical anthropology/evolution class. For UCLA, I believe it’s one biology class, one physical science–chemistry or physics. Just make sure they articulate. If you have no other options, take classes that seem equivalent. I know my adviser at Berkeley is really lax, so even if admissions doesn’t count it, it might help you later when declaring your major. You can also note that a particular class seemed the closest to an equivalent in your myBerkeleyApp, since there’s a place to add comments. Just make sure to keep record of the class syllabus to show them later. I did not take chemistry for Berkeley, and they did not care about the physical sciences I did take past getting IGETC done, as far as I’m aware. They just wanted life sciences and physical anthropology. Is physics articulated for you, for UCLA? Or can you take chemistry at another local community college?</p>

<p>Also, I believe UCLA is much more strict about majors–psychology being one where you’re either locked into it, or barred from switching to it (correct me if I’m wrong). My letters of acceptance even hinted at that–UCLA accepted me to pre-psych, Berkeley to letters & science. Berkeley is flexible, UCLA less so. Adding a psych major may only make sense at Berkeley, in which case, you may not need chemistry for psychology at UCLA, or you may want to switch to just psychology for UCLA, and they may even let you add philosophy later (CHECK, I doubt they will if it’s impacted as well, and UCLA admissions is only an e-mail or phone call away). Of course, psychology is probably a bit harder to get into. It’s up to you, of course. Have you already sent your application for Fall 13?</p>

<p>Both of the psychology classes I had this semester were either fully multiple choice (psychology statistics) or mostly multiple choice with short answer (social psychology). The professors rotate each semester though, so I can’t guarantee that it will always be that way…but that was the impression I got as well, that psychology is multiple-choice exam heavy. It makes sense… there were, what, 350 people in these core classes? Even with graduate student instructors grading, bluebook exams would be a nightmare. This is in direct contrast to a class I took from a less impacted, humanities-type department–Classics. For that class my whole grade was participation, a research paper, and essay and short answer based bluebook exams. So I reckon you will experience more essay exams in philosophy just because of the nature of the class and more multiple choice in psychology. It is a good idea to balance them out. Hopefully the psychology adviser will double check your prospective schedule at orientation and let you know if it is balanced. Psychology majors are recommended to take 2 upper division psychologu classes a semester (a very good reason to come with all prereqs done!) so they can finish all 8 required classes without doing just psychology all the time. I think if you do that and use the rest of your units each semester for philosophy, you ought to be fine.</p>

<p>Also…do try to ask yourself WHY you want to double major. It will make life more difficult for you and will reduce your options in terms of sampling classes across departments. If you really, truly love both, that’s fine. I wouldn’t do it just for a resume boost or something, though. If you double major, it may be harder to find time for undergrad research or doing a thesis, which in the long run, would likely be a better resume builder. Just consider your options and come in with an open mind. Berkeley is pretty flexible about switching majors (one of my apartment mates switched from anthropology–the major she applied to as a transfer–to social welfare, an impacted major, without a problem this semester). Don’t be afraid to decide to pick just one major if it gets too heavy. You need upper division units outside your major anyway, so it wouldn’t even be a waste. This is all just my two cents and I know you didn’t even ask about it, but that was the tip I got from some admission counselors at a transfer event so I figured I’d mention it. I feel like it’s really something prospective double majors should consider.</p>

<p>Sorry about the length of this, whoops.</p>

[hellofriends]

<p>What courses did you take under igetc?
What level of biology? And do you think it matters whether you take the hardest bio math or more psychology classes? </p>

<p>And what are you trying to focus on? As in a specific field and where you planning to go for grad?</p>

[themadman]

<p>Newsoul,</p>

<p>Thank you so much, if you don’t mind I’m going to PM just ask a couple more questions.</p>

[dilapidatedmind]

<p>@Newsoul
I wish I had reviewed a couple of the mechanisms from the second part of ochem for my metabolic biochemistry class. It’s only the third day, but I’m feeling a bit lost already. I guess, it didn’t help that I skipped out of the first lecture because I was out of the country. I really hadn’t expected the professor to cover four chapters already. </p>

<p>I know you guys start today, were you able to get any reviewing in?</p>

[newsoul]

<p>@hellofriends: I took:
Area 1: EWRT 1A, EWRT 2, and SPCH 1 - req for CSU only – the standard English/speech classes at my CC
Area 2: MATH 10 and PSYCH 15 – intro stats and psych stats
Area 3: PHTG 7, ELIT 22, also ICS 44, PHIL 2 – intro to digital photography, myth & folklore, Native American religion, and political & social philosophy (I wasn’t sure what I was doing at CC for a while, so I sort of sampled everything)
Area 4: PSYCH 10G, POLI 1, SOC 1, also, PSYCH 1, PSYCH 3, PSYCH 4, PSYCH 24 – child development age 0-5, into poli, intro soc, general psych, experimental/cog psych, abnormal psych, and bio psych
Area 5: PHYSICS 10, BIOL 11, also ASTRO 4, BIOL 10, ANTH 1 – conceptual physics, intro human bio, solar system astronomy, intro general bio, and phys anthro
Area 6: SIGN 3 – 3rd quarter American Sign Language</p>

<p>The biology classes I took were all basic. The toughest I took was biopsych (which transferred to Cal as MCB 61). It was all non-majors level. You don’t need anything more advanced for psych, so I didn’t bother. I had friends who took bio-major level and nursing-major level bio/physio, though. I took just basic stats, basic bio… still got into UCLA and Berkeley…and so did my friend who took bio major level bio. So… I reckon it doesn’t matter. I don’t know for sure, though. I think grades matter more. An A in an intro bio class is probably better than a B in a major’s level class. GPA is important.</p>

<p>I’m almost positive I won’t continue studying psych for grad school (it’s interesting at all but I don’t want to go into mental health and I don’t want to do psych research). I’m thinking about marketing/getting an MBA instead. Sorry that probably wasn’t a very helpful answer. Many people I know want to go into mental health or professions like physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc.</p>

<p>@themadman: Sorry I didn’t respond yet, I got distracted with moving back to Berkeley and all that. I’ll respond asap.</p>

<p>@dilapidatedmind: Oh wow, metabolic biochemistry… that’s a mouthful, and probably a ridiculous amount of work. Classes start tomorrow, actually. I uh… started reviewing at like 4PM today. Whoops.</p>

[Dannysan34]

<p>Thank you so much!</p>