<p>Hi this is my first time posting on cc but I'm in need of some serious advice...
So I'm very interested in public health and I'm pretty set on doing the major at Cal. I'm aware that it is capped and I do have a few back up majors.
I only have the second half of bio requirement left to finish (already finished bio 1b) and possibly a few social science prereqs before I apply.
I was wondering if some one out there could give me some advice on what classes to choose
to fill these.
I have the option of either bio 1A/L or two lower div mcb classes together next semester (most likely mcb 61 and 41?...honestly I'm open to the most interesting/lenient classes).
Also, can AP scores take care of any requirements?
Thanks and happy holidays!</p>
<p>Consider Public health as a 2nd backup major. Does AP biology of score 5 waive the requirement of Biology 1A and 1B- this is what i understand from MCB website.</p>
<p>Why consider Public Health as a 2nd backup major? Can you elaborate?
I’m not sure about the requirements for the MCB major but I don’t think AP bio waives the bio requirement for Public health (I may be wrong…Please let me know if I am!) </p>
<p>I guess my main question here is if you had the option would you rather do Bio 1a + Bio 1AL next semester OR MCB 61 + MCB 41?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I am a third year public health major. I chose to do the two bio classes route instead of bio 1AL because I’m not pre-med/pre-health so I didn’t <em>need</em> to take it. I’ve heard that bio 1A/1AL is just a horribly difficult class and didn’t want to subject myself to the torture when I’m not particularly interested in doing anything related to biology/lab sciences in the future. So that question is up to you to answer. Do you think you would like to go into a health science-y field? If so, then you should probably take bio 1A/1AL.</p>
<p>You can use AP scores to test out of the social sciences reqs. I used a 4 on my AP Econ exam to count as Econ 1. I’m not completely sure, but I don’t think you can use an AP score for anything except the social sciences requirements. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions, or would like me to elaborate more!</p>
<p>Thank you so much lottaquestions! That clears up a lot. I just have a few more questions…
Would a 4 in AP Gov then take care of a Poli Sci req?
If we get into the major, are we required to follow a track (eg. Community Health) or can we take classes from several different tracks?
Any recommendations for classes to take for the two bio classes if I end up not taking bio 1A/L?</p>
<p>Also, for those of you who have taken Bio 1A/L, how necessary is it for health/sciences? What exactly makes it so hard…the material or is it just the way the class is run? Would taking AP Bio be enough background for upper division science classes?
Thank you!</p>
<p>Biology 1A does list Chemistry 1A and 3A as prerequisites. Plus, you get a huge class with a lot of grade-grubbing pre-meds.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure a 4 in AP gov will count for poli sci. But to make sure, you can always email the undergrad adviser, Tony Soyka, at <a href=“mailto:sphug@berkeley.edu”>sphug@berkeley.edu</a>. He’s pretty helpful when you have specific questions. I forgot to mention that you can also use AP scores for the math requirement. I got a 5 on BC and used that for the entire 16 series.</p>
<p>You are not <em>required</em> to follow a track. It’s just recommended, especially if you want to go to grad school. Personally, I think it’s better to focus on a particular topic in public health because it’s so broad already, you want to specialize to make yourself seem more trained in a particular topic. </p>
<p>For the mcb classes, I took mcb 61 and mcb 32. I HATED mcb 32, its like anatomy and physiology, and there was SO MUCH INFORMATION. You pretty much have to memorize everything about every system in the body. Very important if you plan on becoming a doctor or something like that, but very boring and horrible if you’re not. Also, the teachers for that class tend to be bad lecturers. mcb 61 was interesting and the professor, david presti, is good. That class was called mind, brain, and behavior. It was like a mix of neuroscience and psych. I really liked it but I really like the brain, if you’re not as interested, then you might not like it as much as I did. If you plan on going the 2 mcb class route, I’d say to just choose the two that sound most interesting to you. You’ll get the most out of it that way.</p>
<p>I can’t say much as to why bio 1a/1al are so hard because I haven’t experienced the classes myself, but I know that it’s a lot of information being taught. And lab is very time consuming as well.</p>
<p>Thank you! this has been super helpful. MCB 61 seems like something I would be interested in. I’ll def. contact Tony after the break as well.</p>
<p>Hi rugbug! I am also a 3rd year PH major and for me, I took Bio 1a and 1al. Like lottaquestions had said before, you should take bio 1a and 1al especially of you are a pre-med/opto/pharm/dental or intending to do any other health related professions after undergrad. Also, if you are interested in choosing epidemiology, infectious diseases, or environmental health as your concentration then you should take Bio 1a/1al instead because the electives in those 3 concentrations are mostly science classes that require a strong bio-science background which you would gain from bio 1a/1al. So evaluate your long term goal and see if bio 1a/1al is something that you really need. If you arent planning to do any of those 3 above concentrations nor do you plan to apply to a health professional school after undergrad but only interested in doing the more social science related fields in public health such as Health Policy Management or Community Health then you should not take Bio 1a/1al because it wouldn’t be very useful to you and will only require you to waste more time and energy than you need to.</p>
<p>So why is bio 1a/1al hard? Well, first you need to have taken Chem 1a and Chem 3a before you can take Bio 1a/1al since those 2 classes are pre-reqs for bio 1a/1al. Chem 1a and Chem 3a are hard classes as well, filled with pre-meds, just like bio 1a/1al. Second, bio 1a/1al in itself are hard classes. The lab class is especially harder than the lecture in my opinion even though it is only 2 units while the lecture is 3 units. Treat them as two different science classes and not just one. This is probably why you can choose to take just bio1a/1al as opposed to two biology classes to fulfill the biology requirement for the PH major, simply because bio1a/1al are actually two different classes. I devoted more time each week studying for the lab class compared to the lecture, mainly because I had a harder GSI who gave more difficult weekly quizzes in lab. Therefore, do not underestimate the lab class at all. For the lab class, it is split into two sections. The first part is all about learning lab techniques in biology such as PCR, DNA sequencing, streaking, using a compound microscope, etc. The first lab midterm will test materials in the first section and it tends to be more conceptual and you need to understand the material pretty well. You cannot rely on just rote memorization but have to think critically, especially for the more challenging genetic questions. For the second part of the lab class, you have to memorize a lot of information in a very short amount of time. You need to memorize A LOT so be prepared to put in even more time. You learn about a variety of different organisms from different phylums and you need to be able to connect the similarities and recognize the relationships between different organisms pretty well. The second test is now paper based but it used to be a practical which was harder. However, you still need to know your stuff pretty well and put in a lot of time to memorize the information to do well on the test even though its now paper-based and may sound easier. Now this is just for the lab class alone. For the lecture class, 1a, it is structured the same way as bio 1b. But unlike bio 1b, the labs in the lab class for 1a are not exactly related to what you may be learning in the lecture class (hence why I said lab and lecture are pretty much two different classes). For lecture, it is split into 3 different sections (cell bio, genetics, and physiology) just like bio 1b and you have 3 different lecturers for each respective sections. The material in bio1a lecture however is more advanced and technical compared to in bio 1b. You have to memorize a lot for each section so you need to keep up and not fall behind. Do not cram at the last minute by watching webcasts! There are 2 midterms and one final for the lecture. So bio1a lecture is more advanced than bio1b and you also have 1al to worry about. This is what makes bio1a/1al difficult. The lab class makes bio1a/1al seem like 2 classes and not 1. Unlike Chem 3a/3al or 3b/3bl, you have to take both the lab and lecture at the same time for bio1a/1al. Therefore, you have to juggle two time consuming classes at once. So unless you are planning to go to a health professional school later on or want to concentrate in epi, environmental health, or infectious diseases, I think you should not need to take Bio 1a/1al. I would advise you to take the easier biology classes such as nutri sci 10 or the mcb classes. Let me know if you have anymore questions and I hope this helps!</p>
<p>Thank you very much stevenboi27! That was really helpful. I have taken chem 1A and 3A so no problem there. I do eventually want to get involved in the medical sciences so a good bio background is going to be helpful. One of my major concerns is that I don’t want to just spend an entire class redoing AP bio in a more competitive environment. However, I do want to take some upper division/more specified classes later on (eg. Anatomy, Human Repro, etc.) so if AP is not good prep for that then I guess I should take bio 1a. Otherwise, I guess I’ll stick with the two MCB classes.</p>
<p>I also have one final question… In the online public health major handbook thing (link below) there is a section of lower div requirements and under the bio requirement it lists “bio 1a” as 4 units. There is no mention of bio 1al. I know there is definitely a typo or something there since bio 1a is 3 units and bio 1al is 2 units. Is it that they just forgot to mention the lab or is that we don’t have to take it at all.
The bio 1a website also says that for certain majors they will allow you to take only bio 1a.
<a href=“http://sph.berkeley.edu/students/undergrad/pdf/2012handbook.pdf[/url]”>http://sph.berkeley.edu/students/undergrad/pdf/2012handbook.pdf</a>
This is probably just wishful thinking but I thought I’d mention it anyway…
Thanks!</p>
<p>If you want to go to medical school, you will need either Biology 1A with 1AL, or substitute a more advanced (i.e. upper division) biology course, as AP credit is not accepted by many medical schools for pre-med course requirements.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m aware of that. I would rather fill that requirement with a relevant upper div (say physio, cell bio, histology etc.) instead of repeating AP Bio. How much more do you actually learn in Bio 1A compared to the standard AP class? Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Hey rugbug are these classes required to major in PH or to declare the PH major? Thanks</p>
<p>Hi rugbug, I highly recommend you take bio1a/1al even if you’ve already taken AP Bio. Many people have taken AP Bio before getting into Berkeley and to be honest, AP bio was pretty easy compared to Bio 1a/1al. There are many things that you learn in Bio1a in more detail than in AP Bio or certain things arent even covered in AP Bio but are covered in Bio 1a. For example, genetics is especially more detailed in Bio 1a than in AP Bio for me. Also for me, MOST of the things I learned in the lab class, 1al, was not covered when I took AP Bio. Knowing the materials that were not covered in AP Bio and being in the challenging environment of Bio 1a/1al will better prepare you for the later upper division bio science courses if you want to take them. Therefore, I highly recommend that you take Bio 1a/1al if you plan to take more upper div science classes such as physio or anatomy, etc. As for the handbook saying Bio1a is 4 units, I think it is an error. You have to take both Bio 1a and 1al for public health if you want to avoid the two bio science classes requirement. The website below lists certain majors that do not have to simultaneously enroll in bio 1a and 1al and PH is not one of them.
[BIOLOGY</a> 1A&1AL ENROLLMENT](<a href=“http://mcb.berkeley.edu/courses/bio1a/enroll/index.html]BIOLOGY”>BIOLOGY 1A&1AL ENROLLMENT)</p>