<p>I have a 2 real quick questions</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I have around 8150 on the UCSD points scale, will that get me into the division of biology as a human biology major? (I'm assuming not but i wanna know what you guys think)</p></li>
<li><p>I heard its very hard to switch to a biology major so worst case scenario If I get admitted as an Undeclared what GPA will it take to become a biology major? 3.0? 3.5? Any rough estimate will be helpful.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1)What are you an incoming freshman…? or transfer? No one really knows the answer to these questions</p>
<p>2)If you are a future Surgeon, you’re gonna want over a 3.5 anyway right? shoot for a 4.0 and land on a slightly lower GPA, always.</p>
<p>I’m a prospective freshman. I thought it was assumed when I mentioned 8150 points.</p>
<p>but yeah I guess you are right If I wanna be a Doctor I might as well get a high GPA anyways. I’m only asking what GPA because in case I have a dont have a high GPA for medical school, I would like to graduate with a Biology degree then pursue a Post-Bac Pre-Med program.</p>
<p>what’s the point of that? post-bac premed programs are usually designed for folks who (1) have been out of school for a long time (2) majored in a field unsuited to prepare them for med school requirements or (3) didn’t do so well in their prereq science classes. </p>
<p>these programs repeat gen chem, ochem, physics, and possibly bio. if you’re a biology major and don’t screw up, you should be able to enter med school directly from college.</p>
<p>^^ so you’re saying if you’re not able to enter med school directly from college, then you either screws up or you’re not a biology major.</p>
<p>well, there are several things that could lead to a break between college and med school:</p>
<ol>
<li>you wanted to wait</li>
<li>you had sub-par grades</li>
<li>you didn’t have the proper requirements (even a bio major alone isn’t enough sometimes, as some med schools’ requirements are more stringent than UCSD graduation requirements)</li>
<li>and a host of other reasons</li>
</ol>
<p>lots of non-bio majors make it into med school. the ones who want to enter right after college need to make sure that they finish all the premed coursework in addition to the stuff for their own majors. depending on what the major is, this could potentially be a Very Big undertaking (ie, dumping premed coursework on top of a CSE degree)</p>
<p>Astrina: You are wrong about this. Post-Bac Programs are not just for students haven’t completed their Pre-Med Courses or for students who have performed poorly in them. Many Post-Bac programs dont require you to retake any pre-med requirements. They just require you to take Graduate Level and/Or Medical school classes in order to be prepared for medical school rigor.
Take for Example:
[Georgetown</a> University Special Master’s Program](<a href=“http://smp.georgetown.edu/]Georgetown”>http://smp.georgetown.edu/)
or
[University</a> of Cincinnati Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology: Academics](<a href=“Page not found”>Page not found)</p>
<p>on the Cincinnati website it clearly says:
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Anyways can we please go back to my original question? </p>
<p>What GPA (estimate)would it take to go switch into the Division of Biology major after all the Lower Division classes have been completed? Forget for a moment that I plan to go to medical school.</p>
<p>Very well, but I still believe that the bulk of postbac premed programs are for the reasons that I listed above. In my experience TAing that group of students in general chemistry and biochemistry classes, I’ve found that such programs were to improve their chances of getting into a reputable medical school.</p>
<p>In my opinion, you shouldn’t have to pay an extra $60K to prepare yourself for the rigors of medical school. If you were an intensely diligent student to get a good GPA and score well on the MCATs, you already have all the tools you need. Just thinking of a random dozen friends who are med students or full-fledged MDs right now, about 2/3 entered directly from college and the rest took a year off to work and save up money/sanity.</p>
<p>Estimate a 4.0 would give you 100% chance of getting that bio major. </p>
<p>3.5+ would give you a >50% chance. </p>
<p>I hear it’s based off of how you do in those science courses like chem and bio. At the end of the day, though, if you can’t do well in the general chem/bio courses, it isn’t promising you will be successful in that major or getting into Med school.</p>
<p>3.4 GPA got you in the first year the Biology majors were declared impacted… a 3.4 without completing the pre-req coursework that they said needed to completed.</p>
<p>This number could be insignificant now, but it was the lowest GPA I recall that got into the Bio department during the last application window (Spring 2010). </p>
<p>They take in students from two pools: first, they look for students who have completed all the requirements and rank them based on GPA then they look at students who haven’t completed the requirements and rank them based on GPA.</p>
<p>I can’t give you an accurate estimate until the next application and enrollment window passes. You’ll have to wait a few months before I can come up with some tangible data.</p>
<p>For a random guess? Around a 3.5 maybe?</p>
<p>Also they don’t scrutinize how you do in your science classes. It’s assumed that the majority of your courses (hence your overall GPA) will pertain to science classes anyways. So don’t freak out if you get a B in a science course… because that A you get in a GE will help you out.</p>
<p>Have a good one.</p>
<p>They actually take into a Great consideration the sGPA or the GPA of your science classes. Some med schools take that into consideration more than the overall. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t rely on an A in Beatles class making up for a B in Chem140B. Although, a few B’s are not that bad generally.</p>
<p>No they don’t.</p>
<p>For getting into Biology via exceptional admission they will just look at your overall GPA and for completion of the pre-reqs (and if there’s space they’ll accept students who have not met all the requirements). So you can count on that A in Music 15 helping your GPA out from that B in 140B, because they’re lookin’ at your overall. Though, again, your “sGPA” is probably a large part of your overall GPA. </p>
<p>You should take into Great consideration what this [url=<a href=“http://www.biology.ucsd.edu/undergrad/exadmit.html]page[/url”>http://www.biology.ucsd.edu/undergrad/exadmit.html]page[/url</a>] says to confirm what I said :)</p>
<p>Oh, I was talking about Medical School in the second part of my post for the OP haha. I didn’t specify. Nevermind then. :)</p>
<p>Just another data point: They extended the deadline for the last exception admission cycle. So either it’s due to lack of interest or there weren’t enough qualified applicants. It’s quite possible that they set the minimum gpa to something like 3.0-3.3.</p>
<p>Wooow
This is the first CC Thread where I have not read one correct answer. </p>
<p>Future ENT, the entire Biology and Engineering school is very impacted. They do not accept transfer students from other majors. The only thing you can do, if you choose to attend UCSD, is to wait until ur a sophmore and apply to that major. Even then, I hear that there are only about 20 seats open for Biology and around 5-15 seats for the more competitive specializations (like Human Biology). </p>
<p>I had a friend who thought she was smart by applying as “Undecided.” But, afetr she got in, she wasnt even allowed to transfer AS A JUNIOR. She ended up doing Cognitive Science, which has the same requirements as a Neuroscience BS, but a different name and is not impacted.</p>
<p>Wooow
Looks like I’ve done the impossible then.</p>
<p>" They do not accept transfer students from other majors. The only thing you can do, if you choose to attend UCSD, is to wait until ur a sophmore and apply to that major."</p>
<p>I transferred as a first year from an outside major last spring.</p>
<p>“Even then, I hear that there are only about 20 seats open for Biology and around 5-15 seats for the more competitive specializations (like Human Biology)”</p>
<p>Statistics aren’t available for the exact amounts of seats open (only the amount of seats they offer for an incoming class including transfer students). Though, I know more than 20 people got in under the Human Biology major; there is no distinction between the majors within the department via one being more competitive to get into. You can freely switch between any of the six majors once you are accepted into the department as any of the six. Example you can apply for the general biology major and then switch into the human biology major whenever you want (though there is a 2 week limit or so between switching majors in tritonlink… I’m not sure if this applies within the department).</p>
<p>“I had a friend who thought she was smart by applying as “Undecided.” But, afetr she got in, she wasnt even allowed to transfer AS A JUNIOR.”</p>
<p>It would have been smart to apply to the major right off the bat. There’s no reason to go into undecided if you know what major you want to take. Undeclared could have been a viable back-up plan. Also the major was declared impacted last year for incoming freshman. So unless she came in with many transfer units from AP’s and CC courses, she wouldn’t be a junior (previous classes were also notified that Biology would become impacted starting with the class of 2013, so people who wanted to transfer most likely did at this point).</p>
<p>“She ended up doing Cognitive Science, which has the same requirements as a Neuroscience BS, but a different name and is not impacted.”</p>
<p>Some requirements overlap, but these are different majors. Google the department pages and find the majors if you’re not convinced.</p>
<p>@Sunfish
Oh that’s interesting I didn’t know that. I think this shows that they had open spaces even after processing initial applicants.</p>
<p>lol Thx Schw1ng::: I got my info from a rep a few months ago. She was a very mean lady and felt that “UCSD is the next Berkeley and we are ultra competitive” bla bla bla so the info might have been scewed. </p>
<p>Thank you for clarrifying the info. </p>
<p>UCSD is one of my top choices. I applied as a Neuroscience and it is very reassuring to know that you can switch majors within the divison without much hastle.</p>
<p>ooh yeah, and my bad for being all “WOOW… no correct answer”
I guess the rep really did bs all the stuff she told us
:(</p>
<p>Yeah you’d be surprised what “Reps” and “Advisers” know concerning your questions… or should I say what they don’t know haha.</p>
<p>Best of luck with your admission here! If you don’t get into bio go for the exceptional admission route. Since they’ve declared it impacted a lot of unsure people selected the major “just in case” and usually switch out. Others switch out because they can’t handle the lower division classes.</p>