<p>I got accepted into the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley for Chemical Biology and am trying to make my decision now :P For people at Cal, how is the CoC program like?</p>
<p>1) How much do people at the CoC get to interact with students from other colleges? I understand that its only has around 200 students, so it'll be nice to still interact with humanities majors, drama majors etc etc. </p>
<p>2) Is it true that we get to know our professors better in the CoC? Does the College of Chemistry really have a more private school feel?</p>
<p>3) Is there an advantage going into Berkeley's CoC instead of another school's Arts and Sciences department (such as Johns Hopkins) in terms of grad school admission? I'm thinking of doing a Masters in Chem Biology/chemistry, though i understand that this can defintiely change haha</p>
<p>4) How are the undergraduate research opportunities like at the CoC?</p>
<p>5) Lastly, any disadvantages you can think of regarding enrolling in College of Chemistry?</p>
<p>You will see students in L&S and Engineering in your math, physics, biology, humanities, and social studies courses. If you live in places like dorms, co-ops, fraternities/sororities, you will see students in other colleges there.</p>
<p>Let me just start by saying that the CoC is an amazing place to be; All of my friends and I are very grateful to be here.</p>
<p>1) One of the great things about Cal is that you can hang out with whoever you want. If you live in the dorms, you’ll be living and interacting with people of all backgrounds and interests. Also, the CoC requirements for humanities are quite lenient, so you can pretty much take any classes that interest you. The small size of the CoC serves to provide a nice community feel, but you’re certainly not required to spend time with CoCers outside of class if you don’t want to. </p>
<p>2) I’m only a freshman, so I’ve only taken the introductory chem, physics, and math classes at this point. These intro classes are still large lectures, but the Chem 4 class (the chem class that CoC majors take) is significantly smaller than Chem 1 (chem for everyone else), which is nice. I’ve heard that the classes get quite a bit smaller as you progress through the years here. Also, all CoC students have a faculty adviser, with whom you meet every semester to discuss your plans for future semesters. This is nice because it means that you at least know one professor reasonably well on campus. </p>
<p>3 and 4) The chance to do research with the best chemistry/chem bio/chemical engineering faculty in the world is one of the main perks of being a Berkeley CoC student. It’s pretty easy to get research, as long as you’re actually interested in the subject and are willing to show professors that you truly care about what you’re doing. I was able to get research pretty easily (I’m only a second semester chemical engineering major). </p>
<p>5) I can’t really think of anything right now haha. I’m very happy here.</p>
<p>I’m a BioE and most of my friends are Chem. E.s, but this is largely because I took CoC chemistry during my Freshman year. If you want to make friends outside of the college, you will; if you don’t really try, you probably won’t, since you’ll be taking the vast majority of your classes with the same people.</p>
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<p>Everything I’ve heard from my friends (and experienced during my first year) indicates “Yes.” That said, the difference isn’t huge - I suspect it’s more to do with the quality/enthusiasm of the professors, which in my experience is always better when they’re teaching department or college- specific stuff (e.g. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the dedicated BioE professors - difference being that CoC gets dedicated professors start to finish, whereas CoE…well, doesn’t).</p>
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<p>Cal’s program is regarded as one of the strongest in the world for both undergrads and grads - the odds of there being a significant difference between this and any program are very low, at least from what I can tell. That said, unless you’re a truly stellar student and undergraduate researcher, you can’t do Cal’s CoC for both undergrad and grad - as with most grad programs, they specifically avoid taking people who were at the same school for their bachelor’s.</p>
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<p>Try your ass off in the weeders and do reasonably well in the rest, and you’ll probably be able to get something. This applies for almost everyone, though - all of my Chem. E. friends/acquaintances who actually tried in 4A and 140 have research, but all of my BioE friends/acquaintances who actually tried in their lower-divs do too.</p>
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<p>It’s rigorous as **** and you can’t do it for both undergrad and grad. Everyone in the CoC has to take Chemistry 4A, which is one of the hardest undergrad courses at Cal (i.e. if you want to get an A and you are not literally a chemistry genius, you will probably have to devote more time to 4A than you will ANY of your other 1st-semester courses, and you will have to do this from day 1 with no warning from the people who actually run the course). If you want to be a Chemical Engineer, you have two more weeder courses specific to your major, both of which are viciously difficult and will likely involve similar time commitments.</p>
<p>That said, assuming you’re still in the CoC by the end of your sophomore year, you’re probably going to make it to the end and graduate with either the single most valuable undergrad degree Cal offers or two of the most-respected chemistry undergrad degrees in the world, have strong relationships with other people in the college and your major specifically (all of whom can say the same with regards to the value of their degrees), etc… If you’re willing to put yourself through the work required, it’s a very good choice. Just remember that you will have no margin for dicking around 1st semester.</p>
<h2>@Sagert - Difference is that anyone in CoC has to get past 2-3 weeders and a number of other difficult courses where almost everyone else only gets slapped with 1 weeder and has some maneuverability elsewhere.</h2>
<p>Also, something I forgot: The CoC’s process for getting your Telebears advisor code is utterly balls. CoE’s approach to that particular part is MUCH, MUCH better.</p>
<p>@jon: I… didn’t recall there was a difference. You go to faculty advising, get them to sign a sheet, and turn it in. A few days later you get your telebears code.</p>
<p>1) As much or as little as you like. If you live in the Dorms, you’ll be housed with artists, poets, math geeks, enviros, athletes, etc. You’ll be taking English and Math with L&S students.</p>
<p>2) A LOT. The CoC is like a LAC in that even the undergrads get to work directly with Profs. Of course that is true elsewhere, but it’s just a lot easier in CoC.</p>
<p>3) The CoC is top-ranked so the prestige will carry anywhere to any grad program. Plus, for grad school its all about research and recs. (Think about recs from Cal’s renown profs.) Most colleges, and the UCs are no exceptions, prefer that undergrads go somewhere else for grad school.</p>
<p>4) A Lot.</p>
<p>5) If you are OOS, the cost. You are paying top dollar for a top program, but you also end up with all the public school bureaucracy.</p>
<p>I’m loving CoC more and more. I’m heavily leaning towards Berkeley over Johns Hopkins, actually, now.</p>
<p>I have one additional question - how’s the diversity at the College of Chemistry? I have talked to several CoC admits… and somehow, they are all Asian. Not that it’s a bad thing, or that I have anything against them (I’m Asian too), but just wanted to understand how it is like haha, since I dont have the chance to visit.</p>
<p>I’m guessing about 60% Asian, 30% White, 10% other, from what I see in Chem 4B. You’ll even find girls who look like they should be stereotypical dumb blondes in CoC (and doing pretty well).</p>
<p>is there grade deflation within CoC and specifically in the ChemE-related classes? Also, singh - I’m guess you’re Indian. Is there a strong presence of Indians on campus? I know that 40% of Cal is Asian but it looks like most are oriental.</p>
<p>Grade deflation is pretty much nonexistent in the freshman classes that I’ve taken, at least in my opinion. The students that deserve A’s get A’s, and probably half of the students that deserve B’s also get A’s… I can’t speak for the ChemE classes though (I start taking them in the fall).</p>
<p>The presence of Indians here is enormous, definitely a large chunk of the 40%, and especially in the CoC.</p>