<p>Is berkeley weak in Bio?
Some people told me that UCLA, UCSD,
and even UCD is better than Berkeley
if you want to major in Bio.
Is this true???
`</p>
<p>UCSD is known to be strong in the sciences. However, I will leave it to another user to clear this up. Also, there is no "bio" at Berkeley, unless you mean Integrative Biology.</p>
<p>UCB is strong in biology, in fact, on par with UCSD and UCLA. Whoever told you it was weaker is completely clueless. The main difference is that UCSD has more undergraduate research opportunities with the Salk, Scripps Research Institute, Burnham, UCSD Medical school and many biotechs/pharmaceutical companies nearby.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.phds.org/rankings/%5B/url%5D">http://www.phds.org/rankings/</a></p>
<p>A ranking of graduate programs. A good graduate program is often indicative of a good undergraduate program as the professors and staff are usually the same.</p>
<p>Berkeley is not weak in bio by any means, it's just that the bio majors offered at Berkeley do not have the wide recognition of the engineering programs at Berkeley. Essentially, they are dwarfed by the strong engineering programs that Berkeley is so well known for. As for UCSD being known for its strong sciences, it comes down to relativity as well. The biology majors at UCSD dwarf the other majors so they seem to be great.</p>
<p>Take a look at the rankings:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-
Cal 3rd, UCSD 7th
Cell and Developmental Biology-
Cal 11th, UCSD 12th
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior-
Cal 6th, UCSD 28th, UCD 8th
Molecular and General Genetics-
Cal 9th, UCSD 10th
Neuroscience-
UCSD 2nd, Cal 12th</p>
<p>Out of these 5 disciplines that are available to undergraduates, Cal ranks higher than UCSD in 4 even though people proclaim that UCSD has the strongest bio programs in the UC. It's not that Cal doesn't have good bio programs, it's just that they are not strong enough to be somewhat of a "trademark" of Berkeley while the opposite is true for UCSD.
And this is not only true in biology, but in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and (bio)statistics as well. These programs at Cal are all ranked much higher than UCSD's, but since UCSD is known for being a school strong in the sciences, people automatically dismiss Cal's programs.</p>
<p>So, the bottom line is, these things that people tell you are not true. UCSD and UCD are known for their bio programs, because their bio programs are better than their other programs. However, Berkeley's bio programs are shadowed by the engineering programs even though they are still better than the programs at other schools.</p>
<p>Here's a more recent ranking although with less information.
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/phdsci/phdsciindex_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/phdsci/phdsciindex_brief.php</a></p>
<p>i also was concerned initially about whether ucsd/la are 'better' at bio than is berkeley. then i realized it's silly to worry about ranking differences of a couple places, since at the undergraduate level, we'll learn the same things in either location. So go to which ever school you like best!</p>
<p>Living in the Bay Area is better, obviously.</p>
<p>Ucla Ftw!!</p>
<p>i'm wondering who told u that. MCB and chem bio are actually berkeley's strong majors. a tons of famous people here across departments(i think there are 7 bio departments here) plus berkeley has lawrence berkeley national lab right up the hill, ucsf across bay, CHORI etc. and biotech presence at bay area is much stronger than SD. plus berkeley provides you a comprehansive education that neither ucla nor ucsd is able to provide. berkeley's education is very theory-based and basic science oriented. only thing is the weather sux here comparing to SD. (thats why im going to scripps for grad school).</p>