<p>I am determined to attend med school at UCSF after getting a BA at Berkeley. Thus far, I am stuck between choosing majors from these areas: physics, math, statistics, chemistry, computer science (in L&S).</p>
<p>Which one would be recommended if I hope to attend med school? I am interested in all of those majors just about equally (although i like math, statistics, and computer science a little more)...</p>
<p>Is a chemistry major (L&S) or physics major typically more difficult to get a high GPA than a statistic, CS, or math major?</p>
<p>Can anyone give me a suggestion as to what major, and what classes i should take my 1st year at berkeley?</p>
<p>sorry for the quadruple post, but i've cut down my choices to computer science, math, and statistics. can anyone speak for any of these choices?</p>
<p>The thing about upper division math is that it is very different from lower division math. The aptitudes required to get high grades in upper-division math are, frankly, either there or not. It's impossible to just work your way to high grades, you need to have the aptitude AND the hard work. Same with computer science, and probably same with statistics. So you need to figure out what you are going to be best at. It's not an issue of the major, it's an issue of your own talents. </p>
<p>well, i love CS, but i don't know a thing about programming, so if i go into CS, i will be at an enormous disadvantage...</p>
<p>if i tried learning some programming over the summer, would it help? also, i love stats. the context and stuff i've very good at doing. no idea about math major though...</p>
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well, i love CS, but i don't know a thing about programming, so if i go into CS, i will be at an enormous disadvantage...
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<p>I really don't think so. if you have the aptitude for CS, it will be immediately apparent, once you start taking the classes. </p>
<p>Certainly learning some programming over the summer might be helpful. If you want to do that, go to webcast.berkeley.edu and watch CS61A videos along with the textbook, available for free online (or buy a paper copy). Go through the class, see if it engages you and if you "get it".</p>
<p>upper division statistics classes are going to be quite different from whatever statistics you've studied so far, I'd imagine. Certainly it is an exciting field but not easy at all.</p>
<p>You might also get a book on mathematical proofs, see if it excites you. There are lots of them, type in "Math 74 Berkeley" on google and look at all the course sites see what books they are using, check one out. </p>
<p>Seriously, though, why do you need to decide all of this now? Take some classes see what you like. If you find that you aren't doing well in something and you want to eliminate it as a possible major, switch to P/NP if you want to preserve your GPA.</p>
<p>If you get a P, it doesn't factor into GPA. Maybe if it was a prerequisite, they might count it as a C. So if for med school you need to take O-chem and you take o-chem P/NP, I could see how it would be looked down upon. But an occasional random class taken P/NP won't be a problem. I've had this discussion previously, I don't know where the idea comes from that if you take a class P/NP and get a P, that people will calculate that as a C in your GPA. Maybe someone can tell me where that idea comes from.</p>
<p>to get credit in a class, you must get a grade of C- or higher. because C- is the borderline between pass and no pass, it's been assumed that a pass is factored in as a C</p>
<p>high schools. i'm not joking. at my HS, people take classes at the JC to inflate their grades and move up in rank (to be valendictorian etc... it's cutthroat really). if you take a pass/NP, a pass counts as a 2.0 in the GPA calculations, which is like ***.</p>
<p>That's bizarre. Certainly a P (or even an NP) doesn't count in your UC GPA. Some classes are ONLY offered P/NP. I think students should take advantage of P/NP to take courses outside of their comfort</p>
<p>From what I understand, your intended major means absolutely nothing when it comes to your first set of classes. The exception might be for courses that are restricted to pre-majors, but I don't know of any outside of the arts. </p>
<p>You can sign up for whatever you'd like your first semester at Cal. Be aware, though, that some of the more pre-req intensive majors -- like the ones you're considering -- have a pretty tight range of when you can take the courses you need to move into upper division work; getting a semester behind might mean delaying graduation (though that's an extreme scenario). If you're looking at med school, your pre-reqs are pretty set for you as it is. Make sure you are fully aware of the sequence you're required to complete prior to your med school application and make sure you know how that fits in your 4 years at Cal. Because of the sequential nature of these requirements, you will have to get started early.</p>