<p>how hard is it to keep a 3.8-4.0 GPA as a neuroscience at UCSD w/ all the pre-med req...just curious
is it an insanely hard major?</p>
<p>a 3.8 or higher is extremeley difficult regardless of the major</p>
<p>that's an average of between straight A minuses and straight As</p>
<p>if you get even one B+, you need the other 3 classes to be straight As in order to keep a 3.8</p>
<p>and if you get even one B in your classes for the quarter, it's impossible to get a 3.8</p>
<p>but how hard is neuroscience @ UCSD regardless????</p>
<p>is neuroscience considered like the hardest major.....or just average</p>
<p>i just want to know how difficult it is??</p>
<p>Neuroscience is not considered like the hardest major.</p>
<p>UCSD has a VERY VERY good neuroscience program though. Ranked like #1 or #2, I forget but it's VERY good.</p>
<p>how "hard" it is is very relative and depends almost entirely on your motivation, study habits, etc....i'm sure if you put in your best effort you'll be okay.</p>
<p>like compared to engineering (i always hear that REALLY tough)</p>
<p>But as TwylaBloo said, "hard" is a relative term. You say you that you hear that engineering is very difficult, but there are people out there who find it very easy. And the very same thing is true for neurosciences. If you really enjoy neurosciences, enough to devote your life to neurobiology or neurosurgery or whatever it is you want to do, it won't seem to be difficut for you...</p>
<p>Anyway, assuming that you are an undergraduate, you would be a physiology/neuroscience major in the bio division (neuroscience department is graduate only). Luckily for you, that major is pretty lenient in that you have a lot of options. There are only 6 classes which you are forced to take in upper division, and the lower division requirements are basically the same as all other bio majors. Other than that, you get to pick which classes you want to take from long lists of options. Thats good, because you can take the classes you like and the ones that you are good at. Unfortunately, the variety of options means that no one can really help you with your question since YOUR courses may end up being different from another fellow physiology/neuroscience major. So its difficult to say whether the major is difficult or not since its different for each person.</p>
<p>As for premed requirements, luckily for you physiology/neuroscience major requirements covers all science premed requirements. Your GEs should cover humanities requirements for med school.</p>
<p>wait since there so many options for upper division courses...is it safe to assume that the class sizes are realatively small.... like how many ppl 10? 20?? 30+??
thanks for all the previous info</p>
<p>Ummm... no. The labs will have around 20 people in them, but the non-lab classes will have a lot of people in them. Each neuroscience class seems to be offered only one a year, so everyone wanting to focus on neuroscience will be taking it at that time, so the classes are around 100-200 people or so. And the non-neuroscience classes are being taken by human bio and gen bio and anyone else who wants to take them, so those class are actually very large. But there are three classes in which you can take ANY biology class, so you MIGHT find a smaller class somewhere in there... But remember that there is like 4000 people as some biology major at UCSD, so small classes are only found in labs and freshmen/senior seminars...</p>
<p>how would you get a letter of rec if there are 100-200 ppl in your class....you would never get to really know your professor</p>
<p>You have to make an effort to get a LOR. Even if you're class has only 10 people, if the only way a prof knew you was through scheduled class time you wouldn't get a good LOR anyway. Go see your prof in office hours, or e-mail them often. Doing really well on exams also helps. The fact of the matter is, no matter how small your class is, you still need to put in quite a bit of effort to get a good LOR.</p>
<p>And since you're going into neuro, considering doing some sort of research or a medical internship or something like that to get to know a professor.</p>
<p>ya....bewareofnerd are u a neuroscience major @ UCSD....just curious</p>
<p>I don't think so. I am still trying to figure it out, but phys/neuroscience is one of my options...</p>
<p>r u a freshman @ UCSD??</p>
<p>Well, technically I'm a junior, but its going to be my second year... I actually don't have much time to choose my major... The bio majors are pretty similar for awhile, and then they all kinda diverge into different tracts, and that'll happen to me this winter...</p>
<p>I've heard neuroscience has a lot of physics involved. Is that portion really difficult?</p>
<p>Physiology/neuroscience major doesn't require any more physics classes than the other bio majors, but since neuroscience relies a lot on electromagnetism it would be safe to assume that you should be good at EM. Many people find that EM is very difficult, and I thought it was fairly challenging as well...</p>