<p>Title says it all. I'd like opinions and insight on how much the biology upper divs depend on rote memorization/regurgitating information... it's not that I have amnesia anything, but it seems that my memory is quite poor compared to that of many Berkeley students... many of the pre-meds I've met basically just memorize the whole book word for work and that's how they do well on the exams... I can't do that... nor do I want to.</p>
<p>I'm much better at applying concepts and problem solving, but since I'm pre-med a biology major is most plausible and I have some interest in the subject (but it's not my absolute favorite)...if I weren't pre-med I'd probably go into engineering. Unfortunately engineering+pre-med courses are too much for me, so I'll just take engineering courses/electives for "fun" whenever I get the chance.</p>
<p>I'm looking into Integrative Biology and Microbial Biology specifically and I might try to double with Statistics, or get a CS minor, whichever one turns out easier for me.</p>
<p>If anyone is in the MB major especially or Statistics I'd love to hear from you! Seems like they're pretty rare around here.</p>
<p>Eh, there is a point in engineering that it’s easier to memorize the equations and the example problems and plug-and-chug your way through and hope for the best rather than understanding how the equations are derived because the topics get so complex and time-consuming. I think engineering is a very tough topic and it’s way beyond the issue whether you memorize well or not, but more like if you can endure the life of being an engineering student.</p>
<p>To summarize, choosing to study engineering just because you’re not good at memorization but may be good at “applying concepts and problem solving” is a really poor, insufficient reasoning. Definitely take an engineering course for “fun” to explore what engineering is like, but I will tell you there is no such thing as a “fun” engineering course, trust me on this…</p>
<p>No need to major in biology to do pre-med, since you can just take the pre-med courses alongside any other major (e.g. math, statistics, L&S CS, or engineering, though the schedule would be pretty crowded with engineering, and the College of Engineering is difficult to switch into).</p>
<p>UpMagic, while engineering certainly has its fair share of memorization, there is simply no comparison to the amount of memorization required of premeds. </p>
<p>And memorizing doesn’t just stop after undergrad. You’ll need to do it in med school and you’ll need to do it for your USLME tests (licensing exam).</p>
<p>Whereas, as an engineer in industry, it is perfectly acceptable and extremely common to use reference guides and documentation and to google things etc…</p>
<p>^ Sure, I don’t disagree with you when it comes to amount of memorization between premeds and engineering.</p>
<p>My point was more on that choosing to study engineering just to lessen memorization is not a good reason. There is too much math and everything is just… hard to the point that it is more or less necessary to go to office hours quite often and always work in groups because simply reading the book won’t help you to do the problems. Of course, the only way to find out what engineering is like is to take a course…</p>