Pharmaceutical Science or Biology?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Irvine
1

<p>I want to become a pharmacist so I think most people here will suggest me to major in PS. However, I have also seen a lot of people say that grad school only cares about your GPA so since Pharmaceutical Science is more specialized, it is harder than Biology. Both major will eventually lead me to the pharmacist path so i was wondering what major should I take so that my GPA won't drastically drop and dramatically decrease my chance of getting into a grad school. Since Biology is impacted, should i just major in Biology first and then testing out pharmaceutical science?</p>

2

<p>You make it sound like biology is a walk in the park, instant awesome GPA. It isn’t easy as you make it out to be (I am a senior bio major at UCI). You should choose your major based on what you need for pharmacy school. If you need certain classes that bio doesn’t offer, obviously you should do PS. If you don’t need PS, you could do bio. Just don’t do yourself a disservice and think Bio=straight As.</p>

3

<p>I see, thank you so much zotzot13.
May I ask you what is it like for a Bio major at UCI?
Is there anything you like and don’t like about your major? </p>

<p>And as far as i know, i think both major covers pharmacy prerequisite.</p>

4

<p>They’re both going to be hard. I guess P.S. is a bit more practical if you want to enter the pharmaceutical field but not necessarily as a pharmacist. Otherwise, I would just pick whichever one you find more interesting.</p>

5

<p>If you could be more specific with your questions I might be able to provide more a more helpful response
Very Generally speaking:</p>

<p>Pros

  1. Fairly easy to get into a research lab (and there are a decent number of drug/pharmacy oriented labs)
    1b. Excellence in Research program - presentation of results, posters, paper etc
    [UCI</a> Bio Sci Student Affairs: Research: Excellence in Research](<a href=“Undergraduate Cabinet - School of Biological Sciences”>Undergraduate Cabinet - School of Biological Sciences)
  2. Free Biology tutoring to help you through the hard classes
    <a href=“EEE+ Home | UCI”>EEE+ Home | UCI;
  3. Bio Sci 2B seminar spring quarter freshman year
  4. Lots of interesting upper div bio electives</p>

<p>Cons

  1. Large class sizes in bio/chem/physics (300+) until you get to upper div biology electives, some of them get very small, smallest upper div bio elective I have had was between 15-20 students.
  2. A couple of the very early classes are weeder classes, but that happens everywhere I would think, not just UCI
  3. Bio 100 (required upper division writing class) super boring pass/no pass class with a bit of busywork.</p>