Pre Med at Berkeley

<p>I am transferring from a community college and right now I am having difficulty deciding on a major. I want to transfer to UCB for premed, but I'm not sure what major would put in the best position. I'm hoping to become a general surgeon if that helps. I'm not sure which major to declare as far as biological sciences go. Thanks for the help!</p>

<p>It doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>Integrative biology is a little less obsessive & intense than MCB, gives you more flexibility in course selection, if you are looking at bio options specifically.</p>

<p>Also, in DDs experience, Berkeley pre-med advising was way too cookie cutter for her- “here’s a list, do these things in this order” with no flexibility build in AND she had conflicting advice from advisors at important times- Fall Junior year, you must take ABC courses in that order, change your schedule, Spring Junior year, why did you take B, B is a poor choice, now you cannot graduate on time, you must take Z next fall. That’s when she stopped listening and went with SDN/CC info.</p>

<p>They are fine for giving you a way to do a plan, but not for helping you create an alternate plan.</p>

<p>Any major will do or combo of majors/minors. I have come across kids who went from very intense program at Conservatory of Music (very selective one) to successfully entering Medical School. As long as you complete prereqs and do some EC’s, you will be fine.</p>

<p>Major does not matter, but if you want to increase your ‘chances’ of med school, transfer to a mid-tier UC instead. (The competition for A’s is lower.)</p>

<p>Get ready TO DIE.</p>

<p>

But it’s offset by lower percentages of A’s in science classes.</p>

<p>

That’s an exaggeration. The worst that can happen is a bit of soreness in the buttock after the midterms.</p>

<p>The easiest pre-med major I can suggest at Cal is public health. You take alot of overlapping course such as organic chemistry and biology but here’s the sweet part. It’s an extremely flexible major that only requires 12 upper division elective units, which are mostly liberal arts class (also science classes in anatomy and physiology but this is optional). It’s easy and it’ll give you plenty of time for extra stuff to do.</p>

<p>Why public health has the lowest acceptance despite being the easiest and relevant?</p>

<p>Public health is hard to get into because every that is serious about getting a high gpa will do anything they can to get a high gpa. And public health seems to be the easiest major to do med school courses, boost gpa, and is also a very flexible major that allows many easy pathways to graduation in about 3 years. Its one great major that everyone wants, but not enough room</p>

<p>Any major that has “Studies” in it’s name, is also pretty easy as long as you can write/BS well.</p>