<p>Hey,
I'm looking at UCSB and it's pretty high on a list of great schools- good academics, on the beach to surf, next to the mountains to snowboard, and epic social scene. I took a couple summer classes there that were really good, but I felt a little bit of an academic disconnect, maybe just because it was the summer. In general, do you guys find classes to be engaging?
Is personal academic advising hard to come by?
Along that line, are necessary major classes and freshman seminars hard to get into?
Finally, anyone in here have a biology or pre med related major they really enjoy?
Thanks, I know it's a ton of questions. Enjoy living at UCSB you lucky bastards</p>
<p>Last question- anyone know what the specific requirements to get into the honors program before the start of the freshman year are? I know a lot of other uc’s have their criteria available online but UCSB seems pretty hush-hush about what theirs are</p>
<p>I will try my best to answer your questions. I am an incoming pre-med sophomore, currently pre-biology thinking of doing either biochem or microbiology</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Classes that you will have your first couple of years are going to be GE classes or pre major classes, thus they will be pretty big, anywhere from 200 to 800 people. I did have one 70 person class. If by engaging, you mean students being able to participate during the class, answer questions the teacher asks, and so on, I’m afraid it is not very “engaging”. Teachers will give some opportunities for students to speak during class, and will always answer any question you may have during lecture, but most classes you listen to the professor and take notes. It is not like high school. But that is why you have section, which is about 20-30 people, in which your TA discusses what went over in class and is more engaging. In your upper division major classes, you will have smaller classes and they will probably be more engaging, but early on you will have to get used to huge sized classes, which is different, but trust me it isn’t bad.</p></li>
<li><p>Personal academic advising isn’t hard to come by, there is a pre-med counselor and a counselor for just generic academic questions, you just have to make an appointment in advance (this is done online). </p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know about seminars since I didn’t take any, but many people I know did so there must be plenty of spots. Major classes have enough spots reserved in them so that everyone in that major will be able to get them, so don’t worry about that. However, if you are undecided and thinking of doing biology, you probably won’t get into Chem 1A your first quarter because it is reserved for chem and bio majors and it fills up. </p></li>
<li><p>I am a pre-biology major, but in UCSB you don’t declare your actual major until junior year if you are doing a biology related major, so I can’t say I enjoy my specific major yet because I don’t have one. That said, pre-biology is nothing spectacular so far, the only major related class you take is chemistry and calc.</p></li>
<li><p>If you weren’t invited to be in the honors program by the school upon admission, you can’t get into it until sophomore year, and I think the requirements are to have a 3.6 gpa your first year.</p></li>
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<p>I can only answer ur last question because I’m a rising senior, but I emailed the admissions office and they said it’s usually the top 7-10% of the applicants that get in</p>