<p>I'm going to be a cognitive science major and will follow the pre med track. I want to become a psychiatrist someday.</p>
<p>I want to take Chem 1A my second semester. I will be taking Math 16A my first semester though. </p>
<p>The career center recommend to take the following classes:
Chem 1A, 3A/3AL, 3B/3BL and MCB 102 or MCB 100A/Chem C130 I am required to take Chem 1AL????</p>
<p>Physics 8A and 8B & Biology 1A/1AL and 1B, same question.. are the labs required? do I have to take Physics 8AL,8BL and Bio 1BL???</p>
<p>I don't mind taking a gap year before applying to med school but I want to graduate in 4 years. </p>
<p>Can someone tell me how I should plan my classes and what I can do to prepare for them? Also, if you are pre med, could you tell me about your experience and what classes you took? I know that being pre med at berkeley is hard and that some people are very competitive, but I know that if I try my best I will do great.</p>
<p>RE: 1AL, check ~10-15 top med school websites. If you can find one specifically saying that they don’t require gen chem lab experience (and if none of the others specifically say they want it), you can reasonably expect that everyone else will be fine without you knowing it. If you find one that does, you should probably take it.</p>
<p>Same with the rest of them, actually, though I wasn’t aware that Physics 8 had optional lab sections. That said, it’s generally expected that you’ll take each class’s lab either concurrently or only one semester late, so it shouldn’t interfere with graduation.</p>
<p>Planning classes: Research some med schools (as above) and find out what courses they require, then do EXTENSIVE research via DARsweb to figure out exactly what options you have for your major. Once you know what you need to take (the major’s website and DARSweb should collectively enable you to get a complete list of courses you NEED to take, along with less-specific requirements and what classes can fill them), figure out when you plan to satisfy each requirement. Then, when Telebears starts for the relevant semesters, research the professors for each class and pick out the easiest ones.</p>
<p>Pre-med at Berkeley isn’t hard because of competition so much as it’s hard because Berkeley just isn’t a very pre-med-friendly school; the support is almost nonexistent and there’s very little infrastructure for getting relevant experience through the school. Try to find some doctors to shadow at the local/UCSF hospitals, see if Tang allows any volunteering, etc…</p>
<p>DARSweb is the degree audit report thing on Bearfacts. I wish I’d known about the extent of its usefulness sooner, lol.</p>
<p>Jonnosferatu’s “research the professors for each class and pick out the easiest ones.”</p>
<p>Is there any links or websites that I can do the research?</p>
<p>ratemyprofessors.com</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://esc.frozeninflames.net/]Ninja”>http://esc.frozeninflames.net/]Ninja</a> Courses<a href=“which%20will%20forward%20you%20to%20another%20site”>/url</a></p>
<p>There are other professor ratings sites out there. Bear in mind that they’ll usually be somewhat biased because people who rate professors usually weren’t all that thrilled about them (NinjaCourses is better than most in that they do contests based on points you earn for ratings).</p>
<p>bear in mind that your ability to act on this information is not perfect. When your telebears slot comes up, the ‘easier’ professor’s section may be full, leaving you a few choices: take the harder section, defer taking this course to a later semester, or waitlist for the easier section which may tie up precious units that can’t be use to register for other courses you need. </p>
<p>You make a plan, you work out lots of options and alternatives, then you improvise when you are ready to register. Overall it works out, but don’t think that if you know the easiest professors, the best times among sections and the shortest walks, you can get into the exact set you want. For most, you get some of what you want, some that is good enough and some times you are forced to ‘plan B’ for the semester. </p>
<p>As your seniority rises, your timeslots improve, the competition for seats goes down (especially when some are reserved for students officially in the major), and you get better choice, better times and a higher success rate.</p>