<p>I applied to Berkeley through the student exchange programme (which lasts for one academic year) my University offers. The acceptance letters come only in May, but those who applied were already suggested to start making preliminary steps regarding the modules, transport and accommodation. </p>
<p>I am currently a first year student in Molecular Genetics, and because in England, the undergraduate education is three years, rather than four, I will be (if I get lucky) sort of in the middle between a second and a third year student. I don't see a Genetics major offered in Berkeley, but Biology: Molecular and Cell is fairly similar. Now for the questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Any advise on accommodation? I would prefer a single en suite bedroom, not too far away from the campus and it is very important for the place to be reasonably silent. I believe that the dormitories are more expensive than privately rented accommodation, is that right?</p></li>
<li><p>I didn't really look into lower division subjects, as they seemed to cover things that I already covered/will cover in my A-levels or my first year at university. How many credits are doable solely from upper division subjects / semester? I generally thought about 16-17.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Any advise and/or comments on the following subjects would be greatly appriciated:</p>
<ul>
<li>130. *Cell Biology (and the associated Laboratory (130L))</li>
<li>140. *General Genetics. (and the associated Laboratory (140L))</li>
<li>141. *Developmental Biology.</li>
<li>150. *Molecular Immunology. (and the associated Laboratory (150L))</li>
</ul>
<p>I understand that many of these questions are asked frequently (in particular about accommodation) - I apologize for adding to the pool of duplicate posts/threads.</p>
<p>Thank you very much in advance for the help!</p>
<p>Genetics is spread out all over the place in Berkeley.</p>
<p>There are three major departments that do genetics in Berkeley.</p>
<p>-Integrative Biology does organismal and population level genetics
-Molecular Cell Biology does some molecular genetics
-Plant and Microbial Biology does a lot of molecular genetics under their Genetics and Plant Biology major.</p>
<p>Plant and Microbial Biology offers the large breadth of genetics courses of any bio department on campus</p>
<p>I’m taking MCB 130 and MCB 141 right now, so I can’t comment much about the two classes. If you want to get a taste of what MCB 130 is like, head over to [webcast.berkeley</a> | UC Berkeley Video and Podcasts for Courses & Events](<a href=“http://webcast.berkeley.edu%5Dwebcast.berkeley”>http://webcast.berkeley.edu) You can watch past lectures of the class.</p>
<p>You should look into getting a studio apartment on the North side of the campus. The North side is generally more quiet than the South side, but of course, it also depends on your neighbors. And yes, dorm rates are outrageous.</p>
<p>I suggest taking no more than 14 units of upper division bio courses.</p>
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</p>
<p>Stop giving advice on a subject that you are completely unfamiliar with.</p>
<p>MCB sponsors most of the upper division molecular genetic and genomic courses on campus. All the genetic courses offered as PMB courses except for PMB 160 (Plant Molecular Genetics) are also crosslisted as MCB courses. These are MCB C134, C145, C146, and C148. In addition, MCB also offers MCB C142 (Survey of Genetics) and MCB 140 (General Genetics). The latter should interest you more as it is more in-depth and has more molecular genetics material.</p>
<p>the point I was making was that, the GPB would be most parallel to the OP’s genetics program in England. MCB GG&D is at max three genetics courses (140 + two electives), GPB contains much more genetics within it is program, so what if all the courses are crosslisted between the two departments that does not mean it belongs to one of the two alone.</p>
<p>BTW MCB C142 / IB C163 is being disintegrated into MCB 14? and IB 164. I am assuming they are going to cut out the population genetics portions on the MCB end of the cross listed and probably replace it with more molecular genetics</p>
<p>Accommodation: Look on [craigslist</a> classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums](<a href=“http://www.craigslist.org%5Dcraigslist”>http://www.craigslist.org) under Apartments or Shared for homeowners in North Berkeley who rent out furnished rooms in their homes, some with private bathrooms, some even with private kitchens, to students. It will run you around $900/month, maybe a bit less depending on the amenities. More of them will be listed near May or over the summer. </p>
<p>If you need to have cheaper accommodations, look into a house or flat share with roommates around your age, which runs from $450-900/month, depending. You can find these on craigslist as well.</p>
<p>North Berkeley, especially in the hills, is much quieter than the rest of Berkeley, but this <em>is</em> an urban area, so don’t expect complete silence anywhere. Beware that some of the housing in the hills area more than 5 blocks from campus might be inconvenient if you aren’t willing to walk or ride a bike uphill. There are buses, but they stop running after 8pm or so and run very sporadically on weekends. You should inquire about this when contacting landlords about housing.</p>
<p>Again, this just shows that you are completely unsure of what you’re talking about. MCB 110, a required course for GGD track, has a huge portion dealing with molecular genetics. And doing GGD doesn’t restrict you into taking only MCB courses as you imply. In fact, with only 4 specific upper divs to take, GGD gives you more options to explore specific interests in molecular genetics.</p>
<p>And please explain how GPB has “much more genetics within it is[sic] program.” If you look at the PMB major snapshot, there is only 1 required course that focuses on molecular genetics while the rest deals with plants.</p>
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</p>
<p>If the crosslisted courses belong to both departments, then what justifies your statement “Plant and Microbial Biology offers the large[sic] breadth of genetics courses of any bio department on campus?” Do you intentionally try to debase your own statements?</p>
<p>anon5524485, plant Genetics is not something I am greatly interested in. Thank you very much for your post, could you please tell me which buildings would normally correspond to the Molecular and Cell Biology / Integrative Biology modules in Berkeley? I also probably will not be able to take up the vast amount of GPB Genetics modules, because of my one year limit.</p>
<p>tastybeef, thank you very much for the links. The problem with 14 credits is that I probably will not be able to chose all the subjects I want to study during my year abroad. This is primarily due to the modules that are coupled with the Laboratory practicals, which, in turn, seem much better than those offered by my University. Could you please give me some feedback on 130 and 141, after you have studied them for a few months? Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>thatgirltoo, thank you very much, I will look into that a bit later. I also don’t mind walking up the hill, as long as it doesn’t take too long to get from my place to the appropriate department. I also do not expect complete silence, but it would be great if my neighbours were not slamming the doors and playing their music loud at 4 a.m.</p>
<p>What price should I be aiming for if it’s a single room / single en suite? Thank you in advance for the replies!</p>
<p>The operative word there is “specific.” GGD specifies 4 classes that you have to take while leaving the 2 other courses up to your choosing. In contrast, PMB requires you to take 3 specific plant courses. This doesn’t sound like something that someone who is only interested in molecular genetics would want to do.mmAnd guess what, you can take all the PMB/MCB cosponsored courses for those 2 electives in GGD.</p>
<p>This is all irrelevant since the OP is only here for a year, but the point is-- STOP POSTING ADVICE ON SUBJECTS THAT YOU ARE COMPLETELY UNFAMILIAR WITH. You can advise premed students to not major in MCB, whatever, that’s great. But when you mislead people with your authoritatively stated misinformed opinions, such as “Plant and Microbial Biology offers the large[sic] breadth of genetics courses of any bio department on campus,” that’s messed up.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention, there is a Life Science Addition (LSA) attached to the Valley Life Science Building (VLSB). LSA is full of MCB stuff, VLSB is full of IB stuff and some MCB stuff.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information. I would have another question - I thought about picking up 16 units for each semester while I am at Berkeley. All 16 units are upper division courses, as follows:</p>
<p>Semester one:</p>
<p>MCB 130.
MCB 130L.
MCB 150.
MCB 150L.</p>
<p>Semester two:</p>
<p>MCB 110L.
MCB 140.
MCB 140L.
MCB 141.</p>
<p>Any opinions, whether that would be too hard / too easy? Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>MCB labs are restricted enrollment courses, meaning many/most/all of their seats are reserved for the specific MCB tracks that require them. Also, semester one is fall right? If semester one is spring '10, then I would recommend you take MCB N130L over summer '10, as it would be easier to get into</p>
<p>Final note, from past experiences, two biology courses in one semester is tough, four would hell.</p>
<p>Sorry, semester one would be fall 2009, and semester two would be spring 2010. anon5524485, so you think that I should not pick up additional modules to those already listed?</p>