<p>I'm currently a junior high school and I am interested in attending santa monica cc. I was wondering how tough are the science courses at santa monica? I heard they are harder than ucla courses. Also, how are SMC science majors transfer rates to UCLA?</p>
<p>I ask because I am interested in transfering to UCLA and major in physiological science. Also, I want to be prepared for my upper level courses and in addition the MCAT (I've would of completed all of the pre med reqs at the end of the 2nd year at SMC, therefore I could take the test in the spring or wait next year). </p>
<p>Harder than UCLA science courses? Don’t be ridiculous.</p>
<p>I’ve only taken a bio course at SMC, and it was neither simple nor anything difficult. The most important thing to do is to pick a good professor.</p>
<p>The science courses here at SMC are tough–coming out of here you will definitely be prepared for UC-level academics. However, by no means are they tougher than UCLA’s courses, UCLA is a world-class institution and most of the time you are competing with the best and brightest in the region. So to put it in perspective, </p>
<p>You’re making a great choice to go to SMC, it really is a great school. One thing to keep in mind, are you sure that you want to major in physiological science, or do you just want to do pre-med. Keep in mind that you don’t have to major in something science-related in order to go to med school–you can major in anything. </p>
<p>In conclusion, SMC will prepare you in the science field–but just remember you don’t necessarily have to stick to it.</p>
<p>I want to major in physiology because I like the subject. Right now for example I am in this high school outreach program for underrepresented/underserved high school students program at UCSF. We do a lot of fun activities in the school’s anatomy lab, dissecting cadavers etc. Also UCLA is one of the few schools that offer a physio major, I like learning and dissecting the human body just something I enjoy doing (oddly lol). Yes, I am aware the physiological science major at UCLA is packed with pre health students. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I guess SMC is a excellent school. </p>
<p>How hard are the placement test for english, math and chemistry? (I don’t want to do bad on them because this could set me back a year or a few summers)</p>
<p>I can only speak for math and English, but they were real simple – either you know it or you don’t. I think I scored 99th percentile on the English one.</p>
<p>The placement tests aren’t too tough, just know your pre-calculus as well as simple logic/critical thinking/sentence structure and you’ll be fine. However, I hear the Chem 10 challenge exam is pretty tough–so you’re gonna want to spend the most of your studying time on that. If you have anymore questions about SMC feel free to ask.</p>
<p>I go to SMC and I just got accepted to UCLA as a microbio major.<br>
The only class remotely more difficult than a UCLA class is bio23. Biology students at UCLA have come back to tell the professors it was the hardest academic class they’ve taken. Other than that, the classes are pretty straight forward as long as you work hard.</p>
<p>How competitive is it to get into the scholars program? I honestly do not have a cumulative GPA of 3.0+ right now in HS but, could I join second semester of freshmen year? Also, could you still get admitted to UCLA without being in the scholars program?</p>
<p>If I don’t do well on the assesment test (math,eng and chem) could I still sign up for the class I want anyway? I read on the SMC website it’s a assesment not a placement test.</p>
<p>Chem 11 Ok…not bad (Read the book.Understanding the concept is crucial+solve problems)…<br>
Chem 12 Easy (Solve a lot of problems and you will get an A, be sure to understand the material first)
Chem 21 Ok…not bad (Solve problems+practicing naming organic compounds+practice basic organic compound synthesis and reaction mechanisms+NMR)
Chem 22 Ok…not bad (Understand!!!+memeorize reaction mechanisms+solve problems)
Chem 31 Ok…A little tougher (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LLLLLOOOOOT MEMorization)
Bio21 A little Tough(a lot of Pure Memorization)
Bio22 Easy(Problem solving + some memorization)
Bio23 don’t know…haven’t completed yet</p>
<p>In general, the SMC science courses are ok, some courses are easy and some are more challenging…If you study hard every day, You will get good grades.</p>
<p>There are a lot of UCLA and USC professors here. And game_theory says it’s ridiculous but… In my econ class, there’s this guy who said, “This is the hardest class I’ve ever taken in my life. And I’m a UCLA graduate.” So, well, who knows.</p>
<p>And it’s def. not hard. I think almost everyone gets in (because everyone who applies know they’re qualified). If you want to apply second semester, you have to have 12 (15?) units or something, which is like, four classes so that wouldn’t be hard.</p>
<p>I was a smc student for 3 years. I did most of my premed there. (general chem, 0chem, bio, calculus, didn’t do physics here)
From my experience, these professors are out to weed out the students that are unprepared. I did pretty well in all my classes BUT i also gave up my social life. I took one of the bio classes at UCLA ext. and it was MUCH MUCH easier. I think when people compare the two, they are comparing it to ucla extension which is diffnt from the actual classes. I also took calculus two @ucla…a lot easier.
Some professors to avoid: Nestler, Hong
Some very valuable professors: Simon gen chem, Martinez (gen chem), Colavito(bio) ferede(ochem), Garcia(math) Jimenez(math)
all these professors are good NOT because they are nice (some may not be) but because they are very helpful and FAIR.
Some professors @ smc tend to be a little unfair. You may do all your homework but has NOTHING to do with your exam. They dont guide you to let you know what they want you to do and that is what makes it so hard…half the time you are trying to figure out WHAT to study. The material itself may not be hard but since you dont really know what to study for you end up confused. Even when you ask some “bad” professors, they will answer your question with a question to promote “critical thinking”.
Other professors, like nestler, dont mind failing the entire class. (I had a friend who took him and said this so I asked the professor and he said he felt like no one deserved to pass and that at times, he doesnt give ANY A’s because he feels like no one deserves them)
For me, that can be very difficult and frustrating. but everyone is different so i think ultimately it depends on how YOU study. </p>
<p>My advice is, if you go to this college and you find it is discouraging or difficult, look for other colleges. There are other options. Other colleges have MUCH MUCH nicer professors that are a more FAIR and aren’t trying to weed out students.
Hope this helps :)</p>
<p>i really want to take bio with ucla extension but i dont know which classes in ucla extension correlate with bio 21 22 23. do you happen to know which ones i should take?</p>
