Sixth college, Biology, or Impacted Majors? Ask here :)

<p>Well, I generally don't make many threads, but for those of you who have questions about Sixth college, Biology, Impacted majors, or anything really, feel free to ask here and I'll try to answer your questions :)</p>

<p>Awesome! Thanks, man.</p>

<p>What’s the best way to succeed in biology and chemistry classes in terms of study habits? </p>

<p>Also, how realistic is it to aspire to attend medical, dental or veterinary school?</p>

<p>Quite a question :)</p>

<ol>
<li>Study Habits</li>
</ol>

<p>I’ll give you tips on what seems to be working for me and others:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Attend all your lectures and discussion section, including optional practice tests (these are usually represenative of the real tests) AND take notes.</p></li>
<li><p>Study with friends (who are as good if not better in the subject) and offer to help those you know who are struggling; they say teaching a subject reinforces your own understanding. Also, a little competition between you and your friends really goes a long way too. Seriously though, group studying is really helpful. Don’t completely abandon studying alone though.</p></li>
<li><p>Before finals, review old tests, notes, and avoid the big libraries, they are generally overcrowded. </p></li>
<li><p>SLEEP. Get your full night’s rest, chances are you won’t learn much material the day before, avoid artificial energy drinks… and too much coffee.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to office hours if you are having trouble understanding certain subjects.</p></li>
</ul>

<ol>
<li>Goals and Aspirations</li>
</ol>

<p>It’s realistic. But it’s no cake walk. A lot of people realize, half way down the road, that they shouldn’t be pre-health. As long as you’re not one of those ( and who knows yet haha ) your aspirations are realistic, but be ambitious and work hard.</p>

<p>btw you guys can pm me too if you want!</p>

<p>What classes did you take freshman year?</p>

<p>Schw1ing,
Thanks so much for offering your help. This thread came at just the right time. I’ve been considering a Human Biology major, but I’m concerned about my preparation for it. </p>

<p>I’ve never taken physics, and my chemistry class in 10th grade was really perfunctory. I learned almost nothing, and hardly remember sig figs (I just need to review that though). </p>

<p>so… how do you think someone with such a weak background in chem and physics will do in bio? especially since I’m hoping for a “good” GPA (let’s say, 3.7+). I’m willing to work hard and I get good results when I do. I went to a highly competitive high school and always scored 750+ on SAT I/II, so while I’m not poorly qualified… is a 3.7+ in Human Bio unlikely for someone of my background? your advice is greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>@orangeicecream</p>

<p>Fall:---------Winter:-------------Spring:
CAT 1-------CAT 2---------------CAT 3
Math 10B----Math 10C------------Chem 6C
Chem 6A-----Chem 6B------------Econ 1
Music 15-----Cogs 18(dropped)----Ethn 1c</p>

<p>Hope that helps? I kind of took some GE’s mixed with stuff, I took the AP AB Calc exam and AP Bio exam and got 5’s on both so I was exempt from bild 1-3, and Math 10A. For sixth college I was supposed to take CSE 3 for CAT 3 but I waived it for a later time.</p>

<p>@92faim</p>

<p>No problem!</p>

<p>Well for chemistry, Chem 6A the course starts with fundamentals. If you do well on that part you should be set to go for the rest of the quarter. If you are struggling, there’s a course, Chem 4, designed for people with little or insufficient chem knowledge needed for the 6 series, it would set you only a quarter behind on chem which isn’t too bad, but you’ll get the fundamentals needed for 6A.</p>

<p>As for physics, the 1 series derives all the complex calculus for you. You’re basically doing algebra (or so I hear, I’ll update you on the physics stuff when I take the course next quarter, but so far everyone I’ve asked, including friends of mine who sucked in hs physics say the course wasn’t very difficult).</p>

<p>I wouldn’t really fret just yet, regardless of your background in the material, if you apply yourself, and you are naturally smart these pre-req courses shouldn’t hurt you. </p>

<p>In terms of achieving a 3.7 GPA, that all depends on you, I’ve seen people study their asses off after failing a midterm or test and in the end get an A- or better in the course. If you read the study tips I gave ingridbergman, that should help you.</p>

<p>How’s Math 10B/C? I’m planning to take 10B in the fall and 10C in winter. Which professors did you have?</p>

<p>what was you gpa and sat getting into ucsd?
what does impacted mean exactly?
is computer science impacted?
and what are the hardest colleges to get into? (marshall, muir)</p>

<p>@orange</p>

<p>I actually took 20B (my bad for fall quarter I switched to 10C once I decided I wanted to be a Bio major for sure) with John Shopple. As for 10C, if you have a solid calc background the course should be a breeze. I took the course with Dragos Oprea, he was a caring, nice professor. Fair tests, fair quizzes.
@mccormickt12</p>

<p>4.46 UC GPA, 1830 SAT, took it once, no classes, no book. (I heard the SAT is losing it’s weight for admissions though… can anyone verify this?)</p>

<p>A department declares a major impacted when there’s not enough space to accommodate all its students in the courses (you’ll see insane waitlists for some of these majors). To be in an impacted major, you either start your college career in that major having passed through additional screening of your stats, or you transfer to the major (which is hard depending on which department, but for Bio they admit based on space and your college gpa).</p>

<p>Computer Science is not impacted. These are the impacted majors for 2011:</p>

<pre><code>* Division of Biological Sciences
o All majors

  • Jacobs School of Engineering
    o Aerospace Engineering
    o Bioengineering
    o Bioengineering: Biotechnology
    o Mechanical Engineering
    </code></pre>

<p>Can’t say for certain, but most people seem to like Muir due to its small amount of GE’s. Basically, the more applicants a college has, the harder it is to admit them all.</p>

<p>thank you very much, this has been one of the most informative threads on this whole website. good reaction time.</p>

<p>i have also heard that ucsd is socially awkward, so how do you like it there?</p>

<p>haha thank you, you caught me while I was checking the site randomly haha.</p>

<p>I really like it here. I’m not sure if you can call it socially awkward after sun god, but I’m not one to say what’s socially normal either. Depends on your personality (and your previous partying habits) more than anything and what you consider status quo for college life.</p>

<p>do you like the school, do you have any regrets?</p>

<p>Is Chem 6A offered in the winter quarter or do I need to start in the fall?</p>

<p>How’s the Chem 6 series? Which professors did you have and which class of the series was the hardest, in your opinion?</p>

<p>And thanks for answering my questions!</p>

<p>Wow thanks a lot, man. I usually don’t use group study a lot but I guess I’m going to have to learn how to do it in college.</p>

<p>And yeah, I learned from high school that sleep can go a long way when it comes to tests. </p>

<p>And about the SAT, I know UC’s care about GPA a lot more than the SAT (congratulations on the amazing uc gpa btw). Also, I believe they’re getting rid of SAT II’s so yeah, it’s dying in a respect.</p>

<p>@Mccormickt12
Yes, I love the school, my only regret is that I should have brought my road bike inside this one night I decided to leave it out (it got stolen) lol.</p>

<p>@Adriee
Yes, the course if offered during winter.</p>

<p>@Orangeicecream
I liked the Chem 6 series, I had Stuart (a younger Johnson), Kummel (insanely funny), Kubiak (weird/kind of funny). I had good TA’s. I’d say they’re generally equally as hard, but 6A had the largest workload because of this online hw application called ALEKS, a lot of you will probably take this, but it helps a lot. In terms of interest, I’d say 6B and 6C were pretty interesting, the latter being slightly more.</p>

<p>@ingridbergman</p>

<p>Yeah it truly goes a long way. Haha thanks I just had a golden year in HS. Yeah the SAT’s were pretty inefficient anyways.</p>

<p>Are bio majors rare at sixth college? Or are there enough to form steady study groups?</p>

<p>^Definitely not rare… It seems like bio majors make up 90% of campus, I swear</p>

<p>Well bulls eye I’m a incoming freshman at Sixth college and I’m a bio major. Does it hurt that I never took AP Bio?</p>