<p>I just started Community College and I'm a little uneasy about all the math remedial courses. I scored basiclly low on the math placement (no surprise there) and placed one level below English 101. I plan on majoring in the "highly selective major" Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics. My long term goal is to transfer to UCLA, and apply to medical school. Well the overall question is will the remedial courses look bad? After going through just major requirements it's 60 units followed by the GE which is 12 units. That's 72 units UC transferable, Remedial/Prerequisite courses are 32 units. Wow!! :(</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation as you man. Although I placed out of English 101. </p>
<p>from what I understand - and this is what I’ve been told by several counselors and at a UC workshop - is that admission officers don’t even consider your grades for remedial courses or the fact that you took them. As long as you have a college-level math done by the time you transfer and meet whatever other special requirements your chosen major might carry - you’re fine. </p>
<p>my advice is if you’re currently enrolled in non-transferable classes like algebra 1 i highly suggest you apply for pass/fail. i just think it looks better than a C. </p>
<p>also - difference between remedial and prereq. take prereq’s seriously because those factor into your GPA.</p>
<p>No, it doesn’t matter as long as you have 2 semesters of Calculus done (MIMG requirement) by the time you transfer. As for English, it should matter even less. Take pass/no pass if you want, but you really shouldn’t have too. The math before calculus should be easy stuff for you if you work for it. A pass really is no better than a C. You really should be earning A’s in these classes anyway. Try to do especially well if you are doing Algebra or Precalc. Having a great teacher and working hard in these will be an absolute lifesaver when it comes time to take on Calculus and even Chemistry. </p>
<p>If you are worried about not being able to do everything within 2 years, enroll for lots of summer courses (GE’s if you are worried about having a difficult workload). Try to get A’s in your pre-med courses. Medical schools like having pre-reqs done at 4 years. To avoid looking bad, you shouldn’t get below an A or A-. Also, just so you have another option, you do not have to go into a life sciences major to get into med school. Perhaps you should major in something with less pre-reqs to lessen your workload.</p>
<p>“To be considered for admission the following pattern of core courses must be completed by the spring before transfer: one year of biology with lab for the major, one year of calculus, one year of general chemistry with lab for the major, and one semester in organic chemistry with lab. It is also strongly recommended that a second semester of organic chemistry and one year of calculus-based physics be taken before transferring.”</p>
<p>If you consider this block of text carefully, you will see that you could very easily still have up to 9 courses of mathematics remaining before you can even be considered as a transfer student. Even with full winter and summer workloads, you could still be spending up to 3 years on math courses alone. Furthermore, chemistry classes often require the completion of the entire sequence of basic algebra, so these classes will be delayed by your progress in math. After enrolling in the first chemistry class you will still be left with a minimum of two more chemistry classes and a recommended third. The biology classes, too, will be limited by your progress in chemistry, as you must be in enrolled in or complete general chemistry in order to take general biology. If you hope to become a doctor, you will also need to complete a semester’s worth of calculus based physics and complete a semester’s worth of college level English. This must all be done while maintaining around a 3.7 GPA and while keeping up with some sort of extracurricular focus if you seek to remain truly competitive in UCLA and later medical school admissions. </p>
<p>Now that you have an idea of the classes you must take, it would be wise to analyze the challenges of the plan. First, and perhaps most dauntingly, stands the huge amount of time you will need to invest in order to complete your mathematics sequence. In an ideal situation, it could take up to 3 years of full-time school to complete. This does not account for full classes that you might not be able to add and for classes that take place at the same time as other classes you may need. As you know, the level of competition at UCLA is high and it will be difficult to justify doing poorly in any of these lower division classes. Another poster suggested taking these classes for pass/no pass credit, however, ultimately you will need to be able to do very well in these classes if you have any hope of doing well in calculus and beyond. The remedial courses will not look “bad” so to speak, but if do not do well in them you cannot expect to do well in later classes. </p>
<p>I hope this does not discourage you any further, however, you must realize the great lengths you must go to in order to even transfer.</p>