<p>Hi,
I was admitted to UC Berkeley College of Letter and Science as a transfer student. My major is biochemistry. My question is that is it hard to get into the Biochemistry major in UCB ? I am now considering choosing UC San Diego in which I was admitted to biochmistry major or UCB?</p>
<p>If you mean the Molecular and Cell Biology major (which has the biochemistry option), then it is not a capped major; as long as you pass the prerequisites, you can declare the major.</p>
<p>[Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: Molecular and Cell Biology](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/mcellbi.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/mcellbi.html)
[Prospective</a> Transfer Students](<a href=“http://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/prospective-students/transfer-students/transfer/]Prospective”>Prospective Transfer Students | Molecular and Cell Biology)</p>
<p>Certain options in the Molecular and Cell Biology major require Chemistry 112A-112B (organic chemistry for chemistry majors) instead of 3A-3B (organic chemistry for most biology majors); to fulfill this after taking organic chemistry at a community college, you need to take the ACS organic chemistry exam with a high enough score, as described in ASSIST pages (e.g. [ASSIST</a> Report](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST) ).</p>
<p>Be aware that Molecular and Cell Biology is a the largest undergraduate major on the Berkeley campus, so even upper division courses may be quite large. See <a href=“http://schedule.berkeley.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://schedule.berkeley.edu</a> to see class sizes.</p>
<p>I 've already completed calculus, engineering physics, general biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry in a community college. So, what you mean is that I can declare my major as MCB in my first semester ?</p>
<p>You can declare in your second semester at Berkeley:
[Declaring</a> the MCB Major](<a href=“http://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/major/major/declaring/]Declaring”>http://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/major/major/declaring/)</p>
<p>Thank you for telling me all that ! um…Does that mean I have to spend my first semester taking classes that I don’t need?</p>
<p>You can always try to take upper division MCB or other courses that can count to the MCB major in your first semester, though you may have lower registration priority than those who have declared the major.</p>
<p>Also, if your option requires Chemistry 112A and 112B but you did not get a high enough score on the ACS organic chemistry exam, you may have to take those courses as well.</p>