<p>So I was wondering what UC Berkeley Engineering is like. I have heard that it is ridiculously difficult and the curves are deadly, and it's virtually impossible to even hope for straight A's, but can anyone give me some specific advice and information about Berkeley Engineering? Would it be better to go to a private school for engineering? I know that Berkeley is known for its world-class engineering program, and I want to know your ideas and suggestions regarding this. Also, do you think it's possible to do a double major with bioengineering, and say, neurobiology or something at Berkeley?
Note: I am a student who has maintained a 4.0 throughout high school, and I am looking toward a future in medicine. I want to get into top medical schools in the country. I am going to major in biomedical engineering (or bioengineering) as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>You do not have to major in anything biology related to apply to medical school. You can take the pre-med courses alongside any major, although engineering majors may not have a lot of free elective space for them. Biology majors including bioengineering do not have that great job and career prospects at the bachelor’s degree level, so that is something to consider if you do not go to medical school.</p>
<p>Don’t go to Berkeley if you want to get into top med schools. Here’s why: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/medstats/top20.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/medstats/top20.stm</a></p>
<p>^^^ Yeah but it’s hard to get into med school from pretty much any undergrad university. If you are a strong student you should be fine at Cal. BioE is pretty tough though and a lot of premeds’ GPAs suffer so you may just want to do MCB-neuro. Another option is just to minor in BioE.</p>
<p>What’s your SAT? You can usually judge based on SAT score</p>
<p>Don’t come into engineering hoping to get strait A’s. Stuff gets tough quick, especially upperdivs.</p>
<p>Yeahhh, good luck with that, buddy.</p>
<p>fortify, my SAT was 2340, in a single sitting. What will that tell you? What’s your advice on Berkeley engineering?</p>
<p>Is your primary motivation to do engineering, or to go to medical school?</p>
<p>If the primary motivation is to do engineering, you may want to consider a more established engineering (e.g. chemical, mechanical, electrical) for undergraduate. It will likely give more options for both job / career and engineering graduate study than bioengineering. You can still take pre-med courses in your free elective space, though it may be a tight fit unless you have some courses already fulfilled (e.g. 5 on English AP and Calculus BC AP).</p>
<p>If your primary motivation is to go to medical school, you do not have to major in anything biology; the pre-med courses can be taken alongside any major. Biology majors do not have very good job and career prospects at the bachelor’s level if they do not get into medical school.</p>
<p>[UC</a> Berkeley career center survey of bachelor’s degree graduates](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm]UC”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm)</p>
<p>Note that only 27% of molecular and cell biology and 19% of integrative biology graduates for 2010 are going to any kind of graduate school (including medical school). 44% of bioengineering graduates went to graduate school, mostly in bioengineering and biology fields, with some medical school. But some graduates in other types of engineering went to bioengineering for graduate school.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus,
My primary motivation is definitely medical school. I chose to major in bioengineering because I think it is an interesting topic, and it would serve as a good background for a prospective medical school student. I am well aware that any major can be taken, but I actually wanted to take bioengineering.</p>
<p>2340 is good to go</p>
<p>For what it is worth, here are the statistics of medical school applicants, by GPA and MCAT score: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/MedStats.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/MedStats.stm</a></p>
<p>You won’t really know where you really stand in medical school admissions until after a few years of courses and grades, and the MCAT.</p>
<p>Here is the [College</a> of Engineering Announcement](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/college-of-engineering-announcement]College”>Undergraduate Guide - Berkeley Engineering). What you may want to do is consider which concentration of bioengineering you are interested in, and then see if you can construct a similar program of study in a more traditional engineering major (e.g. chemical, mechanical, or electrical), using technical electives to take organic chemistry, biology, and bioengineering courses. If so, you may want to consider doing that, since that will likely give you a more robust backup plan in case you do not get into medical school.</p>
<p>The thing with Berkeley engineering is that most people who get in had straight-As or something close to that in high school. However, because of the curves, the average GPA ends up being something like 3.3 (B+ average). If you get above that, it’s considered a good GPA.</p>
<p>Med schools do consider the GPA in context of the university, so you should be fine. It’s just that there will be indicators to separate the very top students from those in the top half very clearly.</p>
<p>As for doubling: well, BioE is in the College of Engineering, while Neurobiology, MCB, etc. is in Letters and Science. As a result, you can do simultaneous degrees but not double. Your GEs will be completely different, so it’s like having to do two sets of GEs.</p>
<p>@excelblue
So it’s not possible to do a double major from separate colleges? If we want to do a double major, it has to be two different majors from the same college? And also, in your opinion, it would be difficult to major in BioE and Neurobio or something like that?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus
Thanks for the advice and helpful links!</p>
<p>The College of Letters and Science distinguishes between a “double major” (two majors within the College of Letters and Science) and “simultaneous degrees” (two majors in different colleges): [Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: Double Majors and Simultaneous Degrees](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/double.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/double.html)</p>
<p>With simultaneous degrees, you have to fulfill the requirements of both majors and both colleges (breadth requirements differ between the College of Letters and Science and the College of Engineering, although if you choose carefully, you can come up with a set of breadth courses that fulfills both). You do graduate with two diplomas (one for each major) instead of one diploma (with both majors listed).</p>
<p>hey allez,
so i’m a bioengineer, and well, it is a very broad degree- they are like six or seven concentrations you choose from (not strict or anything). Some that I can remember from the top of my head are synthetic bio (just added this year), cell and tissue engineering, computational, biomaterials, biomedical devices, etc and there is also a “premed” concentration.
However, since it is so diverse, the responsibility is basically on you to choose your classes wisely and make you plan out your path completely. As for premed, you can take a mix of mcb classes with some engineering classes. </p>
<p>The question is also, are you certain you want to do premed? many times, people do not realize exactly what going through med school/ being a doctor entails. If you can still deciding, I (personally) feel that bioengineering will also give you the engineering skills to do research, etc, in comparison to a pure science.</p>
<p>[Undergrad</a> program](<a href=“http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/undergrad.php]Undergrad”>http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/undergrad.php) there is also a premed link at the bottom of the page</p>
<p>@milkTea
I definitely know that I want to pursue premed. I am completely aware of what it all entails- it’s clearly a lot of work. So if I am majoring in bioengineering as an undergrad, will I will get to choose which concentration I want to focus on? When will I get to choose this concentration?</p>
<p>you can choose it as early as you want or around the end of sophomore year, it would be good if you knew what path you were heading in. You don’t have to pick the premed concentration to do premed though- you could do any other concentration that interests you and then go to med school. it is not very formal, and i know some juniors who still don’t know what their concentration is or whether they want to go to med school or to grad school. However, the earlier you decide (but make sure you still explore to ensure you made the right decision!), the more ahead of the game you will be (in terms of finding research, planning classes, etc)
Most of the premed requirements will be met, but they just recently took out the CHEM 3B (second semester of organic chemistry) requirement from the bioengineering curriculum, but you will need to take that for med school.
hope this kind of helps and feel free to ask any other questions.</p>