UCI for Biological Sciences/Education or UCLA for Biology if I were to have a choice between both?

College Majors Education Majors
1

Hi all, I’d really like to become a high school biology teacher in California (preferably in LA area), and so I was looking for unis that had a bio major.

I came across the UCI Biological/Education major, which both gives me a bio major and the necessary teaching credential so i can start searching for a job upon graduation. This seems highly appealing to what I want, but of course I have no idea how UCI or UCLA are, really, as I’m out-of-state (too poor for visits).

So I was wondering if it’d be worth the money as well for OOS tuition, to go to either UCI for the bio/education major or go to UCLA for the bio major and do the teaching prereqs on the side. I’d like to try getting employed upon graduation, or not that much time afterwards.

Any advice on what I should do? I’m also open to consider other routes to take for what I’d like to do.

2

It is great that you want to be a teacher.

What state are you from? You can look up you state’s Board of Education and find a list of colleges/universities in your state with a state-approved biology teacher prep program. You would need to see what California would require from your state to teach in California. You could do the same for California. Maybe find a California school that is lower cost (than UCLA) to get your teacher certification.

I am not from California, but other posters have said California is not giving out much-to-no aid to out-of state students. It looks like UCLA’s estimated cost of attendance for out of state is about $60,000/yr.

Looking at the Board of Education (or whatever the state calls it) should give you some info on the process to become a license educator.