<p>Now that I've been accepted to UCLA and Cal decisions are right around the corner, I've spent a little more time thinking about what I will do if I have to choose between the two. So far, I've been at a split between the two programs offered at each of the universities. But recently, while I was tallying up the pros and cons of each school, I started looking through the '09-'10 enrollment numbers for the upper division courses that I will have to take if I go to UCLA. I found that many of these courses typically have 150+ students in them (and that's at the lower end). I knew that the numbers for lower division courses tend to be quite large, but I had anticipated smaller class sizes for upper division courses. <em>disappointed</em> </p>
<p>Conversely, I looked through Cal's course schedule and found their classes to be MUCH smaller. For example:</p>
<p>...you get the idea. I also noticed that UCLA discussion sections typically have 20 students in them whereas Cal discussion sections generally have 10 or less. And furthermore, many of the upper division courses I reviewed at UCLA were waitlisted, which is unsettling information considering I would like to graduate in 2 years or less. However, I did not find any upper division courses at Cal that were waitlisted and, actually, I did not find any that had even come close to reaching their maximum enrollment capacity. </p>
<p>As it will be extremely important to get to know your professors for letters of recommendation and for a whole lot of other academic and professional reasons, my interest is shifting towards Cal. </p>
<p>I wanted to ask those of you who are struggling with having to make the decision between Cal and UCLA how much do class sizes influence your decision? I would encourage you all to make the comparison in class sizes between UCLA and Cal for your particular majors.</p>
<p>I am working on a second degree right now but I can tell you from first hand experience my first degree being a degree in MCB from berk that those numbers seem WAY TOO LOW. I recall my class size easily being 300+ for bio chem and discussions were easily 15-20+.</p>
<p>I should also point out that CAL students are probably conducting their tele-bears appointments right now meaning that students are signing up for fall classes so those numbers will def grow.</p>
<p>FYI</p>
<p>the biochem class you are referencing is not the most commonly taken biochem course I’m assuming you looked up MCB C100a which is more intensive than MCB 102 the more common biochem course that is taken by most MCB students not concentrating in Biochem (i.e cell bio, physiology, neuro). MCB C100a does tend to be smaller around 110 students i believe but like i said most end up taking 102 which usually has 350+. </p>
<p>p.s MCB c100A is considered “one-half” of the biochemistry taken by biochem concentrators. They will also end up taking mcb 100b whereas most other Mcbers will only take the one semester of 102</p>
<p>To add to my last post I just looked up enrollment for the current spring semester for MCB courses and they are as follows</p>
<p>MCB 102: Biochem 380
MCB c112 Microbio 59 (small but i don’t remember hearing about many of my peers taking this class or wanting to take this class)
MCB 130a Cell bio 48 (again small, BUT i recall taking the class before the major was restructured and it was called 130. The class was easily 180+) I wonder what is going on with this class
MCB 150 Immunology 120 (this is in line with the enrollment i remember it being when i took it, great class btw)</p>
<p>MCB major based labs can be difficult to get into until senior year FYI</p>
<p>Thank you for posting. It’s good to get a first hand account of the Cal MCB experience.</p>
<p>But I am interested in doing the Immunology and Pathogenesis track for MCB, which is required to take the C100A Biochem course (not 102). I was looking at the course enrollment for Fall 2009, so I think the numbers I reported were pretty solid. Most of the courses I mentioned seem to be on par with what you were saying, accept Immunology (guess fall 2009 was a unpopular year for the class).</p>
<p>I’d like to hear more about your experience if you have the time. Has it been difficult to get to know your professors personally? Have you done any research? How difficult is it to get a position in a research lab? How are the student groups for MCB majors? Anything you could add would be great. Thanks.</p>
<p>^ Too bad your thread title isn’t major specific. Furthermore MonkeyBoy pointed out your false comparison. Just because it seems to hold for you doesn’t mean it holds in general.</p>
<p>And thus both you and your thread title are quite presumptuous.</p>