<p>For the psych majors at UCLA, how are you enjoying the major? (How hard is it to get classes, what are the classes like, are there good research opportunities, etc).</p>
<p>I am considering going to UCLA and would appreciate any insight you could give me. Even if it's just about the campus in general, any info is good info! :) </p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I am a psychobiology major, which shares a lot of the classes obviously. I am quite pleased with my experience so far. I have not finished taking all of the pre-requisites (namely 110, 115, etc.) but of the upper division electives I have taken, I found them to be fascinating and enjoyable to learn (consider developmental psychology, health psychology, social psychology). Psychobio also allows you to take courses in physci, biochem, mcdb, anthro, eeb, neuro, etc. as electives. </p>
<p>Whichever sub-discipline of psychology you want to pursue, there are plenty of opportunities to assist in research with the faculty here (also look into the 195, 196, and 199 series, as well as the applied developmental psychology minor). The campus tours that are given always state that UCLA clinical psychology is #1 in the nation when they go by Franz Hall. Psychology is, I believe, the largest department on campus in terms of number of students, and hence some upper division classes will be rather large, but I haven’t had a problem getting into any of the classes I wanted (some of the 119s/188B/other electives may fill up quickly and you’ll probably want to use your first pass on pre-reqs such as 100A/B/110). If you don’t get in you can wait until next quarter since most of the pre-reqs are taught every quarter. I think you will appreciate the variety/breadth of course offerings.</p>
<p>I should mention I passed out of Psych 10, and 100A (psychological statistics) can be, well, unpleasant for some to say the least. 100B (research methods) isn’t exactly the most fun class either, but I found both to be manageable in terms of workload, content, etc. as long as you don’t wait until the night before to study or finish up a paper, which goes for other classes too. Message me if you have any other questions.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply! I’m a little worried about 100A to be honest. I’m not good at statistics 
Who is the easiest/best prof? It won’t let me message you because I don’t have enough posts.</p>
<p>The two main professors are Mcauliffe and Nandy. Apparently Nandy is the favored professor for people taking 100A (compare the reviews on BruinWalk if you want), he was the professor I took it with. He has an accent and I fell asleep in lecture on numerous occasions. Discussions are not mandatory but if you need some additional practice the TAs will provide it. If I remember correctly an A- is 85%. There are 2 midterms, consisting of around 10 multiple choice and a few free response. The second midterm is supposed to be much harder than the first but I did equally well on both of them. There are a couple of pop quizzes (a little annoying, but the 2 lowest are dropped and the answers are fairly obvious). </p>
<p>If you just do the practice exams and understand the homework you will be fine (or get your hands on past exams, which is what most people seemed to do), as the practice exams and some of the homework calculation questions resembled the problems that showed up on the final (i.e. Pearson’s r, chi-square, ANOVA). There’s only so much you can ask on a test for this class, so the questions are essentially recycled. The class is honestly nothing to be scared of, but it is easy to make little mistakes so be careful.</p>
<p>Thank you for replying 
Getting the exams to practice seems like a really good idea, but I don’t think I will be able to seeing as I don’t know anyone at UCLA Does he offer extra credit?</p>
<p>My other question is about the honors program. Is it worth it to apply and does it make you take a lot of hard classes?</p>
<p>I’m sorry for asking you so many questions :(</p>
<p>Well, there’s a service (test bank) that allows you to access old tests that were submitted by other students. Costs 5 cents per printed page. You have to make a same-day appointment, if you wait until midterms start then the lines will be long and all the appointments might be booked for the day if you don’t go early enough.</p>
<p>I don’t remember, I want to say that you can get some extra credit for participating in psychology experiments, but not completely positive on this. </p>
<p>I was accepted to the Honors Program but didn’t take any honors courses so I’m no longer in it. Sure if you can complete the program it’s nice but I don’t think it’s a HUGE boost to your resume (I may be wrong) and as far as I can tell being in the honors program doesn’t confer substantial benefits that make it worth your time to take the extra classes (although some of them could be interesting/fun). However if you end up in a few honors classes 1st/2nd year then you may as well pursue it. I just didn’t think I could meet all the requirements or be able to take all the Honors Collegium classes that are required. Perhaps with better planning from the beginning it might have worked out.</p>
<p>Hey UC-Dreams, </p>
<p>I’m a psych transfer student for Fall 2013. I’m trying to decide between UCLA and other UCs. I’d really appreciate it if you could talk some more about the upper division psych classes. How difficult are the classes? Time for social life? Any feedback would really help me out.</p>
<p>Hi cindylu2, </p>
<p>UCLA’s psychology department is top notch. Most of the upper division courses that you need to take will have upwards of 200 students, though some electives can be a lot smaller. Despite this, getting to know the professor is not a problem, from what I’ve seen people don’t line up to talk to the professor after lecture and office hours were never too crowded. Also, discussion sections are smaller and you can ask all the questions you want to the TA. There is plenty of time for social life, there is so much to do and so many opportunities to take advantage of around here. Though you will have to study, it’s not like you will have to put in a crazy amount of hours per week to keep up, at least that’s how I feel for psychology classes so far. </p>
<p>I should mention of the several upper divs I have taken so far there is only 1 midterm. 100A and 100B are slightly different, so is 116. PM me if you want to know specifics for those. Grade is based mostly on the exams (true for the majority of classes), the rest of your grade is usually a sure bet as long as you do whatever is asked. Tests are typically all multiple choice which is nice. Also I don’t think a strict limit on how many As can be handed out exists, as opposed to some science classes which are capped at 15-20% As, etc.</p>