<p>Hi</p>
<p>I was wondering how the sciences at UCSB are compared to UCI's.</p>
<p>I have heard UCI has "fierce" competition in the sciences, but I don't know have a clue about UCSB??</p>
<p>thnks</p>
<p>UCI is fierce</p>
<p>like 70+ percent of applicants are bio or bio related majors so being a bio-major applicant makes it though on you</p>
<p>the rest are computer, business and very few humanities, art, etc.</p>
<p>haikumarukuchan</p>
<p>thnx</p>
<p>is it like this at SB also?</p>
<p>The info I got is from a friend who is a Bio Major in UCI</p>
<p>He told me if you want to go IN BIO at UCI DO NOT list BIOLOGY as your intended major, chose something OBSCURE and UNPOPULAR (like for example, a humanities major not many are into)</p>
<p>Reason being because you can ALWAYS change your major once you're IN
First get IN, then CHANGE your major (makes sense)</p>
<p>About UCSB, I know they have a decent Sciences program, probably one of the best in Cali and in the Nation, they have a lot of people going to Med, Pharmacology, Nursing, Dentistry, etc. I'm not sure how their RESEARCH is, but they're outstanding on preparing students for Med School and other sciences.</p>
<p>The info I got is from a friend who is a Bio Major in UCI</p>
<p>He told me if you want to go IN BIO at UCI DO NOT list BIOLOGY as your intended major, chose something OBSCURE and UNPOPULAR (like for example, a humanities major not many are into)</p>
<p>Reason being because you can ALWAYS change your major once you're IN
First get IN, then CHANGE your major (makes sense)</p>
<p>About UCSB, I know they have a decent Sciences program, probably one of the best in Cali and in the Nation, they have a lot of people going to Med, Pharmacology, Nursing, Dentistry, etc. I'm not sure how their RESEARCH is, but they're outstanding on preparing students for Med School and other sciences.</p>
<p>I'm also wondering about UCI and UCSB. I'm a biology major, not pre-med. I'm interested in going to grad school and possibly study the marine sciences. I know UCSB is right on the beach, which is a big bonus, but I hear that UCI has a better bio program than UCSB. Before I was leaning toward the CHP at UCI, but I just got a Regents scholarship as UCSB, so it would be wiser for me to go there.</p>
<p>A lot of people didnt make regents at UCI (maybe its because they applied as bio majors?). You could go to undergrad at UCSB (since you would have most of it paid for) then go to grad school at UCI (business, med, law, they have everything).</p>
<p>I'd like to go to grad school at UCSD (Scripps Institute of Oceanography). I guess SB would be good for undergrad. I'm still waiting to see if I got in UCSD.</p>
<p>Is it that easy to switch a major at UCI??</p>
<p>At UCSB, you will probably have access to more research programs. There are very few grad students to compete with, so professors really depend on the undergrad students. There are also less pre-med students (though not TOO few, I think they said bio was the 3rd most popular major or something) so you will probably have a better chance at getting interesting research, which is important for med school acceptance. Same thing goes with internships and other opportunities.
My sister, who went to UCI for pre-pharm, and had a lot of pre-med friends told me that it might be the smarter choice to choose a school other than UCI. At UCI, you would always be struggling to get the research and internships you want, and you’d ALWAYS be competing with the other pre-med, pre-pharm, and pre-dent students, even after you got in! It’s a very stressful environment on top of an already stressful situation, and she advised me to choose carefully. It is up to you to decide if you want to enter that environment, but be warned you could easily be lost amongst the crowd.</p>
<p>She also told me that it would be better to go somewhere like UCSB, do really well, and stand out, than to go to UCI and be another average Asian UCI pre-med student. Med schools like diversity. It’s also the same reason I’m considering changing to a music pre-med major, instead of a bio major with a music minor.
She told me they’ll also get really ****ed if you try to change. They will relentlessly question why you had a sudden “change of heart” and lecture you. It also may be difficult depending how crowded the major/classes are (which is usually very!) and it would be difficult for you to get the right classes, you may have to crash, etc. There are a lot of people who would advise you to cram pre-med courses in the first two years before you take the MCAT. There are people who advise other schedules too… but if you are stuck in another major for a semester, you might not get to choose those classes at all! Remember, once you get into your school you still need to get into med school, which is a much harder task. Focus on THAT.</p>
<p>if you want to study marine bio, i think ucsb would be better. it IS literally on the beach and i went to tour the marine science institute during my orientation (got to touch starfish, etc) and it seems like the students in marine bio get lots of hands on experiences.
does uci have a marine science institute/lab? dont think so. ;)</p>
<p>and fyi, i chose ucsb over uci for bio major. i didn’t want to deal with such pressure/stress. i wanted to enjoy a well rounded college experience instead of just studying and competing all the time. (and i have met 4 other students with the same view point, and each of them want to go to grad school too)</p>