<p>oh crap, I just found out that Biochem/Chem majors have to take Math 20. So much for taking the easy route.
Thanks for answering my questions so rapidly, UCSDAlum and astrina. You guys are truly helping out future UCSD students by taking out your time to answer our numerous questions about UCSD.</p>
<p>It’s a very good question. I tested into 6AH and opted not to take it, but I might have been overly GPA concious. I definitely think that the difficulty of your classwork is examined in Med School admissions, so it might be a good place to pick your spot there - which I think you are alluding to. 6AH is more demanding, but it would be impressive to ace it.</p>
<p>Given that you’re a chem/biochem major, there isn’t much wiggle room in the sciences between easy and hard classes. You’ll have your choice of regular/honors for gchem and ochem, and crazy/watered-down versions for pchem. Everything else is standardized.</p>
<p>If you’re premed, your primary efforts should be directed on GRADES. It’s applauded that you love chemistry so much (I do too!), but you can use your electives to explore your interests. Take ochem for example – med schools will look to see what you get in that core class. An A in chem 140A will, by default, look nicer than a non-A in chem 140AH. And you’ll also have the benefit of having solid ochem prep for that portion of the MCAT. Now if you still have a lasting curiosity in the field, check out any of the electives (chem 152, 154, 156, etc). You’ll be able to have fun while learning advanced ochem and won’t have to worry about compromising your grades in basic ochem. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Conclusion: good grades are important. Good grades in the required premed courses (gchem, ochem, intro physics,etc) are even more important.</p>
<p>I took chem 6AH – there are some VERY impressively smart people in there and they’re not concerned about grades so much as they’re interested in going through an intellectual marathon. My friend who TAed it in 2006 said that a lot of her students knew more than her. Prof. Carl Hoeger is also not known for spoon-feeding hard topics. </p>
<p>While the curve is higher (B+ vs the B-/C+ for other classes), I didn’t think that it provided much of a base in gchem principles that are relevant for ochem and the MCAT. 'twas a lot of theoretical stuff covered, and I remember the prof getting really excited when he assigned us a triple integral on one of our exams. I left that one blank.</p>
<p>Compare that to regular gchem – never had to evaluate a single integral! (until I met Mike Hale, but by that time I was TAing)</p>
<p>This doesn’t exactly tie into the subjects above, but I am still hoping that one of you more experienced types could help me. I took AP English (Lang.) Junior year and got a 4 on the AP test, which means I have cleared the Entry Level Writing Requirement and I also get 8 elective credits (in Muir). My question is if I took AP English (Lit.) this year, would it be detrimental if I do not take the AP test? I would receive no more credit, and I did not put it as a “planned” test on my application.</p>
<p>no, why would it be detrimental? if you have nothing to gain from taking that AP test, better pocket the $90-ish fee for something more useful.</p>
<p>my hs required that we take the AP for each AP class we signed up for, though.</p>
<p>thanks :] !</p>
<p>Actually, I found 6AH to be really easy. REALLY nice curve, Hoeger was pretty awesome, ridiculously good TA. (6BH, though, is another story)</p>
<p>As for Warren ratio, my floor has three guy suites (30 guys) and two girl suite (20 girls)… so there’s your ratio.</p>
<p>one day - which building to you live in?</p>
<p>UCSD Alum, I want to get some lab experience since I’m going to UCSD and I might as well. Will I get paid for this? How do I go about setting this up? Will my name eventually be part of some awesome, ground-breaking research? Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>RCC,
UCSD and the surrounding biotech area are rich in research opportunities. I had the fortune of participating in an on-campus academic lab specializing in cell signaling as well as working at Pfizer in structural biology, doing high-throughput protein expression & purification. You should decide if you want to start in academia or industry, both with their own advantages and disadvantages. I wrote out a lengthy summary for my students advising on choices of ugrad research, I’m going to PM a copy to you, ok?</p>
<p>okay this is kinda triple post from another thread i posted but this seems like the more appropriate place to post so… are triples worth the save in costs? i keep hearing bad things about them but the save in money is very appealing.</p>
<p>Thanks, astrina! That was very helpful. I think I will try for something at Pfizer this summer vacation (I will be at 'SD summer school) and some sort of academia research next year. Again, thanks for all the help.</p>
<p>Not to discourage you but Pfizer internships are probably going to be filled up for the most part, by undergrads/grads who have at least finished their freshman year. Internships in general start filling up in March, so if you want to have any luck whatsoever, hurry up and apply!</p>
<p>any noteworthy info about sixth?</p>
<p>I am a parent. I heard my friends say that more kids choose UCSD over Berkeley. Is this true? For those who gave up Berkeley and went to UCSD Bio, do you think you made the right choice?</p>
<p>kelly: i was one of those kids. at first, I regretted it because all of my friends went to Berkeley and they all had fun. You gotta admit, Berk has more school spirit, a better city surrounding, a frat row with parties and generally better academics. However, I’m 99.9% certain that my GPA here is so much better than what it would have been had I gone to Berkeley (can you really expect much higher than a 3.93? 
not trying to brag or anything…) and I feel that a lot of the professors would bend over backwards to help you accomplish your goals as long as you’re willing to put in a little time to seek them out. Really! Undergrads are encouraged to invite their professors out to lunch for free, for example. I don’t think this would happen at Berkeley–I’ve been told they’re more into their research than their teaching, but here, professors try to at least relate some of their research to their lectures and often accept undergrads into their labs. And as for research, my friend at Berkeley has a hard time getting research. Apparently there’s some kind of application to fill out and it’s difficult to get any whatsoever. They also only get 1 unit of credit for working 10+ hours a week in the lab, should they get in. I’m a second-year and I started working in a research lab a couple of months ago…the process was easy. A quick email, a 15 minute interview (13 of which was the PI talking about himself) and a short form later, I was in. I get 4 units and I work 10-15 hours a week.</p>
<p>Anyway, point is, I came to UCSD primarily for bio and I don’t regret it. I don’t care what kind of potential “special advantages” berkeley kids may be granted when applying to med school because I think I more than make up for it with my GPA, extracurriculars and LOR’s, all of which I think have been more easily achieved than if I had gone to Berkeley.</p>
<p>I live in Frankfurter (one of the three Warren dorms)</p>
<p>i_lose: where do you work right now? Do you know what’s the minimum hour you have to work for research? I already have a part time job now, so I can’t really devote a whole lot of time… :(</p>
<p>i_lose, thanks for your reply. Tomorrow Berkeley will announce its decision. My son likes UCSD more than Berkeley even though we never visit UCSD. After reading your post, I am sure I won’t force hime to attend the school I like. I have booked UCSD Admit Day for him.</p>
<p>oneday: PM me and I’ll give you more details. My lab is really small and I prefer to keep my anonymity on the boards, should anyone be able to identify me based on that info. 
But I work 10-15 hours a week in the lab and it’s counted as a BISP199 (Independent Research for Undergrads)</p>
<p>kelly: that’s great news! I suffered from the parental pressure but I’m glad I finally forced them to let me to go UCSD. I do think the college experience is better at Berkeley though. You can’t walk out of your dorm and expect street performers and vendors every day of the week. But then again, you can walk outside and not see hobos like at Cal. Personally, I like visiting Berkeley but not living there.</p>