<p>I don’t know what you mean by “300 in and only 50 survive” but UCSD biology isn’t that hard if you do your work and actually want to learn. The only thing I didn’t like was that so many people focused on memorizing their way to A+s (probably screwing up the curve in the process) that I felt like I was in a circus or something … just robots learning their tricks, spitting them out for exams, and forgetting the rest. </p>
<p>That’s why I became a chem/biochem major – grades weren’t everything, and I got to pick and choose the biology electives that I actually wanted to take. My dept actually offered a fair number of courses in hardcore biochem, so that really helped me out for grad school.</p>
<p>Hey to any UCSD almuni/current students of UCSD,</p>
<p>I just commited to UCSD and I am pretty amazed with its research opportunities and prestigiousness in sciences. I was admitted under the major: Mathematics w/ applied Sciences.
I dont know exactly what this major is about however, I really want to try and get into the medical field, hoping to pursue Medicine and become a Doctor. I know it requires alot of work and class requirements of Advanced Physics, advanced Chemistry, and Advanced Biology but I took all three of those AP classes (Physics B AP AND Physics C AP (applied calculus one)). So I really think I am up for it.</p>
<p>I just wanted to know what may help by any means necessary to get into this field of study and get into a great medical school. I really want to do research as well since I am reading that research at UCSD is accessible and great to get into. Any tips? Thanks!</p>
<p>How is UCSD’s personality in general? Like are people there really social and nice, or is mostly everyone very anti-social and busy studying during their free time? I’ve heard many things about it being “socially dead” and the people that seek for companionship running off to SDSU. I don’t know if this question has already been answered. If it is, sorry =P</p>
<p>UCSD has a wide spectrum of people, from those that study all the time to those that study minimally. there will be people for you to hang with no matter where you fall in that spectrum. What it comes down to is this: you’ll find anti-social people and you’ll find really social ones too. People just go about their business different ways but we’re all trying to achieve what we want to achieve. </p>
<p>As for the professors, in my experience, most have been really accessible. Office hours are a great way to talk to them. Asking questions after class finishes is another good way. You probably won’t be buddy-buddy with them but they’re there.</p>
<p>blueyoshi: In a school as big as UCSD, there will be many different kinds of people. You’ll meet anti social people and social people alike, its up to you to decide who you want to hang out with. I didn’t relish the prospect of coming to ucsd because i kept hearing that stereotype of ucsd being socially awkward, but when i came here i realized that your experience really is what you make of it. If you or someone you know has a car that really helps, as pretty much anywhere interesting to go to is too far to go on foot and taking the bus is very inconvenient. I got lucky in that my suitemates all have cars, so we always go to pacific beach or downtown sd. The only downside i can think of ucsd is that there aren’t that many events during the weekday, which I guess makes sense. Thursdays are always clubbing parties, friday frat parties, and saturday athletic parties. If you’re into partying join a frat, you’ll definitely have fun. I myself am in sigma chi, and its a lot of fun. Hope this was useful!</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with EOP is that an educational opportunity program? If so, I’d check out OASIS which is probably the same thing. Free tutoring outside of class, etc.</p>
<p>I actually hadn’t heard the phrase the “triton eye” before this board. I like it though.</p>
<p>Girls are OK at UCSD. I would say there are a lot of cute girls and not that many hot girls, if that makes sense. San Diego in general has many, many attractive women though - so cruise PB or especially SDSU if you you don’t like what you find at UCSD.</p>
<p>The Economics grad program is a T10 program, so I imagine management science is good but am not entirely sure what you mean. You should have top notch professors and a solid educational foundation at a minimum.</p>
<p>economics grad program is T10? wow~~
i am gonna major in Econ but ppl kept telling me that ucsd is not that strong in econ…
i feel good now! thx!!!</p>
<p>My law school is in the Top 5, but I would rather not specify further. I had a high LSAT score (over 170) and my GPA was ~3.7. I may have gotten a little GPA consideration because I was in a ‘tough’ major, but at most I imagine it was just a little. For information on how UCSD students do in law school admissions see:</p>
<p>I sought out research by looking at faculty profiles and sending emails to professors. I tried to pick members that were involved in areas that I was (or at least thought I was) interested in. One of these professors wrote me back, I came into her lab to talk, and she took me on. I started out as a volunteer and later worked in her lab for course credit. I started working for her my junior year.</p>
<p>I’m sure there are various other ways of getting it, but that’s what I did. Also - you probably want to start as soon as you can (maybe your 2nd year if possible) to gain really substantive projects and maybe a publication by the time you graduate. </p>
<p>My guess is that there’s a tension between the size/prestige of the lab that you are working in and the quality of opportunities/amount of responsibility that you’ll get in that lab. Not sure if this is the case, but you may want to consider balancing those when searching out a lab.</p>
<p>Professors are a mixed bag. I think that they are mostly as accessible as you want them to be through office hours, emails, etc, but some are clearly more interested in student interaction than others. Most students don’t make the effort. The few profs I did make an effort for were very warm towards me. </p>
<p>The student to faculty ratio is definitely pretty large 19/1 and I think that largely you’ll find that professors’ primary interest will be in their research and publications and not necessarily teaching. I think this is more of a higher education problem than a UCSD specific problem.</p>
<p>My older D transferred in as a junior (history major) this year and plans on attending law school. Both her father and I are lawyers, and Dad still works at a big firm in San Diego. She LOVES UCSD and has had no trouble making friends. She is in Thurgood Marshall. Do you think the 3.7 GPA also applies at TM for applying to law school?</p>
<p>D2 recently was accepted as a Regents Scholar into Eleanor Roosevelt. I’m confused by the different schools and why D2 would be in ER for a bio or premed major, if it’s more focused on writing. Can you explain the differences in colleges?</p>
<p>There is a LOT of misinformation out there. UCSD is much, much more than a Big Premed factory. PoliSci is another Top 10 department at UCSD, but I’m not sure high school students have any clue about this. Other stereotypes, like those about the social scene at UCSD, have gone way too far that they don’t remotely represent at least my reality at the school.</p>
<p>Pardon the econ reference, but I think everyone needs to be an informed consumer when choosing a school. Even with regard to me and other posters on the board (the UCSD one and the College Confidential board at large), I’m sure we are saying everything with the best intentions - but for all I know I could be propogating misinformation as well. </p>
<p>Her UCSD college ™ will not affect how her GPA is viewed by law school admissions or any other type of graduate school admissions, as far as I know. Alone, a 3.7 will not preclude your older daughter from any law schools except Yale, Stanford and maybe Harvard, so the LSAT will be particularly important for her.</p>
<p>Each of the six colleges have a mix of students from every major. The idea is to make a large school smaller by breaking it up like that - but the most major difference between the 6 colleges is in your general education requirements. Probably the two strongest themes in ERC’s curriculum are history and writing, but those won’t interfere with her med school aspirations. Looking back, I think that most medical school bound, regent scholar caliber students were able to do well in those classes, so there shouldn’t be a GPA hit either - though obviously it depends on individual strengths.</p>
<p>How’s the computer science department at UCSD? I’ve heard talk that the UC system is planning to fund UCSD to beef up its computer science. Is that true?</p>
<p>Also, what’s life like at Revelle? That’s where I’ll be going, and so far all I’ve heard is that it’s basically the epitome of all the negative stereotypes at UCSD. I know you said that the stereotypes are overexaggerated, and I agree with you, but is there a huge difference between people at different colleges?</p>
<p>thank you very much for the Econ information!! i am gonna major Econ in ERC now! like 90% sure~ I agree there is a lot of misconception because almost everyone in my school was like…“going to UCSD? major in BIO right?!” and i was like..“no…it’s econ” and most people goes like “#$%^&*”
hahaha i really feel good after i saw that ranking !!
thanks again for the info ! i really appreciate=]</p>