UCSD Major and PreMed

My D got accepted into UCSD class of 2022 in a major called Cognitive Behavior and Neuroscience (CBN) from Psychology department (Elanor Roosevelt College). While we relish this, few people have alerted me the major she got accepted into is not a Biology track and she won’t have any pre-med courses there in 4 yrs. My daughter swears that the UCSD admission rep who came to her high school during application process (Oct/Nov) told her that one can take pre-med courses even being in Psych CBN AND she need not apply to Capped majors only. My D knew that there was a Biology department’s Neuroscience but at the spur of the application moment, she may have applied to Psych’s CBN as first choice (she barely turned 17 then and I don’t understand how they’re expected to know so much suddenly while maintaining 4 AP classes, SATs, ECs etc.). Had near perfect SAT, good GPA, decent ECs including hospital experience. She has great interest in Biology, Psychology, AI and Pre-med. So she’s a bit worried that transferring to a capped major may be a huge obstacle in a crowded UC. So

  1. We know it is possible to transfer to capped major. But how easy/realistic is to transfer to Biology Neuroscience either during admission or after joining? The website says the Complete all Capped Major Admission coursework, including transfer courses, with a “C-“ or higher, or with AP/IB/A-Level UC San Diego equivalent course credit. Earn a minimum 2.5 GPA in the Capped Major Admission courses and few other formalities. But the question is, how realistic is it? Is that an intensely stressful long winded process that ends with a midnight mouse click race?
  2. Is transferring to Biology department’s major required OR could she continue her current CBN and take Pre-med courses like OChem etc as part of electives? Is that advisable? She probably won’t have any life outside school right?

The thing is, I didn’t go to college in this country and she’s my first guinea pig. Please help!

CBN is perfect for pre-med and her odds of making it to med school from there are actually greater than from biology. (The algorithm that selects files for human readers doesn’t even factor major or college).
She must plan to have a serious plan B on topnof it because admit rates to med school from UCSD are about half the national average (they’re trying to understand why and fix this because they have so many talented science majors).
Being pre-med means she needs to be in the top 10% in every class she takes, bothbfoebher major and for other classes. These classes should include 2 semesters each of biology, inorganic chem, organic chemistry, physics, and English (composition and communication), plus one semester each of psychology, sociology, biochemistry, Calculus, biostatistics or statistics, a diversity-focused class, and preferably neuroscience/cognitive science and bioethics/medical ethics plus speaking a language other than English (which can be used in a clinic). Then there are all the experiences, volunteering in a hospital or clinic, shadowing a doctor, etc. She can be an EMT or CNA too, and/or do research.
Her major is the least important part.

thanks for the info. That’s reassuring. Whether she does well or has a strong plan B is up to her. I didn’t want it to be systematically flawed choice right from the get-go. You mentioned admit rates to Med schools from UCSD are about half the national average. Do you know if there’s an official place where we could check the admit rates, at least for UCs?

One more issue. Eleanor Roosevelt College has an unusually busy GE curriculum that will likely take more than 4 years to navigate. A friend’s D is a sophomore ChemE major there and she is quite miserable. Muir College would be fine but they won’t let students switch. Speaking as a 1980s UCSD alum and physician, I would advise another pathway to med school.

An advantage is that CNB includes a lot of pre-med pre-reqs already but adds cs/bioinformatics and neuroscience/neurobiology/cognitive science which is good for med school. It does include more math (and stats and CS) than a Biology major, which would make her more employable.
She’ll still need to complete sociology, psychology, a diversity focused class, bioethics/philosophy, all of which can count for Eleanor Roosevelt requirements.
She needs to look into volunteering and shadowing opportunities.
Did she get Regents?

When you say another pathway, do you mean a different major or different college within UCSD or completely different university? She didn’t get in UCLA but won’t consider SC or SB or Riverside where she got in. Berkeley she currently says no way but admission decisions are not out regardless. She hates history (even though scored well) and hates writing more (scored meh). I know changing college within UCSD is hard or impossible. But what do you have to do change?

@perplex1 she’d have to prove that changing colleges would shave significant time off her graduation, which is really never the case. ERC has rough GEs, but if it’s any consolation it’s in the prettiest and most social section of campus. At the end of the day, pretty much every college has its good and bad and you take it how it goes. I’m sure your daughter will do great at UCSD.