<p>I'm considering French, theatre, or Arabic. I'm premed.</p>
<p>That strategy doesn’t work because being pre-med requires that you take certain courses that match up with the typical pre-med majors like MCB or IB. The numerous additional courses you have to take for a “easier” major wouldn’t be worth the GPA increase. You could just take easy classes alongside your pre-made classes anyway. There’s no need to pick an easy major.</p>
<p>Public Health is your best friend. pretty good overlap with atleast a few premed reqs</p>
<p>Bio 1A (for which you need to have also passed chem 1a, chem 3a/3al) and bio 1b. mcb 102 (biochem) also gives you elective credit (for which you need bio 1a and chem 3b)</p>
<p>so the only premed classes you need to complete outside of the major is physics 8a/8b</p>
<p>personally, i feel like PH is probably easier than IB even</p>
<p>in ranking of greatest->least hardcoreness/cutthroatness</p>
<p>MCB>>>>>IB>>PH</p>
<p>PH is capped though and theyve added an essay to the declaration process beginning next semester. also, watch out for the major advisor-he can be kind of a jerkoff sometimes depending on if he’s menstruating or not</p>
<p>Hey W4C, will the declaration process be harder? In addition to an essay, do we have to list extracurriculars and what not? What other factors count into admission to the major besides essay and GPA?</p>
<p>Lol yeah to elaborate on the last part of ur post, I went to a conference during the summer one year while I was in high school, you know how they have those honors program things? And then on like the first day, this guy who was bald and skinny tall, did this dance thing to try to act cool and he moved his like…hip forward and backward and it was sooo awkward. like i don’t understand why someone would do that when there are a bunch of little teenagers in a room…? Like wt f lol you have to have something wrong with u to not think that’s not just a little weird.</p>
<p>Oh and I would take all the required classes for premed which is basically everything in mcb lower divs. and the upper divs are harder right and thats what brings down ur gpa? so then i wouldn’t have to take those and i would just major in something else. i need to fill my schedule with something…so idk what else to do.</p>
<p>Lower divs can DEFINITELY bring your GPA down. Especially chem 3a/3b, bio 1a, and physics. Upper divs may or may not be harder, depending on the class and on the department.</p>
<p>Declaring the Major</p>
<p>Students should apply to declare a major in Public Health after completion of lower division requirements, generally at the end of the sophomore year. Applications to declare the major are due on June 1. Transfer students should contact Academic Adviser Tony Soyka for an alternative deadline.
Generally, third-year transfer students have completed their prerequisite coursework at community college and are ready to declare the major at the beginning of their first semester at UC Berkeley. The major is open to 10 third-year transfer students per year; those spaces have been filled for this year.</p>
<p>To declare a major in Public Health you must first complete all of the lower division prerequisites (mathematics, biology, and social sciences) and obtain a grade of at least a B- in Bio 1B. Once these requirements are fulfilled you should submit an application and application essay, carefully following the instructions that will be found here on this website early in spring 2011.</p>
<p>The application to declare the Public Health major will include: 1) a review of an applicant’s academic preparation (coursework and GPA), and 2) an application essay similar to the “Statement of Purpose” required by graduate applications to the School of Public Health.</p>
<p>Well either way I have to take lower divs lol whether I major in mcb or not because it’s required for med school or pharmacy.</p>
<p>W4C, that is a copy of what was stated on the website, lol. Do you have any other useful tips? Oh and do we have to complete the R&C requirement by the time we declare?</p>
<p>well your question in post #4 about them asking for your EC’s (other than non PH) made me think you hadnt seen the website, hence the post ;)</p>
<p>as for other tips, just finish all the lower divs as soon as you can and meet with tony to secure a spot on the wait list. it sucks that you guys have an essay now, but it seems pretty straightforward so id say you should be fine :)</p>
<p>and nope, R&C can be done up till second semester of senior year. but dont put it off too long if you get the chance to take it sooner</p>
<p>Oh damn, Public Health is like a second Haas. CNR ftw!</p>
<p>Um berkeley is so hard haha. This is my first semester…and I’m taking classes that are very interesting, but there is a lot of reading usually, depending on the class, and the tests are pretty rigorous!! So, might as well take something that interests YOU, and you’ll be more apt to do better in the classes 
(even though they are very hard haha).</p>