<p>I'm having an incredibly difficult time choosing where to transfer to for Fall '11. I have the options of majoring in Sociology at Berkeley/UCLA or majoring in Biopsychology at UCSB. I'd much rather prefer to major in Biopsychology because of personal interest, but my family keeps pushing me towards Berkeley or UCLA. If I'm not quite sure what I would want to do after college, what matters more in the long run - the major or the school you go to? An advisor tells me that the name and prestige of Berkeley will follow me much longer than a major. I would most likely be the happiest at UCSB, but I don't want to regret missing out on the opportunity to go to Cal/LA afterwards. What would you do?</p>
<p>I think you would probably have better career opportunities in Biopsychology, but if you think you would do better at Cal/LA, then go for that.</p>
<p>Wow, this one is tough…</p>
<p>Honestly, if biopsychology is your passion, then that’s what you should do. I don’t know if Cal and UCLA have a biopsych major per say…err, if I remember correctly UCLA might, but you probably can’t switch into it, right?</p>
<p>If you’re able to switch into biopsych or something very similar, or at the very least more similar than sociology, wouldn’t you pick UCLA or Cal?</p>
<p>If so, try to see if you can switch majors at either of those universities, and if not, I would recommend following your passion and going to UCSB, pending you like the atmosphere there and whatnot.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. </p>
<p>Yeah, I tried to get around it, but switching to psychobiology at UCLA is not an option. They said that you have to be accepted into it initially and you can only double major in it if you are in a Life Science major. </p>
<p>Would you guys really sacrifice a school such as Cal/LA for a major that you prefer? Do you think you’d regret it?</p>
<p>@ transfer: See that’s the thing. It’s times like this when alternatives need to be looked at. At Berkeley, I know for a fact that you can switch into psychology because I did it. I was a transfer as well. If you wanted a scientific concentration, you could take many of the science-related psych courses here or other courses in the bio major.</p>
<p>As for UCLA, yeah, they’re super strict about things like that. Odds are you’d have to settle with sociology there.</p>
<p>emils - when you switched into psychology, did you have every single one of Cal’s psych prereqs finished? Because they have more demanding prerequisites for psych than most other schools, right?</p>
<p>@ transfer: Shockingly, no! Cal’s psych prereqs are pretty easy…about the same as UCLA’s or Davis’.</p>
<p>I had every single psych prereq done, yes, but you can finish any prereqs you still need to complete during your first semester here. So if you needed 3 more prereqs completed for the psych major, you could do them in the fall and you’d be a psych major :).</p>
<p>On assist.org it will list the prereqs, and you can see what you’ve completed. You need psych 1, a stats class, a couple bio classes, a sociology (or something similar), a biological anthro class…and I think that’s it. I’m just going off of memory now though.</p>
<p>emils - Thanks 
You’re so helpful! </p>
<p>How has Cal been for you so far? I wanted to take medical school prereqs on the side, but I hear Cal is insane. I am transferring from a private 4-year university as well as a CC and have a 3.97+ GPA. People say I’m ridiculous for being worried about the competition, but Cal seems pretty scary and like it’s a whole new, 100x more competitive pool of students. What was the transition like for you?</p>
<p>Thank you so much! Hmmm how many of your med school prerequisites have you completed?</p>
<p>If you’ve done a lot of them already, don’t even worry about it. Sure, Berkeley has rough curves in the premed classes (Chem, O chem, physics, Bio), but if you have many of those done already, you won’t incur the harsh curves. </p>
<p>Btw random, but for some reason I had a feeling you came from another university too lol.</p>
<p>Berkeley has a lot of different aspects to it, and everyone will tell you something different as well. Personally, I love Berkeley though. I love the people, especially. Everyone here that I’ve met has been really welcoming and kind, and I was a spring admit transfer, so I came in at a really weird time. </p>
<p>I like to think that I’ve made the most out of my experience though. I do research at Haas, am getting a strong GPA, joined a fraternity, and am now looking at graduate schools. As a general rule of thumb, if you do well at Berkeley, grad schools love that. Sure, this is probably true at many tier 1 universities, but from all the counselors I’ve talked to and people here, if you succeed at Berkeley (i.e. 3.7+ GPA), you’re highly considered for most top grad programs. Unfortunately, as you know though, med school is incredibly hard to get into without a tip-top GPA. That said, it seems you’re already well on your way to that. 3.97+ is phenomenal.</p>
<p>If you balance out your major courses with premed requirements, you’ll be okay :). The curves here can be hard, but if you study the way you always have, you’ll be just as successful here. I seriously mean that.</p>
<p>On a less academic note, I do love Berkeley in general. I enjoy going to all the different cafes on/around campus, I love going to see the Berkeley a cappella groups and symphonies, I LOVE our sports teams, and we even have homeless comedians on campus telling jokes every Tuesday :). On the whole, Berkeley is just really alive. You have people from all age groups and all walks of life here. You have your geniuses that teach LSAT courses, your football players who take the easiest classes, and you have your good and bad students…scientific, artsy, hipsters, philosophical - no matter what, the people here always have something interesting to talk about or bring to the table.</p>
<p>To be totally honest, this was a great fit for me. I love the environment/culture/people. Don’t let the curves or competitiveness scare you off. In fact, Bio 1A is known to be of the most notorious premed prereqs here at Cal, and I was testing my friend the other night for that class. There is a TON of information, but it’s really not all that difficult to understand. I feel like if you study hard (set some time every day), and do your best, you’ll make the best grades and achieve med school and personal fulfillment as well.</p>
<p>Hope to see you here someday! :)</p>
<p>If you don’t plan on graduate school, or medical school, immediately following undergrad, then Berkeley’s/UCLA’s name can, and/or might, be better for using their resources in finding employment/internships in the school’s respective geography(i.e. no cal and so cal). However, if UCSB is your local school, and you plan to stay in the SB area after graduation, then UCSB would benefit you the most in finding employment/internships in the SB area. </p>
<p>Another thing to consider, which I think most transfers might not know beforehand, is that you could take a curriculum that would equate to biopsychology in addition to your Sociology major at UCLA or Berkeley. Even if you are not allowed to switch majors, or declare biopsych as a double major/minor, your transcripts will reflect having taken classes in the field. Once you transfer to X school, you are not limited to only taking classes in your department. You are required to take electives by the school, and this is where you could fulfill your bio-psych interest. </p>
<p>Have you looked at the major distribution requirements at UCSB for the bio-psych major? What about the course descriptions of the classes that are regularly offered for the major? If you haven’t done so, do so, because you may find that the department may not offer as many classes that will interest you as maybe another major or another school(like UCLA or Berkeley, even if you can’t declare the major there).</p>
<p>Lastly if your goal is medical school, and you know you will not change your plans, then UCSB may be the best option. There are countless threads on CC about medical school admissions, and the importance of a high gpa. Maintaining a high GPA might be more difficult at UCB and UCLA.</p>
<p>emils - I actually haven’t done any of the med school prereqs. I was always under the impression that it wouldn’t look as good coming from a CC, but I was wrong about that. Too late now "/. </p>
<p>Haha what made you think I came from another university?! </p>
<p>You make Cal sound pretty amazing! Yeah, I get such different perspectives on Cal. I was talking to one of my professors today because he went there and he was talking about how the school really shaped him because of everything that goes on there. But he also said that there were some classes in which, no matter how hard he tried, he worked his butt off to just pull off a C. Have you experienced that? </p>
<p>How is Cal with research? I mean, there must be tons and tons of people looking for research opportunities right? Is it hard to get? </p>
<p>As good as my current GPA may be, I’m under the impression that I won’t be good enough at Cal and will have a very difficult time getting decent grades :(. </p>
<p>You sound so well-rounded! Doing well academically as well as having a life outside of school and participating in extracurriculars! What were your stats prior to transferring? </p>
<p>Sorry, so many questions! But it’s nice to have a perspective from someone who cares about more than just a school name. </p>
<p>liek0806 - I’d love to take those courses on the side at LA or Cal, but I have looked into that and I would go over the unit cap if I do that as well as take medical school prereqs. </p>
<p>I am definitely considering UCSB for that reason. I have read all of the forums on here and even other websites and every single one agreed that a high GPA is necessary whether you are a UCSB grad or a UCB grad.</p>
<p>School name.</p>