A question for those who attend/attended UCI

[HossIX949]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Does UCI have a pre-dent club?

Also i am a transfer student (from occ) whose applying this year and since i live in irvine and want to save some money ide like to apply to UCI.

For those of you have attend/attended are you happy with this UC? How is the bio program? During the schools quarter i studied at gateway religiously and heard a lot of rants 👎 about the bio program and also some good things so im having a tough time deciding if i want to apply to this campus.

Any sort of advice would be much appreciated 😀

 

[Vicviper]

I thought it was great, I just graduated on Saturday. Funnily enough, our commencement speaker was a guy who transferred from OCC, and is now one of the top doctors in America.

One of the biggest problems that you'll encounter after transferring from a CC with a high quality science teaching staff is that, for the most part, the teachers are all researchers, and while they may be the foremost experts in the field, can't teach it to others very well. Not to say that this is true for all professors, some are actually really good professors.

Other than that and large class sizes (400 in many cases), I thought UCI was really great. The upper division labs that you take are all very small, and normally have really great professors, ie. Wetts for Physio, Mueller for Evo, Bowler for Field Ecology (179L a MUST TAKE! - best lab ever).

Another great thing about UCI Bio is that it is REALLY easy to get into research. Just about half of all the bio majors I talk to have done research, and the other half are either not interested or haven't tried. The Bio office has a huge list of all the professors and a little blerb about themselves and their projects on the website, and you just email professors who's labs you find interesting and you've got a good shot at becoming a research student in that lab if you ask early enough. Also, there's a dental research lab, which I'm in, and the PI (who is a dentist) is really amazing and is totally helpful with apps, personal statements, letters, other advice, etc.

The classes aren't quite as cut throat as many say, the professors often give VERY large curves, and in the labs you're more or less guaranteed to pass if you show some effort - and they're really interesting anyways.

So yes, great school, and I'd highly recommend transferring. BTW, if you've already gotten atleast B's in Gchem they've got a Guaranteed transfer program called TAG which gives you a seat in the bio program on the spot. I did it and it worked great.

 

[iwannabadentist]

UCI is AWESOME! I started as a freshmen in 06 - i also got into UCLA but decided on UCI for financial reasons. But let me tell you, I DO NOT regret my decision even for a second! I'm pretty sure there is a ASDA club at UCI and I'm sure u'll see posters and such hanging by the bio buildings during the beginning of the school year. I was never really a part of it cuz I had many other obligations.
Other than that, Bio at UCI is amazing. Honestly, if you put in the hard work you will get rewarded. Anyone who rants about it is looking for an easy way out, and there is no such thing. Gluck

 

[Vicviper]

UCI is AWESOME! I started as a freshmen in 06 - i also got into UCLA but decided on UCI for financial reasons. But let me tell you, I DO NOT regret my decision even for a second! I'm pretty sure there is a ASDA club at UCI and I'm sure u'll see posters and such hanging by the bio buildings during the beginning of the school year. I was never really a part of it cuz I had many other obligations.
Other than that, Bio at UCI is amazing. Honestly, if you put in the hard work you will get rewarded. Anyone who rants about it is looking for an easy way out, and there is no such thing. Gluck

Haha, as an officer of ASDA at UCI, I can officially confirm that ASDA at UCI does exist! 😀 We're one of the few undergrad ASDA chapters, and although we were a bit slow this year, there is an entirely new incoming board and they're really rip roaring to go, be sure to look for their tent during welcome week!

PS: What research lab were you in iwanna? You weren't in any of the dental groups at Beckman were you?

 

[iwannabadentist]

I work in the Casali lab. And what dental groups are you talking about?

 

[Vicviper]

Dr. Petra Wilder-Smith (DDS PhD) at the Beckman Laser Institute (Next to the med school. I think it's the only Dental Research Group on campus, we do dental imaging research, and I'm getting my second paper published next month!