Any UCLA undergrads? or graduated?

[DrEaMeRcHiCk]

Hi my name is Linda and I'll be a freshman at ucla in about two weeks. I know I want to go to Pharm school later on but I was wondering if any of you who are or have graduated from ucla as undergrads have any advice for a newcomer like me.
Such as what classes I should watch out for that are required for pharm school but ucla doesn't offer, some GE classes I can take to fulfill pharm requirements, research, volunteer opportunities, professor info, etc. Any advice would be appreciated since the field is getting pretty competitive so I'm sorta scared what it'll be like when I apply. Kind of makes me wonder if I should have went to usc for pre-pharm??? Yes, I know cross town rivals. =)
I've talked to a few people who have helped me a lot (Thanx Dloi) but I need all the help I can get. Thanks so much and I hope all of you who are already in Pharm School are doing well and getting a little time to relax. =)

P.S. any advice at all!!! doesn't matter what it is!

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[ToxicFugu]

Hi Linda. The best advice I can give you is to study hard! I just graduated from UCLA and I can tell you that it really is not difficult to succeed academically there. Go to every class, pay very close attention to what the professor says, study early for exams, and you should be fine (do not sleep in class! it's not worth it). The reason I am stressing academics is because it will make your life so much easier applying to pharm school with a high GPA. I just started med school and I realize that If I'd studied half as much in college as I am now, I would have been a straight A student. Your GPA will really open doors for you. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret not having studied harder. Sure, I enjoyed myself in college, but I was never really happy because I wasn't meeting my expectations academically. Anyway, UCLA is great. You're gonna like it. But make sure you have your priorities down. PM me if you want some more info.

Good luck, and enjoy Westwood!

Oh, also, it really wouldn't help going to USC for pre-pharm. You stand just as good a chance getting into pharm school from UCLA and you would pay half as much for tuition.

 

[azynchica]

Hi Linda! I'm will be graduating from UCLA in June, I would say that you should enjoy your time at UCLA (esp your first year!) but make sure you don't play TOO much. I know quite a few people who didn't do well their first year because they weren't prepared for the classes. If you need info about volunteering at a hospital pharmacy at the UCLA Med Center, PM me, I interned at the volunteer office in the hospital, so I know the whole process before you're able to actually START volunteering. Good luck! Enjoy move-in weekend and stuff. =)

 

[DrEaMeRcHiCk]

thanx so much for all the advice and help. I'm still undeclared and thinking about either molecular or microbio so I'm taking the life sciences series for math and chem. Yeah I volunteered at the ucla hospital before because I was in this high school prep program and I did some volunteering in the pharmacy. Hopefully i can continue it again but I'd have to start over with the whole 80 hrs patient escort. I'm really interested in researchng though and hopefully I can get come opportunities early on. Thanks so much and I'll be sure to Pm you guys if I have any questions. Thanks so much for the support.

P.S. I'll try to study but its so hard with all those cute squirrels running around. Haha =) I'm just playing, I pay for my education mindaswell make the most of it.

 

[rxforlife2004]

Linda:

First of all, congrats to you for your admission to UCLA. As far as I know, it is very competitive getting into UCLA, especially freshmen from HS ( due to the cut of budget..?).

I am not from UCLA, but I have lots of friends going their for their undergrad. The school has a very good reputation and outstanding faculty. I've been on campus with my friends a few times, it is huge.

As of major declaration, you should not be concerned too much now. As I know ('cuz I was an UCI student), they will let you hold your undecided status until junior level. By the time you reach junior level, you HAVE TO declear your major. However, you can always change to something else if you would like to.

I would recommend you major in anything you are interested in, along with taking courses towards Pharmacy School's pre-reqs, such as Micro Bio, Anatomy, Human Physio, G-Chem, O-Chem, etc..

Enjoy your new thrilling experience Good luck to you in UCLA. Study hard and party hard, too okie?

 

[iamhungry]

be sure you take good professors. www.uclaprofessors.com

if you ever take psych 10, take it with schlinger b/c its an easy A; phys 6c with mclean, phys 6a/6b with raymond waung; ls series be careful. phelan is a really interesting professor, but his tests are very conceptual and challenging, but its doable. chem series, ppl like luceigh, but i personally liked hardinger. try to take easy ge's if you can with the least amount of work as possible and with the easiest professors. i wish i can redo my first year. i totally screwed it up because had no idea what i was doing. good luck to you.

 

[azynchica]

be sure you take good professors. www.uclaprofessors.com

if you ever take psych 10, take it with schlinger b/c its an easy A; phys 6c with mclean, phys 6a/6b with raymond waung; ls series be careful. phelan is a really interesting professor, but his tests are very conceptual and challenging, but its doable. chem series, ppl like luceigh, but i personally liked hardinger. try to take easy ge's if you can with the least amount of work as possible and with the easiest professors. i wish i can redo my first year. i totally screwed it up because had no idea what i was doing. good luck to you.

Luceigh retired, so you have no choice but to take Hardinger now, but I liked him... he's a great ochem professor.
For psych 10 Schlinger only teaches in the summer, so I'd suggest waiting till then to take it.
Easy ge's huh? Seems as though I did my WORST in my "easy" ge's.. so be careful with those! I kind of regret my first year too.

 

[bariume]

No way! did Luceigh really retire? she was awesome..hats off.

Luceigh retired, so you have no choice but to take Hardinger now, but I liked him... he's a great ochem professor.
For psych 10 Schlinger only teaches in the summer, so I'd suggest waiting till then to take it.
Easy ge's huh? Seems as though I did my WORST in my "easy" ge's.. so be careful with those! I kind of regret my first year too.

 

[DrEaMeRcHiCk]

Thanks again for all the advice. I'm glad I found out about this site because it helps me to avoid stressing out about things even though I usually do.

I really should take yoga or something to help with my stress.

 

[Bruinized]

For Psych 10 I took it with Zaidel. She does not give MT or Finals because your grade is based on the 8 quizzes she has almost every week. The quizzes are based on the reading and sometimes she gives out a couple of extra credit points. If you are going to take Psych 10 with her, be sure to check out the class website because sometimes she won't tell you that hints for the quizzes are on there until right before the 3rd quiz.