Chem vs. Bio @ Undergrad (MINI RANT)

Started by thegame2388
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In that case, I'll talk to the academic advising team or something. I keep checking the long term plan for Chem and Bio majors, and none of them offer ALL pre-reqs. Bio, for example, doesn't offer BIO WITH LAB, it's just Lab, and same with chem. None of them actually offer the LAB part....physics as well. Maybe I'm totally wrong but can someone check http://provost.ucsd.edu/roosevelt/academics/documents/BIOLOGY-ALL06_000.pdf and http://provost.ucsd.edu/roosevelt/academics/documents/chem06.pdf to make sure?
 
Of course it comes with lecture and lab. As a biology major, you will take more biology lectures and labs than necessary for any dental school. Just talk to someone at your school, and calm down about all this.
 
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some of those classes have the lab built into the class, so when you sign up for the class you sign up for the lab section and go to the same lecture.
Others you take the lab at a different time

The class that says Chem 6AL or 6BL or anything with a L in the course title indicates a lab.

you are stressout over this stuff WAY too much.
Enjoy your Summer.

I am sure you have a orientation at UCSD soon, where you will meet with a counselor, they will be able to answer all of your questions about classes.

UCSD is a great school, they want you to succeed, they will provide you opportunities to complete all of your required classes for Pre-Dentistry, Medicine, etc.
 
to the OP: I got a good 10+ years on you, so I can safely call you a young whippersnapper.

You actually remind me of me when I got out of HS. I breezed through HS and just wanted to get college over and done with, thinking I could skate my way through. Unfortunately, I had to learn that lesson the hard way. I dropped out after 2 years. I went back three years ago to major in Biology, finished all the requirements in that three years without overloading my schedule, and graduated with honors.

My point is that you're looking for an easy way out when there is none. Dental school is going to be butt-ass HARD, and there is no way around that. The best way to prepare is to take hard science classes. Biology seems to me the best preparation. Dentistry is a science and will be built on many of the principles you would learn in biology classes. If you're going to go for it, you need to hunker down and get into it and take EACH CLASS seriously. Use them as opportunities, not obligations. Once the pieces of the puzzle start falling together, I'm sure that you'll start to enjoy your classes and want to take more of them.

I looked at the programs at UCSD, and in my opinion, Human Biology would be a good major for dental prep. The problem is, there are so many good classes listed that would be good for you to take that it would be hard to choose.

If you fulfill the requirements of that major, you will have fulfilled the requirement for over 90% of the schools out there, with the exception of those that require a second Biochemistry class.

Talk to an advisor or two, especially a pre-professional advisor. They should be able to help you and assuage some of your fears.

In the meantime, enjoy your summer but prepare to get to work in the fall. Don't be afraid to take some time off school and come back to it when you are a bit more mature.
 
Human Biology eh? That fufills the lab classes and everything? 90% of predent? I heard Human Biology is the class all the cut-throat hardcore pre-med kids are taking though...
 
thegame2388 said:
...I heard Human Biology is the class all the cut-throat hardcore pre-med kids are taking though...
Click to expand...

you are in for a cold hard reality check when you get to college.
Pretty much all of the classes you take for pre-dental are the same as you take for pre-med. so you will encounter all of those hard core pre-med students in ALL of your science classes.

When you take gen chem ~75% of the students are pre-med, by the time you get to O-Chem about half of those students have switched majors, and once O-Chem is over about half of those students have switched majors. so you are left with only a few students still being pre-med. even fewer people want to be a dentist so you will be left with even fewer of those people after all is said and done. Pre-Med and Pre-Dental are the SAME THING, you NEED TO PROVE YOURSELF to the best you can, sometimes that is competting with the best students.

you are FREAKING OUT way too much.:scared:

you are becoming a Troll with all of these questions.

we have all been answering your questions, but you just need to step back and talk to the people at your school. relax. you will get your requirements done if you want to.

:beat:+pity+:beat:
 
I agree with PChemGrad. A dentist is a DOCTOR, specializing in oral care. The preparation is going to be as intense as an MD, and your undergrad needs to be spent preparing for the rigors of dental school. Now, there are plenty of people out there who major in what they want and just take the prereqs on the side, but personally, I think most people should complete a Biology degree.

There is no easy way out if you want to pursue dentistry. Get that through your head quickly and stop trying to find a loophole. The only thing that will get you to your goal is hard work and determination.

You might be surprised to find a large number of pre-dents in your classes. During my senior year, I regularly encountered more pre-dents than pre-meds. If you spend any amount of time here, you should be able to see that dentistry is easily as competitive as medicine. Check the stats on predents.com. Some schools get over 3000 applicants for 90 seats. Some schools have an average GPA of over 3.6, with DAT scores over 20. If that doesn't show you how competitive it will be, I don't know what will.

As I said, you remind me a bit of me, and I fear that the only way you will realize what needs to be done is after you've learned a few hard lessons.
 
I see. I'll ask all these questions with the academic advisor....Thanks to everyone though.
 
Did you honestly think a Biology MAJOR wouldn't involve laboratory work? Not only will you have to take introductory biology labs, but advanced ones as well (elective labs). You'll probably choose from lab courses in micro, biochem, ecology, neuro, maybe even anatomy.
 
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