OK so im thinkin about UCLA. What is the best major for premed at UCLA (like in life sciences) or other areas? I want a major that I can get a HIGH GPA IN and is not crazy hard like MIMG. What major would be good for premed at UCLA? is Neurosci really hard, what is its avg gpa? would any of u recommend psychobio (im leaning towards this cause i heards its really easy to get a good gpa, is that true?)
For ucla undergrads: What premed major do u reccomend?
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I actually got A's in all but one of my MIMG classes... and that was because I got bull headed since I got a 4.0 the quarter before... I think that the LS series is harder to get a good grade in, and you have to take that for all life science majors.
But do what you are genuinely interested in, because that is what will help you get a good grade. I really enjoy MIMG, so therefore I was able to focus on studying for my MIMG classes since it was interesting for me.
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I was also MIMG and it wasn't so bad. I did better in those classes (I'm not up to par with Funky but I did get my fair share of As). The lower division classes were the worst because you were competing against ALL the pre-meds. (I think MIMG tends to be much more graduate school focused).
I was glad to get out of that crazy UCLA pre-med environment when I reached my upper divs. Just think, if you're phy sci you'll never get away!! Phy sci is just hard because you continue to deal with mean pre-meds. Don't be psychobio though...you can get a high GPA but will get made fun of a lot by the science folks. I agree with Funky though, do what you're interested in because you'll be spending A LOT of time learning about it!
I was glad to get out of that crazy UCLA pre-med environment when I reached my upper divs. Just think, if you're phy sci you'll never get away!! Phy sci is just hard because you continue to deal with mean pre-meds. Don't be psychobio though...you can get a high GPA but will get made fun of a lot by the science folks. I agree with Funky though, do what you're interested in because you'll be spending A LOT of time learning about it!
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As a ucla grad majoring in phy sci, I can say that physci is one of the hardest science majors at ucla, since its what premeds usually go for (neuroscience is also equally hard). If you want to see how you'll compete with other premeds, go for a science major that premeds go for. However, I wanted to major in phy sci because I was interested in learning about the human body and thought it would prepare me for medical school as well. Psychobiology is not a joke science major but it is easier to do well in that class. I took a few psychobiology courses as outside electives and got As in them. In one psychobio class I didn't even have to take the final because I aced my two midterms. For physci, I usually got B's despite studying my ass off. It is what it is. I'd say challenge yourself while you're in undergrad; it'll only help when you're in the same competitive environment of medical school.
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deleted74029
I'm not sure there are any UCLA premeds on here, you may have to look elsewhere.
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What am I, chopped liver?
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deleted74029
Haha no there was quite a bit of sarcasm in my post.
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psychbio is universally known as the "easy premed major." it has a wide range of classes, from pretty much every science department, including psych (that's a science dept at ucla), mcdb, mimg, neuro, physci, biochem etc.. (pretty much everything)... so i guess supposedly that diffuses the whole "premed competition" thing...
physci has a reputation for being hard. i was told that neuro and physci are the two hardest, but others dispute that and say mimg is also hard... in any case,all that is important is that they are "hard" but in my opinion, you should study what you love and not let anything stop you. supposedly neuro is a more welcoming community because there's a neuro undergrad society...
my advice is that you should wait until you take your lower division LS classes to decide. all life science (i.e. "premed") majors have the same lower div requirements (those you will normally take your first two years), including a completion of calculus and a year of chem, physics, and LS. (neuro also requires one quarter of stats, but other than that, they're pretty much the same). all the LS classes each pertain to one LS major. LS1 (ecology, evolutionary biology) is the EEB major (ecology and evolutionary biology), LS2 (cells, tissues, and organs) is the physci major, and LS3 (molecular bio) is mcdb, and i 'think' LS4 (genetics) is MIMG. If you take psych 10 (intro psych), they also cover some neuroscience in that class, as does LS2. so you don't really have to decide until you finish all the prereqs, since they're the same for all the majors anyway. then you can pick and choose what is your favorite subject to study.
in my opinion, i think you are most successful doing what you love. i was going to do psychbio, until i took psych 10 and found out that i hated psychology and wanted to do more laboratory-oriented hard science. so i switched to neuro and am working in a neuro lab. and i love every minute of it. when you pursue your passion, your increased level of motivation opens up a lot of doors. had i stayed in psychbio, i wouldn't have tried as hard to find as many opportunities, just because i wouldn't have been as excited. in the end i think you should always live your life to do what you love. but thats just my philosophy. anyway...
physci has a reputation for being hard. i was told that neuro and physci are the two hardest, but others dispute that and say mimg is also hard... in any case,all that is important is that they are "hard" but in my opinion, you should study what you love and not let anything stop you. supposedly neuro is a more welcoming community because there's a neuro undergrad society...
my advice is that you should wait until you take your lower division LS classes to decide. all life science (i.e. "premed") majors have the same lower div requirements (those you will normally take your first two years), including a completion of calculus and a year of chem, physics, and LS. (neuro also requires one quarter of stats, but other than that, they're pretty much the same). all the LS classes each pertain to one LS major. LS1 (ecology, evolutionary biology) is the EEB major (ecology and evolutionary biology), LS2 (cells, tissues, and organs) is the physci major, and LS3 (molecular bio) is mcdb, and i 'think' LS4 (genetics) is MIMG. If you take psych 10 (intro psych), they also cover some neuroscience in that class, as does LS2. so you don't really have to decide until you finish all the prereqs, since they're the same for all the majors anyway. then you can pick and choose what is your favorite subject to study.
in my opinion, i think you are most successful doing what you love. i was going to do psychbio, until i took psych 10 and found out that i hated psychology and wanted to do more laboratory-oriented hard science. so i switched to neuro and am working in a neuro lab. and i love every minute of it. when you pursue your passion, your increased level of motivation opens up a lot of doors. had i stayed in psychbio, i wouldn't have tried as hard to find as many opportunities, just because i wouldn't have been as excited. in the end i think you should always live your life to do what you love. but thats just my philosophy. anyway...
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If you're interested in majoring in a life science, then LS 1-4 should help you decide which one you might want to do.
You'll probably find phy sci very interesting if medicine is something that you want to do, and i don't think that it's that hard or competitive
I've heard of some people choosing to do psychobio, just because it's easy
If you do general bio, they make you memorize a bunch of, IMO, useless crap (phyla of algae?) and you have to learn about plants
Or you might even do a non-science major and complete the premed prereqs
Oh, and if you do a BS in Anthro (not a BA) you'll have to do a lot of the science prereqs anyway and will get to take some classes in Biological Anthropology
You'll probably find phy sci very interesting if medicine is something that you want to do, and i don't think that it's that hard or competitive
I've heard of some people choosing to do psychobio, just because it's easy
If you do general bio, they make you memorize a bunch of, IMO, useless crap (phyla of algae?) and you have to learn about plants
Or you might even do a non-science major and complete the premed prereqs
Oh, and if you do a BS in Anthro (not a BA) you'll have to do a lot of the science prereqs anyway and will get to take some classes in Biological Anthropology
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the bioengineering dept at ucla is relatively new and hence r pushing students into the graduate field and medical field, ie they try to give nice curve and ppl do decently well. the class size are not too big and it's easy to get in contact with the professor especially one by the name of Kamei as you will definitely have to take his classes, if you look at his website his students have gone to good medical schools. he is one of the best professors at ucla not just academically n research wise but an awesome professor who cares about the students. the classes are demanding but if you like math, physics, biology, etc and like to problem solve this major is an excellent choice, prepares u well for medical school and satisfies pretty much all the pre-reqs. it prepares u well for the science sections of the mcat as well. engr also gives u a lot of opporutnities that other majors dont offer and if you survive it will be a big plus, in the past 2 years many of the students in the department have gotten into schools like mayo, ucsf, stanford, uc davis, ucla. from what i know spidermann, a SDN user, is also a bioengineering major at ucla. this is just my personal opinion. i think it gives u a unique background compared to the other majors that apply to medical school, n it teaches u how to problem solve n open doors to opportunities in internship, consulting, etc, with this degree u can pretty much do nething u want.
on the other hand, if u want an easier major, like what fish said, it seems that the general consensus is that psychobio is the easier major. it's important to have a good gpa but also important to major in something u like, wrk is needed newayz to get a good gpa, if u study hard n get the material down u will be fine, it's mostly about the time u put in for a lot of life sci majors since it is more material with concepts but not abstract concepts, in engr, it's about getting ur foundations down n understanding the logic n concepts. this is just my two cents
on the other hand, if u want an easier major, like what fish said, it seems that the general consensus is that psychobio is the easier major. it's important to have a good gpa but also important to major in something u like, wrk is needed newayz to get a good gpa, if u study hard n get the material down u will be fine, it's mostly about the time u put in for a lot of life sci majors since it is more material with concepts but not abstract concepts, in engr, it's about getting ur foundations down n understanding the logic n concepts. this is just my two cents
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Sociology
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Molecular Bio... but that's because I find it intellectually fascinating lol. If you like ls3 & ls4, go with MCDB or MIMG. The two majors are pretty similar. MIMG is more Microbiology & Immunology than Molecular Genetics.
For Phy Sci... you forgot about the Pre-Dents too. There are some very smart pre dents out there who are up there with pre-meds. If you are REALLY GOOD at memorization, go with Phy Sci.
If you love thinking outside of the box, go with MIMG or MCDB.
But if you have interests outside of the life sciences, by all means go for it. A Study of Religion or Classics major who excel in the LS core curriculum/Pre med courses is impressive in my book.
There's also Computational Biology. People who elect to go into the field makes around $100K from what I've read. So it's a nice fall back to have. A friend of mine is a Computational Biology major and she says its very close knit.
For Phy Sci... you forgot about the Pre-Dents too. There are some very smart pre dents out there who are up there with pre-meds. If you are REALLY GOOD at memorization, go with Phy Sci.
If you love thinking outside of the box, go with MIMG or MCDB.
But if you have interests outside of the life sciences, by all means go for it. A Study of Religion or Classics major who excel in the LS core curriculum/Pre med courses is impressive in my book.
There's also Computational Biology. People who elect to go into the field makes around $100K from what I've read. So it's a nice fall back to have. A friend of mine is a Computational Biology major and she says its very close knit.
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Neuroscience all the way if you like understanding how drugs affect the brain, how neurodegenerative disorders arise, how the brain works.
If you are pre-med or pre-PhD than the neuroscience program is going to get you on the right track for research experience. Not many schools top UCLA in neuro research grants. I worked in that department for 3 years doing research and loved it. You will also be working on some of the most important, compelling neuroscience research in the world...I mean, it's UCLA.
Second to that, Ecology & Evolutionary Bio is a great south campus major also if you like hiking, spending weekends camping outdoors with classmates doing research, or going on 3-month-long expeditions into the Thai jungles, scuba-diving around the coast of Costa Rica and/or Hawaii, etc. It's all possible and all hella affordable in this major at UCLA. Most of the expedition trips will get you published in research.
If you are pre-med or pre-PhD than the neuroscience program is going to get you on the right track for research experience. Not many schools top UCLA in neuro research grants. I worked in that department for 3 years doing research and loved it. You will also be working on some of the most important, compelling neuroscience research in the world...I mean, it's UCLA.
Second to that, Ecology & Evolutionary Bio is a great south campus major also if you like hiking, spending weekends camping outdoors with classmates doing research, or going on 3-month-long expeditions into the Thai jungles, scuba-diving around the coast of Costa Rica and/or Hawaii, etc. It's all possible and all hella affordable in this major at UCLA. Most of the expedition trips will get you published in research.
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mechanical engineering
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Unless you don't get into Medical School of course. Then that challenge becomes a waste of time.
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Amen to that brother
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psychobio (or better yet, plain psych)
no one cares what you major in. screw interest and all that. my interest lies in medicine and nothing else academically. the majors are designed to prep you for grad school (not med school) so what's the point of doing something hard even if you're interested.
that being said, im neurosci and it is not easy. 102 and 101A weren't that hard, but the means were freakin high so everyone thought so.
101B....omfg it sucks BADLY
btw, it is still very easy to do neuroscience research (or any research for that matter) on campus. I swear there are like four MASSIVE buildings devoted to neuroscience and it is not hard to get a spot.
also, the only reason why I would recommend neurosci would be NS102. that class was really fun because of scheibel and scheibel alone. Once he retires, god help whoever has to fill his shoes....
no one cares what you major in. screw interest and all that. my interest lies in medicine and nothing else academically. the majors are designed to prep you for grad school (not med school) so what's the point of doing something hard even if you're interested.
that being said, im neurosci and it is not easy. 102 and 101A weren't that hard, but the means were freakin high so everyone thought so.
101B....omfg it sucks BADLY
btw, it is still very easy to do neuroscience research (or any research for that matter) on campus. I swear there are like four MASSIVE buildings devoted to neuroscience and it is not hard to get a spot.
also, the only reason why I would recommend neurosci would be NS102. that class was really fun because of scheibel and scheibel alone. Once he retires, god help whoever has to fill his shoes....
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like jetspeeder mentioned, bioengineering is a great major, 
pm me if you have any questions about it
pm me if you have any questions about it
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Don't major in bio unless you really, really love it. I happen to think bio is the ****, and majored in it because I loved it, not because I thought it would do me any favors in med school applications (and believe me, it hasn't). Biology majors are a dime a dozen.
If I could do it over again, I'd keep my bio major but do a second major in religious studies. I think it helps to have a degree in something that isn't a science -- adcoms will notice you b/c you're the one person who didn't major in chem, and there's a belief (held by some, not by me) that humanities majors are better at critical thinking/writing, which are handy skills in med school.
If I could do it over again, I'd keep my bio major but do a second major in religious studies. I think it helps to have a degree in something that isn't a science -- adcoms will notice you b/c you're the one person who didn't major in chem, and there's a belief (held by some, not by me) that humanities majors are better at critical thinking/writing, which are handy skills in med school.
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..
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lol, wow...this is an old-ass thread
looking back, i think you should do neurosci...it has the most interesting electives out of the LS majors imho.
the professors are pretty chill too (except chandler who seems kinda mean but i never got to know him so what do I know...)
also, scheibel is an amazing professor (probably the best south campus prof) and the others are absolutely hilarious (notably glanzman/dreier/schweizer)
also, the new neurosci councelor is kinda cute and waay nicer than the previous one
basically, just do neurosci
looking back, i think you should do neurosci...it has the most interesting electives out of the LS majors imho.
the professors are pretty chill too (except chandler who seems kinda mean but i never got to know him so what do I know...)
also, scheibel is an amazing professor (probably the best south campus prof) and the others are absolutely hilarious (notably glanzman/dreier/schweizer)
also, the new neurosci councelor is kinda cute and waay nicer than the previous one
basically, just do neurosci
