I want to know if there is anyone majoring anything out of science at UCI. How were you able to take your prerequisites for medical school?
Is there anyone attending UCI? I need help.
- Thread starter CashRag33
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you should probably talk to a counselor for an answer to that (uci - biology major).
agree ask someone at biosci they are great when it comes to that kind of stuff (in my exp at least), or even in your dept. I know a lot of people complained about this because a lot of classes seemed to be blocked to non biosci majors? or something like that. I was a typical biosci major at uci though so idk the exact answer
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I'm a non-bio major at UCI. Basically if you did not take the AP bio test you have to take bio 93, 94, 97, 98, 99, 100L, then 3 upper division labs (one of which is required to be a lab). They also suggest you take an E10something class for physiology. If you did take the AP bio test you can skip 93 (and usually they even wave 94) meaning you only have to take 97, 98, 99, 100L and the 3 upper divs. Here's the problem though, all upper division labs are restricted to bio majors only because of budget cuts. Furthermore, unless you're a senior/junior/athlete with an early registration date, you're going to have a really hard time taking those classes because they fill up like crazy. This quarter they had to open up new bio classes for upper div just so the SENIORS could have a class to take and graduate on time. Your best shot is during the summer, that's when prereqs/major restrictions are lifted on the labs and most of the classes are empty.
Bio pre-req is the worst at UCI. You have to go through 93, 94, 97, 98, 99, 100L then on top of that you have to take 2 upper division labs which also require upper division classes unless you take biochem or molecular lab which 98, 99 cover but the rest of them you are going have to take upper divison classes.
So you have to take ~3 years of bio classes just to fill a pre-req of 1 year of bio that most med schools require. You might as well double in bio or just change your major to bio. But the best alternative there is to do your 1 year bio requirement at a community college. Take bio 1 and 2 WITH lab and finish that in a year. That is the most efficient route. But there is the stigma that CC pre-req's r frown upon but I say it is worth it.
If you are a bio/chem-biochem/biophysics/bme-premed/pubhealthsci you are fine with the pre-reqs because you have to take them anyways. But if you are not one of those. I recommend doing your bio pre-reqs at a CC and chem/physics at UCI.
So you have to take ~3 years of bio classes just to fill a pre-req of 1 year of bio that most med schools require. You might as well double in bio or just change your major to bio. But the best alternative there is to do your 1 year bio requirement at a community college. Take bio 1 and 2 WITH lab and finish that in a year. That is the most efficient route. But there is the stigma that CC pre-req's r frown upon but I say it is worth it.
If you are a bio/chem-biochem/biophysics/bme-premed/pubhealthsci you are fine with the pre-reqs because you have to take them anyways. But if you are not one of those. I recommend doing your bio pre-reqs at a CC and chem/physics at UCI.
i forgot about the labs and such tahts a good point. I was a senior at UCI last year and i couldnt even get all my labs. I did them all over the summer. Its a huge pain biosci is so freakin impacted at UCI with all the pre meds/pharm/dent. 93, 94, 97, 98, 99, and 100LW are usually easy to get into (or at least were when i was there). but past that it can be a pain. The labs are going to have to be done in the summer. Microbio, dev cell, and limnology lab are the ones often offered in the summer and the ones i took you might want to look into that.
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i am a double major at uci right now in bio sci and art history and let me tell you, it is not easy dealing with the bio counselors. you are NOT allowed to stay more than 4 years or else i was told they will kick you out of the major! also there is no way to get the classes you need for bio unless you are a bio major (that includes other science majors too).
the trick is to finish your bio stuff in the 4 required years so that you can get your classes for premed and then do just a whole bunch of your other major in the fifth year. or if you only want to stay for 4 years could just stay as the double major until the 4th year and do all the premed crap and then drop bio so you could avoid the ridiculous amount of upper division bio classes that you dont even need.
what other major were you planning on doing? some majors like BME will allow you to enroll in the bio classes because a lot of BME kids are premed too, but it is a harder major than bio is so you might want to be careful...
the trick is to finish your bio stuff in the 4 required years so that you can get your classes for premed and then do just a whole bunch of your other major in the fifth year. or if you only want to stay for 4 years could just stay as the double major until the 4th year and do all the premed crap and then drop bio so you could avoid the ridiculous amount of upper division bio classes that you dont even need.
what other major were you planning on doing? some majors like BME will allow you to enroll in the bio classes because a lot of BME kids are premed too, but it is a harder major than bio is so you might want to be careful...
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My roommate is a dance major but doing all of the pre-reqs - as others have mentioned it can be a major hassle trying to get into labs. From what I recall she's had to take some classes during summer (I believe she's doing one of the bio labs now) as well as beg her way into classes that she's not technically supposed to be allowed into during the year. It won't be easy but it's certainly doable.
