UCLA Bruins LS10H?

[ieatshrimp24]

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Any fellow Bruins out there who have taken the course LS10H? How is the difficulty level of the class for a freshman who is currently taking LS2? How time consuming is it? Is it valuable to gaining research at UCLA or applying to medical schools? I'm still wondering whether I should take this class or not.

 

[113]

Any fellow Bruins out there who have taken the course LS10H? How is the difficulty level of the class for a freshman who is currently taking LS2? How time consuming is it? Is it valuable to gaining research at UCLA or applying to medical schools? I'm still wondering whether I should take this class or not.

I can't say much about your specific class, but research is always a plus. Even more so if you can get published.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[ieatshrimp24]

Research definitely is a plus on med school apps. Is starting research during freshman year a good or bad thing?

 

[113]

Research definitely is a plus on med school apps. Is starting research during freshman year a good or bad thing?

😕
Uhhhhh. How could it possibly be bad?

 

[SpellcastingMD]

Unless you're taking Film TV 106A 6-unit classes are always time consuming. But it's a pretty informative class and I've seen some students put it on their CV when when they apply for research positions. If you have time and if your application is accepted go for it. If you can't get into the class look into Biomed Research 5HA plus the BR minor.

 

[ieatshrimp24]

I submitted the online application two nights ago. How long will they take to get back to me? And is BR 5HA just as difficult and/or valuable as LS10H? On a side note, from the last time I checked, no one is enrolled in LS10H in the Spring Quarter.

 

[ReptarBar]

yes, starting research freshman year is great, but i would not do it through ls10h or through the biomedical research minor. the most successful student researchers i have known have all found their labs through cold-contacting professors and expressing sincere interest.

just find a lab this spring, work your butt off through sophomore and junior year, and perhaps you will get your name on a publication before you apply. that is the goal of all student researchers, essentially.

again, the largest hurdle is finding a lab that encourages growth and a PI who allows students to take on large responsibilities. all ls10h is useful for is teaching some random techniques to you that could be taught in a few hours in a 1 on 1 situation in a lab.

finding a lab that will allow you to publish in the future is a gamble, unfortunately. you can never tell a PI that you want to be in the lab solely for a publication...you have to figure it out through other students who work in the lab.

even if you don't publish, it's ok. commitment to a lab is the most important thing. i know someone who did not publish anything but was accepted to top tier md/phd programs.

 

[dominos789]

yes, starting research freshman year is great, but i would not do it through ls10h or through the biomedical research minor. the most successful student researchers i have known have all found their labs through cold-contacting professors and expressing sincere interest.

just find a lab this spring, work your butt off through sophomore and junior year, and perhaps you will get your name on a publication before you apply. that is the goal of all student researchers, essentially.

again, the largest hurdle is finding a lab that encourages growth and a PI who allows students to take on large responsibilities. all ls10h is useful for is teaching some random techniques to you that could be taught in a few hours in a 1 on 1 situation in a lab.

finding a lab that will allow you to publish in the future is a gamble, unfortunately. you can never tell a PI that you want to be in the lab solely for a publication...you have to figure it out through other students who work in the lab.

even if you don't publish, it's ok. commitment to a lab is the most important thing. i know someone who did not publish anything but was accepted to top tier md/phd programs.

I would disagree with ReptarBar. I took Biomedical Research 5HA my Fall quarter of my freshman year, applied and was accepted into the minor at the end of that quarter, took 5HB my Winter quarter, and joined a research laboratory by Spring quarter.

Finding a laboratory through the Minor was great because they write you an introductory email to a research lab of your choice, greatly increasing the chance of joining a lab that researches a topic you are interested in. Cold contacting professors and expressing your interest may work but I know that at least my PI explicitly mentioned that he dislikes students who do that, preferring students who are referred to him by other professors.

If you do join the Minor, the advisers tell you to look up several research labs that you are interested in. They will then have a one on one meeting with you and go over each laboratory and, if they know anything more, will tell you more about the ones you are interested in. You then choose a lab and they write an introductory email (e.g. I have a smart, motivated student named _______ who is interested in conducting research in your lab.... blah blah blah).


I did not take LS10H but I do imagine that ReptarBar has pretty much summed it up. I very much enjoyed the 5HA and 5HB courses and felt that they taught me a lot.


The Minor itself consists mainly of taking research for credit (+ a few journal clubs and an ethics course) - I figured if I was going to be so heavily invested in research, I might as well get a Minor out of it. Even the extra courses you take can fulfill other requirements (e.g. your English requirement for medical school) so you really aren't doing that much more work than you would do normally. Plus it is a great way to get LORs since you interact with the same science advisers/professors throughout your years at UCLA.

 

[ReptarBar]

^ yes, the biomedical research minor could be useful, but again the goal is simply to find a lab. there are numerous ways to do so, and i feel like taking a whole minor just to find one is unnecessary. also, what if you want to join a bioengineering or chemistry lab...then how does the minor come into play?

again, the minor is useful for certain things, but make sure you are committed to it and actually want to take all those extra courses. it seems as if you are only interested in finding a lab itself, in which case i would not take ls10h or the minor.

 

[ieatshrimp24]

Thanks for both of your inputs. I (unsurprisingly) got into LS10H. I think the case was that basically the class enrollment is empty last time I looked it up. Like ReptarBar insinuated, I ultimately do want to perform in a 1-on-1 research lab or group lab with publication(s) and LORs. That's one reason why I came to UCLA, for these research opportunities.

even if you don't publish, it's ok. commitment to a lab is the most important thing. i know someone who did not publish anything but was accepted to top tier md/phd programs.

^ That's also reassuring since I do plan to apply to medical schools but can't assure myself getting actual publications and the like.

I'm just deciding to do LS10H to get me into that whole research vibe since I haven't talked to science professors as of now. I know I should take this with a grain of salt, but Bruinwalk comments on Banerjee though are so good (one person compared him to God). And like ReptarBar said, I'm not planning to do BR minor simply to get into a lab. Plus, I'm double majoring in MCDB and Psychobiology (psychobiology just because I'm interested in it).

Lastly, is Chem 30A, LS1, Psych 10, and LS10H doable for spring quarter? Doable as in straight As.