UCLA current/past premeds... courses???

[premedicine555]

Hi, I'm going to be a freshman this fall at UCLA.

My orientation is in a couple of weeks.. and I have to sign up for classes.
I am completely stumped at what courses to take for fall.

I have these choices:
Chem 14 A (but I heard lavelle is hard/competitive. so i should just take it my winter quarter with scerri... is that true???)
Math 3 series
LS 1
GE

Any past/current premeds that can please, PLEASE help me???🙂

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[premedicine555]

oh and what were your majors? 😀

 

[saa09]

Since it's only your first quarter, only take 3 classes. I took 14A, math 3C and a ge and that was feasible. I left LS 1 until my 2nd quarter and I was fine, i would say half the people don't even start LS at that point.
I had lavelle for two quarters and I really like him, I don't think he could be harder than scerri, and I think lavelle is a lot nicer. Do you know about professor reviews on bruinwalk.com? check that out
Sorry, I don't want to post my major, because I don't really want to ID myself more than i already have on SDN, but I am in the life sciences

 

[diamethuel]

Any science classes, especially the beginning ones, are going to be pretty competitive. Also, I don't think you can be sure that a certain teacher is going to teach a certain quarter. Just this year, Scerri taught 20a Fall quarter, 20B Winter quarter, and 14b Spring Quarter. And if I'm not mistaken, the tentative class schedules for winter of next school year haven't been posted yet.

A lot of the mysteries to making a schedule will be cleared up during orientation, so I wouldn't worry too much about it for now. For the most part, they match incoming first years with counselors who are the same majors as the first years. They also have a few who are pre-med themselves, who should be able to answer a lot of your questions. Oh, one other thing about fall classes: the counselors are told discourage you from taking 4 classes so that you can "ease" into college. However, this doesn't mean that you can't sign up for 4 classes if you really want to. When you do sign up for classes, use www.bruinwalk.com to find ratings on professors.

So basically, don't worry too much about scheduling yet because orientation will clear a lot of things up. Look forward to how much fun you're going to have at orientation, Carpe Noctum, and whatever else you do there, and welcome to UCLA! I'm a biochem major, by the way 😛.

 

[saa09]

yeah, i forgot to say that orientation will probably clear a lot of things up for you. They also had a premed workshop during my orientation, that was helpful, i think

 

[UCLAstudent]

Go with Lavelle, for sure. He's very nice and responsive to students. There's no need to start with three science classes off the bat. I would start with Chem. 14A, Math (3 series is easier than 31), and a GE --- a GE cluster might not be a bad option if you're planning on being a South Campus major. For what it's worth, I didn't take LS1 until spring of freshman year.

 

[Lukkie]

Hi, I'm going to be a freshman this fall at UCLA.

My orientation is in a couple of weeks.. and I have to sign up for classes.
I am completely stumped at what courses to take for fall.

I have these choices:
Chem 14 A (but I heard lavelle is hard/competitive. so i should just take it my winter quarter with scerri... is that true???)
Math 3 series
LS 1
GE

Any past/current premeds that can please, PLEASE help me???🙂

take only 3 classes the first quarter like someone else said. id ditch 14A personally and take it winter. i had scerri (although i took the 20 series) and he is really easy. just tests out of his reader. math 3 series is also a cakewalk but i only say that cause i took 31 series. LS1 is a pretty easy class too. definitely take a GE cluster, they knock out several other requirements, its like 4 classes for the price of 3 or something. other than that enjoy the first quarter at the best school in the world.

oh yeah i also majored in physiology

 

[nina7123]

I would also recommend taking 3 classes your first quarter to ease yourself into college. Plus there is a lot of other stuff going on first quarter of freshman year (meeting new people, checking out clubs, ect) so you don't want to be stressing about school TOO much. I took 14A and 14B with Lavelle and thought he was pretty good. If you can, try to take the same professor for A and B because then you are gonna already know the testing style ect.

I am MIMG and I say AVOID IT!!! Worst decision I made as a pre-med, it has the lowest GPA out of all of UCLA. If you want easy do psycobio, although the hardcore science majors may make fun of you... 🙂 Good luck!

 

[xxbruinxx]

i was an MIMG major...yes it's hard, but well worth it, especially for pre-meds. There's a lot of molec. genetics involved, which really comes in handy for the MCAT...it gives you a chance to familiarize yourself with diff. lab techniques, data interpretation, etc.

As part of MIMG, you have to take Immunology...which i think scares most people (i certainly was)...That quarter, all i took was Imm. and 1 O-chem class....did well in both and i feel i really mastered that material (the Imm. profs. are also really great!).

If there's two pieces of advice i can give you...
1. GO TO ALL OFFICE HOURS...even if you feel you don't have questions.
2. Don't go through class learning the material simply for the grade (ie. memorizing w/out understanding)..this will make your MCAT studying a bit more difficult.

I think you should find something that interests you, but don't back away from something b/c the word on the street is that it's difficult (though I don't blame you for having that mindset...sometimes you just want that "A").

best of luck!

 

[premedicine555]

THANKS for the responses!!!
they're really helping me 😀

p.s. i'm planning on a non-sci major.. economics,maybe?

 

[paranoid_eyes]

im a neuroscience major:

i took 14A, LS1, and a GE. it was challenging but i did well.

 

[nina7123]

i was an MIMG major...yes it's hard, but well worth it, especially for pre-meds. There's a lot of molec. genetics involved, which really comes in handy for the MCAT...it gives you a chance to familiarize yourself with diff. lab techniques, data interpretation, etc.

As part of MIMG, you have to take Immunology...which i think scares most people (i certainly was)...That quarter, all i took was Imm. and 1 O-chem class....did well in both and i feel i really mastered that material (the Imm. profs. are also really great!).

If there's two pieces of advice i can give you...
1. GO TO ALL OFFICE HOURS...even if you feel you don't have questions.
2. Don't go through class learning the material simply for the grade (ie. memorizing w/out understanding)..this will make your MCAT studying a bit more difficult.

I think you should find something that interests you, but don't back away from something b/c the word on the street is that it's difficult (though I don't blame you for having that mindset...sometimes you just want that "A").

best of luck!

I agree that MIMG prepares you very well. And on a side note, two of the classes that have bad/hard reputations (biochem and immunology) were my FAVORITES! I do agree that you should go into what you are interested in or else you'll be miserable for the 2 years of upper division, but strategically I would say go for a major with a higher average gpa (because I've been told most med schools won't know that UCLA MIMG has a low gpa unless you get someone to put it in your letter)

I suggest going to www.bruinwalk.com/professors and checking out what other people have to say as well. Also, make sure that you get to know your professors WELL, maybe do some research with them. You already have a head start because you're planning for med school so early. Unlike me who realized a month ago "omg I need a LOR from a non-science proff?!?!"