UCSD Pre-meds

[Sophie]

I'm going to be taking most of my pre-reqs at UCSD, and coming from a school (UCD) where the labs were included in the classes, I find the system at UCSD a little confusing.

As far as I can tell, you have to take Bio 1, 2, and 3, O Chem 140 A, B, and C, Physics 1A, B, and C, and Chem 6 A, B, and C. But what about labs? How does this work? 😕

What are the required pre-med classes?

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[gogiants]

i think the ucsd system is actually easier because you take fewer labs. you need to take bio 1 and 2 OR 3 (but not both). i would recommend taking 2 instead of 3. you then need to take an upper division bio lab (this will probably be one of the hardest and most interesting classes you take at ucsd, so plan accordingly). for this, and most any other upper division bio class you will need to take either structural biochemistry or metabolic biochemistry as a prereq-kind of a mean trick but it covers you for biochem for the med schools that require it. you then take o-chem 140A,B,C and a separate 4 unit o-chem lab (143A). you take physics 1A,B,C. the labs are included in these courses so you don't have to take an extra lab. finally chem 6A,B,C and a general chemistry 3 unit lab (6BL). after all these classes you will have covered all the med school science prereqs. good luck. let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[osler]

hi,

most of the science classes, especially, 'pre-med' courses are separated into lecture and lab classes, the exception is the Physics 1A, B, C series which is a combined lecture + lab course.
(designed for biology/pre-health students.)

for bio, you need one lab course at UCSD, separate from BILD 1, 2, and 3. at UCSD, it is only offered at the upper-divison level.

same for physics (if not taking the Phy 1 series). Usually, one quarter of lab course in addition to three quarters of the lecture series is sufficient. for phy 2 series, you can either take 2BL, which is electricity and magnetism, or 2CL, which is probably optics. For chem, you can take 6BL: gen chem lab, or 6CL: analytical chem lab.

Or, you can take any lab course anywhere in addition to the lecture series that you'll be taking at UCSD.

hope this helps.

 

[Jet915]

For physics, the labs are integrated into the classes (they are 5 units total for lecture + lab). For general chem, you need to take Chem6bl, for ochem you need to take Chem143A (i think this is it......you need to take an ochem lab), and for biology, you need to take two upper division biology labs, which ones they are depends on your biology major. If you need more help, pm me.

Jetson

 

[Sophie]

Thank you all for your responses. That makes it a lot clearer. 🙂

Do any of you have profs you would recommend trying to get (or ones I should stay away from)?

 

[Ray Chou]

Profs I can talk about:

if you get Prof Rice (I had him for Chem6A) he is difficult but fair. Expect tough exams but no surprises if you study well. Plus his final is basically the two midterms put together.

I took Physics 2 series, so I don't know if any of these profs teach the 1 series, but Prof Sinha is a good teacher and his quizzes (no midterms) are easy. I have Prof Hanak now for 2B and I think he is pretty hard. Again, quizzes no midterms, but many students are having problems (avg quiz grade 3.5/10). You can take 2-series if you want (it's meant for engineers, but the class schedules are so much better!), but you have to take a separate lab course. I guess it would be better if you want to spread out the work more, because there's no built-in lab.

For math, I had Prof Wadsworth for 21C. He was really difficult. For 20B and 21D, I had Prof Ben Chow. Wow, he is so easy, no test problem will ever be any more difficult than your avg homework problem. Get him if you can!

That's basically all I can give you, because I'm still a freshman. I'm majoring in Electrical Engineering but I'm going to switch to Human Biology once they start offering it this fall. I don't know what I was thinking...EE...

 

[dirtybob]

Hi UCSD premeds, can any of you guys tell me about sprints' coverage/reception at ucsd?

 

[dpy]

Originally posted by dirtybob
Hi UCSD premeds, can any of you guys tell me about sprints' coverage/reception at ucsd?

hey dirtybob....try this link...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?threadid=68946

 

[supersunny]

i have a question about physics at ucsd.

i'm transferring from a cc and took the equivalent of math 20a, 20b, 21c, and 20f and did fine.

can anyone tell me if it's worth it to take price for physics 2a(heard he's an awesome teacher) with my math background or just be safe and take 1a?

my major(cognitive science) doesn't really depend on it to my knowledge.

thanks!

 

[Ray Chou]

phys2a is not only supposed to be harder, but it also doesn't have a built-in lab program, whereas phys1 series does. So if you decide to take on the 2 series, you'll need to take a separate class of lab if you need a phys lab req. There's advantages and disadvantages to this, so it depends on what you want. i don't know about Price, but i had Sinha for 2a, and he was a good teacher and it was an easy A.

About Sprint service... it seems spotty on campus, although off campus its good(don't know why). Like around the structural engineering building, and at camp snoopy(my dorms) i couldn't get any service.... so i switched to at&t. At&t has been working great here. I heard Verizon works good here, too.