carbonfishbone

Hey guys,

Like my title said, I am a JR at UCSB majoring in biochem and biopsych. I also happen to be premed.

If you guys have any questions about the sciences, dorms, life, etc feel free to ask!

MrBoba

Hi, I have a question about which major to pick.

I plan to go to the School of Pharmacy for graduate studies at UCSF or USC. Which major do you recommend? Should I just pick something I find interesting and try to fill the pre-reqs on my own?

Also, how hot does it get in SB during the school year? (:

retroceso

hows the art program?!?!

carbonfishbone

MrBoba:
I would say major what interests you: to a degree. Many people who plan on going to a professional school in the sciences usually major in a science either because that is what interests them or because it makes it easier to get the prereqs done. Most pre-pharm people that I know are either biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, or chemistry majors as that knocks out most of the prereqs for both pharm school and their major.
That said, if you are really interested in something other than science, don't feel like you have to major in a science major. College is probably one of the only times where you will truly get to explore and develop your interests.
The weather here is amazing. During the summer I would say the weather is around 70-75 degrees with a cool ocean breeze, and during the winter it is normally around the lower 60s.

retroceso:
I really don't too much about the arts here. But I know we offer an amazing undergraduate college called the "College of Creative Studies". From what I heard from some art major friends, they really like the college as they get to create their own requirements and classes.
Check out these websites for some more info:
College of Creative Studies, UC Santa Barbara
College of Creative Studies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MrBoba

Well, looking at the majors offered at UCSB, there is really nothing that interests me other than the mentioned science related majors. I guess that could be a good thing, because it narrows it down for me. I suppose I'll go for a minor in something that I find interesting instead, because I don't trust myself to clear all the prereqs unless my major pushed me to do it.

That sounds like great weather. Someone told me it got unbearably hot in the summer; I guess they were just joking.

adam48

do you know anything about santa ynez?

carbonfishbone

adam48:
Yea I do know about Santa Ynez... I tried to get into Santa Ynez this year but apparently got unlucky in the drawing so I had to get a apt in IV.
Santa Ynez is pretty far away from campus, its down the street from FT, but everyone I know who lives their loves it, and rightfully so. All of your utilities are paid for by the campus, you get high speed internet through the university, and a lot of upperclassmen and grad students throw awesome parties there. And my favorite part: you get access to DC++. It is kind of like a file sharing service like limewire or bittorent, but it is impossible to get caught and you can download previous class lectures, notes, exams, music and whole movies in under 10 mins, I would suggest getting an external hard drive if you plan on using it as you will fill up your internal hard drive quickly.

I am not sure what people have been telling you about bikes, but it seems all incoming students have the notion that beach cruisers are the best kind of bikes to get for UCSB. Well dont! They are slow, uncomfortable and built for "cruising". Not for the 5 min sprint to class because you are late (which happens a lot more than you would think). I would HIGHLY suggest in getting a road bike. They are insanely fast and built more towards transportation which is what you will be using your bike for around the campus. I would say all grad students have road bikes and many upperclassmen do. I have a ongoing joke with my friends that you can tell the freshman and sophomores by their bikes

consent

a road bicycle can cost up to 1k+ ...

carbonfishbone

Actually professional road bikes can cost upwards of $4k. But I highly doubt you would need a professional road bike......

You can get good entry level road bikes from $200 to $500 from either online or the bike shops around IV. While the initial investment might be higher than beach cruisers,the long term performance and speed of road bikes far outweigh beach cruisers.

retroceso

dont forget your u-lock.

Hey i wa wondering, do they offer studio classes for students who aren't intended art majors?

omegared179

Hi Carbon, thanks for taking questions. I actually have a bunch, and feel free to answer only some if you don't have time to answer all of them.

First, how is the course load? Also, since you are in pre med, is it a bearable load or does it get overwhelming at times?

Are the chicks really as fine as everyone says? (I am visiting next week, but would like more insight into this)

How are frat guys perceived on campus? Does everyone think they are dicks? Also, are any frats well known for throwing awesome parties or being very selective?

Can you smoke in dorms? Cigarettes? Hookah? maybe a little herb?

Lastly, do you like UCSB or do you wish you went somewhere else?

Thanks a lot man,

A UCSB hopeful

carbonfishbone

Omegared179:
They just passed a new ruling for this coming year stating that every student now must take 15 units a quarter in order to qualify for a full time student. With that said, your course load here entirely depends on what classes you take and how many you take of them. This last spring quarter I was taking 15 units: Ochem, Ochem lab, Bio, bio lab, and a neuropharmacology class. That was by far my hardest quarter I have taken here, as I spent over 75% of my available time in the library studying for those classes. However my roommate a philosophy major, was taking 22 units that quarter and I think he came to class once during finals week to check out a book... If you plan to major in a science, your course load will be tough and they will be ****ing hard classes BUT it is still completely possible to succeed, as I will be entering into my Jr. year with a 3.97 gpa (damn social psych class). It just matters on how hard you want to work for those As.

The premed schedule they recommend to us here is:
Freshman Year: Gen chem and lab, Calculus, stats and a writing class
Sophmore Year: Bio and lab, ochem and lab, physics and lab, and some english classes
Junior Year: Genetics, Biochemistry and lab, and some upper division physio and anatomy
Senior Year: Electives
Many people however, move physics to either there freshman or junior year as ochem, bio and physics in the same year is just asking for hell.

Yea, the girls here are definitely nice and smart! Some however (cough..communication's major...cough) seem to act real preppy and stuck up but I would say most are really cool to get along with, especially the sciences majors as they are going through the same tough classes as you are so there normally is an instant connection with them.

Hm.. frats... It depends on who you talk to and which frats you are talking about. To us science majors, the typical frat guys are well.. typical (it also might stem from how easy we think the humanities majors have it with their course load. As it seems most, if not all, sorority/fraternity guys and gals are humanities majors ) However, there are some really cool frats here though. I really like the guys in beta (phi beta kappa) as most are really friendly and not your typical frat guy. They are also probably the most well know frat on campus, with ATO and Sigma nu coming in a close second. With most frats here, if you are a guy, it is hard to get in. You normally will have to be with a > 1:1 or 2:1 group ratio of girls:boys in order to get in. This is just done to keep the inside of the party from getting to far out of whack with ratios(however, too many girls never seems to be a problem to them). But I wouldn't worry to much about frat parties. One of the beauties of SB is the amount and magnitude of parties thrown on the weekends, and sometimes on the weekdays. You do not need to be in frat to experience crazy college parties, as you can just walk down DP, sabo tarde, or trigo (streets here in IV) and find random open parties. Make sure you practice some beer pong before you come to UCSB, as that is the national sport here.

The "official ruling" is no smoking or hookahs in the dorms....but that doesnt stop anyone nor is it too strictly enforced. As long as you are smart about it and not too loud it is fine. I have been part of many hookah/herb get togethers in the dorms my freshman year and not one was ever broken up. Just remember to use a fan to blow the smoke/smell towards the window

I without a doubt would pick SB again if I was given another choice. It is amazing here. I was accepted to many "top colleges" according to CC and USNEWS: Stanford, Yale, full ride to Berkeley, UCLA, USC, etc but my rationalizing was since I was/am planning on going to med school, the undergrad you go to really doesn't affect admissions much, so why go to an ultra competitive environment and slave for 4 years and them go straight into another ultra competitive environment for another 4 years. With that reasoning I choose SB and have never looked back. I feel SB offers the perfect balance of school and play. Don't get me wrong, the classes here are damn hard and we have some of the most renowned professors (5 Nobel prize winners in the last 10 years) in a multitude of fields but the cut throat/get ahead environment doesn't really exist here in SB which, for me, makes the experience that much better.


Hope this helps you somewhat with your questions.

Cheers!

calvinator

Great advice carbon!

omegared179

thanks so much Carbon, I really hope I get in.

Good luck getting to Med school

shmay

Thanks for doing this.

Do you know anyone who lived in the private dorms (fontainebleu / tropicana)? And what did they say about it?

How hard is it to get a close apartment off campus?

In general, how intelligent are the students there?

Favorite part of UCSB?