chance me please? what departments are ucsb's forte/strong points?

Colleges & Universities University of California - Santa Barbara
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<p>i sort of just copied and pasted this from the wellesley forum so i don’t know if the below info is relevant to ucsb?</p>

<p>what are some of ucsb’s strong departments?</p>

<p>i’m interested in premed, but i’m not sure is this is the right school for that.
so just to start off, i think my hook will be my future. i plan on joining peace corps after undergrad, and then after my residency, i will join doctors without borders.
maybe become a ob/gyn because they are desperately needed in doctors w/o borders (medecins sans frontiers)</p>

<p>if this has any relevancy, i’m asian (chinese)
but from i’ve heard, being asian is a disadvantage under affirmative action.</p>

<p>my wgpa is 4.3 but unweighted is 3.6
not too good in my opinion.</p>

<p>sat II’s
chemistry 770
i’ll take bio this oct/nov and i think i’ll get at least 750 on that</p>

<p>studied five years of french at my school, if that’s a lang plus?</p>

<p>APs</p>

<p>AP AB Calc- 4
AP Chem- 5
AP gov’t and politics-5
AP Psychology- 5</p>

<p>senior year (this year) i will take
AP Human Geography
AP statistics
AP environmental science
AP biology</p>

<p>SATs (i know i need to improve)</p>

<p>math 650
writing 720
critical reading 660
essay 11 (but i heard essays aren’t that important)
SAT: 2030</p>

<p>ACTs (i’ll raise this to at least a 33)
English 30<br>
Math 27
Reading 33<br>
Science 24<br>
Writing 11
Composite 29</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Founder of Charity for China (raised $2,000)
Secretary of Technology Honors Society
Treasurer of Fantasy Literature Club
National Honors Society
French Honors Society
Treasurer of Chesapeake Bay Club
Tutoring Club (teach local middle schoolers)
American Red Cross (3 years)
Track & Field (2 years)</p>

<p>thanks thanks.
how important is teacher reccomendations?</p>

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<p>UCSB is mainly known for chemical engineering, materials engineering and physics
other engineering fields are good as well at UCSB</p>

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<p>Just to answer your question, UCs don’t require letters of recommendations. It won’t help ur application.</p>

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<p>Being Asian actually won’t hurt you much at UCSB, because there aren’t as many Asians as, say, UCI or Cal.
If you are an in-state resident, you are probably in. There are some advantages to being pre-med at UCSB because there are very, very few grad students - and therefore you have a bigger chance at getting good research, intern, and volunteer opportunities. UCSB is a research institution but the student body is mostly undergrads, and therefore your teachers probably won’t mind working with undergrads on their research like they might at institutions with a lot of graduate students. It might also be better to be an pre-med Asian at UCSB, rather than one of the countless pre-med Asians at UCI when you are applying. That won’t be a HUGE factor of course, but it may help you stand out.</p>

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<p>I second amby262roy.</p>