Chemistry Major Experience

Gotlactose
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 01:08:39 +0000

I’m a biochem major and my roommate is a chem major, so we’ve taken most of the classes that you’ll encounter in your first two years. My input as follows:

It will dramatically different from what you’ve encountered before. If you were a straight up “memorize this and you will do well on the test” student, you will not do well here. If you were a “oh I understand this concept and can apply it to anything that would test my understanding of this concept” student, then you will do well here. Organic chemistry is like that: you need to not only memorize the reactions, but you will have to be able to apply and think logically.

Don’t buy into the “oh the chemistry 20/30 series is harder than the chemistry 14 series” talk. I honestly believe that the chemistry 14 series is harder because of all the competition. Even though you will have more chemistry classes, I’m glad I took the chemistry 20/30 series.

If you did well in high school, you should do well in your classes here. The first class you will take will be chemistry 20A. It’s mostly a conceptual class and you’ll most likely get Professor Scerri. Some hate him, some love him. Just pay attention in lecture and you’ll do fine. Chemistry 20B was basic physical chemistry, stuff like simple thermodynamics, kinetics, etc. Should resemble AP chem, but I never took that class in high school. Organic chemistry is another ballgame, but as long as you have a decent professor you should be okay through 30ABC. (:

As for the upper division classes, they will get conceptually more difficult to understand, but it’s just a step up from the lower division classes. If you can work your way through lower division chem, you can work through upper division. Don’t be intimidated by how difficult the material may seem because all of your peers will be thinking the same thing.

Study skills? Mine were non-existent before I came to UCLA. Just don’t come in thinking you can slack off your first quarter and you will adjust well academically.

All in all, welcome to UCLA chem! If you guys see this thread and want some advice about being pre-health (medical/pharmacy/optometry/dental school) or being a chem/biochem major, feel free to send me a private message with questions.