<p>So I am transferring, two years to complete my Bachelors, I am seriously committed to getting to medical school.</p>
<p>I was just wondering, If i practically live in the library (study the majority of my day, racking up about 40-50 hours of studying a week) @ UCSD/UCI/UCD (omit UCLA because if i am accepted or not I’m not going), should there be no reason I don’t get extremely stellar grades?</p>
<p>I am reading peoples posts about doing bad at UCSD and things and its because they are too busy worrying about a social life and mingling & looking for soul mates.</p>
<p>All that stuff will be there after…it is no concern to me now, all I want to do is make it to the top…</p>
<p>So If I get A’s & B’s at CC and turn it up a large notch at UC should I be good? Any advice?</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s merely about studying. Sure, you can study 50+ hours a week, but that doesn’t guarantee a grade. How do you study now? </p>
<p>If you study effectively I don’t see why you wouldn’t succeed in your courses. </p>
<p>My friend attended UCSD and graduated with a not-so-stellar GPA. She is not socially active, she rarely goes out. She did spend time each day studying, but ultimately she did not study effectively so when midterms and finals came she ended up cramming like many other students. She was a science major. </p>
<p>I’m not a pre-med student, but don’t many of them work in labs or participate in extra-curricular activities (volunteering/working in a health-related field) to, at the very least, become more competitive for med school? Have you considered making time for that while “living at the library”? </p>
<p>You might find you won’t need to study as much as 50+ hours when you get to whichever campus you end up at. Who knows, it might go the other way and you out find 50+ hours is not enough. <em>Shrugs</em> </p>
<p>It will be interesting to hear responses from people on this board who have already transferred.</p>
<p>You probably want advice from those who have transfered but I can speculate with you.</p>
<p>It depends. There have been students at my CC who I’ve befriended and I notice with time that they’re just not made for going to college. It’s not a bad thing, but it makes us uncomfortable b/c we like to think that effort always gets us there. Some people are just good at different things, and that’s why some students do bad when they transfer (there are many other reasons too). And how well-prepared do you feel in your major? I’ll be transferring with 8 philosophy courses on my transcript, and I STILL have to do readings on my own (both b/c I love it and b/c I’d be unprepared otherwise). </p>
<p>But get the bad vibes out… there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do well. Don’t be intimidated because you’re gonna be learning from the assistants, not from the nobel laureates. The students who started as freshmen learned from teachers whose only goal is to do more research and less teaching. We learned from teachers who on the last day of class tell you to come back to visit them. :)</p>
<p>50 hours is too much. Worry about developing understanding, not about learning facts. Those you’ll forget after college.</p>
<p>I think i can’t do this. Social life, dream, and goal are the key to start my engine to study. No matter how long i live in the library, i won’t learn anything because my brain not function well due to my feeling is not feeling well.</p>
<p>No. Here at UCSB, I know people who study diligently day in and day out that do worse than those who are naturally intelligent/ are good writers. Especially in upper division courses, just knowing the material is not enough. A strong grasp of the material obviously never hurts, but synthesizing material into new ideas is the main focus of UC courses. </p>
<p>If you have the drive to succeed, you’ll do fine regardless.</p>
<p>Of course applying principles and objectives is important and participating in clubs is in my horizon, but i meant OVERALL studying and participating in EC’s that is relevant to my major/goal at a very extensive amount of time, was what initially meant, sorry for not being so clear.</p>
<p>well right now, i sorta cram and I get B’s but if I study a couple weeks early I can get A’s, ha. how about you guys?</p>
<p>the reason why I created this thread is because I’m still a bit skeptical if I have what “it takes”…i mean i don’t really believe in the whole “people are just born smart”, imo, were all creatures of God and he blessed us equally, and I couldn’t imagine being a pre-determined position to be “born smart”, I use to be a failure in high school because I never tried, but once i got over that BS life, I improved greatly, as I TRIED, so i obviously couldnt apply the whole “people are born smart” when I was in high school to other people because I just wasn’t trying…</p>
<p>Honestly, from my transfer experience, a big factor is the class and the instructor. Some classes are notoriously hard to begin with and having a bad prof makes them a death sentence. I’ve heard of people studying 40+ hours for exams in classes only to churn out horrible grades due to the prof testing material that wasn’t covered in lecture, studying the wrong things, etc. Other profs however are straight forward and tell you what will be covered on exams, what’s expected, etc, and you know how to prepare. </p>
<p>I believe the main thing any student can do once transferring is utilize every resource they have such as office hours, study groups, TA’s, etc. At this level, going at it alone my not be enough.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that over studying will not benefit you. Your mind can get tired at times and its important you balance studying with other things. Simply studying for 40-50 hours doesn’t guarentee good grades, breaks are also important. Do whatever youre interested just to take your mind off school for bit so that when you come back you can study effectively.</p>
<p>In my experience, study groups are completely ineffective. Sometimes they end up as social clubs, sometimes as tutoring sessions with a smart student helping the rest, etc. I’ve never seen or been in a group of students of relatively equal intelligence who all benefited roughly the same from attending. I remember reading a statistic somewhere that supported this–that individual studying was more effective than attending study groups.</p>
<p>That’s not to say you should always study alone. Having a study partner–a smart one–can be good. Most of your studying is done alone, and then you get together once a week for an hour or something to help with what you couldn’t grasp on your own and to bounce ideas back and forth.</p>
<p>However, if it’s a choice between a study group and not studying at all (that is, if you don’t have the discipline to study unless you have a scheduled meeting with other students), then join a study group. It’s better than nothing.</p>
<p>Office hours, success centers, TAs, and other resources can also be helpful, depending on the professor/tutor/TA involved.</p>
<p>^ That’s interesting. Speaking for myself, I never study well if I have someone with me. It just makes me feel really uncomfortable. I can compare notes and stuff like that just fine, but studying I do alone. </p>
<p>Anyway, just now did I make the math. 50 hours a week is more than 7 a day. That’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>Statman hit the nail on the head. It’s a combination of factors and a big one for grade deflection is your professor. </p>
<p>I started my freshman year at USF, University of South Florida, a research university. I had classes with 400+ students. It’s the same at university, towards the final, there might be half the class there. But how hard your class is, really depends on how your professor teaches it. I took a hard math class twice cuz I dropped it. The first was a math professor teaching and the second an engineering professor taught it. The engineering prof was TONS easier, but it’s the same class. (I dropped out and joined the military if anyone was wondering, now I’m back to being a broke college student to finish lol). </p>
<p>In your case Kitty, I wouldn’t be scurred. And just because you spend your entire life in a library, doesn’t mean you will pass a really hard professor with an A. Take 4 classes at a time, dont work, and you will have more than enough time to socialize. If you don’t want too, thats fine to. Just don’t forget why you are going to a UC and not a state school. Get involved. Do research. That’s the real reason why you should be going. </p>
<p>If you went to UCB it would be a different story. I would imagine the exams themselves would be at least somewhat more difficult. But UCI, UCD, and UCSD all have med schools and top programs…why wouldn’t they be adequate enough to get you there? </p>
<p>Trust me, its the same *ish. Be glad you did cc first. I wish I would have right after h.s. Biochem is biochem. Calculus is calculus. The only difference would be harder exams between the different schools.</p>
<p>If your cramming you are not studying effectively. What I found the best way for technical classes is go through all my notes, and make an entire day for one class for finals. I literally did all my homework problems for the semester over one day. Got an A on my Chem II final. </p>
<p>Just do the homework that you are supposed to, understand what you are doing (so you can apply it to different problems), and don’t skip class. There is no reason why you should get less than a B in anything. No matter what school you go to.</p>
<p>@uckittychen, I believe it’s like this in college overall, not just here at UCD but at any university. Fortunately, we live in an age of information and can easily find out things about professors teaching styles, grading, etc. </p>
<p>And Nick_scheu made a good point. The group is only as good as its members. Many times you end up with a slacker in the group who hasn’t done the homework, skipped most of the lectures due to partying, and is now trying desperately to learn the material before a midterm the next day. Now THAT sucks.</p>
<p>I was wise enough to surround myself with fellow classmates who had their stuff together and all wanted to do well. Other times I studied alone in the library and wanted my quiet time.</p>
<p>@Lookin4ward, I could never cram for an exam and agree that it’s ineffective studying. I have to take at least two days before to feel confident about knowing material, reviewing notes, going over homework, etc. I haven’t pulled an all-nighter in years. Statman needs his rest lol.</p>
<p>You don’t need to live in the library to do well. You don’t even need 40-50 hours of studying a week to do well.</p>
<p>I study about 10 hours a week and prep for midterms like 1-3 days ahead. That is about it. </p>
<p>Good things to do are to:</p>
<p>Prep before the class. I usually just flip through the lecture notes. Try to get a general feel for the topic that will be covered in class. </p>
<p>Pay attention in class. If you did not get the main takeaway points of the lecture then something went wrong. Ask the professor right away on any concepts you did not understand.</p>
<p>Record your lectures. If you understood the concept in class but forgot it 3 weeks later when you are studying for that midterm then just you can easily go back to that lecture and relearn it. Notes are suppose to do this for you but sometimes are ineffective and you are stuck with the “I don’t understand what I wrote weeks ago” situation. Also you don’t have to jot everything the professor says when you record your lectures. You can just sit back and enjoy the professor has to say.</p>
<p>I agree with nick_scheu. Study groups are ineffective. Have a study partner instead.</p>
<p>I suggest putting more of your hours into your professors’ office times. Outside of lectures, professors can act as personal tutors to any questions you have. So instead of spending hours alone trying to grasp the material, I figure it’d be more prudent to use as much time as possible have an instructor helping you when he or she can. That way, you’ll understand the concepts far quicker and more efficiently as compared to struggling on your own.</p>