Question for UC Berkeley Alumni, doctors, or undergrads planning to be doctors?

Question

I'm a senior in high school and I'm planning to become a pediatrician. Out of both convenience and quality of education, my first choice is UC Berkeley. However, I'm not sure which course will help put me on the right track to become a doctor. I realize that Biology is a suitable major, but I was hoping to get a BA in pharmacy so I have a stable job to fall back on in case I decide not to follow through with my first career path. The down side is that I'm not sure if UC Berkeley has a pharmacy major. My question is, is there a pharmacy major offered at UC Berkeley, and what majors are recommended for those who want to become pediatricians or any other medical field? (sorry in advance if this does not make sense.)

Ok, so I guess I'm incredibely uninformed about this whole pharmacy thing, but either way, is there a major that is recommended for people planning to be doctors? I understand that Biology and Chemistry are good majors, but are there good job opportunities out there with those degrees? I want a major that I can fall back on just in case I no longer want to proceed with being a pediatrician.

Answer 1

There is not such thing as a pharmacy major. You can become a premed or prepharmacy at the same time because both ROUTES require the same courses. You might want to check out these articles for more information about pharmacy.

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Charlie_Thai

Answer 2

Y'know, when I was a freshman at Berkeley, I posed a similar question to the career counselor, and she looked at me like I was a retard. So fear not, even Berkeley students aren't fully clued in right away. But let me share with you what I have learned since then.

1. There are two biology majors in the College of Letters and Science. These are Integrative Bio and Molecular Cell Bio. I was MCB, and it was not easy. It is one of the biggest majors on campus. There are other biology majors and they are mostly in the College of Natural Resources (all but Bio Engineering, which is in the College of Engineering). Bio is fascinating and all, but FYI, you don't have to be a bio major to get into medical school. In fact, it can be better to major in something easier and focus your strengths on the pre-med pre-req classes.

2. Have you considered allied health professions? You can enjoy working in the medical field without th grueling training that goes into becoming a physician. There's grad-level nursing, phys. assistant, dentistry, optometry, public health, and so forth. Berkeley can provide you with the education to go into each of these fields (though you'd have to do grad school at other places: Berkeley has great schools of opt and PH, but not the others).

3. Berkeley is a great place to be pre-med, and it is a lousy place to be pre-med. On the bright side, Berkeley sends a lot of folks to med school. But being pre-med at Berkeley is heinously competitive and really wears down on your body, mind and soul.

Answer 3

I basically have been given common as a flow pupil. 4.0 GPA, utilized as a mass comm. important at Berkeley and a comm. examine important at UCLA and have been given common to the two. UCLA has between the main suitable comm. examine courses interior the rustic (in certainty, that's between the toughest majors to get into the faculty of Letters & technology at UCLA), yet I nevertheless chosen Berkeley. Berkeley's attractiveness is ideas-blowing. the ambience is relax, laidback, and has plenty character to it. you are able to truly walk around the campus by potential of foot--there's no want for a vehicle there. that's in an perfect area--purely a a million/2 hour faraway from San Francisco (once you may desire to have exciting interior the city) and 40 minutes from San Jose (Silicon Valley, once you're looking into the tech industry). Nor Cal human beings tend to be comfortable and much less involved by their image than So Cal, interior the full...that's basically particularly inviting and beautiful. additionally, it helped to ask destiny employers how they perceived contemporary grads who graduate from Berkeley as against different colleges, and maximum certainly favorite Berkeley. Hardworking pupils and spectacular attractiveness. flow BEARS!

Answer 4

UCB does not have a pharmacy program. Also, there is not bachelors degree of pharmacy now.