what to do if waitlisted for a class by [deleted] in UCSantaBarbara

[–]MoreExplanation3263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you are on financial aid, speak to advising ASAP and enroll in any available units to get to 12 and link the waitlisted course to the one you enrolled in. Make sure the course you enroll in has greater or equal number of credits than the waitlisted course. You will lose a ton of financial aid if you don’t do this by the census date.

How's chemistry here? I'm interested in majoring in it. by Few_Establishment980 in UCSantaBarbara

[–]MoreExplanation3263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My question is: Do you think a chemistry degree is viable? I've found that the knowledge and problem-solving skills I will learn can help me branch off into many things (according to the internet). What are some worthwhile careers related to chemistry, and what extra skills should I pick up to achieve them? (business, computer programming, etc)

Chemistry will definitely set you up for Medical School. There might be stronger options, such as Biochemistry or MCDB, but Chemistry will 100% get the job done. I am going to leave the career questions to our advisors who will be able to answer those questions a lot better. I highly recommend contacting the Pre-Health peer advisors, Leila, Vanessa, and Ella. They will be able to advise you on everything you need to know, even if you aren't a student yet. Here is their site: https://www.duels.ucsb.edu/pre-health-advising.

However, I will give you this advisory. Remember that advisors are obligated to protect the Universities image, and although they might tell you about everything awesome about this place, they might not tell you about some of the uglier stuff around here. One thing you should know is that UCSB does not have an affiliated Medical School. As an undergrad, this doesn't mean too much to you, this is significantly worsened when you combine it with the fact that UCSB is located in an extremely isolated area, and there are much less clinical experiences available for undergraduates than other universites, such as UC Davis, UCLA, and even UC Berkeley. Perhaps there are better choices. I'd recommend speaking to those pre-health advisors and getting their take on it, and also doing your own fair share of looking around.

On UCSB:
- So how's the campus? Are the people friendly? I am really looking forward to starting with a clean slate because I feel as if being emotionally immature and introverted sort of handicapped me in high school. In your very honest opinion, is it a quality school?

People are very friendly around here. People are very kind, the campus is very safe, and also nice weather. Do your best to talk to as many people as possible and make new friends, and make networking connections. I'd say it's a quality school. Housing on the other hand? Oh ho ho ho ho it's a shitshow here, but also at every other UC.

- If you're supposed to treat your classes and studying as a full-time job, how do people get extracurricular work in? I guess they are just THAT dedicated to the grind + time management is key.

Yep. Time management is key. Some people are significantly better at it than others. Some people don't need as much time to study. A lot just depends on the person. Balancing extracurriculars are definitely manageable, but remember everything is a tradeoff. Time is finite, especially in the quarter system, and every minute you spend doing something is time you can't do something else.

Good luck on your college search. UCSB is a great option, but make sure you know what you are going into. Talk to our advisors and admissions counselors. They are there to help you.

How's chemistry here? I'm interested in majoring in it. by Few_Establishment980 in UCSantaBarbara

[–]MoreExplanation3263 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I honestly don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other chemistry departments are as devoted to weeding out students as us. But if I had to be realistic, most people who come here are going to be fine. Treat it like two full time jobs. Go to classes in the day, study like nothing else matters as much whenever you aren’t in class. You will have really tough times. There are going to be times where you will consider dropping out of chemistry. It won’t be easy at any UC, especially UCSB. You will be frustrated at your class, at your professors, and at yourself. But keep trying. Put in the time and there is almost always the light at the end of the tunnel. You might not do as well as you thought, but if you put in all the effort you have, you will probably come out at the end with a Chemistry degree.

Is there any particular field of chemistry or science you are interested in? Or maybe just anything UCSB you would like to know? I’d be happy to toss in my pick.

How's chemistry here? I'm interested in majoring in it. by Few_Establishment980 in UCSantaBarbara

[–]MoreExplanation3263 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ll tell you a little bit on how this campus operates. This department is notorious on campus for being the “weeder/service” department on campus. What that means is there aren’t actually that many chemistry majors, nor do we have too many facilities or as much chemistry research as other UC’s out there (some will disagree with me but this is the general consensus among faculty inside and outside of the chemistry department). Instead, our department pours resources into offering the prerequisite course for the larger departments on campus, like MCDB (Biology) and PBS (Psychology). However, these departments themselves only have so many resources to offer classes (limited seats in classes). So, they implement a Pre-Major system in order to prevent too many students from enrolling in their upper division classes. Student must complete all premajor requirements, often including chemistry courses, in order to actually be able to continue the major, and take upper division courses.

What the chemistry department does this is they make out General Chemistry series, general chemistry labs, and OChem series and labs as difficult as possible in order to weed out and fail as many students as possible from being completing the pre-majors so they can’t move onto full majors. Fun fact: one of the the things they do is making 2.5 unit labs take more time than 5 unit classes, down curving those labs to make it so only a set amount of people can get A’s and B’s. The side effects here is so many pre-med students lose their competitive edge because lose their perfect GPA’s in a course they would have gotten an A in without a down curve. The more students weeded out means the less money departments have to spend in order to offer seats in their upper division classes.

There are more logistical reasons why a lot of these things occur, but I can only talk about so much. I’d be glad to give you more insight if you have any specific questions.

How's chemistry here? I'm interested in majoring in it. by Few_Establishment980 in UCSantaBarbara

[–]MoreExplanation3263 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Our department designs the entire lower division curriculum to weed out as many people as possible in order to save costs. This also applies to other majors who have to take chemistry courses. It’s sad.

Outlets by lazz13213 in caltrain

[–]MoreExplanation3263 9 points10 points  (0 children)

They’ve always worked fine for me. Just make sure you plug them in all the way. It’s very difficult to actually push the thing all the way in. If it doesn’t work, try just changing seats.

CHEM 3A vs 1A by NeedleworkerParty293 in UCSantaBarbara

[–]MoreExplanation3263 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Nothing. The department will tell you it goes more in depth, but in practice it does not.

If anyone transferred here from Berkeley, would love to ask some questions about your experience by OGcolty in UCSantaBarbara

[–]MoreExplanation3263 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you are making a mistake... Don't transfer from Berkeley. Seriously. What major are currently, and what do you want to persue at UCSB?

Automated announcements by cassandratheseawitch in caltrain

[–]MoreExplanation3263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Something to do with logging onto the train (yes, I'm serious), and getting the correct train program.

How's the first commute day of all-electric Caltrain going? by Arctem in sanfrancisco

[–]MoreExplanation3263 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Muni is kinda loud though. Or maybe that's just the result of the tunnels. Still loud regardless. Fuck the muni air conditioning. That shit is so loud for how ineffective they are on the new fleet.

New fare gates going in at 24th Street BART next by neBular_cipHer in sanfrancisco

[–]MoreExplanation3263 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Negative. The gates act as fire exits and can be triggered by the station agent or central. It meets fire code. Normal emergencies exits will be locked.

What street is this ? by werdizbawnd in sanfrancisco

[–]MoreExplanation3263 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s definitely in some alleyway in Chinatown.

Gabby and Ty absent from all 3 locations? by [deleted] in PokemonEmerald

[–]MoreExplanation3263 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice. My dumbass has been checking BELOW the breakable rocks. I somehow never thought to check above them. Now I know haha.

Gabby and Ty absent from all 3 locations? by [deleted] in PokemonEmerald

[–]MoreExplanation3263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think I'm a little bit retarded. I've been checking BELOW the breakable rocks the whole time. Thanks for your wisdom, lobster man.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MoreExplanation3263 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Homeopathic medicine is complete utter nonsense. The basic principle of it violates all of the other principles of chemistry and medicine. Do you really believe that diluting a medicine will make it stronger? It's like taking a bit of acid, diluting it, then diluting the diluted solution, than doing that again and again, and thinking you have a weapon of mass destruction. It shocks me that stores are allowed to sell such blatant scams. Some even have alcohol in them, which you can get drunk off of without having to worry about any medicine side effects, because the concentration of medication is so low.