MCB Undergraduate Program - Prospective Students in High School

Prospective Students in High School

Welcome to the MCB web site for our undergraduate program. Are you considering a career in the health field or perhaps hope to conduct stem cell research, cancer research or simply love biology or chemistry? Our undergraduate program is an excellent preparation for medical school, graduate school, or to giving you the opportunity to explore your interests in the life sciences. Following is some information that you might find valuable in applying to Cal.

AP Credit Information

The MCB major accepts scores of 3, 4, or 5 in the exams listed below to waive certain prerequisite coursework. However, we recommend taking Biology 1A regardless of AP credit. We also strongly suggest that you retake all lower division courses so that you have a solid background in your science courses before beginning any upper division course work. Many of your high school classes did not have an in-depth lab that corresponded with the lecture portion of a particular subject. The classes offered at Cal allow you to get this kind of experience. Also, if you're planning on applying to any health professional school or graduate school, they often require that you have, for example, two semesters of a general biology course with a lab. This cannot be fulfilled by the AP Biology exam credit.

AP Scores of 3, 4, or 5 in the following subjects allow you to substitute prerequisite course work for the MCB major:

AP Calculus AB = Math 1A
AP Calculus BC = Math 1A
AP Calculus BC (score of 5 ONLY) = Math 1A, Math 1B
AP Chemistry = Chemistry 1A
AP Biology (score of 4 or 5 ONLY) = Biology 1A, Biology 1B

The MCB major requires students to take Math 1A/1B to fulfill lower division requirements. The major accepts scores of 3, 4, or 5 on the AP Calculus AB test to waive the first semester of the Math requirement; a score of 5 on the AP Calculus BC test can be used to waive both semester requirements. However, we encourage you to take Calculus again at the college level. If you're unclear as to which Math course you should take, you can take the placement exam offered online by the Math department at <http://diagnostic.math.berkeley.edu/>. You can also contact the Math department at 510.642.6550 for more information.

Please take some time to explore our web site and see what courses our current undergraduates are taking, what research opportunities they have and the student clubs that they run and belong to.

Some useful links

Undergraduate Admissions: http://www.uga.berkeley.edu/admissions/index.asp
Career Center: http://career.berkeley.edu
Biology Scholar's Program: http://biology.berkeley.edu/bsp/index.php
Student Learning Center: http://slc.berkeley.edu/general/index.htm

Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 August 2007 )