Dissecting the Major

Tuesday, February 2, 1999

Dissecting the Major

MAJORS: Pre-medical rivalry combined with

tough material makes biology one of UCLA’s biggest, baddest
majors

By Michelle Navarro

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Welcome to the biological sciences, where two years of
laboratory experience is average, 80 hours of volunteering at the
UCLA Medical Center is normal, and having class on Friday is
usually unavoidable.

In the land of South Campus live the students within the
bio-related majors – biochemistry, microbiology, marine biology,
molecular, cell and developmental biology and, of course, the newly
dubbed organismic biology, ecology and evolution.

Interestingly enough, though, these students are perhaps one of
the most stereotyped groups on the UCLA campus.

They are the cutthroat pre-meds, the mad scientists secretly
cloning humans and the study-holics locked in cages at the
Biomedical Library.

However enticing those labels may sound, most of them are
grossly exaggerated in their description. And any that come close
to the truth usually has a viable reason behind it.

"I don’t think (biology students) are mean or cutthroat; most
people just keep to themselves," said Brady Park, a fourth-year
biochemistry student. "I’ve noticed that a lot don’t go to
fraternities or sororities, but I can’t say they’re not trendy
either; they would just rather study."

One of the biggest reasons for most stereotypes exists under the
name of competition.

"Everyone wants to get to a good place, so you can’t help it,"
said Kathleen Asas, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental
biology student.

While the biosciences encompass students with various career
objectives, a healthy amount of these students are medical
school-bound.

Because pre-med students are under tremendous pressure to stay
at the top of the class, fellow students tend to put some of the
blame for the fierce competition on them.

"You have to keep up with the competition," Park said. "There’s
competition in every major on campus, but a bigger group of people
compete in the biosciences because of the pre-meds."

Asas, who aims to go to medical school herself, agreed that a
lot of the competition arises from pre-med students, but at the
same time she disapproves of the way the grading system was set up
– where grades are distributed based on a curve. In other words, a
grade is given relative to how well everyone else does in the
class.

Whereas such rivalry may be frustrating, one student said it
shouldn’t dictate the way college years are spent.

"A lot of people I know were very competitive in the beginning,
but then they changed," said Julie Mazzotta, a fourth-year
molecular, cell and developmental biology student. "They realized
it wasn’t worth it. They realized there was more to life than just
A’s."

Hopefully so, since A’s are hard to find on that side of Moore
Hall. It isn’t because these students don’t study hard enough or
solely because the competition prevents it from happening. Rather,
it is a mix of everything, even the material itself.

"I felt like I was constantly in a weeder class," Mazzotta said.
"The classes are all pretty hard."

"(The classes) all seem like weeder classes," Park agreed. "Both
the material and competition are hard, and when they are combined,
it’s tougher. You can’t say the life sciences series is harder than
the physics series because you take them with the same people. So
you compete with them again."

Also affecting the degree of difficulty may be the person who
feeds the information to students.

"It’s also all luck in what professors you get. People will try
to take the class they hear that the professor is easier in," Park
added. "Those fill up first, so if you get stuck, your grade
suffers. But at the same time, in the easier class, the competition
is higher."

Although it appears science students are hopelessly trapped in a
catch-22, success is possible. It just takes an inquisitive mind to
master the major.

"The student needs to be bright and enjoy solving puzzles," said
Richard Zimmer-Faust, a professor in the Department of Organismic
Biology, Ecology and Evolution. "The student needs to be very
curious, work independently, and have a mind that asks questions
and seeks answers about the unknown."

These qualities are especially vital for students interested in
research opportunities.

Like other post-graduation jobs and graduate schools for other
majors, the bioscience career paths often require experience
outside of the academics. So students flock to programs such as the
Student Research Program to help them find professors willing to
acquaint students with the laboratory atmosphere.

Even though such similarities exist among unrelated majors on
campus, comparisons are always being made, and the fabricated
ladder of difficulty has the biosciences placed near the top. Yet,
Park doesn’t think that’s a recognizable status.

"You can’t really compare them," Park said. "You can’t say
‘those losers from geography don’t have anything hard’ because I
don’t know if they do. I haven’t taken any geography classes. So,
it’s bogus when someone says those people are losers because they
have it easier. You can’t compare majors."

Perhaps the best thing to do is to accept that all UCLA majors
are difficult. Fortunately for the thousands of students in
biology-related majors, their uniform college conditions can
actually be an advantage.

"There’s so many of us, we’re all in the same boat," Asas said.
"There are a lot of science majors so you know you are not alone in
feeling that it’s hard. It’s like being in a big support
group."

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