Microbiology

Treponema Pallidum, or more affectionately known as Syphilis. Taken from The University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Department of Microbiology offers both a Bachelors of Science (B.S.) and a Bachelors of Arts (A.B.) in Microbiology, now through the College of Biological Sciences (formerly through the College of Letters and Science). The AB is the easier degree to get, with some more liberal arts and skimping on the science. The BS degree requires an additional 20 to 30 units of math, biochemistry, and far more laboratory classes.

The undergraduate Microbiology program at UC Davis is one of the stronger ones in the UC system, owing to Davis' strength in the biosciences. UCD has far more microbiology/molecular biology laboratory courses available than UCLA and Berkeley, for example. Beyond the basic general bacteriology/methods course, other laboratory courses include: bacterial diversity, microbial ecology and a bacterial physiology laboratory course that's only offered once a year and requires pre-approval. This course is MIC155L, taught by Dr. Mitch Singer, and is considered one of the premiere undergraduate lab courses to take. Students ranging from the Molecular and Cell Biology to even the "premed" Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior students petition for admission yearly. Priority is given first to Microbio students, then the Biotech students with a Microbio emphasis. If one is planning to get into grad school for the research sciences, this is the course to take. The work load can be extremely heavy, there's nearly a 20 to 25% drop rate, but you walk out with a strong sense of accomplishment (and a letter of recommendation as well as very strong skill sets).

Contrary to the website, Peer Advisors are available Monday & Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and Tuesday & Thursday from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Students taking Microbiology classes may find another Wiki very helpful: https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/MicrobeWiki