<p>saasaa: UCSD average class size is larger than Berk's.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the replies. I really think I want to go to Berkeley now, I just hope I get in.</p>
<p>I have another question, hopefully this is an OK question to ask.</p>
<p>I am planning on going to get my masters then a Ph.D, hopefully at Berkeley, after I finish my first 4 years. I was just wondering how difficult it is to get into the graduate programs at Berkeley? I am looking at Psychology, Neurology, and Political Science in particular.</p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p>It's pretty hard. Berkeley's graduate programs are a lot more selective than the undergrad program.</p>
<p>Is my financial aid refund for the entire year or per semester?</p>
<p>Are there microwaves to use on campus? Specifically, one near Kroeber would be great!</p>
<p>the golden bear cafe has some.</p>
<p>ramonas's caf</p>
<p>You guys always have the answer. Thanks.</p>
<p>The Terrance also has some.</p>
<p>Hey I have heard Cal's classes are competitive. I can imagine it being so in classes catagorized as premed where it is difficult everywhere. But is it true that professors give limited A s in these courses? </p>
<p>Or even worse, will they deliberately have a fixed % of students fail?</p>
<p>@hallio: I'm sorry to hear your friend's predicament, but about the non-native English speaking professors and GSIs, everyone at Cal has to deal with it. If you can't try to understand those people, just don't think of going to Cal. My math professors are Italian and German. They are not very good lecturers, but they're brilliant people. The same for many upper division physics, the professors are Dutch, Italian, Russian, you name it. If more Americans go into those fields, it would better your friend's situation.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hey I have heard Cal's classes are competitive. I can imagine it being so in classes catagorized as premed where it is difficult everywhere. But is it true that professors give limited A s in these courses? </p>
<p>Or even worse, will they deliberately have a fixed % of students fail?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, and yes. For example, Chem 3A typically has a curve that looks something like:</p>
<p>15% A's
30% B's
40% C's
10% D's
5% F's</p>
<p>If it makes you feel any better, Chem 1A uses a straight scale, and the distribution of grades still end up looking similar to the one above. When you get large classes with 500-600, there will always be a portion of people who fail.</p>
<p>what do you mean by straight scale?</p>
<p>I mean the class isn't curved. So typically, if you get 90% of the total points, you get an A of some kind. If everyone gets above 90%, everyone gets an A or A- or A+. That never happens though. It still roughly follows the curved distribution I wrote.</p>
<p>So just how hard do students study in curved classes? Is everyone obsessing to get an A to the detriment of any existing social life? </p>
<p>About how many hours(weekly) do the average student study? I'm worried because I've heard stories of people getting as little as 4hrs of sleep per week and still don't get straight A's.</p>
<p>@student14x: that's just some myth. 4hrs of sleep per week? That is too exaggerating. I see people who can balance their study and having-fun time. I guess those who always study are the ones in danger of failing or totally lost in the classes. No offense.</p>
<p>@Passionate: non taken</p>
<p>hey passionate, your a math major right. Can you tell me approximately how large upper div math classes are?</p>
<p>I only have two upper div math classes this semester, and they are my first two upper div. classes. Hence, I can't make any generalization. In my two classes, the number of students ranges from 20-35. Probably some will drop after the first midterm coming up because now a lot of students are lost. I hope I can survive. Many people might think that math majors are smart and all that, but to be honest many of those who claim to major in math are totally lost in my classes now ( I can tell that by observing their asking questions during lectures and during GSIs' office hours). I still remember my former professor once told me that more than half of the undergrad students in upper div. math classes don't understand what the heck the professors are lecturing/proving a theorem etc. Most of them have to go home reading/doing over the materials many times to really grasp it. Of course there are brilliant students who are exempted from this.
I am sometimes lost, but I always try to get help from the GSIs.</p>
<p>Does a student really need to be familiar with lower div requirements(i.e calc, diff eq, etc..) in order to understand upper div math. I'm asking because I forgot almost everything in lower div math. Btw, I'm a math major also</p>