Ask questions about Cal Berkeley here!

<p>hi everyone im just popping in here. I am a junior rite now and i will apply to berkeley. I want to major in bio so that will be applying to letters and science. (BTW can i put a 2nd choice major on my app if im applying to L&S?) But after looking at these forums i found out bio at berkeley is CRAZY hard which is reflected by the super low average GPAs, i forgot, like 2.86 or something. So now i am thinking about majoring in chemistry. I really like chemistry so i think majoring in it wouldnt be too bad but is that major really hard also?? does anyone know the average GPA? also what is the difference between the chem in L&S and the chem in the college of chemistry?</p>

<p>MCB is ridiculously hard, all the other biology majors are much easier. The lower division work for all biology majors is all roughly the same. The lower division work in biology (and chemistry too) are weeder classes, but in most cases (except MCB) your upper division biology work will be much easier.</p>

<p>CoC Chem is meant for people who want to continue with chemistry (e.g. graduate school, work for chemical companies, etc.)
L&S Chem is meant for people who want to go to professional school</p>

<p>When do 2009 Fall classes for Semester 1 begin?</p>

<p>August 26 is the first day of class. Move-in for the dorms are the 22nd I believe.</p>

<p>Before coming to this website, I was dead set on going to Cal. Now, after reading many of the negative posts, I’m beginning to question whether or not Cal is really the place for me. People complain that theyre not happy and have trouble finding friends. Ive also read that the work is unreasonably hard. I just want to know if its really as bad as these people are making it out to be or if its just a handful of kids with bad experiences making dumb comments on the internet?</p>

<p>danet13> There are bound to be negatives in a university as big as Cal. There will always be people who are not happy and they tend to be more vocal. I still remember I used to have scream sessions at the last day of finals with my floormates in dorms. Hey you need a place to vent once in a while, except some just chose the forums. </p>

<p>The work MAY be hard for some, and it is either they are procrastinating too much, not going to classes, and not doing enough work, or they are just studying the wrong major and they are too caught up in that “I was great in High School” mentality to admit it.</p>

<p>There are over 100 student groups on campus, and yet some still complain they have trouble finding friends… really now, is that the fault of the school not providing enough opportunity for them?</p>

<p>Ask yourself why you chose Cal in the first place, and think over whether a huge school like Cal is really for you. I have met some who only came for the reputation but was flooded over by the sheer size and was struggling. Really think about the size of Cal and its implications on you before you make a decision; huge size = opportunities, but you will have to take extra effort to explore them.</p>

<p>its the 6th ranked school in the world… the first rankd public school. of course it’s hard you can’t expect to go to a great school and still get out with a 4.0. this isnt highschool anymore. sorry.</p>

<p>i was looking into what classes i should/could take and i was wondering,
although my chances of getting into classes i want to take are probably not that high but if my schedule was something like: math1a, cs3l, korean (1a or 10a), japanese 1a, – is that a reasonable schedule? </p>

<p>i have to take math, cs for sure. japanese is for interest (i want to become fluent), and korean is just to further expand my nkowledge of it.
i plan on becoming either a compsci or an applied mathematics major under L&S
and i fulfilled a lot of the requirements except idk about R&C (not until i find out what i get on my ap lit test)
& since jp 1a & kr fulfill certain categories of the 7 breadth course requirement… :X</p>

<p>How appropriate/inappropriate is it to bring a laptop to class? Is it a common practice?</p>

<p>Special emphasis on history classes……</p>

<p>Don’t know about history class, but it’s pretty common in many classes. If it’s a big class, nobody will give a damn.</p>

<p>What math class should I take?</p>

<p>Last year as a junior I took IB Math SL because I hadn’t done the necessary classes to take the HL course. I feel like I am pretty good at math and it has been my best subject for awhile. This year the only class I could take was AP Calc AB. I don’t know what I’m gonna get on the AP test, but I could really care less almost because I am almost 100% sure I’m gonna pass, but it doesn’t matter to me what score I get </p>

<p>Now if I pass the AP test which I’m pretty sure I will then I could take math 1B in the fall. But I have heard that sometimes people will retake math 1B after getting 5’s on the AP BC test to help GPA and I would like to do well, obviously lol. Now if I were to take 1A though it would be basically my 3rd straight year of Calculus AB.</p>

<p>Does anyone know when the engineering packets should come? The website says mid-may and it’s due on June 1, so should I be worried that they haven’t come in yet? What kinds of things are in the packet and what will I need to submit?</p>

<p>Hey I am class of 2014, but I will be applying to Berkeley this coming fall as my top choice (I wish Berkeley had early decisions). I am applying from Connecticut, and I know the chances of me getting in are slim, but I want to try anyways because I really did love the campus and the environment as a whole. I have a question for you current Cal students, is it hard for a person coming out of CA to acclimate into the campus? I know a lot of California kid’s get in and so do their friend’s, so they already have friends when they get into the school. If I am coming out-of-state do you think it will be hard for me to make friends? Sorry if this has been asked before, I don’t really want to read all 76 other pages in this discussion. BTW, I am interested in mechanical/computer engineering with a minor in computer science.</p>

<p>California is a very big state. Most who come to Cal have nobody they know, or at most a person or two they remotely recognize from their area. Everyone is in the same boat when you arrive.</p>

<p>Scratch that, I just got the flash drive in the mail. I wasn’t expecting this, I though it was just going to be a bunch of forms!</p>

<p>I had friends coming in – nevertheless, people are friendly, and most people don’t have <em>tons</em> of friends.</p>

<p>at Berkeley what Biology majors are there? i have heard people say that there are many but from what i see on the list there seems to be only integrative bio and Molecular&Cell Bio. Are there more? and isnt MCB really really hard?</p>

<p>Redsox: I’m from California, and have a total of ONE other person I know going to Berkeley with me. She’s more of an acquaintance than a friend. Yes, there are people who have many high school friends going in, but I’d say that they’re in the minority. Don’t fret!</p>

<p>Even if people have a bunch of friends coming to Berkeley, most will still want to make new friends anyways in order to get the college experience. One of my best friends is coming to berkeley with me (along with several other friends/acquaintances), but neither of us will keep to each other 24/7. In fact, we are not even dorming together. We will definitely hang out, but we will also definitely go our separate ways and meet new friends.</p>

<p>Besides, if you are from out of state, people will think that’s really cool (at least I think that’s really cool)–it’s fun to meet people from different place than myself.</p>

<p>Hi, I got accepted to Berkeley as a transfer student for Fall 09. I will be a political science major and I had questions regarding the workload. I ask because I dont want to end up with too much of a workload the first semester, but at the same time want to graduate in 2 years without having to take summers (I will be on loans). I only need to complete 58.5 more units.
My planned Courseload will be:
History 007
Political Science 3
and a upper division poli sci class.
1 De-cal 2-3 units </p>

<p>Should I take just take two upper division poli sci classes and forget about the decal? Or would this be a good load for me to start my experience at Cal keeping in mind my timeline to graduate after 4 semesters. Thank You.</p>