Ask questions about Cal Berkeley here!

<p>hi guys. I’m a transfer student to Cal and I had my first day of class today. It was tough!
I knew it was going to be tense and Cal never let me down. anyways, I am undeclared under L&S department and kinda still confused whether I have to major in poli econ or double major with poli sci. If anyone knows, do you think it’s going to be super tough to double major in poli sci and poli econ? I’m planning on taking requirement courses for both majors plus upper division of poli econ. Basically they are two history classes and 1 poli sci class. Do you think i’ll be fine with it?</p>

<p>Anyone has any insight on which GSI for Ananya Roy’s Global Poverty is a fair grader? I’ve been hearing horror stories about GSIs who made transfer students’ first semester a difficult transitional experience. So if anyone out there who can share their experience with Pro Roy’s GSIs, I thank you in advance.</p>

<p>I think it’s not that GSIs are trying to make transfer students’ first semester hard… but that transfer students come here expecting that they will be showered with grades as they did in CC. A lot of classes are on curve - doesn’t matter whether you know the stuff or not. Some profs come up with very creative and nasty questions on exams to bring down the mean and up the SD so he/she can distribute the grades more easily depending on your percentile.</p>

<p>What cell phone carrier gets the best reception at Berk?</p>

<p>Hi, would anyone please tell me the exact process of transfering my AP credits. I’ll be really aprreciated.</p>

<p>I’m a freshman and I plan to take the following courses for the spring semester:</p>

<p>1) either Math 54 or Math H54
2) CS 61A
3) EE 20N
4) English R1B
5) either Econ 1 or UGBA 10</p>

<p>I know that the spring 2012 schedule hasn’t being posted yet (by the way, when will the schedule be released?), but I just want to know which two courses I should register first in phase I. Thanks.</p>

<p>what major(s) are you planning to declare?</p>

<p>@Rider730: I’m MechE major, but I want to switch to EECS. In addition, I want to double major in Haas.</p>

<p>is it true that the college of natural resources at berkeley has a high acceptance rate and is more lenient towards students with slightly lower test scores and gpa than the college of letters and science does?</p>

<p>if its true, i dont plan to take advantage of it because i always planned to apply for a forestry major at berkeley, but i think i would find more comfort knowing that i have a slightly better chance</p>

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<p>If you look in the spring 2011 schedule, it appears that CS 61A and EE 20N were nowhere near close to full.</p>

<p>Most R&C B courses were completely full, though some had a few spaces. Economics 1 and UGBA 10 had only about 1% free space (probably due to late drops). Math 54 had less than 8% free space. There was no Math H54 (there was Math H53 that was not full).</p>

<p>Trying to cram UGBA and an engineering major together in simultaneous degrees will result in a very crowded schedule. Have you actually counted up the units / courses needed? (UGBA + L&S CS may be slightly more feasable, but still very crowded.)</p>

<p>Is it super hard to get a good gpa as an Econ major at cal?</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus: I have a bunch of AP credits, so that should help. That being said, I did count the units/courses needed to do a simultaneous degree. I need roughly 17-20 units each semester. I would most likely register for R1B during Phase I. I’ll use the other spot for either CS 61A or UGBA 10/Econ 1. Since I’m an engineering major and wants to switch to EECS, my advisor suggests me to use the spot for CS 61A. She cited that there is a number of people who could not get into 61A this semester, they would all register it for spring semester. However, as you mentioned, CS 61A for spring tend not to fill up quickly. So I’m still deciding.</p>

<p>@xhopefulxx From what I’ve seen it does get pretty intense, but if you have good study habits, you should be fine.</p>

<p>I’ll be taking less units than the minimum-required units next semester since I’ll be graduating in May. My advisor told me that I can petition to reduce my workload. My question is if I am approved for reduced workload, will my tuition fees be reduced next semester? (btw, I don’t get financial aid…)</p>

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>From what I heard, it seems that Berkeley has a really strong culture of political activism. May I know how serious this is? I don’t mind joining in some political discussion, but I surely don’t want myself to be caught in a demonstration or forced into one. I think that I may be somewhat political apathetic. Will such a student fit in Berkeley? Because other than that, I really like the university.</p>

<p>A lot of students are pretty politically apathetic. Berkeley is so big that you’ll find people of every kind. Honestly a lot of the protests are almost students protesting for the sake of protests, carrying on the tradition and what not.</p>

<p>How is the shower at Berkeley? =O</p>

<p>(I know. This is such a weird question, but seriously. x.x)</p>

<p>The showers are okay (Unit1). The worst problem isn’t the shower its self but rather girls who use it and don’t clean up their hair. You walk in and see an animal in the drain…</p>

<p>I am planning on applying for molecular and cell biology or applied math. What is the standard calculator that is used on campus? I hear that its a texas instrument 84. Please give me an answer! Thank you.</p>

<p>^^yeah F that! also the hot water heater in Ehrman (unit 2) seems to have epileptic seizures every other day</p>