even though it is a big population, you almost immediately begin to recognize faces. On a typical walk from dorms to classes you will usually wave or talk to a dozen people you know even in the first semester. The size has two aspects, it is big enough to be anonymous when you are not feeling social, and it is big enough to guarantee there are people who share your interests, hobbies, and have meshing personalities, no matter how esoteric it may seem. You may have been the only person in your high school that cared about some topic, but you will find a hundred who do at Cal. The huge number of clubs, associations and other activities support that.</p>
<ol>
<li>many of the social sciences departments are top or one of the top few departments in the country in their area. Some can be relatively easy, but they can be just as intellectually challenging and require just as much work as the harder sciences (although the typical engineering student has a pretty grueling workload as they will tell you here). your comment mentioned L&S as distinct from the sciences and math majors, but those are majors in L&S alongside social sciences, literature, art. . . You hear a lot of complaining (with some justification) about the “weeder” courses that are part of the pre-med required coursework (meaning courses needed to apply to med school, not courses in a nonexistent premed major). Classes like Organic Chemistry challenge the thousands of intended med school applicants - since grade distributions are enforced, there will be plenty not receiving an A grade because other students were even smarter and harder working than them. </li>
</ol>
<p>3 - you will be learning to be away from home, as well as adjusting to a new environment and finding a new set of friends, so there will be some lonely moments in freshmen year. It is part of the transition. This is one reason the counselors often recommend that your first semester of coursework be light to normal, not ambitiously difficult, because the non-academic factors have an effect. </p>
<p>sorry for the mixup, i meant to put in “other people in l&s.” and you mentioned that there are a lot of opportunities for internships and research opportunities, which is fantastic, but does that apply to say, an anthropology major as well? i’d love to do any work involving law or communications, but i haven’t been able to find much on cc threads or the website (maybe im just not looking at the right places.) i guess my primary concern is berkeley’s funding, which places it in a tricky situation as compared to private colleges that have less students to concentrate on and tend to have more funding for. i’ve heard this has adversely affected work/study abroad/misc opportunities, which worries me as i’m still debating between ucb and an lac in the east coast.</p>
<p>Hi, I am accepted to UCB class of 2012 and would like some advice on dorms. I wonder if it’s better to live alone or with roommates for freshman year. It would be great to make some friends in the first year at college because there might be lots of questions upon entering a new environmment. However, I also think that I am kind of nerdy and somehow feel more comfortable living alone. </p>
<p>I also see that single rooms are reserved for upper division continuing students on UCB housing website. Does it mean that freshmen have no chance of living in single rooms at all?</p>
<p>^yep, unless you are in DSP (disabled students program) it’s more or less impossible. </p>
<p>I feel that living together with others in the dorms is part of the quintessential college experience! Don’t worry about feeling “nerdy” - I was worried about it too since I am really far away from home/new to the whole American college experience etc., but I went in with an open mind and really enjoyed it. If you know others from your high school, you can request to room with them - maybe that will alleviate some of your concerns and create a more familiar environment.</p>
<p>Hi, Can any Berkeley students tell me if UCB deflate grades. I have difficult time deciding between UCB (undecided - Business major to Hass) or UCLA -Pre Bus-Economics. UCB offers undergraduate business admin but only half got admitted. UCLA Bus-Econ offers mostly accounting concentrated courses and the lower-division contains a lot of econ classes before we can finish and apply in the major.</p>
<p>If UCB inflates grade like what rumors say, then it is very challenging to admit to Hass school of Business. Which UC do you suggest or can anyone who attends UCB can give me some hearted advices, please!</p>
<p>Look at the bottom for average grades by school, including Berkeley and UCLA.</p>
<p><a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu</a> can also be used to extract average grades by various characteristics, including intended major and most recent major, but only has data up to 2009.</p>
<p>Thanks again for the great feedback. I know this is very early and may be premature, but looking at the list of the courses they offer in math and economics, it just seems very difficult/confusing task to figure out. Do they have paid advisor ( fee for service ) just for UCB in that area with significant in depth knowledge ?</p>
<p>If you are in the dorms for the regular school year (fall and spring) you will be forced to move out during summer. So you can go find your own housing, or stay in the dorms again during summer, but you will get a different room, different roommates, and possibly a different unit.</p>
<p>For economics, the usual introductory course is Economics 1. If you have AP credit for both AP economics tests, you may skip Economics 1 with a score of 4 on both for the economics major and with a score of 5 on both for the business major.</p>
<p>I have a question about AP credit policy. Do passed AP exams that give you units toward elective course work count in your college GPA? One student I talked to said for a course he got a “4” in, the university converted that into a 3.4 GPA.</p>
<p>For Berkeley purposes, nothing affects your GPA besides letter grades from courses taken at Berkeley and other UCs. Letter grades from Extension courses prefixed by XB or XBW also count.</p>
<p>Professional schools may have different policies regarding GPA calculations.</p>