<p>So I'm a Freshman at Cal, and I will be a sophomore next year. The thing is, I am an intended econ major but it's not really what I want to do. The truth is, I don't think I really wanna do anything in the college of letters and sciences, which I am currently in. I kind of wanna take a shot at engineering, but I talked to the counselors and switching to the college of engineering is impossible right now. Should I transfer to a CC then apply to transfer to another college that will take me as an engineering student?
THe only worry I have is CC...like I've gotten used to univeristy life...so moving back home is something I will probably dread. I don't know what to do. Plus I already signed a lease of an apt in Berkeley for next year. Advice anyone? :(</p>
<p>How were your grades? There are 16 engineering colleges in the CalState system, and if you have decent grades, I imagine there is at least one that will take you. No, it won’t be Berkeley. I have my doubts that you’d ever be able to transfer to Berkeley engineer in any case.</p>
<p>Stay where you are. You will find something you like to study at Cal.</p>
<p>"Engineering’ is a broad category. Exactly what in engineering are you interested in - Elect E, Mech E, Chem E, Computer Science, Civil E, etc.?</p>
<p>If you were interested in Computer Science then you could take that in the college of letters and sciences (As a BACS rather than the BSCS in the school of eng.). </p>
<p>You might also want to consider a degree in math or physics (where many grads end up working in some area of engineering).</p>
<p>If you really want to transfer out of UCB you could check on the possibilities of switching straight to another UC, which isn’t necessarily easily done but sometimes the UCs will allow this, or transfer to a CSU, like SJSU, which s/b easier to accomplish without doing the CC in between, or check other options.</p>
<p>My grades are slowly declining because this semester i took a few weeder lower divs to “try” some new subjects out, but ended up not liking them 
I’m interested in Mech E.</p>
<p>[Change</a> of College (into COE) ? UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/change-of-college]Change”>Change of college - Berkeley Engineering)</p>
<p>If applying to change into mechanical engineering is not successful, then note that most UCs and CSUs prefer junior level transfers, not sophomore level transfers.</p>
<p>In the transfer-to-another-UC-or-CSU scenario, check carefully whether any CC you would transfer to would have the engineering courses (beyond math and physics) needed to transfer as a junior. It may be advantageous to stay at Berkeley for sophomore year if the other campuses require courses that Berkeley Engineering 7, 10, 28, 45 and Mechanical Engineering 40 and C85 are accepted for, but the CCs you could go to do not have. You may also want to take Engineering 92 next fall if you stay at Berkeley to give you an idea of what engineering is like.</p>
<p>Oh okay thanks! Would taking the physics/engineering classes for sophomore year in preparation to transfer as a junior be a concern as they can potentially lower my GPA my a great amount?</p>
<p>^taking them at Cal that is.</p>
<p>Why do you think you would like engineering?
How did you do in Calculus?
Have you taken any science yet?</p>
<p>I would recommend starting off with some of those physics/eng classes next year at Cal and see how you like it. And take a distribution requirement or two and think about it. The classes might be a little tougher at Cal, I don’t know. But you may decide you hate phyiscis and eng and decide on another major and Cal is a good school so it might help out a little when you graduate looking for a job. Not essential, but might be a little boost.</p>
<p>If you like and ace the science classes then you can tranfer to UCLA< or UCSB or SAn Jose State or wherever and if you get an Eng degree you should be okay. No guarantees of course.</p>
<p>While you are waiting to transfer, take a look at the curriculum of the colleges where you would like to attend, and try to match their curriculum as much as possible. You probably won’t be able to take straight engineering classes while at Berkeley, but you should be able to get many of the other required classes out of the way. This is particularly important because of prerequisites that must be completed before taking upper level classes. It will also make your transfer application more competitive, and save you money and time.</p>
<p>I’m doing okay in Calculus. I just need one more Calculus class then I’ll be done with the math reqmt for engineering at most schools last time i checked. also, i’ve only taken chemistry. and I’m slightly afraid to take a physics class next semester because i heard its notorious for being a GPA killer. I guess right now I’m just thinking whether CC would help increase my GPA to transfer to another school for engineering. Would it be a better move than to stay at Cal for sophomore year, take physics courses and risk lowering the GPA?</p>
<p>
It sort of depends what branch of engineering you are going into. I can speak to EE - after you finish calculus you will be far from done with math. THe whole thing is basically math, only math about electrons and waves in little devices. So you sort of have to like it.</p>
<p>Also, physics is a lot like engineering in undergrad. Physcis was my first degree. If you end up despising physics right from the start, it might be a sign to think long and hard about engineering. </p>
<p>So if you want to transfer to CC and take physics that’s okay i suppose. But I wouldn’t give up my place at Cal if I could avoid it unless I was sure I could get back into someplace comparable, or that I was certain I wanted engineering in which case a Cal State would probably be okay if it turned out that’s where you ended up going. About a third of the folks who work with me went to a Cal State. And you are right, in some cases engineering even at a Cal State will be impacted so you might need a higher GPA. But they might also have a requirement that you can feasibly graduate within X number of years.</p>
<p>I’d look online at teh engineering requirements of some schools and maybe talk to a counselor or something.</p>
<p>thanks for the help!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Typical math requirements for engineering majors include the equivalents of Berkeley courses Math 1A, 1B, 53, 54. Typical physics requirements include the equivalents of Berkeley courses Physics 7A, 7B. By the end of your frosh year, you would be expected to have completed at least up to Math 1B and Physics 7A if you were an engineering major (and also a chemistry course if your major requires it and you do not have AP chemistry credit that is allowed to fulfill it).</p>
<p>sportygrl - I never earned a eng degree (I have a BA Math, MA Physics, PhD Astronomy) but worked in engineering-type work throughout my career.</p>
<p>At Berkeley, take the lower-div requirements that other poster have listed, and work hard to get good grades. If you cannot do well in the introductory courses, it’s likely that you won’t thrive in upper-div engineering requirements, either. Also try an EC like Pioneers in Engineering or Solar Car to see if you like hands-on engineering work.</p>
<p>Thank you. If I were to take the lower div requirements, after what major would be possible to declare?</p>
<p>Not sure what you are asking. If you are asking what non-engineering majors would be available to you at Berkeley if you complete Math 1A, 1B, 53, 54 and Physics 7A, 7B, here are some choices:</p>
<ul>
<li>Statistics</li>
<li>Math or Applied Math, if you also take Math 55</li>
<li>Physics or Astronomy, if you also take Physics 7C</li>
<li>Economics, if you also take an accepted statistics course, Economics 1, and one of Economics 101A, 101B, 100A, 100B, with a 3.0 GPA in the prerequisite courses.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some other majors have no overlap, but only a small number of prerequisite courses to declare:</p>
<ul>
<li>Linguistics: 1 course</li>
<li>American Studies, Asian Studies, Development Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, Political Economy, Religious Studies: 2 courses</li>
</ul>