<p>How possible is it to complete a Bachelor's degree in 3 years? I am looking to major in mathematics. Can I transfer credit if I took the IB? I scored 7s in all subjects and 44 points.</p>
<p>Taking extra classes is not a problem. I intend to do undergraduate research as well.</p>
<p>It’s possible, especially if you take summer sessions. </p>
<p>However, unless you have a financial reason to graduate early, there’s really no point. Similar to graduating from high school early, the age at which you graduate makes no difference in terms of employment or grad school. I’m also a Math major and I can actually graduate next semester, which would be 1.5 years (I had pretty hectic schedules). However, you might as well spend the fourth year studying abroad (practically for free!), taking fun classes, taking grad classes, doing research, boosting your GPA, etc. You have so many better options than graduating early.</p>
<p>IB SL or HL? It appears that IB HL English A1 or A2 will cover both halves of R&C. IB HL Math may cover Math 1A and 1B, but check with the Math department to be sure.</p>
<p>However, even if your IB is only SL, then it should be doable, since the long chain of prerequisites for math is:</p>
<p>1A -> 1B -> 53,54,55 -> 104,110,113,* -> other upper division Math courses</p>
<ul>
<li>A few other upper division Math courses courses require just 53, 54, and/or 55, but they are not crucial prerequisites for more upper division Math courses.</li>
</ul>
<p>This chain is only 5 semesters long, but you will have 6 semesters to complete all of the degree requirements. Of course, this would mean taking 20 units per semester (including breadth and other electives), though this is more doable as a math major than many other majors, since math courses tend not to be very time consuming (the way lab science and engineering courses, art studio courses, CS courses with programming, etc. can be).</p>
<p>But if you do get useful credit out of IB HL, including Math 1A and 1B, then you will shorten the prerequisite chain to 3 semesters, and need to take fewer total units to graduates, so it may be possible to graduate in even fewer than 6 semesters.</p>
<p>Whether you actually want to graduate as quickly as possible is another matter. If you are a full pay OOS or international student, or need to take significant loans to attend, there is certainly a financial incentive to schedule aggressively for quick graduation. But, as the previous poster said, there are other advantages to taking an extra semester. One advantage not mentioned is that an extra semester may make it easier to do both “pure” math courses for graduate school preparation, while also taking courses in areas where math is applied (e.g. statistics, computer science, economics/finance) to improve job and career prospects for internships and if you do not go to graduate school.</p>
<p>I need to graduate within 3 years for financial reasons. Does graduating in 3 years hurt graduate school chances? I intend to do a PhD in mathematics or a related field like operations research. I will be taking a gap year after my Bachelor’s degree to do research.</p>
<p>The time itself does not hurt your grad school chances. It’s simply that you allotted yourself one year less to have be as successful as other strong applicants. If you spend the gap year doing research, it would more or less be the same as graduating in 4 years (except that you’re not taking any courses for the last year).</p>
<p>However, I’m not exactly sure if spending a gap year doing research would really cost that much less than attending Berkeley while doing research.</p>
<p>LOL, you are thinking/planning the EXACTLY same thing as me, instead I’m majoring in physics. I wish the fees for internationals weren’t so expensive :/</p>
<p>If you want to do research immediately after your bachelor’s degree, why not just go directly to graduate school, if you are accepted to a PhD program with funding (research assistant, teaching assistant, and/or fellowship)?</p>
<p>The other option between bachelor’s degree and graduate school would be to try to find a well paying industry job if you want to make some money to pay off student loans before going to graduate school. Typical places for math graduates include computer software, quantitative finance, actuarial, and the like (adding in a few courses in areas of application like computer science, statistics, economics, and finance may help here):
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/AppMath.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/AppMath.stm</a>
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Math.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Math.stm</a></p>