<p>Hi! I just got accepted to Berkeley EECS. I just want to know is it tough to graduate within 4 yrs?</p>
<p>The EECS curriculum is actually designed in such a way that you can complete it in 3.5 years. I know plenty of people who actually graduated a semester early because they had offers at companies by that time already. You’ll have no problem finishing it in 4 years if you follow the designed schedule.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot! That is very reassuring!</p>
<p>Those entering as frosh should not have any particular difficulty graduating in 8 semesters if they have reasonable ability in the subject, study skills, time management, and motivation. This is especially true if you have AP credit that lets you start in a math course more advanced than Math 1A, which also lets you take Physics 7A in the first semester. Doing so increases the amount of “schedule slack” in the prerequisite sequences, increasing schedule flexibility later.</p>
<p>Transfer students may face more difficulty graduating in 4 semesters starting from entry as juniors, due to the fact that most community colleges do not have CS 61A/61B/61C/70 and EE 20N/40, so these need to be taken as “catch up” courses after transfer.</p>
<p>Read more about the major, including sample schedules, here: [Undergraduate</a> Notes | EECS at UC Berkeley](<a href=“http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/Notes/index.shtml]Undergraduate”>Information for Current Undergraduate Students | EECS at UC Berkeley)</p>
<p>Hi ucbalumnus,
Thanks for the response. I am a bit unfamiliar with the US education system so could you please answer a few quick questions?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>What are the classes like? I mean do we have classes for Phy, Chem, Math, etc. just like high school? And what will be the subjects I would be studying for EECS?</p></li>
<li><p>Like many other institutions, is Berkeley’s first year of engineering common for all engineering majors? Is it easy to change my mind and opt for a diff. engineering course after my freshman year?</p></li>
<li><p>Do I have to study Chemistry at all? When is the soonest I can drop it? I hate the subject and am pretty bad at it!</p></li>
<li><p>Is it true that EECS is Cal’s most competitive and hence most prestigious major?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>^
- Yes, we have all those kinds of classes here. Classes that you will have to take for sure as EECS: EE, CS (lol), Physics, Math. Along with humanities class (6 I believe, 4 and 2 English Composition classes). Obviously you can take classes in any other department you like, but those are the core requirements</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It’s fairly common for most, seeing most of you guys will be in Math 53 (Multivariable Calc), Physics 7B (E&M) together. A lot of non-EECS people take 61A too, so that’s another common class. It’s fairly easy to change a major within a college (meaning you can change to a different engineering major) if you hold a somewhat decent GPA, with coursework indicates your interest for your new major (like, there’s no point in changing to MechE if you haven’t taken any MechE class). I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but it’s not necessarily hard if you know what you are doing. Changing from a different college (like Lettuce and Science) to CoE is way harder, I’ve heard.</p></li>
<li><p>No. You are required to take one of Chemistry 1A, Physics 7C, among some other science classes, I believe. So it’s up to you whether you want to study chemistry or not. If you despise the subject, choose something different!</p></li>
<li><p>Yep, kinda. But overall a lot of majors here are competitive and prestigious. Haas, MCB, MechE, ChemE, etc. What I really like about Cal’s EECS and CS is that there are TONS of opportunities for any class level. Whether you are a freshman, or a graduating senior, there are tons of companies looking to interview and recruit you. The advantage of being close to Silicon Valley ;)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>And to your OP, it is possible to graduate in as few as 2.5 years. The founder of the largest CS clubs on campus, Hackers at Berkeley, did that. And I know tons of people finish their degrees in 3, 3.5 years. There are even freshmen at Berkeley taking graduate-level classes, lol. You will find every kind of people here.</p>
<p>Welcome to Cal! Go Bears!</p>
<p>Thanks sparkyboy, I am also wondering, do a lot of EECS students work while pursuing their undergrad degree? Does it hamper their studies?</p>
<p>And what kind of jobs do undergrads get? How much money do they make?</p>
<p>Berkeley’s EECS department I think requires you to graduate in 4 years…at least that was their posted policy until recently.</p>
<p>@OP: Sure. A lot of people are having internships during the school’s semester. But the majority of them are those who come here with lots of AP classes, and they also take out the lower divisions fairly quickly, which allows them to (1) get interviews + experience (2) work while taking classes, since after finishing the lower div core requirements, you only need 6 more classes to graduate, IMO. (Of course, along with 2 upperdiv humanities)</p>
<p>Of course there are also people who finish the requirements quickly, but don’t work, because they choose to double major/graduate early/take grad classes instead. The third is actually the most common one, seeing a lot of undergraduates are invading classes like CS270, 261, etc. Double majoring with EECS is harder to do than with CS, because the majority of other popular majors (Math, Haas, Econ, etc.) are in different colleges, and they have different breadth requirements. </p>
<p>I don’t think it hamper their studies. If they can work while juggling classes and other priorities, they must be fairly good at time management. </p>
<p>What kind of jobs? If you mean after college, you can visit the career center site and see for yourself. Most of our grads work as a software engineer, and salary can start from around 60k for entry levels, but of course there are people who make more. </p>
<p>If you mean during school, then you can be a TA, where they will pay your in-state tuition (5k per semester), along with paying you normal salary of a school’s employee (18/hr). Pretty sweet deal, huh? You can also apply to be a grader (at Berkeley we call it ‘reader’), where you just basically grade students’ assignments and projects. Readers are paid around 13/hr last I check. You can also be an unpaid lab assistant, unpaid research assistant, and many other things (from RA - residential assistant, to Interning in the Dining Commons). There are many wonderful opportunities here. At the end of the day, if you do well, and know your stuff (do your research), you shouldn’t have any trouble landing a job, after or during your time at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Good luck! Go BEARS!</p>
<p>Thanks. your post makes me wonder - I will be joining Cal without any College credit. (My school in India does not offer AP classes) Am I in trouble?</p>
<p>No - not at all. I’m not familiar with IB credits, but I think they count too (you must have some of those?). Either way, the EECS major is designed so that people who started with Math1A can still finish the majors in 4 years with reasonably workload every semester. You shouldn’t worry at all!</p>