Berkeley Math Order

<p>I had some questions regarding Berkeley's math order. I'm going to be a senior and I'm really confused about this college GPA thing etc. </p>

<p>Is Berkeley's GPA similar to high school's GPA? Where you can take an honors course and it will count as a weighted 5.0 GPA which gives you an edge for Graduate admissions?</p>

<p>Also I want to advance A LOT for math in berkeley. My intended major is EECS and I want to have a head start to math, like many students did freshman year of high school (starting in Pre-Calculus/Calc AB AP while I was stuck in Algebra 1). </p>

<p>I already got a 5 on my Stats AP, Calculus BC and AB AP exams. I'm going to do dual-enrollment at my Community College and take Multivariable Calculus Honors, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra during my senior year of high school. </p>

<p>How far will I be placed for math? And Linear Algebra is the highest level of math my community college offers, so I can't take anymore courses.</p>

<p>Berkeley GPA is like your unweighted HS GPA. All courses weigh the same in your cumulative GPA despite the course title such as “Honors Math 1A” etc… Those courses are just for people who want to learn at a faster pace / beyond the course curriculum, but beyond that, it is still weighed similarly to its counterpart. AKA, it’s out of 4.0 not 4.5 or 5.0. </p>

<p>Not sure about math placement, so I’ll let someone else answer that.</p>

<p>Is there any benefit from taking these “honors” courses? Awards or such?</p>

<p>Don’t think so. You’re just taking it to enrich yourself, nothing more or less. There might be some perks, but nothing spectacular.</p>

<p>Assuming your community college’s courses are accepted by Berkeley (check assist.org), you won’t have to take Math 1A-1B or Math 53-54. As an EECS major, the only “math” class you’ll have to take is CS 70, discrete math.</p>

<p>Benefit of taking honors courses is that you can learn more material or the same material in greater depth and more theoretically. Academic graduate school (not professional school like medicine and law) admissions may look at that favorably in a holistic sense if you took honors courses in that major subject. Honors courses may also be much smaller and have more student / instructor interaction than regular courses (especially for Math H1B, H53, H54, and H110).</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html&lt;/a&gt; post #3 has some suggestions for more advanced math courses that you may want to take if you have already completed the equivalent of Math 53 and 54 (multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations).</p>

<p>However, for the EECS major, no additional math is required besides CS 70, unless you need more units to satisfy the required 30 units of math, statistics, and science required by the major. You currently have 5.3 from BC and 8 from the CC courses, and need 11-12 units of science (Physics 7A-7B and one other; 7C is commonly taken) and CS 70, for a total of 28.3 to 29.3, so you likely need at least one additional math, statistics, or science course to reach 30 units.</p>

<p>The “math order” that you’re referring to depends on your major. For EECS, given the fact that you’ve already earned a 5 on the AP Calculus BC test, you still need to take Math 54 and CS 70. The linear algebra and differential equations classes through dual-enrollment should exempt you from Math 54 (though I’d refer to Assist.org to be sure).</p>

<p>The multi-variable calculus class, on the other hand, will not directly contribute to the math requirements for the major but will still contribute to the 30-unit math/science requirement described above. This class will also be helpful if you are considering a double major or minor in a subject that requires it. If you are only considering EECS, you may want to see if any local community colleges offer any of the other pre-requisites for EECS (which you can determine on Assist.org). If they don’t you could also see if there are any local universities that do and, since Assist.org isn’t designed to address this, you can ask EECS advisers if that class is sufficient for the given EECS requirement. That way, you maximize your dual-enrollment units in the context of the EECS major. If no local schools of any kind offer any of the EECS pre-requisites, you could also consider using the time you’d otherwise spend on multi-variable calculus pursuing extracurricular activities to improve your app when you apply to EECS, given its competitiveness. Of course, you could always just take multi-variable calculus, but I just thought I’d touch on a few alternatives if your primary concern is fulfilling EECS requirements early.</p>

<p>Math 53 and 54 are required for the EECS major. See section 2.2 of the EECS undergraduate handbook: [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>L&S CS does not require Math 53 but does require Math 54. See section 3.2 of the same handbook.</p>

<p>^^ My bad - because that’s the case, all three classes that you’re taking for dual-enrollment are worth your time as fulfilling EECS pre-requisites. I had been referring to a different EECS link that had given me a different impression of the pre-requisites.</p>