<p>@55cali55: haha yea i understand, so where would you suggest for college given my circumstances? :/</p>
<p>thanks all! other suggestions/hints welcome!</p>
<p>I only had a 3.2 technical GPA my first semester (last semester, had only 3 technical classes plus one writing class but that class’s isn’t technical and is not factored in) at Cal and I switched from BioE to EECS without problems. They did make me write a statement of why I wanted to switch but other than that it all went smoothly. I turned in the change of major app in January and it was approved in early February. I was also afraid that I would not get my major change after hearing TONS of posts in these forums about needed a 3.8+ to switch and other things like that. Don’t be discouraged. As long as you’re in COE, you can switch to another major in COE if you’re GPA is good (good being greater than 3.5, but as I am an example, sometimes you may just get lucky perhaps with a lower GPA)</p>
<p>@Diivio: haha wow that sounds awesome, i’m definitely gonna try my best and work my ass of next year.</p>
<p>Other input greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>^Yeah good luck to you and if you choose Cal over Cornell, GO BEARS!</p>
<p>How difficult is it to get research positions as a freshmen in Berkeley CS? What about research positions and opportunities in general compared to Cornell, since I’ve heard that students have to fight extremely hard at Berkeley to get research positions, internships, etc</p>
<p>^I haven’t applied yet (will probably apply next semester when my GPA is higher thanks to this wonderful semester) but my RA (Resident Assistant) said that it depends. There are some apply-to research and internship positions and she said most of those are given to candidates for high GPAs, but you can also take independent initiative to search down labs and research areas that you like and email the professors/GSI’s in change of that area of research and ask if you could assist them since it’s a field of interest to you. In some of those cases, GPA may not be as important as interest or prior experience in the field. Good Luck!</p>