Choosing Classes/Professors-Help a Freshman with scheduling

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hi. So I'm an incoming freshman and starting to think about what classes to take. I got in as a Mechanical engineer major, but I'm strongly thinking about switching to maybe Engineering physics. I'm also interested in Cognitive Science and Economics, so if I can handle the workload I MIGHT try to do simultaneous degrees in one of those and engineering. </p>

<p>Right now, I'm trying to put together a possible schedule...which is where I have some questions. I looked up the professors that are teaching Math 53 (Steel and Rezakhanlou) and Physics 7B (Bordel and Speliotopoulos) for Fall and they all seem to have really low ratings with comments saying to stay away from these professors. Also, I heard that Engineering 7 is a lot easier during the spring and Engineering 10 is largely a waste of time. There are a lot more Eng R1B classes during the spring too, and the ones I wanted for fall are pretty much already full.</p>

<p>So...I'm not sure what to do for fall. I have quite a few AP credits so I can pass out of Chem 1A, Math 1A/B, Physics 7A and R&C 1A. </p>

<p>Would this schedule be okay for a freshman engineering major in terms of workload and practicality?
Fall- Math 54, CogSci1, Econ1, E10
Spring- Math 53, Physics 7B, E7, English R1B</p>

<p>Is it wise to postpone taking courses you need just to avoid certain professors?</p>

2

<p>Steel for 53 is ok. For 54 try take Grunbaum.</p>

3

<p>If you try to re-arrange your 4 year schedule to avoid certain professors, you’re going to have a bad time. </p>

<p>If you can avoid certain professors by switching sections within that semester, then go ahead (e.g. , I had a choice of Neu or the other Russian guy for 53, so I chose Neu who is known for giving 25% A’s and really easy exams). The reason I’m saying this is that you don’t want to end up not being able to take certain classes down the road because you dont have the pre reqs. And if you get a more difficult professor, you’ll probably study more and end up learnign more - but thats just me preaching. Good Luck.</p>