<p>Hey does anybody know how competitive computer science is. Maybe EECS or CS. I'm guessing CS is less competitive. Also, I'm not a UC Berkeley student yet but I HEARD that almost ever professor grades on a "bell curve" where only 10 percent of the class gets A's? Is this true? Or does everybody have a fair chance to get an A? I also heard that Berkeley students tend to sabatoge each other because it is just that competitive.</p>
<p>I’m a first-year student taking Computer Science 61A, which is required for both EECS and L&S CS. From my experience with this class, the answer is NO. There is no curve whatsoever in this class. Each assignment/test/project is worth a certain number of points and your final grade in the class is based on the total number of points you earn out of 300. Theoretically every person could get an A, but the class is difficult to the point where that would never happen.</p>
<p>If anything, they give you incentives to help each other. We are currently in groups of four people. If the person in the group who received the lowest score on the first midterm improves by a certain amount on the second, everyone in the group receives extra credit.</p>
<p>And no one has ever tried to sabotage me. In general, I feel like it is a collaborative environment.</p>
<p>I can’t speak first-hand about any of the other computer science classes, but I haven’t heard anything about them being crazily competitive in the way you describe. They are hard, but only because of the material.</p>
<p>If I were you (concerned about whether I should do CS), I would start with CS3. It’s currently taught by Dan Garcia, who is a very good professor. The class is basically an easy A, if you do all the work (it is not curved), and provides an excellent opportunity to “test-drive” CS: you get to meet people you will be taking CS classes with, you get a feel for programming, etc.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://cal.pickaprof.com%5DPick-A-Prof%5B/url”>http://cal.pickaprof.com]Pick-A-Prof[/url</a>] shows all grade distributions. The average grade awarded in the CS department is 3.01 (B). Most professors give around 25% A’s.</p>
<p>In theory, everyone has a “fair” chance to get an A. However, because CS (and other engineering disciplines) is largely a test of how you can apply concepts you’ve learned in class toward new, never-before-seen situations, your test scores are not always directly proportional to the amount of effort you spend studying the material. CS is different from a memorization-based class, where all you have to do is recall the knowledge you crammed into your head. Beyond a certain threshold (i.e. getting all the core concepts down), you’ll find that some people are simply smarter and more creative than others, and this ounce of ingenuity may be the difference between an A and a B. You’ll notice this more and more as you get into the upper-division coursework.</p>
<p>But I heard that computer science is one of the most competitive majors at cal though.</p>
<p>
I personally don’t think so. I know of CS majors who work in groups because the material is really difficult. People don’t actually sabotage one another. This may be somewhat true for pre-med/pre-business, but it’s very rare (if at all).
Not almost every professor grades on a bell curve. True, some professors do grade on a bell curve (percentages of certain letter grades vary), but there are classes where you get the grade based on your effort/work.</p>
<p>Lower-division engineering classes grade on a point-basis rather than a bell-curve.</p>
<p>Thanks all this makes me feel a lot better!</p>
<p>What about upper division courses? Are they all graded on curves? I also got accepted as a transfer from a small LAC and I’m kind of nervous about whether I could maintain a good GPA. My school now has no curves but a very tiny cs dept.</p>
<p>The site mentioned above wanted me to pay.</p>
<p>Most of the time, curves are there to help you. From what I’ve seen, a lot of people don’t get actual As in the classes so the curve gives As to the highest performing students. Without the curve, very, very few people would get an A, and a lot of people would just fail.</p>
<p>The only class where the curve works against you is UGBA 10. Pre-Haas is one of the most competitive majors, and be thankful you didn’t have to go through the bs that I did.</p>
<p>Demoz - You’ve taken upper division CS classes?</p>
<p>A lot of computer science classes are focused around group or partner projects, and so your literally working and trying to improve someone elses grades a lot of the time. And then your group becomes friends and tries to study for tests together as well. </p>
<p>I’ve only down lower-div courses but I’ve gotten the impression that the same is true (or even more true) for upper-divs as well.</p>
<p>That’s not to say the major isn’t hard if by “competitive” you just mean difficult, then yes it is. But people are in no way trying to hurt each other to do well, its just a very hard major and a there are a lot of people who work super hard and truly love it, so in order to “compete” with them you will also need to work hard and have natural talent.</p>
<p>Lower-Division:
None of the lower-division classes are curved, that’s a set rule and won’t change depending on professors. However, professors need to maintain a certain minimum GPA, so they will often end up “adding” points (directly or indirectly by for example making the final very easy) to achieve that GPA.</p>
<p>Upper-Division:
If a class is curved depends on the professor. However, contrary to popular belief the curve is there to HELP you, not to hurt you. The average GPA of an EECS class must be around 2.8. It’s not possible to give everyone A’s or everyone C’s. </p>
<p>In my experience, if people are doing generally well in the class, the professor doesn’t curve. This however almost never happens and in many classes the average absolute score will be so slow that a curve is necessary for people to even pass the class. I never had (or heard of) a class where the curve actually hurt people instead of helping them.</p>
<p>cal ppl are competitive, that’s a fact. but it’s not like i feel that other students are out to get me if i’m doing well in my classes.</p>
<p>and don’t let what somebody else says about their grades make a difference on how hard you try!</p>