<p>So I applied to UCB as a Pre-Business/Undeclared major but since then I have decided to do Computer Science in the College of Letters and Sciences. </p>
<p>Right now I'm a spring admit enrolled in FPF for the upcoming fall semester. Anyways, looking at my pre-requisites for comp sci I noticed that compared to my other friends doing CS, by doing FPF I'm going to be behind in my comp sci courses such as CS 61A. I also don't have any prior computer science experience as my high school never offered any courses so I was wondering if CS10 would be important to take, or is the curriculum simple enough to self-learn during the summer.</p>
<p>I really want to do FPF and I don't want extend graduation to more than 4 years. help?</p>
<p>I don’t really think you need to worry about that to be honest. Like I said in my previous post on some other thread, completing a CS major (if that’s all you need to do) is quite doable in 4 years. I wouldn’t bother with FPF, just a way to extract more $$ out of you (as I and other FPFers found out too late). Go to a JC and finish off those pesky breadth requirements, you can probably get four done in one semester, they’ll be much easier, and you’ll have time to have fun. Plus, you’ll save about 7k on tuition (and more if you’ll be living at home).</p>
<p>Either way if i do FPF or go to a cc i’m still gonna be behind most other cs majors since I won’t have the option to take my cs courses until spring semester. That is what i’m primarily concerned about, not so much as whether or not I should do FPF.</p>
<p>easylife808 - did you not enjoy FPF? assuming you attended for the fall</p>
<p>You’ll be fine even if you start CS 61 series in spring, nothing to stress out over, trust me. Save yours or your parents hard earned $$ (literally 7-10k) and go to a JC. It’s ONLY 3 months, I’m almost 100% you’ll be just fine. I did FPF, I thought it was so-so, but I wasn’t paying for school at the time, and if I knew what I know now, I would have just gotten rid of all my pre-reqs at a JC and finished off all the classes I thought were interesting at Berkeley. Seriously man, I’d be surprised to find someone who argued the contrary (that wasn’t a trust-fund baby).</p>
<p>You may be starting the CS sequence one semester later, but you should still be able to graduate in 4 years. I was a science major in FPF so I was concerned about not being able to take Chem 1A in the Fall, but I still managed to get through all of the major pre-reqs by the end of my sophomore year. </p>
<p>Just use FPF to knock out some of the L&S breadths that you can’t fulfill through the CS major. Some options could be ESPM50AC (philosophy & values) or Music 27 (arts & literature). If you’re worried about falling behind you can always squeeze in an extra CS class in a later semester or take something over the summer.</p>
<p>I can’t comment on which CS class to begin with, but perhaps it would be helpful to take a CS intro course at a CC this summer. Just make sure to check that the class is transferable to Berkeley so that you can take CS61A in the Spring.</p>
<p>Edit: Just for a counterpoint to easylife808, I was really glad that I did FPF, although it was probably less expensive when I did it. I was able to get the full student experience, including living in the Units and going to football games in addition to taking care of the Math and R&C requirements.</p>
<p>Essentially i’d be taking the same classes as my friend whose a fall admit minus a comp sci introductory course. Looking at it like that I would think FPF is a good program to help me ease into college during the spring. </p>
<p>I know where you’re trying to say though easylife808, 7k is a lot of money, but its pretty much regular tuition for fall. Sigh</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight yellowbus. Yeah i’m probably just overreacting about an introductory course that I could probably manage to learn on my own. As far as the summer course, I was really considering that, but being it is my senior year summer my family wants to take a vacation to Hawaii so I don’t think that’ll be possible. I’ll most likely take courses in the summer throughout my time at Cal.</p>
<p>I can only speak for myself, but FPF was a good transition to college for me. I liked the smaller lectures because the professors knew me by name and office hours were never crowded. The math and English classes were on par with campus courses in terms of difficulty and the breadth classes were generally a bit easier, though the instructors were still good. I also made some of my best college friends through FPF because all of the classes were held in the same building.</p>
<p>Outside of FPF, being able to dorm made me feel like a regular freshman. I was able to participate in campus organizations and attend sports events like any other student.</p>
<p>Starting CS 61A in the spring should not delay your graduation in eight semesters as an L&S CS major. The junior transfers coming from community colleges that do not offer any of CS 61A-61B-61C have much worse scheduling problems to solve.</p>